Cin7 Core Reviews

IntegrationKings review of Dear Systems

Comments: A great overall platform for anyone selling products in the market that wants to control their Inventory correctly and the workflows in relation to an Inventory business. Also from an accounting background it is a full end-to-end solution in relation to ensuring the accounting is 100% correct in the business.

Pros:

The features we like most about Dear Systems and so do the clients we work with are: - Integrations around stock control and sales workflows with Woo Commerce and Shopify. - Complete bi-directional integration with Xero and QBooks Online. - Love the fact that we can do Supplier Deposits and Customer Deposits, tracking them correctly within the accounting system. - Also the fact that we can do multi-level Build of Materials for manufacturing clients and then sell via multiple of sales channel.

Cons:

The features we least like most about Dear Systems: - Reporting in the platform takes abit to set-up and ensure you are getting the reporting you want out of the system. - Would like to see more integrations over time into the core platform overall as well.

Administrator Feedback

Comments: Thank you for the very good software that is really helpful to everyone, keep updating its features and I suggest that can you also please update the support website. Please do more in integration side to be posted, the side effects if we have the wrong steps that may affect each software. I would like to apprecaite [sensitive content hidden] from her/his last support to me, I was really satisfied on her response, it's being clear and detailed and informative, I was successfully implemented my client's needs because of good support. I look forward to see that kind of support to improve your customer service.

Pros:

It's inventory module that is really in detailed feature. It's not easy to integrate since you have to feed the data more detailed and informative especially in importing the products. Some companies are not complete in their product details. But it worth the patience, when it's successful, it will be more ease for the users/clients to use the whole system as well as they are trained and learned how to use it.

Cons:

About the support in my previous months, I cannot get the satisfaction based on their answers, especially when I have a very technical and critical situation. They are not consistent on their solutions, hence, I was disappointed. The support is given 24 to 48 hours of response and yet there are times that their answer to my query is not kind of convincing for me to follow. I have this instance that their advise for me to do this and that lead me to almost danger situation of the system and to my client. So I want your support team to always discuss the DO's and DON'Ts and the effect of the situation of each query especially when it comes to technical side of integrations between other software like in Xero, most commonly cloud based integration.

Good

Comments: Not enough experience yet with the system.

Pros:

Overall good platform, but needs some basic improvement.

Cons:

Purchase orders. They do not populate all products per vendor and does not populate 90 day usage of product on PO. This is vital for creating purchase orders.

Customer care, purchasing and Point of Sale is useless

Comments: Frustrating to deal with your help desk people who tell you to log a feature request when they are done talking to you and can't solve your problem

Pros:

Easy to understand and figure out when starting off.

Cons:

Your point of sale system you offer with this software is less than useless its remedial in functionality and offering. Struggle to program in store promotions on it you can't create area specific promotions for outlets in an area. Your way of setting up a cash float is useless and not user friendly. Your journals between Xero and Cin7 do not push correctly. Till overs and shorts are a nightmare to investigate. Gift cards are cumbersome to use and implement. We were using We where using Lightspeed as a point of sale before and you c=guys can learn some lessons from them your system will be something from the stone age compared to Lightspped.

Thank you [sensitive content hidden] for Excellent Onboarding Experience, Top Notch Customer Service

Comments: Overall experience so far is excellent, again I truly appreciate the excellent service provided by [sensitive content hidden] to help us get up and running as soon as possible.

Pros:

Cin7 Core is intricate, but in time will prove to be a viable resource.

Cons:

Cin7 Core could be made more user friendly, I have used other platforms that I was able to learn without educational content etc. This platform is great, but could be softened up some for the user.

Daily user of Dear

Comments: Overall Dear is meeting our needs when connected to Xero. It meets our day to day inventory needs however would be much better if it was a more complete accounting & inventory package.

Pros:

Dear was straight forward and reasonably easy to set up. It is good for our daily transaction, inventory management, and handles multiple warehouses and foreign currency well.

Cons:

Features that could be improved are: visibility of stock on hand and sell price whilst in inventory, instead one has to either drill down on each stock item or go to reports. A general ledger section that has P & L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, etc would also be more user friendly- instead of going to reports.

An accountant's Point of View.

Comments: Inventory control and costs with real figures to add to the P&L. Inventory true numbers easily tracked and sales with all 5 different payments on Shopify easily tracked.

Pros:

Easy to learn the different modules and to teach others how.

Cons:

When you have to undo sales orders, it completely undoes everything. The sales order should hold the inventory already taken from the system. Sometimes it is impossible to redo because the inventory is no longer available.I also wish that additional costs would add to the per unit cost of inventory.

Poor Customer Support, Poor functionality, Still being ignored

Comments: Worst experience I've had in the 15 years of using online software.

Pros:

They sold me on the inventory management system. it sounded great in the presentation. And went down hill from there

Cons:

It's been 5 months and I am still in the onboarding process. I have asked for a refudn several time only to be ignored. I even wrote to [sensitive content hidden] who never responded.

[sensitive content hidden] is a legend

Comments: Good thanks to [sensitive content hidden]
and his support with resolving inventory issues.

Pros:

The CS that has been received to date from [sensitive content hidden]

Cons:

Some complexity around inventory control, that is due to novice users.

[sensitive content hidden] - Implimentation

Pros:

[sensitive content hidden] was amazing in her training and implementation support

Cons:

We have only just started using it so don't have any issues at present.

Looking good so far

Comments: While still working inside a trial version, in preparation for cutting over from our current system and going live with Dear, I have been pestering the Support team on a daily basis for a few weeks now as I work through the finer points of the system. The Dear support structure is good - well structured with quick response times to questions, Was particularly pleased that one support person (thanks [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN]) went the the degree to create and send me a custom video demo of the system aspect I was trying to understand that was hard to explain in text. I also found the published Video Tutorials and support pages helpful.

Pros:

While thinking, as a Distributor, we have 'out-of-the-box' requirements for managing our inventory and processes around it, the exercise of evaluating our idiosyncrasies in order to go shopping for a new IM system has taught me that there's possibly not the absolute perfect system for any business, but the Dear system is beating the rest as it ticks most of the boxes on my wish-list for an inventory management system. For a complex system it's relatively intuitive and seems to be built with real world functionality in mind. In addition to my list of specific features, I was looking for a system that could automate as much of our manual tasks and work flows as possible - reduce the amount of data entry required and minimise opportunities for human error. Compared to other systems reviewed, Dear excels in this area.

Cons:

Possible just a COVID thing ...or just a modern day thing, but I remember the days when; if you were looking at making a big commitment to something as important at the system that would manage all your inventory and link to your financials, someone would sit down with you and work through your specifics, helping you evaluate their offering as the right purchase decision for you to make. These days, it's "down load a free version and have a play". I've probably reached the sames decision based on the latter, but it's definitely taken up a lot more of my time to do so. Granted, phone calls and screen sharing sessions are on offer, but I find the time-limited sessions, working with generic databases etc. less beneficially that the old fashioned way. Not a short coming of the Dear System itself and every software company may have the same M.O, but perhaps an opportunity for Dear to differentiate themselves from the masses and win more fans - and quickly?

Great manufacturing aid

Comments: Dear lets us manage the extraordinary combination of materials, compounds and product that we manufacture on a daily basis in a straightforward manner. For some of our operations--for example when we create 10-30 batches of a particular material--use of the API is almost mandatory for efficient data entry--but generally the interface does a great job. Our business is on a much stronger financial and engineering footing using DEAR.

Pros:

The sales, production and purchasing modules provide an excellent integrated platform for our manufacturing operations. We stock over 300 chemicals to make hundreds of rubber compounds that we use in production of custom rubber products and Dear keeps the complexity under control. I love the continual upgrades on the cloud and the easy access from anywhere. Finally, the standard interface is good but the API lets us implement solutions to meet specific needs at various points in our production.

Cons:

While the technical support is excellent I find I occasionally need to reach out to them because the online documentation is not well organized. The reporting module is adequate but often requires off-line processing to get the results you are looking for. They make that easy with excel exporting but it is impossible to create a report that is self-explanatory. For example, you can build complex filters to get specific results but you can not re-title the generic report with a specific name, or include the filter values to explain your data. I also wish the date fields would accept time information so that we could capture real-time production data in the system--at the moment you can only enter a start and stop date when you create finished goods.

DEAR Systems, much more than an inventory plugin!

Pros:

// DEAR SYSTEMS DOES + Manage inventory with different sales channels + Send PO/Invoices/Quote/.../... with customisable template + Auto assemblies + Bundles + Issues to production + Sync to accounting software + Handles goods in transit, FX gain or Loss etc + They are working on a reseller portal + They are working on a POS + Chat support is knowledgeable and they really try to help you

Cons:

They have a forum where users can chat together and upvote functionalities requests. - They are totally absent from that forum, they say they scan it to update their roadmap but they won't engage in the conversation at all. - Functionalities are added too fast without feedback from their users. They really need to work on their communication with their active users.

Was a great system with lots of pro's but now massively flawed!

Comments: Performance issues are far far too common, and they seem to be unable to support them.

Pros:

Contains the vast majority of required features to operate a successful e-commerce store. Nice layout, not too bulky, and sticks to what its good at. API is well written which allows you to expand usability with third party apps.

Cons:

Performance! Over the past 6 months this has gone from bad to worse. The odd hang, became frequent hangs, then time outs on the server. The latest sizeable price increase to allow them to fix this was unwelcome as I already pay for a package that is supposed to perform as promised. This left a little bit of a sour taste. Now though, once again, their system is down, completely! My team cannot access anything, at all. If a call or email comes through, we cannot see stock, prices, lead times, not even the customer records. Support say they are working on it, the ETA? Don't know. Great. I say avoid until they sort out their issues with performance. I will be looking for alternatives as I cannot afford this kind of issue, and paying more for the service they are already supposed to be offering is bad form in my opinion.

Do not use if you need to keep track of serial numbers or if you have more than 50 total SKUs

Comments: Dear has created more problems than it has solved for our business. At a minimum Dear needs to fix the duplicate serial number issue and provide a way to do inventory level snapshots.

Pros:

The software is made for small businesses interested in keeping track of basic inventory, basic purchasing, and basic invoicing. - Perfect for 1-5 employees, this is the base number of users and gives the most bang for your buck. - Perfect for no more than 50 SKUs

Cons:

- Serial Numbers are NOT UNIQUE, duplicates can be entered easily with no warning - Navigating a Bill of Materials for more than 1 level is impossibly complicated and needs a separate spreadsheet or software to track - Transactions randomly duplicate without warning. Several times we have had stock transfers or purchases receive twice, creating inventory discrepancies and overall chaos in the warehouse. - This random duplication allows inventory to be a negative number. Example: A serial numbered part was pulled twice by the system instead of removing it from inventory, it created a negative line item and showed the serial numbered part as -1 instead of 0. This in turn affected the overall inventory for that SKU. - It is impossible to find a specific inventory level on a given day, this feature simply does not exist. - Stocktakes cannot be backdated so if a count is taken on day 1 and entered in day 2 if any assemblies took place they will screw up counts. - Sync between Xero accounting is a multi-step process. Invoices and payments do not sync back and forth on a consistent basis. Sometimes a voided invoice in Dear or in Xero will not transfer over and the entire Sale or Purchase needs to be voided and redone for the voided payment to sync OR alternatively you can enter the information manually which defeats the point of the sync. - Customer service is atrocious except for the basic help which is already covered in depth by videos or other consultants.

Great software platform for inventory management

Comments: DEAR is phenomenal for a user that is willing to put in the time to discover it. If PMs had more of a security / controls / data audit background , and implemented processes to address those weaknesses , it could potentially become a solution for businesses of all sizes, not just SMBs.

Pros:

1- Customer support is on point, probably the best i've ever interacted with. They clearly understand that this is not a word processor, and have built a world-class support service around the software. 2- SaaS is not buggy at all 3- Their devs are constantly rolling out updates 4- DEAR has good, nonbuggy integrations with almost every major app in its market niche. 5- DEAR has succeeded in making a product that is relatively easy to use in what is an otherwise complex piece of software, and has deep complexity

Cons:

1-Documentation is weak in several non-core modules and functionality. For example, security features don't really have an instruction manual, or if it exists, it is not immediately obvious where that lives, thus leave people having to contact CS. 2- Some features are not really implemented thoughtfully and are more of an horizontal revenue expansion than actually thinking of customer pain points. Example - the notification module could be SO MUCH more, but it has weaknesses like it won't report on stock transfers completed, etc. 3- The overall platform is not hardened against stupid errors. There is no "audit your customer's data" logic in DEAR. Platform assumes user inputs are always right and there are no early warning(s) across the board when users are making obvious mistakes, such as when POs receive impossible / wrong amounts, SKUs, etc. The feedback for "error" popups, is only is given when it is too late.

Lots of features for the price - great support

Pros:

Earlier this year we implemented DEAR inventory in our manufacturing company in Indonesia. The key reason we chose DEAR was the functionality. We have been searching for an inventory management system with manufacturing functionality for a very long time and couldn't understand why it was so difficult to find a system that dealt with what we felt were really core/ basic requirements without looking at customisation. DEAR seems to cover almost everything we need and is working on developing the programme for what it doesn't currently. The other key reason was the responsiveness of DEAR to queries. I am still waiting for replies from a competitor to my requests to ask a few questions when we were looking at different systems. We had good help getting it set up. I would definitely recommend.

Cons:

There are some limitations with templates - invoices, packing slips etc. - when dealing with a currency that uses a decimal place as a thousand separator instead of a comma. It also doesnt have the ability to track batches through multiple assemblies which limits the value of the production reports we can get.

It does not exactly suit our business model,compared to other software in the market it was the best

Pros:

The fact that it can be accessed from anywhere and that the information available is reasonably accurate

Cons:

We transfer stock between locations on a daily basis eg. receipts, transfer to work in progress, then assembly and then to finished goods in more than one location and then it gets sold. when looking at a stock movement report of Raw Material, all that I want to know is receipts + stock on hand-assembly = Stock on Hand. The inventory totals in inventory do not balance with the Trial balance figures as the trial balance picks up transfers as many as three times. So the Raw Material and Finished Goods are never correct in Dear and because of Synchronisation in Xero. second point is the introduction of the Advanced Purchase Module and discontinuation of cloning without any prior warning and with no video training module available. I have so far been unable to use that module and am working with the simple purchases module, keeping it in draft, and manually adjusting stock levels when receiving stock. I then use a new Simple Purchase to deal with the supplier invoice. Ideally, the system should be able to tell me what stock is required, but the is no correlation between Assembly and Inventory. We use about 8 to 9 different Raw Materials in different quantities to produce our finished goods, so you can understand how frustrating this all is.

Good Software, Held Back by Bugs

Comments: Take out the bugs and I've had a really good experience with Dear overall. If they can fix these issues it will go from a good to great platform.

Pros:

I have had some really positive experiences with Dear's Support Team, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] in particular. She and the rest of the support team have a deep understanding of Dear's functionality and were able to help my company tackle a sizable inventory issue. Dear is also a simple software to learn and understand which is extremely valuable when it comes to training new employees.

Cons:

The thing I like least about using Dear are the bugs and server stability problems. These issues range from small but daily loading errors to site-wide crashes that have halted our production for hours. For the most part these are minor annoyances/inconveniences but when they are happening on a daily basis in can be increasingly frustrating.

So far so good

Comments: Overall it's been good. Few kins as mentioned but that is to be expected on new software. The team has been helpful and they do have a process to escalate issues such as I had which is good.

Pros:

The reporting. Other products on the market at this price are poor in this department. It offers products by variant which is a necessity for us. Customer service via chat (on a small plan) has been really good. Better than expected.

Cons:

Some things were a little different from the platform I have been coming from but that it so be expected. There have been a few clunky things that have cost us a fair bit of time when setting up such as not being able to update the ProductFamilySKU via .csv. You can only do this manually. If you update via .csv if doesn't actually update it, it creates another and then you have doubled ProductFamilySKU's. This took some working out but the chat support was very helpful. Another one was products that have no history won't show in "Availability" so it wasn;t until I entered SOH that I could see any products but products that had a value of 0 would not come up as they did not have any history. In the end I did a plus 1 stock adjustment and then -1 stock adjustment so it had a history so it would show up in availability. Some things like this have made set up take longer than it needed to as these kinks are not well known by the staff so they had to test to get answers. Again support was good but it;s more of a why does it work like this and why don't the staff know, wouldn't this happen to everyone.? Anyway, sorted now.

Confusing, lack of support, lots of discrepancies with Xero integration, terrible reporting tools.

Pros:

on the cloud. works with Xero multi user Log and attributes - allow an audit trails

Cons:

Reports: do not give enough flexibility to provide an overview of the business Lack of overal flexibility i.e reports, templates for invoice, PO etc. Integration with Xero needs improvement. Need to have 'print all' function i.e multiple select orders, print all invoices or PO.

Worth the investment

Comments: We have 6 businesses with multiple ecommerce channels like Amazon, Woocommerce, offline sales and multiple warehouses. We use Dear as an ERP system to manage everything from placing orders to the factories to syncing shipments to various regions. The Dear 2 Dear function is very useful however there are a few things to improve on that side.It was easy to switch from our previous system and it made everyone's live easier by making us rely less on Excel spreadsheets and more on doing productive things for the business.

Pros:

Ease of use and the onboarding process was straightforward for all our team.The support team is great and often manage to solve things through their live chat. In particular Duminda is always going the extra mile.

Cons:

The reporting section has quite a few important gaps. There are several users that complained on the forum and asked for an update however nothing seems to be on the horizon. It's lacking a salesforce integration as well.

Intuitive and close to everything we need.

Pros:

"DEAR are going to really shake up the whole software development industry. Ive never experienced such great service and the product itself is brilliant. Its intuitive and very user friendly. My staff have picked it up very quickly and its improved our whole business process. Standard response times after submitting a ticket are usually in a couple of hours- (It takes me 3 days to hear from my website developers). Best of all, we needed a feature customised for us, and after contacting DEAR, they had the feature available on the platform within a number of days. 10/10."

Cons:

The only con is that currently, there is no connection to Zapier. Once this happens, then I cant pick any faults with DEAR at all!

Great product - dreadful pricing strategy

Comments: Great software, very poor pricing strategy

Pros:

The product has grown with the business, taking from when we produced one gin to with now over 30 products. It works well, however...

Cons:

I was really disappointed by the 'management' who doubled the subscription charge mostly by charging for two modules, DEAR PoS and API that we had evaluated but not really used. We were not informed about these change and when it was raised after a renewal rather than remove and refund, I was informed that the policy was 'we don't issue refunds.

Great software but not quite suitable for our business

Comments: The only thing missing from the software is a lack of depth for dispatching online orders. There are integrations to ShipStation, ShipTheory but rules cannot be setup to automatically assign carriers or services to an order. This means the orders have to be processed on an individual basis, which was a complete switch in how we had previously operated and required too much responsibility and input from our packers - we needed this to be automated. If the shipping could be rectified to operate the way some close competitors operate, we would sign back up with Dear in a heartbeat, however, for now, we had to switch back to Linnworks for managing online orders more efficiently.

Pros:

Nearly every single feature of the software runs like software that is 4 or 5 times the cost runs. With no setup costs and a flexible monthly account, I would strongly recommend any user to try this software if you are thinking about it. In particular, we really loved the POS and were pleasantly surprised by the functionality.

Cons:

We are based in the UK and it was very difficult to book in a call with the support team within a reasonable timeframe. Both calls I had within the 2 months of being subscribed, I had to wait 1-2 weeks to be able to speak to someone about an issue. Support on chat was available but this didn't help me to resolve my issues. This may not be an issue elsewhere in the world.