# Has anyone used pikiware yet?



## sunnydayz

I was wondering if anyone has used pikiware yet? It looks like they have become a sponser and I am curious if anyone has signed up for the design it yourself software. It looks really nicely put together and might be a good option to expertlogo. hmmm I am seriously tempted to try it but I want to see if anyone else has tried it and if so how they like it. Thanks in advance for your info


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## peterpeters

Hello, this is my first post. I have created a pikistore site. It was very easy. It has a lot of features the other services dont. very easy to add your domain to the site. Design requirements are very simple. I also have a spreadshirt store. this one i started 2 years ago and still was not able to edit it as i wanted. the pikistore was done in a few days. I also added a blog. I have memberships in all the major t shirt store sites zazzle spreadshirt and many others. pikistore has many more features and its really easy to use and edit. Have not sold or purchased myself any t shrits yet. will do that soon and will post on the quality shipping etc.


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## pikicentral

peterpeters said:


> Hello, this is my first post. I have created a pikistore site. It was very easy. It has a lot of features the other services dont. very easy to add your domain to the site. Design requirements are very simple. I also have a spreadshirt store. this one i started 2 years ago and still was not able to edit it as i wanted. the pikistore was done in a few days. I also added a blog. I have memberships in all the major t shirt store sites zazzle spreadshirt and many others. pikistore has many more features and its really easy to use and edit. Have not sold or purchased myself any t shrits yet. will do that soon and will post on the quality shipping etc.


Just to clarify to try and avoid confusion, the user above is referring to a store created through a pikiware system. They are talking about the store management tools (which they seem to like), and don't touch on the fulfillment side of things, which pikiware.com covers. I hope this makes sense.


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## sunnydayz

I myself was looking at just the store and design software myself as I do all of my own dtg printing  On the demo it works really nice. I am going to have to think about this one as I have another website idea I am working on and have been trying to figure out what cart and site to use.


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## tim3560

So I'm confused on the fullfilment side. On the pikiware website it looks like I create a store with pikiware and I take care of my own printing. Is that incorrect? Does piki do the printing also?


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## pikicentral

pikiware allows you to fulfill your own orders. Pikiware does NOT fulfill orders. It is a system which allows you to add your own product range and create online printing stores.


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## sunnydayz

Why was I thinking that you can also have a service for doing fullfilment? I myself print but I thought for some reason the option was their for having the orders fullfilled.


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## jlgill

The way I understand it, you can fulfill orders for others using the system. You set up stores for other sellers and you act as their supplier.


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## prometheus

So, when the customer creates the artwork online, how does the vendor receive it to print? In what format?


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## tim3560

pikicentral said:


> pikiware allows you to fulfill your own orders. Pikiware does NOT fulfill orders. It is a system which allows you to add your own product range and create online printing stores.


Thank you for clarifying. I thought that we were all getting a bit confused. I like the behind the scenes aspect of order fulfillment with your software. It appears to be very helpfull with making sure orders are printed and shipped in an organized manner.


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## Rodney

pikicentral said:


> pikiware allows you to fulfill your own orders. Pikiware does NOT fulfill orders. It is a system which allows you to add your own product range and create online printing stores.


Feel free to elaborate here on what your service does since people are asking direct questions about it 

I have to admit, I was confused as well when I visit your site. 

I knew that you guys did a "design a t-shirt online" type software, I had a hard time figuring out exactly what your full service offering was.


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## pikicentral

ok guys, here is an explanation of what pikiware does....

Pikiware allows any printer to create their own store online and fulfill orders . The store can have an online designer, can setup a shop area and sell designs. It also acts as a complete site builder so you can add pages, manage content, change your design, the lot.

This is great, but there is more.

As the printer, you fulfill the orders for your own store, but you can setup as many stores as you like and fulfill the orders coming through all these stores (Im sure everyone knows cafepress / zazzle right), this allow you, as a printer to compete on the same level as these guys. (cafepress in a box).

There is an order management side for you only. You receive the graphics as a correctly sized and positioned transparent .png ready for print.

This is the first and currently only system that allows you to do all this, yes their are other "online designers", but no system that does what pikiware does.

Imagine, people can come to your store, click the "create your own store" link at the bottom, setup their store, and now you print the orders flowing form their store, its pretty amazing. 

You may or may not even have a relationship with the stores created, its up to you. You fulfill all the orders through your network of stores .

Keep the questions flowing and I will answer them. The system is really extensive so I'm sure you will have many questions.


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## tim3560

Have you thought about adding any kind of shopping cart feature to your software?


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## pikicentral

yes, the system is fully integrated with its own shopping cart and linked into payment gateways. You setup taxes, freight, all the standard stuff required for e comerce.


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## tim3560

pikicentral said:


> yes, the system is fully integrated with its own shopping cart and linked into payment gateways. You setup taxes, freight, all the standard stuff required for e comerce.


Nice! I must have missed that on the site. I see it now under the ecommerce section.


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## sunnydayz

Hey Greg,

I have a question for you. Is pikicentral part of pikiware? I see that there is also pikistore. Are they all part of the your same company just different parts? I am curious because it sounds like the pikistore part offers fullfillment for the stores. Do you guys also have a fullfillment service? I myself dont need one as I print my own stuff so that is why I am looking at the pikiware for myself, but I know there are others who also do the fullfillment route. Just curious


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## pikicentral

sunnydayz said:


> Hey Greg,
> 
> I have a question for you. Is pikicentral part of pikiware? I see that there is also pikistore. Are they all part of the your same company just different parts? I am curious because it sounds like the pikistore part offers fulfillment for the stores. Do you guys also have a fullfillment service? I myself don't need one as I print my own stuff so that is why I am looking at the pikiware for myself, but I know there are others who also do the fullfillment route. Just curious


ahh this is where confusion is occurring, i will explain.

Pikicentral is the parent company.
Pikistore is a printer that is using pikiware to be a fulfilment service. 

So, if you are a printer wanting to create stores and fulfill the orders yourself, you would use pikiware.com

that help?


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## sunnydayz

I am sure that will clear up alot of confusion hehe  That makes it perfectly clear now. That was what was confusing me as I thought it was all one place  I think that will be attractive to some that dont do printing themselves.


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## pikicentral

sunnydayz said:


> I am sure that will clear up alot of confusion hehe  That makes it perfectly clear now. That was what was confusing me as I thought it was all one place  I think that will be attractive to some that dont do printing themselves.


the beauty of it is, someone who doesn't have a printer, could organize with someone running pikiware and set their store up through them.

I'm sure a lot of people on these boards who dont do their own printing but want a tshirt store would rather run a store through someone on these boards who they have a realtionship with rather than another larger player. This is what pikiware can facilitate!

again, I hope I'm not confusing things.


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## Titchimp

IS this viable for users like me in the UK?


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## pikicentral

Titchimp said:


> IS this viable for users like me in the UK?


Yes, we ave just added uk currency.


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## mbeebs2000

Does it also work with US Dollars?


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## pikicentral

yes, US dollars and australian dollars


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## Needles & Ink

What about the 2000 Cap on being a fullfillment (the value plan)? Is that $2000.oo per month or 2000 transactions per month?

The reason I ask is because it makes a big difference. I asked the same question from mark on another Post, But he hasnt responded yet.


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## Needles & Ink

Also, can you add your own Clipart? If so, How many Images can the FUFILLMENT/Administrator add? How many can the Sub-stores Add, If any?

WHat about FONTS? Can those also be added? If so How many?


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## Titchimp

Needles & Ink said:


> What about the 2000 Cap on being a fullfillment (the value plan)? Is that $2000.oo per month or 2000 transactions per month?
> 
> The reason I ask is because it makes a big difference. I asked the same question from mark on another Post, But he hasnt responded yet.


It says $2000 on the pricing scheme... 

Pikiware: Pricing


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## Needles & Ink

Titchimp said:


> It says $2000 on the pricing scheme...
> 
> Pikiware: Pricing


DO you think ($2000)this is rather low for a Professional company? Especially if you end up with several stores in your fufillment chain.

Im just saying, I really like there site and their set up, but i feel for their monthly pricing which is kinda high for the amount of money they will allow you to make. It's almost like they are marketing to novice printers instead of Printers that will be making real money, larger profits and that will stick with them for the long haul.

Or is it that they will be making a percentage of your sales for the long term?

Im just trying to understand. And I am asking the hard questions because I am considering their services, But I need to understand the process in it's entirety.


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## justmark

The $2000 you are speaking of is monthly and is based on your wholesale (base price). Not on the reatail price. For example on my just1tshirt site I have a 50% markup of the base price from my fulfillment site. The 50% is not figured into the monthly volume. I believe my base price for a white tee printed 1 side $6.75 this is what is counted. So you may set this white tee base price @$1 and sell 2000 shirts before you reach the transaction top. By the way this does not shut your ability to sell shirts off once this is reached. We have made it where you are charged based on the percentage of that package


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## sunnydayz

Hi Mark,

Maybe you can answer this question for me  Say I have 3 different websites and I want them all to have their own domain .com names (not the piki name) Am I able to do this with one affiliate account? so I would have 3 different stores with three independent domain names? Thanks.


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## justmark

Yes, this is not a problem at all. we have built in were you can cname map domain names that you may have. You will start out with a piki domain or 1 from the ones I have purchased myinstantshoponline.com once you have set up a store you can map a domain to it. this works for affiliate sites( stores set up thru your fulfillment system) as well all shops can have there unique domain name mapped to them. I have mine set as just1tshirt.com amd have many affiliates thru me that have there own domains mapped.


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## justmark

Yes you can add your own clipart, as many as you would like. Your affiliates or sub stores have the ability to add clipart as well. We will have built into the system very soon the ability for the end user (customer) to change the various colors in a clipart say a red shoe to green. At this time we have approx 5000 color images that all colors in a design can be changed and 3500 1 color design that the color can be changed.


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## pikicentral

We are currently implementing a portal mode, where you can turn your store into a zazzle or cafepress style site - having ll the same functionality. Is this something dtg printers would like to have..? and if so, any feedback on what you would like to see included.

Thanks guys for all this feedback and questions.


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## soupios

Hello!,

that pikistore.com thing seems to be a little tricky.. why not name it pokostore.com for example? 

I think that pikistore.com is not just a website with your designer.. 

And something else.. Let's say i rent your product for the price you ask per month and i start selling.. Who can ensure me that you won't use the information from my database for your own purposes? 

..or even worse in the case that what i said at the beggining is true and pikistore is part of your company named "pikicentral" who tells me that you won't gather the clients' informations from all your pikiware clients and use them for "your" pikistore's good?..

..clients' data in this bussiness is like gold.. and certainly it is not given away for something worth 30$/month.. not even for 1.000.000$/month..


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## justmark

First thing my store is just1shirt, We have a user agreement that states we will not take your customers. To be honest we do all the printing we can stand to do already. We have designed this so that you may have an online store and fulfill the orders your self, I do all the printing for the pikistore which is part of piki central and ship the things all over the world for them. This is not what this service is designed for we want other printers to use this service , fulfill the orders and take care of thier own customers.


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## soupios

thank you for the answer.
i wish it's that way..


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## Jasonda

Just a note .. There are a lot of broken links on the pikiware site. Especially among the bottom navigation links. You might want to look after that.

Also, soupios has a very legitimate point about privacy and security. You should have an easily accessible privacy statement on your website, that people can read before deciding to sign up. Obviously they won't be able to read the user agreement until they sign up for the service.


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## justmark

Actually there is a privacy statement. I will ensure that it is put in plain view and easily accesable along with the user agreement. Thanks for your input


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## raise

I find the whole transactional cost confusing and uninviting. I'd be willing to pay $60 a month to grow an affiliate business but having to worry about overages if something takes off just doesn't appeal to me.

Maybe others are not as apprehensive to paying a portion of profits to get "virtual space" but I'm in the online business to avoid the additional fees you get saddled with when selling in a retail mall. Sharing my revenue stream just doesn't sit well with me.

Is there any chance of an affordable affiliate option that doesn't require tracking transactions?

My opinion is just that the transaction fees adds a revenue opportunity for pikiware that take away from pikiware's perceived strength - ease of use and accessibility. If I wanted to audit that my monthly fees were correct under the current explanation of the fee schedule, I'd have to do a full audit of all the affiliates and my own main store just to double check your work.


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## pikicentral

raise said:


> I find the whole transactional cost confusing and uninviting. I'd be willing to pay $60 a month to grow an affiliate business but having to worry about overages if something takes off just doesn't appeal to me.
> 
> Maybe others are not as apprehensive to paying a portion of profits to get "virtual space" but I'm in the online business to avoid the additional fees you get saddled with when selling in a retail mall. Sharing my revenue stream just doesn't sit well with me.
> 
> Is there any chance of an affordable affiliate option that doesn't require tracking transactions?
> 
> My opinion is just that the transaction fees adds a revenue opportunity for pikiware that take away from pikiware's perceived strength - ease of use and accessibility. If I wanted to audit that my monthly fees were correct under the current explanation of the fee schedule, I'd have to do a full audit of all the affiliates and my own main store just to double check your work.


Pikiware has one of two choices when it comes to billing. Either charge a monthly fee per store opened, or charge a transaction based fee.

There is no way pikiware could charge a $60 flat fee and allow you to create as big a network as you like. You could run a network the size of zazzle through pikiware, for $60 a month. Pikiware would go out of business real soon.


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## Rodney

pikicentral said:


> Pikiware has one of two choices when it comes to billing. Either charge a monthly fee per store opened, or charge a transaction based fee.
> 
> There is no way pikiware could charge a $60 flat fee and allow you to create as big a network as you like. You could run a network the size of zazzle through pikiware, for $60 a month. Pikiware would go out of business real soon.


Not that you asked me, I actually think a fee based on the number of stores opened would be a better way to go. I think having stores opened "tiers" would be a more friendly free structure. 1-50 stores is X per month, 51-1000 stores is $XX per month, etc.

That way the pay scales with the size of the network.

What if you don't want to run a "network", but you still want an online designer on your site so your printing customers can design their t-shirts online and send it to you. What is the pricing structure for that?


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## pikicentral

Pikiware is a service. To pay $1 is too much if the service does not generate profits for you. To pay $1000 is very little if it generates 10s of thousands of profit. Our aim to minimize your risk. By providing the service from as little as $60 per month – you can afford the time understand the real benefits of presenting yourself as professional as Zazzle. 

With risk comes rewards – being transaction based, we wear the risk, support you to max and our business will only grow if we assist and support you to be successful.


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## Titchimp

I personally think the way the fees are set up are fine. 

although rodneys idea sounds good at first, thinking about it i think that it would put off the affiliate from opening stores which possibly may not generate income.


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## jclynn67

I have been thinking of opening an online store ... will definately be looking into this further ... thank you everyone for your posts ... I will be watching this closely.

Jody


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## justmark

If I can be of any assistance please let me know.


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## pikicentral

Hi Guys,

Since we have an an over overwhelming amount of people wanting to know more about Pikiware, we have made it possible to get a free demo account. Contact me and I can set this up for you.

Cheers
Greg


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## tim3560

If I connect with someone who has purchased the affiliate option, do I pay them an amount or a percentage that we determine, or do I pay pikiware so much per month, or both? Is there a pre set guideline that shows base pricing for products saleable through my pikistore? For instance, in CP, a dark shirt base price is $18.99, does pikiware determine the base pricing or do the people running the affiliate networks?

Also, how does the ecommerce part work? When an order is placed, do I get the money and then pay my printer, or does he/she get the money and gives me my cut, or does piki take the money and split up the payment to give her the base price and me my cut directly?


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## pikicentral

Good questions.

The price of the garments is determined by the printer running the pikiware system. You as a store running through the system can add your own markup on their wholesale price.

Re- the ecommerce. the money goes through the printer, then the printer pays you your commission. This is accounted for through the pikiware system and you get automatically paid each month through paypal from the printer. Both the printer and you as a store enter your paypal details.


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## Jasonda

pikicentral said:


> Since we have an an over overwhelming amount of people wanting to know more about Pikiware, we have made it possible to get a free demo account.


Why not offer a standard 30-day free trial? Really, the only way someone is going to understand how great your product is, is if they have the opportunity to try it for themselves. They will also get the chance to try out the technical side of things and also see how your customer service is if they have any problems.


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## tim3560

pikicentral said:


> Good questions.
> 
> The price of the garments is determined by the printer running the pikiware system. You as a store running through the system can add your own markup on their wholesale price.
> 
> Re- the ecommerce. the money goes through the printer, then the printer pays you your commission. This is accounted for through the pikiware system and you get automatically paid each month through paypal from the printer. Both the printer and you as a store enter your paypal details.


So payment is automatic? I don't have to trust that my printer will pay me?


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## azballbusters

I have used the store and fullfillment pieces of Piki for a couple months now. It has been a very positive experience. I have also used OSS Designer (Expert Shirts) and RSK Net shirts. Piki has substantial advantages. A person can design their own store with the look and feel that best suits them. Not only are are there store templates but the more design and CSS knowledge you have the more of a custom look you can create. The fullfillment side is slick and not sure if there is anything that comes close to it. Pricing is an issue and I am not sure the best method that will allow us to be profitable yet insure Piki's long term success. Although the price per store sounds good it would discourage us from having new stores open. Who can really tell which store is going to be successful? Another really unique feature is custom print areas. You can define you own print area and shapes. At first glance I thought it was nice but would rarely use it. In reality we use it on 90% of our merchandise. The other stellar advantage with Piki is the support. We have found it to be excellent. They have addressed our issues quickly in all cases. Many of the suggestions we have had for improving the system were implemented literally overnight. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to email or PM me - 

mark


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## Rodney

azballbusters said:


> I have used the store and fullfillment pieces of Piki for a couple months now. It has been a very positive experience. I have also used OSS Designer (Expert Shirts) and RSK Net shirts. Piki has substantial advantages. A person can design their own store with the look and feel that best suits them. Not only are are there store templates but the more design and CSS knowledge you have the more of a custom look you can create. The fullfillment side is slick and not sure if there is anything that comes close to it. Pricing is an issue and I am not sure the best method that will allow us to be profitable yet insure Piki's long term success. Although the price per store sounds good it would discourage us from having new stores open. Who can really tell which store is going to be successful? Another really unique feature is custom print areas. You can define you own print area and shapes. At first glance I thought it was nice but would rarely use it. In reality we use it on 90% of our merchandise. The other stellar advantage with Piki is the support. We have found it to be excellent. They have addressed our issues quickly in all cases. Many of the suggestions we have had for improving the system were implemented literally overnight. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to email or PM me -
> 
> mark


Hey Mark, thanks for the review. It helps coming from someone that has used the different systems.

If you could expand on your post (maybe in another thread) about how the different systems would benefit a printer who just wants to allow their customers to design their own t-shirt online and send that order to the printer to be printed.

I think I'm getting confused on the use of "affiliate" in the pikicentral system. For those people who don't want to be cafepress or zazzle, but just want to offer their customers an easier way to order custom garments (in bulk or onesie/twosie), how does pikicentral fit in.


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## azballbusters

Rodney - One of the issues of having a turnkey solution is the potential to confuse people who are looking for a basic store as you mentioned. Piki has two solutions - an on-line store solution similar to OSS/RSK and they have an "fullfillment" system that allows you to act as a Zazzle/CafePress. For printers looking strictly for an on-line design solution disregard the fact that they also have this fullfillment system. I will put together what my personal experiences were with each system and PM you with the information. You would be better at judging if and where it should be posted. In the mean time if anyone has specific question I have actually installed and used all three system in search of the perfect solution.

Mark


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## martinwoods

Is there any way I could view your store. I have thought about doing this since I print all of my own stuff but wasn't sure if it would have any of their info on the page. Which I do not want.

Thanks so much


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## azballbusters

Keep in mind that what is on the store pages is totally controlled by you the store owner. Not only can you take away things you can even add pages. I mention this only to make sure if there is something that you feel is missing there is a decent chance the store owner(s) removed it using the set up and page appearence functions. Same with fonts, graphics, colors, etc. They are all controlled by each store owner. Piki also makes it easy to map your store domain to a sub domain of your current site. Most of our store owners have not done this but it is easy to do and literally removes any reference to Piki on your on-line store. Here is a short list of stores that have been set up. The vast majority are geared to paintball so apologize for lack of variety. Worth noting that these stores were set up by the paintball teams themselves. These are not web design/CSS people. With web design knowledge the sky is the limit.

1upkids.piki-art.com
Sodus Predators
PA RIOT SHOP
LIMITED 25 edition
bitingrabbits
PhoenixUnited


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## Daniel Slatkin

We run a fulfillment center powered By Pikiwear and are very happy with the quality of service.


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## mbeebs2000

Dan
Can you post links to some of your stores so we can view them?
How long have you done business with Pikiwear?


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## azballbusters

Besides running a fulfillment center with Piki we also have a stand alone store dedicated to custom jerseys. The ability to create custom shaped printable areas is worth the price alone - Great support as well.


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## justmark

I am also running pikiware fulfillment system. I currently have 48 affiliates my online site is


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## azballbusters

We PikiPeople should start using their forums to communicate ideas, etc. Piki has been incredible in dealing with unique issues we have faced. Personally I can not wait for the Portal


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## Daniel Slatkin

hello just1shirt I believe you are my support guy through pikiwear


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## justmark

Daniel,

This is correct. The portal will be coming in the next couple of weeks. The guys are working hard on this to get it completed ASAP. We have a couple other things that will be added to the software in the next few moths. I believe these additions will set this apart from the others. If I can be of any assistance please give me a call


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## Rodney

mbeebs2000 said:


> Dan
> Can you post links to some of your stores so we can view them?
> How long have you done business with Pikiwear?


Because of our rules on self promotion, we do not allow members to post their URLs in the threads. You are welcome to click on the member's username to ask them for their URL or they can place it in the forum signature.


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## EverLastingGifts

*Re: The Nitty Gritty on Pikkiware*

Oh, My! I am just so excited about this PiKi!   ! I have read the thread all the way from the beginning, and I had a few questions... most of which will probably sound a little silly... but since I can't see you if you make a silly face at me (LoL  ) then i will go ahead and ask! 

I would like to start a fullfillment center, so I can fill the orders for other businesses, but I would like to fill orders for my local customers too... will I need two sites for that (a "website builder" for other businesses aka wholesale buyers and a "T-shirt builder" for my local clients aka retail buyers)? I realize that I could just "Tier" myself down, but I was wondering if I would HAVE to.

Also, many of my clients buy in bulk... can we add a pricing tier? That way, if they buy one shirt it is $20, but if they buy 15 shirts, then it will only cost, say, $12 each... or something to that effect? I had retail buyers in mind for this question... but wholesalers may want to offer the same discounts to their customers too.

I was also wondering if I was correct in assuming that all the clip art added will be our OWN clipart, and does not actually come with the fullfillment sites? (Little side question... any tips on where to get the clipart?) Once I have the clip art set up for the fullfillment site, can I give them to my wholesale clients?

And, are the sites set up to accept virtual coupons? Can the wholesale clients take a fixed amount or a percentage off at check out with a special code or by other means? Can the retail? I realize that it would probably be harder to give discounts to wholesale clients with the way the system is set up, but it never hurts to ask! (especially since, as I said earlier, I can't see you! ) I ask because I like to send email discount codes to drive new and current customers to my other, non T-shirt, sites.

Does Piki automatically take thier fees/shares each month? And does the fullfillment center pay the wholesale website owner their share after each order or just once a month. Are these payments automated? or do we have to do them manually?

Okay, now that I have a list of questions the size of a small book, I will get this posted. I am sure that I will have more questions, but I can't think of any more right now! I can't wait to get started with this! But if you know me, then you know that I have to have as many of the mysteries ironed out as possible before I will make the leap. Thanks for all your help!

--Amber


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## Daniel Slatkin

Amber,
I'm glad to hear you're excited about Pikiware as much as I am. I've been using Piki for a few months now and am COMPLETELY and UTTERLY impressed with their service. I am a Piki fulfillment center and they are coming up with a lot of new stuff. Although they are a relatively new company, their functionality is amazing and prefer their services (although I am obviously biased) to those of Cafe Press or Zazzle, whereas CP and Z are fulfillment centers themselves, Piki allows YOU to be the fulfillment center and host affiliate sites.

You have a lot of questions so I'll try to answer as many as possible:

(1) Fulfillment Center: You can upload your own brands/designs, your customers can in turn upload and design theirs and then you fulfill (print and ship) their orders. In the software, you set the base price for your products, i.e. what is the price of a blank shirt, cup, mug, etc. and then set the 'mark up' when you introduce your designs to the product. On the flip side, your customers or 'affiliates' can create their own websites through your account, for free. Their fees will be directly tied to yours and they can create their own mark-up, which you will send to them via PayPal as commissions each month.

(2) Clip Art: Piki has TONS of clip art, and we've been talking with the developers and they will be releasing a whole host of new products in the upcoming months. Just don't make the mistake I did when I first started, by uploading all the ClipArt into 'My Gallery.' Customers can access it all anyways in the designer section.

(3) Payment: You can choose from three separate programs each with their own costs, and should be based off what you think will be your projected sales. At least initially, I'd choose the $60/month, low-risk option and 15% off total sales. Make sure to add this into your total costs.

(4) Discounts: You can add a price or percentage discount option in the management center. Although online coupons are not available yet, we have been told they will be releasing those soon.

Hope this answers most of your questions, if not ask away...but for my two cents I LOVE Piki.

Cheers,
Dan


----------



## justmark

Daniel,

Thanks for answering the quetions asked. I do appreciate it, and am glad you are happy with Pikiware. I was going to answer these questions this evening but you have beat me to the punch. I am sure people like hearing from users instead of people that are affiliated with Pikiware.


----------



## EverLastingGifts

Thanks to Dan and Mark, for your quick attention! I am DEFINITALY going to look into this again tomorrow (I have to get to our festival just now).... seriously excited though! Can't wait! 

--Ber


----------



## homesteademb

I have a couple of questions about taxes.

If I have affiliate stores and they collect sales tax, who pays it to the state, them or me?

What about other taxes. I believe that CafePress sends something out to their store owners if they have sold over a certain dollar amount at the end of the year? How does pikiware handle this?

Thanks for your help.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Make sure you know if your state requires that you pay taxes, but they have a function in the software which allows you to automatically collect taxes, simply cut the check at the end of each month, but you'll know the amount you have to pay.


----------



## 4thNGoal

Is Pikiware doing maintenance or something today? I can't get to any of my sites, or the main pikiware site!


----------



## taklamakan

Yeah, me too, seems all pikiware websites down ...


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Mark ???????


----------



## azballbusters

I think they are all watching Greg Norman in the British Open. Piki is top notch we should all be running soon. Tomorrow is their Monday so looking forward to getting back on-line.


----------



## justmark

I do apologize for the site being down over the weekend. The update that was made earlier in the week evedently turned off the fail safe built into the system, this glitch has been fixed. The programmers were out of town and I could not contact them via the telephone. Again I do apologize for any inconvienence this may have caused anyone.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Once again the customer service at pikiwear has bean second to none.


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## 4thNGoal

Can anyone recommend a good webhosting service that works easily with pikiware? I gather GoDaddy doesn't fit.


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## azballbusters

Piki is the host. That is what is so great about the solution. It is totally turnkey. Everything that was once seperate, website, shopping cart, payment processing, etc. is all contained in the Piki solution. The time spent managing these functions is almost nonexistant with Piki.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

I use Yahoo and have had no problems with it the only account I have problems with is my Go Daddy. For my Domain provider.


----------



## justmark

Actually the hosting of the site is included. This is a turn key solution. The only thing you will need if you wish to have a particular domain name is to purchase it thru godaddy or someone.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Go daddy does not allow you to do a wildcard cname mapping and they require two ip addresses for A name mapping.


----------



## justmark

I have all of my domain names approx 20 of them at godaddy and do have them cname mapped to my piki sites. I can tell you how to do this if you need help.


----------



## 4thNGoal

justmark said:


> I have all of my domain names approx 20 of them at godaddy and do have them cname mapped to my piki sites. I can tell you how to do this if you need help.


Yes, please.


----------



## justmark

In godaddy select the domain you would like to map. 2nd column select Total DNS Control and MX Records next, to the right hand side select add new cname record.in the pop up enter an alias name, enter "66.135.51.15" in the host enter an "*" Then in the piki cname map enter the domain you just mapped in godaddy. After doing this I have found it is active in about 30 minutes.

I hope this helps clear this up.

This is actually an arecord versus a cname mapping. This will work as long as piki's IP does not change. If the IP changes we will be sending an email letting everyone know 2 - 3 days in advance


----------



## My Little Maui

*Pikiware Pricing?*

Aloha,

I have been reading the thread and a lot of my questions were answered. Thanks to those who have used pikiware and given your input. 

I am still unclear on the wholesale pricing part. 

If I set up a fulfillment center and then also set up affiliate stores... does only the fulfillment center pay the commission to pikiware? 

And the wholesale price is the base price per unit, right? Meaning the cost of the item without any printing done on it? I get confused when people say they set their base price at $1. 

Please tell me if I am understanding this right. The affiliate site takes orders, the orders go to the fulfillment center. The affiliate's markup percentage gets recorded and paid through paypal. 

All the sales that the fulfillment center generates (through itself and it's affiliates) are counted for commission to piki. That means that I would pay the 3.75% (on the base price) for all orders (over the plan limit) that pass through the fulfillment center.

I also don't understand the transaction limit fot the $60/month plan. What does it mean by 0-15% as the transaction limit?

Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much).


----------



## azballbusters

You have excellent questions and as you it took me a bit to really understand the pricing models. I would suggest contacting Greg at Pkik - [email protected]. Greg is very knowledgable in regards to all aspects of the solution.

Hope to have another person join the Piki family.


----------



## sKyWalKR

Im so exited about the piki software and would like to become a fulfillment store. I pretty much read everything in the website and understand the whole concept. But I still have a few questions I woul lide to ask. Any help would be much appreciated.

1. Once some one has finish with a custom design using the online tshirt designer. What format is it finalised as, once the buyer has submitted the design to me. Do I have to extract the images from the tshirt template and resize it myself to match what the buyer has done on screen or is just ready for me to print with all the correct size according to the scale of what the buyer sent me?

2. Once I sign up Am I able to cancel at any time suppose I feel I am not generating enoght sales?

3. If I wanted a to create my own store as well as have others affilated with with me. Do I have to pay for both fees per month?

4. Any chance of getting a demo version to try out? Because I am 99.9% sure of purchasing the pikiware very soon.

5. Oh last question. once I have set up my store, are customers alowed to pick up the tshirt they ordered? and if I make a sale outside of my store do I have to record it. 

Thanks


----------



## SBEMedia

I don't think there is a trial version, however the costs are negligable for just starting out, especially as your own fulfillment center. There's no long term contract and any sales that you do in your 'brick-and-mortar' store are yours to keep unless your client has uploaded the images from the Piki site and you're fulfilling it through that way. The affiliate stores are free to your customers, they set their own mark-up based on the prices you set for your products. All they have to do is simply click on the 'Create Store' button at the bottom of your page. At the end of each month you transfer money from your PayPayl account into your affiliates based on their sales/'mark-up.' Its that easy.


----------



## justmark

I do have a demo site set up. If you would like to contact me I can provide you with the details and login information


----------



## My Little Maui

If you want to have affiliate stores then the minimum account you could get would be the $60 one, then you can have your store and as many affiliates as you want. You pay the one fee for all your stores (plus whatever commision you owe).


----------



## justmark

This would be correct


----------



## bob emb

HELLO JUSTMARK,

tried to email you mayb e it did not go thru. spoke with gre and he and i are suppose to have a skype demo monday night. if it does not work out can you help me with a demo.

bob


----------



## azballbusters

1. Piki allows you to choose on your download format from either a .png file or a .pdf file. If you have set up the printable size on the design the download will be at the correct size for you to print without resizing.

2. Piki is month to month.

3. When you have the affiliate with multiple stores you can have your own store included thus only need one system.

4. My thought is you really can not appreciate and understand a store back end until you really have spent several weeks to a month with it. No amount of time watching demos will replace hands on with the system. What is great about Piki is this will cost you only $30.00 for a full month test drive. 

5. We have a local pickup as one of our options.

In comparing the three systems we used before settling with Piki I can say there is nothing that we are aware of that even resembles the features/functionality that Piki offers.






sKyWalKR said:


> Im so exited about the piki software and would like to become a fulfillment store. I pretty much read everything in the website and understand the whole concept. But I still have a few questions I woul lide to ask. Any help would be much appreciated.
> 
> 1. Once some one has finish with a custom design using the online tshirt designer. What format is it finalised as, once the buyer has submitted the design to me. Do I have to extract the images from the tshirt template and resize it myself to match what the buyer has done on screen or is just ready for me to print with all the correct size according to the scale of what the buyer sent me?
> 
> 2. Once I sign up Am I able to cancel at any time suppose I feel I am not generating enoght sales?
> 
> 3. If I wanted a to create my own store as well as have others affilated with with me. Do I have to pay for both fees per month?
> 
> 4. Any chance of getting a demo version to try out? Because I am 99.9% sure of purchasing the pikiware very soon.
> 
> 5. Oh last question. once I have set up my store, are customers alowed to pick up the tshirt they ordered? and if I make a sale outside of my store do I have to record it.
> 
> Thanks


----------



## Parkwood

I couldn't find this feature on the Pikiware site. Does it allow inventory control and order management. That is, by style size and color?


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Pikiware allows you to show what you carry to your customers but does not provide you with the software to track your own business inventory


----------



## pegasus69

Pikiware sounds exactly like what I have been looking for. I just now went through the whole site and it seems that about all questions addressed on this board were since addressed on their site.

I would like to double check on these two points as being true, as I am quite new to the business...

1) I will be able to print out the customers custom art file in PDF or JPEG. Meaning it would be good to go on an Epson C88 using JPSS, without any further processing by myself (Photoshop, Corel, etc...), except the final trimming around the image of course.

2) If it were JPEG, and appropriate design, I would be able to use the artwork for a Sticka vinyl cutter.

Then I have a couple of questions I didn't see posted already...

1) Can I make a template of a design (ex: funny shirt that says "I Love My Dog"), and the customer could have limited editing abilities (ex: they change the text to "I Love My Cat"). The logic behind this is that some customers do not wish to design a completely new idea, but just want to tweak an existing one.

2) Can I make seperate templates for the inkjet designs and the vinyl designs? What would be the best logical way to seperate them, as they would both be able to go onto the same cotton t-shirts.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## azballbusters

Piki downloads graphic files to you as a .pdf or .png format. You need to consider the fact that if someone uploads a poor quality .jpg file there is no miracle that turns it into a high resolution printable file.

When you create a design or customers upload a graphic file hopefully they will pay attention to the "meter" which can analyze the file as you change the size. It will give you a feedback by on whether the file will be printable. Most .jpg files have a whitebackground. Piki allows you to select a color (white) to remove it from the file. You have to be careful as if there is white elesewhere it will remove that as well.

You can make a design, as you asked, and define a printable area in which someone can edit the shirt or you can simply lock the graphic and make all text editable. Take it one step further - with Piki you can define your custom printable area to be any shape you want. We use this feature more then any other. We do paintball jerseys but a simply t-shirt application may be to create a printable area in the shape of a star and allow people to put their photo inside the star for a really cool effect. 

We do no vinyl thus totally clueless how that plays out - 






pegasus69 said:


> Pikiware sounds exactly like what I have been looking for. I just now went through the whole site and it seems that about all questions addressed on this board were since addressed on their site.
> 
> I would like to double check on these two points as being true, as I am quite new to the business...
> 
> 1) I will be able to print out the customers custom art file in PDF or JPEG. Meaning it would be good to go on an Epson C88 using JPSS, without any further processing by myself (Photoshop, Corel, etc...), except the final trimming around the image of course.
> 
> 2) If it were JPEG, and appropriate design, I would be able to use the artwork for a Sticka vinyl cutter.
> 
> Then I have a couple of questions I didn't see posted already...
> 
> 1) Can I make a template of a design (ex: funny shirt that says "I Love My Dog"), and the customer could have limited editing abilities (ex: they change the text to "I Love My Cat"). The logic behind this is that some customers do not wish to design a completely new idea, but just want to tweak an existing one.
> 
> 2) Can I make seperate templates for the inkjet designs and the vinyl designs? What would be the best logical way to seperate them, as they would both be able to go onto the same cotton t-shirts.
> 
> Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## chadwick37

After reading through this entire thread I was really excited about giving Pikiware a try. I signed up last weekend and went to work right away getting my site put together. I have to say I was even more impressed by the software and functionality. I have another site that I currently run that produces many orders a day but the management interface is really lacking. However, I'm sorry to report that despite my best efforts my site is not working. For some reason when you go to check out after designing a shirt the system looses the shirt and says there is nothing in the shopping cart. No big deal because I read on this forum how great the support is from Piki. I emailed them on Sunday... no response. Emailed again on Monday and got a quick response and they were able to replicate the problem. Since then I have not heard from them and the problem has not been fixed. Has anyone else been experiencing a lack of support or a similar problem? I'm not bashing them by any means because the support I have received has been pleasant. And the software seems great. I'm just concerned that if I start migrating my company to their software am I going to be in trouble?


----------



## justmark

Please give me a call and I can assist you with the problem. 870-933-6855


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## chadwick37

Thanks Mark for the help. Looks like the problem has been fixed.


----------



## breakaway

So this is only for people who are suppliers?


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Yes this is only for suppliers.


----------



## My Little Maui

I went to Pikicentral and clicked on the "create a store". So I was trying to build a site to see if I liked the way it worked. I havn't paid for any plan yet, but as I understand it I can build the site first and then if I choose I can pay when I am ready. 

Now though when I try to login it says my information is invalid. My husband had the same problem with his site. 

Has anyone else had trouble logging in like this?


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

You have to adjust your browser settings to allow for third party cookies.


----------



## Rhiannon

I have used Piki for a year now and love it, it costs me nothing and I make a good amount of money on it. But I am looking for the same setup with different things for sale. So Piki was good for what I wanted at the time.

Its so easy to use and for networking sites, the place is terrific. But I didnt use Pikiware, I used Piki for affiliates.

Also my members love it because they can use my designs or incorporate them into their tshirts and is easy to use.


----------



## pablove

Could you explain how the affiliate program works ? The pricing seems a bit high on the affiliate side of the equation and there's no clear notion on how much it will cost if co. sells more than the highest range - newby here - Is this standard (15%) off the retail sale ?


----------



## SBEMedia

The affiliate program is free for anyone setting up an affiliate store through a fulfillment center. For example, my company runs a Piki fulfillment center, and anyone can create an affiliate system through ours. The affiliate does not have to pay anything, the prices are based on our costs and then you set the appropriate 'mark-up' which you see as a commission check in the mail every month when someone purchases your apparel items.

If you are looking to be a fulfillment center, then yes you have to pay for all the services that Piki is providing, which are indeed a lot, and most assuredly a good value for your purchase, in my humble opinion. Hope this helps.


----------



## Rhiannon

It also is a great help for website owners who have no interest in printing anything for their sites, and make some money at the same time.

Good for everyone.


----------



## Dbwjratwork

Forgive me but I wanted to make sure I get this part. I can add my own designs to this store correct? What if I wanted to use 100 pre-made designs as well?


----------



## the funk

Dbwjratwork said:


> Forgive me but I wanted to make sure I get this part. I can add my own designs to this store correct? What if I wanted to use 100 pre-made designs as well?


Yes you can add all of your own designs. You can also choose if the customer is aloud to customize the design as well.


----------



## Parkwood

I would like to see Pikiware consider better pricing. It's very high and I would think many are reluctant to use their services because of the steep fees.


----------



## Riderz Ready

Parkwood said:


> I would like to see Pikiware consider better pricing. It's very high and I would think many are reluctant to use their services because of the steep fees.


Agreed, if you are wanting to operate as a fullfillment center the pricing is totally whacked. Makes it very uncompetitive. This is still a market in its infancy and most likely a lot of shake out still to come. Typically once a market is proven the big boys jump in but until then the market will be dominated by smaller start ups with limited development budgets.


----------



## bob emb

To online jerseys,

Perhaps you have not totally looked into what Pikiware is offering you. I for one am in the process of setting up my shop as a fulfillment center. I have personally spoke with the mates in Australia and they are working on some really great thinks.

What is that saying " you have to spend money to make money". If you are looking to make a few shirts for you friends Aunt than maybe this is not for you. But I would certainly be willing to let all of my sales and my sub stores sales be accounted for by back office software, have the checks automatically deposited to my affiliate sites, be able to check who is selling what and for how much anytime and a host of other things that will be hitting the street very shortly.

So if you think you should pay $29.95 per month for all that than maybe you do not belong in this league. No disrespect intended but maybe you should just become an affiliate and you do not have to pay a dime just the cost of the fullfilment items and get your check every month for doing nothing.

I am here to make money not to complain that I think Piki is charging to much. How are they suppose to survive and charge $29.95 and keep evrything running smoothly. Greg and the Piki Org. are 1 st class.

Bob

On a closing note If you were to ever speak to someone in the Piki org. they fullu intend to stay. Remember Cafe Press started with a father and 2 sons and look where they are. I am sticking with Piki


----------



## Riderz Ready

Your comments are so incredibly unprofessional to be posted in public forum and is a direct reflection of your business practices. You have no clue who I am or my history with Piki. All this from a comment I posted agreeing with a previous post that talks about their pricing model.

I have PM'd you a few FYI's.




bob emb said:


> To online jerseys,
> 
> Perhaps you have not totally looked into what Pikiware is offering you. I for one am in the process of setting up my shop as a fulfillment center. I have personally spoke with the mates in Australia and they are working on some really great thinks.
> 
> What is that saying " you have to spend money to make money". If you are looking to make a few shirts for you friends Aunt than maybe this is not for you. But I would certainly be willing to let all of my sales and my sub stores sales be accounted for by back office software, have the checks automatically deposited to my affiliate sites, be able to check who is selling what and for how much anytime and a host of other things that will be hitting the street very shortly.
> 
> So if you think you should pay $29.95 per month for all that than maybe you do not belong in this league. No disrespect intended but maybe you should just become an affiliate and you do not have to pay a dime just the cost of the fullfilment items and get your check every month for doing nothing.
> 
> I am here to make money not to complain that I think Piki is charging to much. How are they suppose to survive and charge $29.95 and keep evrything running smoothly. Greg and the Piki Org. are 1 st class.
> 
> Bob
> 
> On a closing note If you were to ever speak to someone in the Piki org. they fullu intend to stay. Remember Cafe Press started with a father and 2 sons and look where they are. I am sticking with Piki


----------



## bob emb

I used the word "you" in the 3rd party intending to speak in a generic mannerso as not to offend anyone person.

You speak of a fullfilment operator not making enough or it is too expensive. I have spoke to people who have Cafe Press stores and they are only making $5-8 per shirt.

You say I have no clue who you are or what you do, this is correct that is why I responded with generic information. I can express my opinion here as long as I stay within boundries. Referring to Pikiware prices as WHACKED is not very professional either so I decided to defend them which is my right. This is also true for you there is such a thing as free speech as long as it is not derogatory or personally meant to harm or insult an individual.

If you choose to respond that is your right but I will not reply I have said all I need to.

Thank You,

Bob


----------



## justmark

OK for one, our pricing may seem a bit high for some folks but for others it is reasonable. I have my own fulfillment site with approx 80 or so affiliates we are producing sales of around $4 -$5 thousand monthly with out any advertising expense on my part, in reality the $300 or so spent on the online software is very reasonable. Without it I would not have these extra sales. If you look at it from a business stand point that shows you can have an unlimited amount of stores for x # of dollars and each additional store cost you nothing this seems good. If you went and got every High school and Jr. High in your area set up as an affiliate for fundraising the oppotunity to make big dollars is truly there. versus the nominal montly expense


----------



## kenscott

i was going to subscribe for the $60.00 per month deal...Looks like they sold it to wilcom and now they want min of $2000 a year? 
big change in 1 day...what the heck is up with that? anybody have any info on that?


----------



## kenscott

without multiple stores 
annual cost
$2,000
$3,000
$5,000

annual transaction limit*	1,500	3,000	6,000 
number of products
UNLIMITED
UNLIMITED
UNLIMITED

create unlimited stores
yes
yes
yes

custom branding
yes
yes
yes

custom products
yes
yes
yes

SSL security
yes
yes
yes

order management
yes
yes
yes

statistics
yes
yes
yes

theme editing
yes
yes
yes


Sign Up!
Sign Up!
Sign Up!


*a transaction is defined as a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs
e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge

For the Annual Plan
Commitment is for 1 year, unused transactions at the end of the year become void

Customers may use up the allowable number of transactions in less than 12 months

Transactions above the annual allowance will be charged at "Expiry Rate"

Customers may sign up new plan at any time

For the Monthly Plan
Commitment is for 1 year

Number of transaction allowed per month is 1/12 of annual transaction, unused transactions at the end of the month become void

Transactions above the monthly allowance will be charged at "Expiry Rate"

Customers can change to higher plan at the beginning of a new month, but must sign a new 12 month contract


----------



## Riderz Ready

Piki has always been confusing in their pricing with the term transaction limits. Maybe I am off but it looks like the cost are now more fixed per item sold? Almost sounds like the company is using the old cell phone pricing techniques.

http://www.on-linejerseys.com


----------



## chadwick37

I just have to say that the new pricing structure is terrible. I signed up for the $60 plan in August and have been working on building my site, signing up affiliates, and advertising. And I've got a few sales so far but it takes time to build this business. If they raise my monthly rate to $200 I will have to cancel my subscription and throw away all the work I've done to this point. The pikiware software is nice but it is at best a beta versioin NOT in any way worth $200 a month, especially to start. If they had a community store feature and the embroidery integrated then maybe but it looks like they think they can charge more for that when they are done.


----------



## justmark

Let me help a little bit. We have not sold to Wilcom but have partnered up with them. This will make things alot better we feel. Also on the pricing for the $2k a year you get 1500 transactions, there is no set monthly transaction limit. If you do 1500 transactions the first few months you would want to move to the next level. The new pricing structure is actually better a transaction is defined as a sale be it for $20 or $2000 this would be a single transaction, the old pricing system worked on monthly sales volume if your sales exceeded a set amount monthly than you were charged a percentage of the sale. at the 1500 transactions yearly this puts each sale at $1.33 per transaction much less expensive than the old plan.

I hope this helps


----------



## kenscott

Yea, but if you sell 1 shirt for 8.00 and you have to take out 1.33 out of it...that sucks!
Thats your profit


----------



## justmark

Also you will be seeing alot of changes in the software towards the end of this month. Changes that will make your job much easier, and will encompass screen printing, embroidery sign making etc...


----------



## chadwick37

Mark - the new pricing structure is great for you because you've got an established network of affiliates feeding you multiple orders a day. For me, getting started and only selling a few t-shirts a month it puts me in a huge hole. Could you imagine your cell phone company telling you, "hey great news! we partnered with a new company. You just signed up for a $60 a month service two months ago and now because of this partnership we're raising your rate to $200 but we're not giving you anything new. Isn't this great?" You would probably tell them where to go.


----------



## justmark

If you signed up for the $60 month plan previously you can stay at that rate plan you are at for the next 12 months then you will have to change to one of the new plans. Let me repeat this if you are currently at $60 a month you can stay there for 12 months


----------



## justmark

Also a transaction is an "ORDER" or SALE it does not matter if the order is for $10 or $2000 that is classafied as 1 transaction 

If you have a customer order 50 shirts from your site at 1 time lets say order# 256 this is 1 transaction


----------



## chadwick37

If I can stay at $60 a month for the next year that makes more sense. That is not what was communicated in the email that I received this morning.


----------



## justmark

*The email you received says*


*Will this have any affects on my existing service?*

*The 2nd paragraph under this says*
 
You will have a choice to continue exactly as you are for 12 months or take advantage of the new pricing structure now or any time in the next 12 months. After 12 months, only the new pricing plans will be available

I would suggest to everyone to please read the entire email before jumpimg to conclusions and making assumptions


----------



## kenscott

Does anybody know of any other software that is price effective for the 1 t-shirt transaction seller?
pikiware is not the way to go for us at the moment.


----------



## chadwick37

I see that now. I did read through but obviously was confused. Excuse my misunderstanding. I guess I'm lucky I'm grandfathered in but I still think the pricing structure is prohibitive for those starting out.


----------



## justmark

Could be for some, however the other online t-shirt design software that is on the market do not offer the ability to have an affiliate system. As well they all are roughly about $99 - $200 + monthly and do charge a set up fee just to get started starting at I believe $1750 ( just to get started). I will be happy to give anyone looking at alternatives to pikiware information and the names of the other companies if they would contact me via private message. We are not charging any set up fee's nor will we. For the $1750 set up fee you can damn near run your store for a year with our system.


----------



## kenscott

ok, thanks for the info..i guess i am back too the shopping cart program that i already have and forgetting the design yourself package,


----------



## justmark

If you already are using pikiware you can continue to use it at the same price for the next 12 months


----------



## Parkwood

This is a growing software area and even now there are many online packages who compete with PIKI. I would bet that prices are at the peak right now and will start to come down as competition grows.

It has always been my opinion that any type of set-rate, annual plan that does not credit for unused units of service is very unfriendly and in my personal opinion comes precariously close to being predatory...just sayin'.

I have always liked the look of PIKI and sensed that they provide a good service but their pricing for DTG printers is very difficult to justify. 

Now that they are marketing to other types of suppliers, perhaps they'll get their prices.


----------



## kenscott

yes, and dtg is the purpose we are needing the software. we offer screening and embroidery but our sales are great already and don't need to even put it on the system. thanks guys


----------



## pegasus69

Hey, I was just waiting out the six weeks they told me it would take for them to implement a vinyl friendly program. I signed up for the 30 day free trial. Looked promising.

Now I hear this and don't think it's going to work for me. 

I'm really bad at web stuff, and closed my other site so I could start a Piki for the same price.

My other site I had for about a year and NOT A SINGLE SALE! I hoped the designing software would change that for me.

Woe is me!


----------



## watt

Just when I was getting ready to sign up. 

How much is the monthly charges?


----------



## Riderz Ready

pegasus69 said:


> Hey, I was just waiting out the six weeks they told me it would take for them to implement a vinyl friendly program. I signed up for the 30 day free trial. Looked promising.
> 
> Now I hear this and don't think it's going to work for me.
> 
> I'm really bad at web stuff, and closed my other site so I could start a Piki for the same price.
> 
> My other site I had for about a year and NOT A SINGLE SALE! I hoped the designing software would change that for me.
> 
> Woe is me!


We look at our Piki Store not only as an on-line design tool but as a really great marketing tool. Many "older" people are a bit reluctant to design something on-line yet we will get direct calls from many of these people asking if we would help or create something custom for them. This is why, to us, it is so critical to be able to data mine everyone who has started a design yet not finsihed it. If we can capture drop offs information the tool becomes even more valuable.


----------



## kenscott

hey, i filled out the email about the demo and never got anything back... maybe if i can play around with it...or could you put a minimum order of 12 shirts? is that a feature?
ken


----------



## justmark

I have been telling everyone that has called me about pikiware for the last month that things would be changing October 1, and that they should sign up now and start getting there sites built. I also told everyone they would be grandfathered in with the pricing plan they have choosen. I guess people thought I was full of it just trying to get them to sign up.


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## justmark

I believe I can work things out to everyone that signs up between this date and this date can get the old price plan. Let me talk with the guys in Australia and see what we can do with this.


----------



## raise

Mark,

Why break down the transactions by month? Wouldn't it be more customer friendly to simply make the transaction bank renewed annually or make it possible to purchase more transactions at a set rate equivilent to the rate set by the plan (ie 1.33). This way your customer don't feel like they are losing out if they are having a slow start to their business plan or year for that matter and Pikiware makes the same amount of money with opportunity to add to its revenue if a store owner blossoms and needs to purchase more transactions.

I would guess from my perspective if I started with Pikiware and blew through my 1500 transactions in the first month, my company is doing well enough that I don't fear having to up my plan. Conversely, if my store languishes in the first month and I make no sales or very few and see 1/12 of my annual transaction allotment disappear, I'm not going to feel like I'm making a very smart investment.


----------



## Parkwood

Showing some consideration to customers in the early stages would be very considerate as it takes some time for the startup.

Affiliate marketing companies like Shareasale (a very ethical company) does this and the amount of positive PR they receive as a result is priceless.


----------



## raise

I should clarify my post.

I understand that annually there is no restriction but I'm asking why not make that the norm for both plan styles?

I doubt that anyone is going to be able to get past your set up system and burn 1500 transactions, close the store that month and then open a new store and see the same level of success to burn another 1500 transactions.


----------



## pegasus69

justmark said:


> I have been telling everyone that has called me about pikiware for the last month that things would be changing October 1, and that they should sign up now and start getting there sites built. I also told everyone they would be grandfathered in with the pricing plan they have choosen. I guess people thought I was full of it just trying to get them to sign up.


I didn't get any notices about price or business changing. My demo was at the end of August. I planned to sign up mid October (six weeks).

Now, if I could go with Piki even for the old price, (being pessimistic) I would have to give up all my time put into building the site after the year is up. 

I've put a lot of work into my other site that didn't pay off.


----------



## justmark

There is no monthly transaction limit at all. it is 1500 per year if this is the plan chosen.

After the 12 month period is over and you must go with one of the new plans, your time you have spent on your site is not wasted, it will still be the same site just with a new payment plan. After 12 months if you are not doing enough to justify the 2000 yearly fee for the software, I would think you are not working your site to its potential. This of course is just my opinion. If you set up 2 affiliates and they all ordered 1 shirt daily from your site this would be 60 shirts monthly at approx $8 profit each this would more than pay your monthly fee and show you a profit. If it where not for the software you proably would not have gotten the orders if it was not for the web site.


----------



## kenscott

I was basically setting up the stores for existing customers of mine to cut down on travel time between shops and artwork time. We are getting the orders anyway. but we are doing some of the artwork changes for them and with the design option, we won't have to redo it. But the orders some of them anyway are already here.

if you guys already have your design that you want to sell ..buy this...its real easy to use. 1 time fee and it has a shopping cart feature that you get the orders and you process them yourself.
you can look at a page i started wickedshirts .net i only have my tags up but it is working fine and i did whats up so far today..real easy to work with.

you can change your sizes options colors...now this is for existing designs you already have..no design feature.


shopfactory .com check it out 499.


----------



## kenscott

you could always do like visa and mastercard... take say, 9 % of every total...that way if its 1.00 you get .9 cents or if its 1000 sale you get $90.00... that way its is just as good for the small shops as it is the big shops. I'd rather make a quick nickel than a slow dime any day of the week. Plus you could have a monthly charge even around 80 to 200 what ever would suit the number of sales you have going on and the number of stores you have open. what about that ideal?


----------



## Dbwjratwork

justmark said:


> There is no monthly transaction limit at all. it is 1500 per year if this is the plan chosen.
> 
> After 12 months if you are not doing enough to justify the 2000 yearly fee for the software, I would think you are not working your site to its potential. This of course is just my opinion.


 
 Wow Mark sounds like your telling us how to run OUR businesses. I really wanted to use the be apart of the Piki system but being a start up these prices and commitments seem unfair. I think I have made up my mind but one last question. The annual amount is that taken at the end of year or wanted up front? 

I would think taking thousands of barely getting by store owners money monthly would be better than hundreds of Doing very well store owners. Think about it.

Ex 1. 2000 not making much store owners 
Pay 720 yr ($60 x 12months)
would give Piki $1,440,000 
not to mention the 15% of each transaction 

Ex. 2 200 well to do store owners
Pay 5000 yr
would give Piki $1,000,000 
no 15%

Basically you get more people with the lower amounts, its a numbers game. If most of them do well that 15% goes even further. If you care to stick with your current plan remember this: Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered 

This of course is just my opinion,
Thanks either way.


----------



## wdkrause

I am generally very pleased with Piki’s commitment to develop and improve and offer excellent customer support. And I do look forward to upcoming developments.

But, I already have misgivings over the new pricing model that claim it will create savings. It seems to be in opposition to one-off products, making some of them unprofitable (particularly mugs, mousepads, toddler t-shirts). And none of have any control whatsoever over how many different items a given customer will order. Our goal is to offer a variety of products for them to choose from to cover as many of their needs as possible, resulting in several transaction fees per order.

The prepaid use it or lose it scheme is also problematic especially in paying in advance for a service that plans on offering a lot without having proven that it will be able to deliver on its new objectives.

Especially at a monthly rate that is 20% higher than the annual rate. I would have preferred to see this presented as a monthly rate with 20% savings for prepaying for the year.

Do the same line item transaction costs also apply to transactions thru affiliate stores (where the profit margin is obviously much lower)?

The percentage model may have not been working for Piki. But, it did make things easier for us, the customers, to have something that tracked with the total sale. The proposed model tends to hinder new start-up companies such as my own. You may want to consider a hybrid model such as PayPal’s that charges a small base fee per order plus percentage instead. 

The only other patch I can see for their proposed pricing structure to be somewhat viable would be if we had a means of defining a line item fee that each of us could set and have added into the shipping and handling charge to offset at least part of the line item (not really transaction) fee that we would be charged. But, this pass-thru and the store defined shipping costs really need to work with PayPal as well as the other payment forms.


----------



## Parkwood

As I mentioned before, online software such as Piki's is becoming very popular.

I think Piki's pricing is customer unfriendly enough that other companies will come along and offer identical alternatives for a much lower price.

This stuff becomes commodity like and demands sharp pricing for continued success.


----------



## Riderz Ready

wdkrause said:


> I am generally very pleased with Piki’s commitment to develop and improve and offer excellent customer support. And I do look forward to upcoming developments.
> 
> But, I already have misgivings over the new pricing model that claim it will create savings. It seems to be in opposition to one-off products, making some of them unprofitable (particularly mugs, mousepads, toddler t-shirts). And none of have any control whatsoever over how many different items a given customer will order. Our goal is to offer a variety of products for them to choose from to cover as many of their needs as possible, resulting in several transaction fees per order.
> 
> The prepaid use it or lose it scheme is also problematic especially in paying in advance for a service that plans on offering a lot without having proven that it will be able to deliver on its new objectives.
> 
> Especially at a monthly rate that is 20% higher than the annual rate. I would have preferred to see this presented as a monthly rate with 20% savings for prepaying for the year.
> 
> Do the same line item transaction costs also apply to transactions thru affiliate stores (where the profit margin is obviously much lower)?
> 
> The percentage model may have not been working for Piki. But, it did make things easier for us, the customers, to have something that tracked with the total sale. The proposed model tends to hinder new start-up companies such as my own. You may want to consider a hybrid model such as PayPal’s that charges a small base fee per order plus percentage instead.
> 
> The only other patch I can see for their proposed pricing structure to be somewhat viable would be if we had a means of defining a line item fee that each of us could set and have added into the shipping and handling charge to offset at least part of the line item (not really transaction) fee that we would be charged. But, this pass-thru and the store defined shipping costs really need to work with PayPal as well as the other payment forms.


I think there is a lot of confusion regarding the pricing and direction of Piki which could of been addressed by a simple press release/announcement to all current clients explaining the pricing model, the partnership with Wicom and the direction of the solution. Piki's pricing has always ben confusing partly due to the terminology they use. 

It is my understanding that the word "transaction" is not individual line items but actually what I would call an order thus there are not multiple fees per order. If this holds true the pricing would be an improvement in our case. Obviously it is more expensive now to start with the solution then it was before and I can guess that the previous pricing model was losing money. There is no way Piki could support stores for $30 per month. Most software companies tie pricing model changes to new releeases - not sure what the reasoning Piki decided not to but will wait to hear directly from Piki regarding pricing, partnerships and future direction before we diecide what to do long term.


----------



## wdkrause

According to their example in their official announcement below, it is per line item (although each order line may contain many of the same, with size/color variations) 

*CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT*
Hi customer 



Today marks a significant milestone for our company. We are excited to announce that PikiCentral have partnered with Wilcom International – a technically innovative company that has pioneered and delivered the worlds most advanced and complete solutions for the embroidery, decoration and print industries. With this partnership brings the re-branding of our previous product PikiWare to* Wilcom* *DecoNetwork.*
As we commence this latest venture in our development, we want you to know how much we value and appreciate your business and continued support. While our name has changed, our service commitment and ability to offer innovative and seamless online solutions has not.
The partnership will see us remain even more united and committed to delivering distinctive services by staying on the cutting edge of technology and support. 
By combining our partnership we will offer enormous opportunities and support to our customers. This is especially important in the merchandise and apparel market, where customers appreciate progressive technologies and innovations.
Wilcom DecoNetwork will deliver all your existing services and more. Through our relationship with Wilcom, we envisage a more rapid development path.
As we move forward we have made some changes to the previous pricing structure.* Pricing will now be per transaction rather than a % of sales*. The last inhibitor for you expansion and online success is now gone!
The table below best represents these changes:
*Transactions*​*Annual Subscription***​*Annual* Transaction*​*Monthly **Plan Transaction Limit*​*Average*​*Print Only *​*Expiry*​*Print + Embroidery*​*Expiry*​*Daily Transaction*​*Rate*​*Rate*​​​​​​ 
​*1,500*​*125*​*6*​*$2,000 *​ 
​ 
 cost per transaction 

$1.33 ​$2.00 ​ 








*3,000*​*250*​*12*​*$3,000 *​ 


 cost per transaction 

$1.00 ​$1.50 ​ 








*6,000*​*500*​*24*​*$5,000 *​ 


 cost per transaction 

$0.83 ​$1.25 ​ 


** If paid annually up front, otherwise it is 1/10 of annual fee per month, e.g. $200 per month for a $2,000 annual plan
*Transaction* = a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs
_e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge_
*For Annual plan*
Commitment is for 1 year, unused transactions at the end of the year become void. Customers may use up the allowable # transactions in less than 12 months
Transactions above the annual allowance will be charged at "Expiry Rate"
Customers may sign up new plan at any time.
*Will this have any affects on my existing service?*
All existing generic PikiWare domains will still exist but will also be mapped to a DecoNetwork generic domain. No new PikiWare domains will be available for use from *the 1st of October 2008*
You will have a choice to continue exactly as you are for 12 months or take advantage of the new pricing structure now or any time in the next 12 months. After 12 months, only the new pricing plans will be available.
The new pricing model will enable you to transact all your business via the system, as the cost savings should far exceed the $2 or $3 dollar service fee the system will generate.
Our commitment to you is to enable you to make as many transactions (sales) as possible that are cost effective and enhance your customer’s buying experience
This in turn will mean repeated business for you.
*The Future:*
As of today, you will begin to see our new name and logo on all correspondence. We have also changed our email address to reflect our new name.
This period represents a new and exciting time for Wilcom DecoNetwork. With our new partners we will maintain the opportunity to provide your business with the continuing highest level of quality, reliable service and support.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact ________________________________________________________
Again, thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
-- Neil PentlandCEOPikicentral Australia Pty Limited.


----------



## Riderz Ready

At this point I am totally confused - follows is the question I asked regarding "transactions". The answer I received using the example below was one. 

Question asked:
Just trying to understand this as I think people, especially myself, get hung up on terminology. Is what you are calling a transaction what I would call an "order"? How many transactions are the following:

Order Number 243:
(2) XL Jersey $100
(1) 2XL Jersey $ 50
(2) Goggle Bags $ 8
(3) Team Shirts $45
Total $203

Answered Received: 1


----------



## wdkrause

Using the stated 

*Transaction* = a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs
_e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge_

the answer would vary from 4 to 8, depending on how many different designs are involved !


----------



## Riderz Ready

wdkrause said:


> Using the stated
> 
> *Transaction* = a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs
> _e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge_
> 
> the answer would vary from 4 to 8, depending on how many different designs are involved !


Do you work for Piki or just guessing based on the verbiage? My question is the same for JustMark. I assumed that JustMark was actually the developer Mark at Piki maybe a bad assumption. I guess it is best to get the answer direct from Piki instead of what appears to be guesses.


----------



## wdkrause

Concerned Piki customer just forwarding the information I received directly from them. Their definition with its example is pretty straightforward and does not leave much room for guessing (unless they decide to revise it). I have addressed the new pricing structure issue directly with them, awaiting reply.


----------



## justmark

OK I spoke with Neil at Piki about 2 weeks ago about the Wilcom venture. I am associated with Piki I am not a programmer I am a printer just like most of you. I have been working with Piki for the last 1 1/2 years on this product. They are Developers and I have a long printing and embroidery back ground, and have helped to develop the software ie what it needs to do and not do changes needed and what needs to be added, with the printer in mind and have also been a distributor of the software in the U.S. I am in contact with them on a daily basis and have also been support for the U.S.The termonology used in the email that went out I guess is a little confusing. The way I understand it and how it was explained to me is that a TRANSACTION IS AN SINGLE ORDER BE IT FOR 1 ITEM OR 100'S. I have had many phone calls the last 2 days and will make sure tomorrow night this is all cleared up.


----------



## justmark

If you go to the store and buy 1 item this is 1 transaction. If you go to the store and buy several items and pay for it all at one time this is 1 transaction

transaction 
Frames not supported


Definition 1 

An agreement between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment


----------



## Riderz Ready

As one can see Piki has made this so confusing that their clients can not even agree what it cost to sell product(s). Hard to sell something without knowing your cost. 

I can only hope the above is correct as charge by line itema and design would be very difficult to calculate your cost of doing business.

The PayPal formula, per transaction + percentage, seems so easy and successful.


----------



## wdkrause

On the whole they have been very knowledgeable any provided very good, and responsive support. It's my hope that justmark is correct on the intent of the new pricing structure. I can see where the PayPal formula could require modification to work with affiliate stores. Either way would make it easier to track cost.


----------



## justmark

On-Line Jerseys, I am 100% positive this is correct. Neil and I have spoken several times about the pricing over the last couple of weeks, and I received the new pricing structure about 2 weeks ago that Wilcom wanted to implement to get my opinion on. In my opinion this pricing is so much better for the affiliate shop owner, no more having to play with your wholesale price on the backend to avoid paying high percentage fees. With the old pricing for the $60 plan a shop owner paid $60 monthly plus $1.50 for every $10 in wholesale sales the new structure is more or less a flat $1.33 per order be it a $15 order or a $2000 order.

Here is 1 order I received today

*Order 18425308*

The following will be ready to print in 2 hours: ProductOptionsQuantityPriceTotal100% Cotton T-Shirt Size:1xXL,1x2XL,1xL,2x3XL,1xM 6 x$27.60 =$165.60100% Cotton T-Shirt Size:1xM,2x3XL,1x2XL,1xL 5 x$27.80 =$139.00


My cost to piki is $1.33 for this order with the old system this would have cost me about $17
To me this is a no brainer for me


----------



## Riderz Ready

justmark said:


> On-Line Jerseys, I am 100% positive this is correct. Neil and I have spoken several times about the pricing over the last couple of weeks, and I received the new pricing structure about 2 weeks ago that Wilcom wanted to implement to get my opinion on. In my opinion this pricing is so much better for the affiliate shop owner, no more having to play with your wholesale price on the backend to avoid paying high percentage fees. With the old pricing for the $60 plan a shop owner paid $60 monthly plus $1.50 for every $10 in wholesale sales the new structure is more or less a flat $1.33 per order be it a $15 order or a $2000 order.
> 
> Here is 1 order I received today
> 
> *Order 18425308*
> 
> The following will be ready to print in 2 hours: ProductOptionsQuantityPriceTotal100% Cotton T-Shirt Size:1xXL,1x2XL,1xL,2x3XL,1xM 6 x$27.60 =$165.60100% Cotton T-Shirt Size:1xM,2x3XL,1x2XL,1xL 5 x$27.80 =$139.00
> 
> 
> My cost to piki is $1.33 for this order with the old system this would have cost me about $17
> To me this is a no brainer for me


 
I could never understand the logic of the old pricing. It was totally backwards. Higher cost for wholesaling then retailing made no sense. We have had Piki for quite sometime and the possibilities are incredible. What is or is not in 2.0 will determine how far we take it.


----------



## HeyJRod

Has anyone signed up for this program since pikiware teamed with wilcom deco? specifically, with the new pricing model?

And I am assuming this software can be used for both DTG and screen printers? I noticed programs like tprint offer online design tools for DTG but don't offer this program for screen printers? Does anyone know why this is so? Can't you just offer one design program and use that data to either screen print or DTG print - use whichever method is better for you as a fulfillment business?

I tried to get in contact with customer service and tprint and welcom but they have not done a great job responding to emails.

Thanks


----------



## kenscott

yea, me either...looks like they have stopped posting here as well. I simply cant talk to anyone at this company, I have called many times and tried several times to do the demo. I have had no luck either way. I gave up!


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## justmark

Please fill free to give me a call 870-933-6855 I can explain to you what is in the program presently and what will be in the program in the next few months. On there site I am listed as the contact and have not received any calls that I did not take.


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## kenscott

how about emails for the demo? I have filled that out 3 times.


----------



## Rodney

The posts about the artstudio designer have been moved to their own thread to keep this thread on topic about member's experiences with pikiware.

The artstudio 24/7 thread is here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t65928.html


----------



## peachgeek

Yes, but they are completely silent in the so-called help department. I have written them several times over the last few MONTHS trying to get a response -- nothing. Complete silence. So I came here to see if anyone knew how to contact them. Maybe I am sending to the wrong address? Really don't know what to do outside calling Australia, but seems an extreme and expensive option. They are an internet company; they should answer email. 

Anyone having the same problem with them? Many thanks.


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## justmark

I will be more than happy to assist you. Please let me know what your questions are and I will answer them promptly.


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## peachgeek

Are you with Piki, Mark? If so, please feel free to contact me off this thread. Thanks.


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## ggiehl

I have requested a demo on several occasions and still no response from Pikiware. Are they still in business?


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## justmark

I will get you set up this evening.


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## customizethis

I too have requested a demo for 4 weeks and nothing. Mark can you set me up?


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## kenscott

Yes me also for the demo.. I have been on here for ever requesting a demo and emailed many times . I surely appreciate it.
Ken's Custom Tees
my email:
[email protected] 
for you to contact me.
thanks


----------



## customizethis

I don't get why the don't want are business. I have PM Mark, emailed from outlook 5 times and emailed 3 times from their website and no response.


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## justmark

I have received your pm and I have forwarded it to Piki folks. I had a demo site set up for anyone to use that I was sending people too. Actually a few different ones that folks decided to map a domain to and change usernames and password so that no one else could use them. I am in the process of getting a demo site set up and will share this info with you this evening via pm. And the previous peoples post requesting demo sites as well.


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## justmark

Anyone that is requesting a demo site please pm me with your name, email and contact info. I will get everyone set up this evening


----------



## brenden

For a demonstration you can also head to the DecoNetwork website. there is a 5 min and a 40 min demo video.


----------



## sjidohair

thanks for the info


----------



## Plech

Ok, say I do go with pikiware and manage to get a few people to sign up as affilates of my site. What are the tax implications if they sell some product? At the end of the year do I need to fill out a certain form with their complete sales so they can file them? When they first sign up to be one of my affiliates is there a form mentioning this? Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated...


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## justmark

OK, The waay it was explained to me by my CPA, You only worry about the dollars that you are actually taking in. After an affiliate marks the products up on thier site they are responsable to take care of any taxs etc... on there own. This is not your obligation to send them or do any paper work at all. They are in business and need to abide by the laws of there state and of course federal. There is some thing in the user agreement that covers this for you.


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## lindsayanng

personally guys.. and i dont want to sound rude or anything, but think about this from a business standpoint. Would you REALLY want to host your site with a company that will not even respond to a SALES call promtly? What do you think will happen when you have a techinical or product problem?? 

You wouldnt run your business like that right? In my mind, if you ARE going to go with one of those fullfillment type sites, you ARE paying them a good deal of your money, they should be your vendor and YOU are the customer.. If i contacted a company and didnt get a response within 3 days, i would just write them off and look for one of the MANY other companies..


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

lindsayanng said:


> personally guys.. and i dont want to sound rude or anything, but think about this from a business standpoint. Would you REALLY want to host your site with a company that will not even respond to a SALES call promtly? What do you think will happen when you have a techinical or product problem??
> 
> You wouldn't run your business like that right? In my mind, if you ARE going to go with one of those fulfillment type sites, you ARE paying them a good deal of your money, they should be your vendor and YOU are the customer.. If i contacted a company and didn't get a response within 3 days, i would just write them off and look for one of the MANY other companies..


They have always gotten back with me right away over at PIKI. Greg and the guys have been great and their software and hosting has provided my business with a great opportunity. Piki is by far the easiest part of running a print on demand print center. All they do is provide the base site software and hosting. You have to advertise to get your affiliates, you have to stock your inventory, you have to print the apparel, and last but not least you have to deal with all of the customers.

When they first started their where some glitches in the system but I think they have got them all worked out.


----------



## aboutpalm

lindsayanng said:


> i would just write them off and look for one of the MANY other companies..


what other companies? there is no system that comes close. some offer a designer but not the backend side of it. plus soon with wilcom it will have embroidery which is what im looking forward to. now that wilcom have taken over the product so you have access to their support and offices.


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## Plech

Thank you for the response Mark! That does simpilfy it...

Plech


----------



## justmark

Thanks Daniel and aboutpalm. This is the best backend out there currently and the support is good hell anyone needing immediate help should know by now to give me a call. I have been playing around with the embroidery module a little , pretty good and the designer has changed a little as well to the good


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## lindsayanng

I only commented beacuse there were back to back responses about 4 week lead time on SALES responses. So if you have such an awesome product and nothing "comes close" to what you have, that doesnt mean you can make people wait to spend their money with you


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## bluetooter

The Piki/Wilcom Deconetwork is big on promises and short on action! Piki has been promising software enhancements and updated versions for months (since Summer 2008) and NEVER DELIVERS. Promised delivery dates come and go and come and go.

Although demonstrations at the ISS show bring crowds and anticipation, that positive wains almost immediately when you sign-up and try to setup!

There are far too many software bugs that keep cropping up. Beta testing is almost nill.

This software has NO CAPABILITY to calculate basic shipping costs. You have to guestimate in advance what shipping could be as a flat rate. Piki says enhancements are coming, but that is pretty much smoke and mirrors.

Their clipart library appears, then disappears - without notice or warning. Its included then its not!

If you try to upload your own products, there is no capability for an online user to order more than one size or color at a time. Its insane!! The preloaded product images and descriptions are primitive at best.

The backend pricing structure ignores industry pricing practices in favor of generic simplicity.

There is No capability to address screenprinting at any level. Once again, another promise unfulfilled.

We have been waiting over 6 months for updates and now they say maybe 4 more months as a "Minimum" Too many broken promises and no results!

Wilcom has been no help either. They are preoccupied with developing an online embroidery tool that is mediocre at best - compared to other tools already on the market.

Even if the embroidery function is developed, the administrative backend has been completely ignored. So what's the point!

The Piki/Wilcom DecoNetwork is a work in progress that is NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME. At the rate they are going, expect modest results in a year or so assuming they last that long.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

I have had great success using this system. And other than having your own server and writing a ton of code I don't see an option.


----------



## bluetooter

If you are operating in a very simplistic printing/business mode, then it will work. Granted there are not many other options to choose from in the market place (RSK, shirtsoftware, LiveDesigner, ExpertLogo).

We were initially impressed by the demos and previews, but then found that we were suckered into signing up based on the premise that lots of incredible improvements and enhancements were in the works and to be released in 30 days. Well that was 6 months ago and the software has not progressed any further since then. And the current word is wait another 4 months or more.

The point is that this software is supposed to be light years beyond where it currently is.

Improvements and updates WERE PROMISED and NEVER DELIVERED.

Screenprinting? NO
Accurate Shipping Costs? NO
Enhanced Pricing Matrix? NO
Upload your own products? NO
Clipart Library that is consistent? NO
Responsive Customer Service? NO
Quality Product Offerings and Images? NO
Error Free operating versions? NO
Understanding Industry Pricing Methodologies? NO

Does this software have potential, perhaps. But only if Piki/Wilcom Deconetwork live up to their promises in a timely responsible fashion.


----------



## Riderz Ready

We had high hopes that Pikiware would be an intrigal part of our business plan as the support was incredible, development ideas were happening on a weekly basis and the software was becoming very stable. Everything we were looking for in the solution was going to be completed in a matter of a few weeks when everything came to a halt - Wilcom entered the picture. Weeks became months. I have yet to see a features list or seen the new system but we basically we have proceeded with our business without Piki being a critical tool hoping on hope the new solution would be what we expected many months ago. Obviously Wilcom's stake in the solution changed the direction of the solution completely which is disappointing to the early adapaters. I still have hopes for Piki just not banking my business on it.


----------



## mbeebs2000

Does anyone have experience with those other options(RSK, shirtsoftware, LiveDesigner, ExpertLogo)?
I was considering pikiware but plan on considering other options also
any insight would be appreciated


----------



## Riderz Ready

mbeebs2000 said:


> Does anyone have experience with those other options(RSK, shirtsoftware, LiveDesigner, ExpertLogo)?
> I was considering pikiware but plan on considering other options also
> any insight would be appreciated


We used Expert Logo and RSK prior to Piki. PM me and I can answer any questions-


----------



## Plech

mbeebs2000 said:


> Does anyone have experience with those other options(RSK, shirtsoftware, LiveDesigner, ExpertLogo)?
> I was considering pikiware but plan on considering other options also
> any insight would be appreciated


I went ahead and bought tprint, it is a simple program and the best part it is a one time price. No re-occurring monthly charges! They set up their program in pinnacle cart on my domain and now I have real time API shipping charges. Everytime I've asked a question they've responded quickly. 

You can checkout my web site, but keep in mind I just put this all together and I still have work to do on the site, ie. change logo, add more products, etc...

www.addedink.com
Plech

Got a DTG or Vinyl Transfer business?


----------



## homesteademb

What is the website for tprint?


----------



## Plech

www.tprintdesigner.com


----------



## kenscott

can your have multiple stores under your site with the tprintdesigner?


----------



## SBEMedia

I'm, personally, a fan of the Piki system and use it as my software provider. Up until their merger with DecoNetwork, Piki's system did have stability issues which were almost always addressed quickly. After the merger, the network is WAY more stable. Although there are other software types out there, Piki's affiliate system, in my opinion, is unmatched by allowing customization processes for each affiliate store owner so they can design the site that meets their needs. As a fulfillment provider, it has definitely improved efficency and streamlined production.


----------



## bluetooter

justmark said:


> SBEmedia,
> 
> Yes I would love to see a couple of features added but these will come in due time.


Mark,

Just so anyone reading this will know, YOU are the PIKI rep for the USA. You print orders on behalf of Piki. Slightly biased don't you think.

It seems that only a couple of weeks ago you were discussing jumping ship and using a friend of yours who is trying to develop similar software. Why, because you had expressed the same frustration with Piki and Wilcom that I have.

You stated only a couple of days ago on the telephone, "Developers are Liars!", "3 weeks really means 3 months"

"Couple of features"??? "In due time"??? Isn't that the issue! You were one of those making the promises as to what was coming back in August!


----------



## JPD

I think it's getting a bit personal in here. The point is, there are obviously some folks who find that the Deco-Network/Pikiwear fits their business model, even without the added features.

Our most important need was the affiliate program. Like Tom said, there is nothing close to it. When you print for a dozen different websites, writing a check and filling out a sales report, every single month, gets too time consuming.

I've already begun to dig into the system and find it is much more capable than my current Cube Carts. If I find any bugs, or if I run into issues, I will do what I did with my Cube Carts and Invision Power Boards, I'll find a work-around myself until one comes available.

Nothing at this stage of online designing is perfect, but it is by far the best product for our needs right now.

I'll keep you updated!

Eric


----------



## Jamey

JPD said:


> I think it's getting a bit personal in here. The point is, there are obviously some folks who find that the Deco-Network/Pikiwear fits their business model, even without the added features.
> 
> Our most important need was the affiliate program. Like Tom said, there is nothing close to it. When you print for a dozen different websites, writing a check and filling out a sales report, every single month, gets too time consuming.
> 
> I've already begun to dig into the system and find it is much more capable than my current Cube Carts. If I find any bugs, or if I run into issues, I will do what I did with my Cube Carts and Invision Power Boards, I'll find a work-around myself until one comes available.
> 
> Nothing at this stage of online designing is perfect, but it is by far the best product for our needs right now.
> 
> I'll keep you updated!
> 
> Eric


I too am considering the DecoNetwork for the affiliate system. It looks like a beautiful system to me. My only hangup is the limit of 150 or so transactions/month when you pay $200 per month for the system.

I'd like to hear fist hand from you about the system. if you'd PM me your number, that would be great. 

Thanks,

Jamey


----------



## Plech

kenscott said:


> can your have multiple stores under your site with the tprintdesigner?


I asked the designer of tprint your question and this is his response.

Do you mean that if they link to a product on your site and a customer makes a sale by clicking on that link then yes, there is an affiliate plugin that works perfectly with Pinnacle Cart. I use it on www.specialbears.co.uk You can see the link next to the home link on the top bar. It's called idevaffiliate and is installed via the plugin manager in the cart admin. You can set their comission levels and all sorts of stuff.


----------



## homesteademb

I don't think this is quite the same thing. Your affiliates are just linking back to your site and earning a percentage, not opening their own store where you are the fulfillment company.


----------



## Plech

I just spoke with the designer again and he did mention I could open sub domains where you could have your own store (web site) and I would be the fulfillment company. Pinnacle cart comes with a wide variety of options that I am still learning.


----------



## kenscott

yea, I have been calling wilcom for about 4 days trying to actually buy the system..I can't get anyone to call me back...that is just said when you can't spend 3000.00 with someone.. .the internet site has a bug and the payment wont go through...it goes to a page that says you reached this page because of a bug, report the bug here....
????/


----------



## Parkwood

kenscott said:


> yea, I have been calling wilcom for about 4 days trying to actually buy the system..I can't get anyone to call me back...that is just said when you can't spend 3000.00 with someone.. .the internet site has a bug and the payment wont go through...it goes to a page that says you reached this page because of a bug, report the bug here....
> ????/


That's a bad sign. I'm sorry to keep hearing Pikiware seems to be having as many problems are stated. When they first came out I thought they would be the designer software that would emerge as the best of the rest. I have a definite use for it but now there's no way I'd become a customer. Unfortunately, if there was a inudstry wall of shame, it sounds like Wilcom might have earned a place on it.


----------



## justmark

kenscott,

the problem is the server the sign up system is on has had more traffic than was anticipated and has caused issues with this server. I have contacted Wilcom's IT department and they are fixing the problem at this time.


----------



## Jamey

I was just looking at SBEMedia.com and noticed that their affiliates *DO INDEED* fall under their subdomain.

I am wondering if this is the case, and *if* Tprint can be used on the same domain with *MULTIPLE SUBDOMAINS UNDER THAT DOMAIN*....then what's the difference? Install Abilities? Customization?

Can 1 license of TPrint be used on *MULTIPLE* domains?

Is Tprint a script we can download and install *ourselves*?

Is Tprint integrated into pinnacle as an addon for Pinnical?

I have no problem creating databases and installing scripts. I am great with CSS and web graphics as well.


----------



## lindsayanng

justmark, that could be a good reason for there being a "bug" in the system, however there is no excuse for not returning a phone call from a customer who WANTS to give you money


----------



## justmark

Not sure why you have not received a return call... You can call me 870-933-6855 I would be more than happy to help you.


----------



## Maria Prcela

Hi Ken,

Have you taken a look at wilcom.deconetwork.com?

Maria


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Jamey said:


> I was just looking at SBEMedia.com and noticed that their affiliates *DO INDEED* fall under their subdomain.


They can Also map their own Domain names if they have one. The subdomains are there for the people who don't want to buy a Domain name.


----------



## Parkwood

Maria Prcela said:


> Hi Ken,
> 
> Have you taken a look at wilcom.deconetwork.com?
> 
> Maria


Say what???


----------



## kenscott

yes, the sites are still down.. that's sad!


----------



## rushorderprints1

I have purchased the pikiware embroidery package about 2 weeks ago. I so far have 15 stores. I looked at the stores that were being designed and none of them seemed finished, it looks as if they left their sites for dead. I have since found out that on alot of the pages people are having problems completing the page, they click on finish or ok and it won't work if they are using internet explorer, but it works if you use firefox.

That is a big problem because I assume most people use ie, and if so that is bad news.

I have yet to get a order, not a real good start, and I do see alot of bugs within the software.

I have taken over 5,000 orders online in the last year using ossdesigner software for my core site which is rushorderprints.com and formerly inkontees.com. I am just wondering if this software is not prime time yet, and I also don't know if we can compete with a cafepress or zazzle considering we cannot use store owner designs on the main site like they do

What do yall think?? anybody else having issues with the software?


----------



## kenscott

rushorderprints1 said:


> I have purchased the pikiware embroidery package about 2 weeks ago. I so far have 15 stores. I looked at the stores that were being designed and none of them seemed finished, it looks as if they left their sites for dead. I have since found out that on alot of the pages people are having problems completing the page, they click on finish or ok and it won't work if they are using internet explorer, but it works if you use firefox.
> 
> That is a big problem because I assume most people use ie, and if so that is bad news.
> 
> I have yet to get a order, not a real good start, and I do see alot of bugs within the software.
> 
> I have taken over 5,000 orders online in the last year using ossdesigner software for my core site which is rushorderprints.com and formerly inkontees.com. I am just wondering if this software is not prime time yet, and I also don't know if we can compete with a cafepress or zazzle considering we cannot use store owner designs on the main site like they do
> 
> What do yall think?? anybody else having issues with the software?




yes it is full of bugs...I think we are beta testers....I cant get them to fix the blank price for a garment and when you choose dtg...to add the price for the dtg...if you choose embroidery...add the price for the emboidery. Wilcom told me it would be ready and we joined the next day after that...I thought the great notions and the clip art would be up and ready to go.. IT wasn't and it still isn't I think you guys should just wait until somebody that uses it says its ok to go... They keep telling me things are going to change and things are coming...I am just waiting. But, from what I have read on this forum, People have been waiting for a year or more for these things. I do like the site, I just wish it was ready to go when we signed up.... I think we are wasteing money waiting for the things to be added that was the reason we signed up for...


different browsers does crazy stuff to my site also...I have to keep hitting refresh and goofy stuff... Internet explorer takes my site 2 or 3 times to load sometimes.


----------



## rushorderprints1

I also see alot of the shirt styles they have, some of them don't even have back images, just fronts. I also have seen there is no clipart and there was suppose to be some full color clipart. I have also seen some things on there and next day it's gone, it's very weird.

I don't want to knock the software, but if it does not get going in another week or so or atleast when my first month is up I will cancel my subscription due to it not working.

I wish there was a fullfilment house that has alot of stores, more then 50 or 100, to let us know what issues they are encountering.

If it was not for the bugs I actually like the software. I would make it my core designer if it had the capability of selling store owner products on your main site like cafe or zazzle.

To Piki's credit I have reported the problems that I encounter and they have been fixed for the most part, but everyday I find something new, kinda feel like the donkey following the carrot.

I would love to hear other store experiences


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

We are happy with the piki service. I am sorry to hear about all of your problems. On the other hand we have developed our own site and support system for the service. You can't just buy piki and expect to compete with cafe press and zazzle, they have done tons of work developing their system. Please quit calling me asking me to help you with your piki problems. I am not a service employee for piki Contact Mark at just one shirt, as far as I know he is the U.S.A rep.


----------



## kenscott

Daniel Slatkin said:


> We are happy with the piki service. I am sorry to hear about all of your problems. On the other hand we have developed our own site and support system for the service. You can't just buy piki and expect to compete with cafe press and zazzle, they have done tons of work developing their system. Please quit calling me asking me to help you with your piki problems. I am not a service employee for piki Contact Mark at just one shirt, as far as I know he is the U.S.A rep.



Who's calling you Daniel?


----------



## kenscott

Mark has helped me out alot. But I signed up under him. They have changed things I have told them about too ( bugs and so forth ) but is that our job really to pay them and tell them whats wrong with the site?
We are also going to cancel the service if they don't get the artwork and clipart for embroidery up.
I Like the site, I just wished is was at least 90% solid. It does require general knowledge of some website layout though. To make it look custom...


----------



## bluetooter

Daniel Slatkin said:


> ...You can't just buy piki and expect to compete with cafe press and zazzle...


But that IS a big part of the problem, it is being marketed that way!!! Its false and its misleading...

I am not sure what is going on with Piki/Wilcom/DecoNetwork. I was able to change my site to version 1.5, but found it is completely error ridden and basically non-functional, worse than version 1.0.

Bugs, bugs and more bugs. These are not just little bugs, but serious problems. I tried to upload my own clipart and all the files I sent got corrupted. The system does not interpret basic colors correctly. When images are sent in proper format with transparent backgrounds, odd color backgrounds are added anyway. What's the point, if you cannot handle a basic image? We sent a simple 2 color EPS file (Not a bitmap) and the system interpreted it to be 9 colors and the colors we used were not even accurately reproduced. This is ridiculous!

There are serious functional flaws, payment gateway issues, internal system errors, non-functioning features. Yes, I keep hearing its going to be fixed, yes more features are coming, yes, we are negotiating with other vendors. WILCOM your reputation is on the line, either be truthful, forthcoming, set dates we can rely on, or ?????

The system should be taken off the market and NOT promoted or marketed to anyone until it has been thoroughly tested with ALL ITS FEATURES working properly, which it obviously has not been. It is not fair to charge customers for a system that DOES NOT WORK and for features that do not exist or are "coming"!

At the rate things are going, my guess is that this system will not be in a business usable mode until much later this year, if at all. If we are being used as the BETA testers, then the site should be FREE until it works!!!!!!!!


----------



## rushorderprints1

Daniel? also who is calling you I havent at all.

Also I know it will never be zazzle or cafepress. I was stating that, that would be a good feature to have, and believe me I know cafe and zazzle put alot of time and money in but I am just asking for something functional, they are collecting money on software that does not function. 

I know there will be bugs in alot of software, but to not be able to upload products properly and have gateway issues that stops you from making money and they continue to bill you. I would have hated to pay the 3-5,000 up front and had this problem that would have been really bad


----------



## Riderz Ready

rushorderprints1 said:


> Daniel? also who is calling you I havent at all.
> 
> Also I know it will never be zazzle or cafepress. I was stating that, that would be a good feature to have, and believe me I know cafe and zazzle put alot of time and money in but I am just asking for something functional, they are collecting money on software that does not function.
> 
> I know there will be bugs in alot of software, but to not be able to upload products properly and have gateway issues that stops you from making money and they continue to bill you. I would have hated to pay the 3-5,000 up front and had this problem that would have been really bad


The sad part is that Piki was only days away from truly being a Zazzle or Cafe press type system before frigging Wilcom entered the picture. At that point all the exciting development came to a sudden halt and the solution went a whole different direction. Pike had become really stable and we were planning on Piki being a significant part of our future business plans. Since the entrance of Wilcom it is very clear the direction Piki is going is far from the original plans to create a Cafe Press/Zazzle solution. This is our last month with Piki but I do wish Greg and the guys the best of luck. I still ponder what could of been if Wilcom had not entered the picture.


----------



## rushorderprints1

I am leaning towards cancelling my subscription and getting back the initial 300.00 up front. I will give them until next bill cycle to atleast have it to where it is functional.

I had a new store owner call me today that set up a store and is having issues getting his art on there, due to bugs.

I am now taking on customer service issues for the software not being intact. I believe all these bugs or atleast the main functioning bugs should have been tested hundreds of times before launch to the public.

I don't mind a glitch here and a glitch there but at this point they are seeming endless.

I WANT this software to work and I WANT to keep my service but at this point not feeling real positive 

Again are there any other store owners who are having success?? besides SBE


----------



## kenscott

bluetooter said:


> But that IS a big part of the problem, it is being marketed that way!!! Its false and its misleading...
> 
> I am not sure what is going on with Piki/Wilcom/DecoNetwork. I was able to change my site to version 1.5, but found it is completely error ridden and basically non-functional, worse than version 1.0.
> 
> Bugs, bugs and more bugs. These are not just little bugs, but serious problems. I tried to upload my own clipart and all the files I sent got corrupted. The system does not interpret basic colors correctly. When images are sent in proper format with transparent backgrounds, odd color backgrounds are added anyway. What's the point, if you cannot handle a basic image? We sent a simple 2 color EPS file (Not a bitmap) and the system interpreted it to be 9 colors and the colors we used were not even accurately reproduced. This is ridiculous!
> 
> There are serious functional flaws, payment gateway issues, internal system errors, non-functioning features. Yes, I keep hearing its going to be fixed, yes more features are coming, yes, we are negotiating with other vendors. WILCOM your reputation is on the line, either be truthful, forthcoming, set dates we can rely on, or ?????
> 
> The system should be taken off the market and NOT promoted or marketed to anyone until it has been thoroughly tested with ALL ITS FEATURES working properly, which it obviously has not been. It is not fair to charge customers for a system that DOES NOT WORK and for features that do not exist or are "coming"!
> 
> At the rate things are going, my guess is that this system will not be in a business usable mode until much later this year, if at all. If we are being used as the BETA testers, then the site should be FREE until it works!!!!!!!![/quote
> 
> 
> 
> YES, I too have encountered major bugs with simple 2 color action illustrated clipart ...more than half of the clip art is flawed with showing 6 to 9 colors...shades of gray and clipart that just wont work... If you don't believe me just go to my site and pick about 5 designs..3 of them won't work. I just gave up on uploading my clipart.. REALLY, why spend the time doing that if its not going to work...This might be the same reason its takeing them to get their artwork loaded and working... This system is major flawed... ]I'm going to give them about 1 month also, them I am calling to ask for all my money back...I had to pay 3000.00... I encountered a Major bug, when we entered all of our credit card information and hit enter it went to a (you encountered this page by error) ...Wilcom kept telling me to keep trying an trying...so we did ....What we didn't know is that it was charging our credit card each time...33,000.00 was charged.... It took about a week to get it straightened out..But they were really helpfull...The credit card company was the trouble... But that was a major bug!!!! so if you guys subscribe and you encounter that ...don't keep trying.


----------



## brenden

I’d like to write in response to a lot of the recent discussion regarding Wilcom DecoNetwork.com.

I do apologise for the length of this post but we want to address as much as we can. 

This post is not designed to make excuses but intended to make clear the products plan’s and future. We have failed to sufficiently communicate the plans and current status of the software has been a failure and as a result misconceptions and misunderstandings have arisen. We recognise that this is our failure and we are committed to resolving this now.

Firstly, it’s great to have these type of forums and be able to communicate. It’s really our aim to invite feedback and two way communications with our customers, as we believe that you are the ones who can help us create great products. 

As many have pointed out, there is really nothing like DecoNetwork.com in the market. This product has the potential to take decoration businesses and consumer product customization to a whole new level. 

Of course, like all leading edge technologies, some early glitches and changes are to be expected. We sincerely apologize for some recent issues some customers have been experiencing. The majority of the defects mentioned have been resolved today. We are working tirelessly to deliver an exceptional product. 

As a company, Wilcom highly values early adopters and the entrepreneurship and industry insight you bring. This is why we have chosen to be open in our approach to Beta testing and allow customers to help shape this product to be the best possible. 

In some cases the availability of a Beta version to some users was not properly handled. This did result in some users becoming frustrated by their experience. We completely understand this situation and undoubtedly this was a failure to correctly communicate the beta stability and manage expectations. Having said that, we will be working to improve stability of Beta versions in future but we are mindful of communicating the true intent of Beta and the potential impact of a Beta version on a business. Beta is ultimately designed to provide early access to people willing to assist in finding problems with the software and help us in fixing them before major release. Communication is key and we clearly did not communicate this well enough.

PikiCentral and Wilcom International have partnered together in bringing Wilcom DecoNetwork.com to the industry. We joined together with a like-minded vision and this has remained unchanged. It is fair to say that some of the original plans and timelines communicated before our partnership have changed but mostly for the good of improving the technology and tools planned. For example, screen printing and the ability to sell store owner products, like rushorderprints1 mentioned. I’ll quickly touch on both of these.

Screen Printing was an original plan of PikiCentral. This original development plan was changed after the start of the PikiCentral and Wilcom partnership, as Wilcom brought a new aspect to the possibilities of online screen print designing. The is made possible through Wilcom’s partnership with Corel.

Wilcom is an exclusive strategic partner with Corel, therefore has the luxury of working hand-in-hand with the Corel development team. Through this tight relationship we intend to open an extensive range of capabilities and possibilities of CorelDRAW within the DecoNetwork platform. The possibilities are exciting and while it did delay the original plans for screen printing, the results will be significantly superior.

Unfortunately this was not adequately communicated to existing customers who were eagerly awaiting the screen printing improvements. Again this is not acceptable, but I honestly assure you it was not a deliberate attempt to mislead our loyal users.

These significant changes will require time to implement, perfect and test. Our roadmap is the 2nd half of 2009 with possible incremental implementation of some CorelDRAW technology over the coming months.

Second is the long awaited feature enabling fulfillment to sell store owner products as discussed by rushorderprints1. We call this the Fulfillment Portal.

This feature is actually well into development and a Beta will be available in 2-3 weeks time. Again our lack of communication is our failure and as a result has given some the impression that this feature has been abandoned. We are cautious not to publicly release this function until it is heavily tested and meets QA standards. We will be seeking beta testers for this new function and potentially some members of this forum would like this opportunity.

An additional feature I wish to comment on is the new pay-per-use clipart within the system.

As some may have heard at recent shows we are partnered with some stock design suppliers such as Rival Art and OESD to make various licensed clipart collections available through the DecoNetwork platform. These are in addition to a selection of free clipart that will be reintroduced to the system. While we are working hard to make these available ASAP, there have been some delays in acquiring the full collections from some of our partners but we hope to resolve this soon.

Beyond these new features are dozens of other new improvements, particularly to the backend, such as dynamic product templates and of course the introduction of real embroidery functionality.

I’d like to clear up the relationship matrix of this product and who and where should be your points of contact.

Holistically this product is supported and sold by Wilcom therefore you can contact Wilcom at any of our corporate offies around the world. Their details can be found at http://www.wilcom.com.au/contact.

We have various referral agents globally who also sell and support the product, such as Mark Francis (justmark). While they are not employees of PikiCentral or Wilcom they are independent parties dedicated to help you succeed. A full list of referral partners can be found at http://www.wilcom.com.au/contact.

All in all, your success is our success and that is our goal. To be honest the response to this product has been overwhelming. Our sales and support teams have been inundated with requests, causing delays in how quickly we can respond to enquiries. We do apologize for these delays and can assure you that we are working hard to respond to everyone. 

We have now started weekly live online Q & A sessions which allow existing customers to ask how-to questions with a DecoNetwork.com expert. We also invite DecoNetwork.com customers to participate in the DecoNetwork.com User Forum which is monitored by the development and support teams. (http://forum.deconetwork.com).

Lastly, in acknowledgement of these early hiccups and our failure to communicate effectively with our users, we would like to offer all DecoNetwork.com customers 1 month subscription free of charge. This will be applied to your account automatically as an extra on the end of your current subscription.

Ken: I would like to apologise for your credit card transaction error. As you noted this was not a DecoNetwork.com system error but a banking issue. We were extremely disappointed by this experience and will address this directly with our provider.

We remain committed to you and your business and believe that DecoNetwork.com can deliver some great returns for you. We hope that you join us in this and welcome any further feedback. You can contact me on [email protected].

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Best Regards, 

Brenden Prazner
(DecoNetwork.com Product Manager)
Wilcom International


----------



## bluetooter

Brenden thanks for your response, however, a product that is in public BETA testing is NOT a product that should be collecting fees of any kind. No where in your marketing materials is this advertised as a public BETA product!!!! Since you acknowledge that this product is beta (and in some cases ALPHA), all of your advertising is fraudulent and misleading.

_When used to refer to software, “Beta” is short for “Beta-test” - a period where the software is technically “feature complete” - meaning no new features will be added - and presumably stable enough for most common usages to actually work. (Contrast with “Alpha Test” which happens earlier, and is often not feature complete and even more unstable.)_

_But note carefully: it’s a Beta test - hence it’s “Beta software”._

_“By definition Beta software is not finished and is known to have bugs, perhaps even serious ones.”_

_Many Beta tests are private, invitation only. The number of users is kept controlled so as to be able to more efficiently control the quality of feedback and to handle the quantity. A private Beta test almost always includes specific instructions for reporting bugs, and getting support._

_During a private Beta, “normal” support channels are not used, and will often have no clue as to the specifics of the Beta software._
_A “public Beta” is nothing more than the incomplete Beta software released to the public for further testing. Feedback from real-world usage is often very valuable for identifying problems that need to be resolved before the product is finally released._

_You’ll often see a flurry of announcements in the press when a major product goes into public Beta, because then anyone can use it and try it out._

Your version 1.5 was highly touted at ISS shows and you were eager to sign-up as many users as possible, BUT the product does not work as advertised and v1.5 is racked with bugs and operating errors (so much for; _"cautious not to publicly release this function until it is heavily tested and meets QA standards")_. Furthermore, all older "paying" customers have been totally left hanging with excuse after excuse and delay after delay. ONLY new users who signed up recently automatically were provided v1.5 while older paying users were left out in the cold. So, is this what is going to happen to everyone on board now when you introduce v2.0?? 

Yes, we all agree that the "potential" of this product is what inticed us to sign-up and pay-up. It is that potential that keeps us hanging around because there is no online design tool on the market that "potentially" offers what you say you will deliver. However, saying that, marketing a product and then delivering that same product in your case are two different things.

Offering 1 month free while still paying fees is an INSULT & UNREASONABLE, You should refund 100% of ALL fees that ANYONE has paid to you and Piki since last year AND not charge anyone any fees or subscription costs, until such time as you can and will GUARANTEE that your product works and works properly. Either the product works and has the features as "ADVERTISED" at trade shows and online or it doesn't. If you want us to be BETA testers, that's fine, but why should WE be paying for that priviledge? You should be paying us or as is common in the software industry, public BETA is open to anyone to try - for FREE!

Yes, I am aware of the online forum for users and the frustration that is being posted there is no different than here. The problem is still communication. Users on the forum wait days for replies and in some cases its the same response, "we are working on it", we are negotiating it", "its coming, its coming, its coming".

Also at no time did you EVER communicate that clipart and/or embroidery designs was going to be a PAY to use feature! Once again another zinger in the Piki story, what was "included" is now going to cost some unknown amount more?? I don't know how business is conducted "down under", but here in the USA, that is referred to as "Bait and Switch"!

Brenden, how can you expect reasonable business people to make future plans and trust what you say, when the "Piki/Wilcom" partnership is a non-committed moving target with a huge communication problem and a BETA only product??


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## Jamey

Thanks for the info. I have decided to not get it the Deconetwork.


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## Daniel Slatkin

Now I have a question? What are the advances in v1.5? we are still running on the original releases of the system. And to be honest I have not gone into the Deco forum or talked with anybody from Deco network since the piki Deco Merger. 

I don't know when silkscreen and embroidery came into the picture but if you ask me that's where the distraction in getting things done and working happened. When we signed up with PIKI there was no mention of embroidery or silkscreen ready capabilities. There was on the other hand promise of a portal system and the ability to issue coupon codes to users, these important features went by the way side as more and more people started pressuring in the deco forum for Silkscreen and embroidery features. So what I am saying is that maybe they did change direction a bit but it was at the users of the software request. We personally don't do silkscreen or embroidery and all the extra features are just not needed as far as we are concerned. We would be more than happy to see them get back on their original goal of print on demand DTG style software. with user portal store and unlimited affiliates. 

The more choices you add the harder it will be to administer and use. The true downfall is how many POD with free stores do you need. The system seems to hardly work for most people and it has already caused the market to be flooded. We are all competing for the same handful of worthwhile affiliates these don't come out of the wood work, you would be amazed how many people, groups. organizations already have cafe press/zazzle stores. On average we see that 1 out of 10 people are serious about running their store the rest upload a couple designs and expect that they will some how magically start selling shirts without doing any marketing and promoting. Another thing I have noticed, the affiliate that is always calling and having problems with his store is also the same affiliate that expects you to do all of their marketing. Usually you will walk them through setting up their store uploading their designs, only to find that the next complaint they have is that they are not getting any hits to their site and this is because your system does not work according to them. 

Good luck to all who wish to get in on this industry, on the other hand the more of us there are the harder it is going to be. And to make things worse there are a couple of new systems doing it correctly with an invite only beta testing program that when they are released there will be that many more new players in the POD fulfillment game. When we started you could count the number of apparel POD on two hands now good luck finding them all. Sorry about the rant.


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## bluetooter

Daniel,

Screenprinting and embroidery were features that were promised as part of v2.0 which was supposed to have been released exclusively by Piki (not Wilcom) back in September 2008. The partnership with Wilcom changed all of that, Wilcoms approach is that the Piki system and their goal is to be an online "EMBROIDERY SOLUTION", printing is now secondary AND NOT a current priority. As Brenden has stated, this will not be until later this year.

What is unfortunate is PRINTING ON DEMAND is the primary focus of most online users, not EMBROIDERY ON DEMAND. The entire basis and premise for the Piki platform was PRINT ON DEMAND. Wilcom is an embroidery solutions company and as such want to exploit that before all else. Too bad, but that is pure corporate ignorance!

You are one of those still on v1.0 and will remain so for an indeterminent period of time. Trust me, you do not want to go v1.5 since it has so many issues.

As far as the affiliate store option goes, that is probably the key to what is going to set Deconetwork apart from all the rest. We are not really concerned with those users who think they are going to corner the market with their one-of-a-kind t-shirt designs, yes those users are a dime a dozen.

Our focus is that we have major corporate, non-profit and school/university customers that need to have the ability to POD without the hassle. We had 2 major school districts, a university and other major clients that were ready to have affiliate stores setup, BUT that is now all lost because the system is unreliable, the print pricing matrix was never updated the way it was supposed to have been and accurate integrated shipping costs are not available.

This is not just another POD for smutty t-shirts, this tool has some serious potential beyond Cafe Press and Zazzle. BUT, BUT, BUT it is not there yet and may not be there for a very, very, very long time.

The point is Piki/Wilcom should not be charging thousands of dollars in fees for a product that is not ready!!!!!


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## kenscott

I wrote and complained... I just want MY $3000.00 back... I will sign back up when they have it going and 100% functional.. or they can put our site on hold until its working the way they told me it was going to be, ( with the clipart ready ) and start my subscription from that point... But i have to agree 1 month is an insult for finding bugs in the version (WE BOUGHT THIS THINKING IT WAS READY TO GO)


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## Daniel Slatkin

I agree they should be honest with people, and only charge for services that they can provide. When they first started changing things we asked to be locked in at the last stable build, and to not be updated until things were stable. We have had no problems since then and the site has been very stable for at least 6 months. I have no problem with the pricing structure and shipping has not been a problem either. All in all I have been satisfied with the service, that being said I was not promised a bunch of features I did not get. And they have always been really good at getting back with me when I have had problems.


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## Daniel Slatkin

I also did not attend the ISS show so I did not see what all they were promising there,


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## rushorderprints1

So my question is this, they are going to refund us one month at the end of our contract which is a year, but what if the next month and the month after and the month after things are not much better but you are still paying your monthly fees. Are they going to keep giving us free months lol added to the end of the contract, by that time we will have the second year free. I also think if you quit early due to the software not working I am sure you lose your free month refund, I am not sure thats right 

I agree also that it atleast has to be stable to take orders properly. I have alot of school business and if I was to put my schools onto this software to open stores and they were all not functioning properly, I might have lost customers due to that. In the meantime I am still paying my fees lol.

I believe they should give us the immediate next month free or credit your first month and so on that way way we are ahead of the game and that may give them more incentive to get the software right sooner then later

Basically we are paying to be beta testers, not fair

At this point I would take the older stable version atleast it will get me through until the new version is ready.

Now for me to be fair, they have fixed alot of problems I have sent to them. The MAIN issue I see is that pages are not functional using internet explorer but works perfect using firefox. I think that is a big deal considering most users use IE.

Clipart is a issue but I think in terms of the software working I can wait on the clipart lol, just let my store owners be able to uplod art with no problem and have me take transactions with no problems.

I would also like to BETA atleast they used that word this time, the store artwork portal like cafe and zazzle have that way I can market my site to the masses selling the store owner designs.


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## bluetooter

The big concern you should have is that right now, v1.5 cannot accurately upload anyones clipart. The system is not interpreting colors and transparent backgrounds correctly amongst a whole host of other issues.

There are still IE7, firefox and java conflicts that have cropped up. As long as there are any IE7 conflicts its totally worthless because over 80% of general browsers are IE7 and not firefox. As soon as someone who is not browser saavy uses the tool, YOU will lose them as a customer because they have no way of knowing the system does not work for them. Its a software nightmare that needs to be resolved.

Basically, what you are saying is - Don't charge my credit card until further notice, that is alot easier than trying to get a credit upon credit upon credit! Why should any of us have to deal with getting credits? THEY should be trustworthy enough to say, hey it does not work, we know that and its free until demonstrated otherwise!!!


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## Riderz Ready

Daniel Slatkin said:


> Now I have a question? What are the advances in v1.5? we are still running on the original releases of the system. And to be honest I have not gone into the Deco forum or talked with anybody from Deco network since the piki Deco Merger.
> 
> I don't know when silkscreen and embroidery came into the picture but if you ask me that's where the distraction in getting things done and working happened. When we signed up with PIKI there was no mention of embroidery or silkscreen ready capabilities. There was on the other hand promise of a portal system and the ability to issue coupon codes to users, these important features went by the way side as more and more people started pressuring in the deco forum for Silkscreen and embroidery features. So what I am saying is that maybe they did change direction a bit but it was at the users of the software request. We personally don't do silkscreen or embroidery and all the extra features are just not needed as far as we are concerned. We would be more than happy to see them get back on their original goal of print on demand DTG style software. with user portal store and unlimited affiliates.
> 
> The more choices you add the harder it will be to administer and use. The true downfall is how many POD with free stores do you need. The system seems to hardly work for most people and it has already caused the market to be flooded. We are all competing for the same handful of worthwhile affiliates these don't come out of the wood work, you would be amazed how many people, groups. organizations already have cafe press/zazzle stores. On average we see that 1 out of 10 people are serious about running their store the rest upload a couple designs and expect that they will some how magically start selling shirts without doing any marketing and promoting. Another thing I have noticed, the affiliate that is always calling and having problems with his store is also the same affiliate that expects you to do all of their marketing. Usually you will walk them through setting up their store uploading their designs, only to find that the next complaint they have is that they are not getting any hits to their site and this is because your system does not work according to them.
> 
> Good luck to all who wish to get in on this industry, on the other hand the more of us there are the harder it is going to be. And to make things worse there are a couple of new systems doing it correctly with an invite only beta testing program that when they are released there will be that many more new players in the POD fulfillment game. When we started you could count the number of apparel POD on two hands now good luck finding them all. Sorry about the rant.


 
Well stated. Wilcom changed the direction of a very promising solution for the DTG/Dye Sublimation market to concentrate on markets that really do not fit the technology. 

Some questioned why Wilcom released the product to new customers while ignoring early adapters. The answer is simply and is common in the sotware development world. As a software company there becomes a time when the market and revenue forces you to release a product before its time. By releasing a product to new users first you lessen the blow to support as new users will only be using a small portion of the basic features. The more experienced the user the more issues they will uncover. This typically gives developers more time to sort out the issues. 

I will always think of Pikiware as the state of the art solution for DTG/dye sub. All of the features early adapters were anxiously awaiting for were canned by Wilcom and now Wilcom is sitting with a complete mess that they seem very ill prepared to deal with. We have been paying only $60 per month for the affiliate and $30 for a store thus have not rushed to get off the system. That changes this month and refuse to pay them another single cent for runing what was a great solution.


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## Parkwood

I came real close to becoming a Piki customer. I am very thankful that I didn't.

Although Brenden is to be complimented for coming on this forum and speaking for Wilcom, I think it's too little, too late.

I would think all the frustrated customers will find Wilcom's peace offering of a one month free subscription to be very inadequate and certainly does nothing to show that Wilcom is a customer friendly company. They have lost significant credibility because of the flaws with Piki and this gesture will do nothing to help.

And this in light of Brenden's very revealing words in his thrid paragraph:

*"We have failed to sufficiently communicate the plans and current status of the software has been a failure"

I* think those words, along with the admission of the software being sold in Beta version without full disclosure makes this pretty actionable for a lawsuit. Hopefully someone has saved Brenden's message for future reference.This is very ugly corporate behavior.


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## bluetooter

brenden said:


> I’d like to write in response to a lot of the recent discussion regarding Wilcom DecoNetwork.com.
> 
> I do apologise for the length of this post but we want to address as much as we can.
> 
> This post is not designed to make excuses but intended to make clear the products plan’s and future. We have failed to sufficiently communicate the plans and current status of the software has been a failure and as a result misconceptions and misunderstandings have arisen. We recognise that this is our failure and we are committed to resolving this now.
> 
> Firstly, it’s great to have these type of forums and be able to communicate. It’s really our aim to invite feedback and two way communications with our customers, as we believe that you are the ones who can help us create great products.
> 
> As many have pointed out, there is really nothing like DecoNetwork.com in the market. This product has the potential to take decoration businesses and consumer product customization to a whole new level.
> 
> Of course, like all leading edge technologies, some early glitches and changes are to be expected. We sincerely apologize for some recent issues some customers have been experiencing. The majority of the defects mentioned have been resolved today. We are working tirelessly to deliver an exceptional product.
> 
> As a company, Wilcom highly values early adopters and the entrepreneurship and industry insight you bring. This is why we have chosen to be open in our approach to Beta testing and allow customers to help shape this product to be the best possible.
> 
> In some cases the availability of a Beta version to some users was not properly handled. This did result in some users becoming frustrated by their experience. We completely understand this situation and undoubtedly this was a failure to correctly communicate the beta stability and manage expectations. Having said that, we will be working to improve stability of Beta versions in future but we are mindful of communicating the true intent of Beta and the potential impact of a Beta version on a business. Beta is ultimately designed to provide early access to people willing to assist in finding problems with the software and help us in fixing them before major release. Communication is key and we clearly did not communicate this well enough.
> 
> PikiCentral and Wilcom International have partnered together in bringing Wilcom DecoNetwork.com to the industry. We joined together with a like-minded vision and this has remained unchanged. It is fair to say that some of the original plans and timelines communicated before our partnership have changed but mostly for the good of improving the technology and tools planned. For example, screen printing and the ability to sell store owner products, like rushorderprints1 mentioned. I’ll quickly touch on both of these.
> 
> Screen Printing was an original plan of PikiCentral. This original development plan was changed after the start of the PikiCentral and Wilcom partnership, as Wilcom brought a new aspect to the possibilities of online screen print designing. The is made possible through Wilcom’s partnership with Corel.
> 
> Wilcom is an exclusive strategic partner with Corel, therefore has the luxury of working hand-in-hand with the Corel development team. Through this tight relationship we intend to open an extensive range of capabilities and possibilities of CorelDRAW within the DecoNetwork platform. The possibilities are exciting and while it did delay the original plans for screen printing, the results will be significantly superior.
> 
> Unfortunately this was not adequately communicated to existing customers who were eagerly awaiting the screen printing improvements. Again this is not acceptable, but I honestly assure you it was not a deliberate attempt to mislead our loyal users.
> 
> These significant changes will require time to implement, perfect and test. Our roadmap is the 2nd half of 2009 with possible incremental implementation of some CorelDRAW technology over the coming months.
> 
> Second is the long awaited feature enabling fulfillment to sell store owner products as discussed by rushorderprints1. We call this the Fulfillment Portal.
> 
> This feature is actually well into development and a Beta will be available in 2-3 weeks time. Again our lack of communication is our failure and as a result has given some the impression that this feature has been abandoned. We are cautious not to publicly release this function until it is heavily tested and meets QA standards. We will be seeking beta testers for this new function and potentially some members of this forum would like this opportunity.
> 
> An additional feature I wish to comment on is the new pay-per-use clipart within the system.
> 
> As some may have heard at recent shows we are partnered with some stock design suppliers such as Rival Art and OESD to make various licensed clipart collections available through the DecoNetwork platform. These are in addition to a selection of free clipart that will be reintroduced to the system. While we are working hard to make these available ASAP, there have been some delays in acquiring the full collections from some of our partners but we hope to resolve this soon.
> 
> Beyond these new features are dozens of other new improvements, particularly to the backend, such as dynamic product templates and of course the introduction of real embroidery functionality.
> 
> I’d like to clear up the relationship matrix of this product and who and where should be your points of contact.
> 
> Holistically this product is supported and sold by Wilcom therefore you can contact Wilcom at any of our corporate offies around the world. Their details can be found at http://www.wilcom.com.au/contact.
> 
> We have various referral agents globally who also sell and support the product, such as Mark Francis (justmark). While they are not employees of PikiCentral or Wilcom they are independent parties dedicated to help you succeed. A full list of referral partners can be found at http://www.wilcom.com.au/contact.
> 
> All in all, your success is our success and that is our goal. To be honest the response to this product has been overwhelming. Our sales and support teams have been inundated with requests, causing delays in how quickly we can respond to enquiries. We do apologize for these delays and can assure you that we are working hard to respond to everyone.
> 
> We have now started weekly live online Q & A sessions which allow existing customers to ask how-to questions with a DecoNetwork.com expert. We also invite DecoNetwork.com customers to participate in the DecoNetwork.com User Forum which is monitored by the development and support teams. (http://forum.deconetwork.com).
> 
> Lastly, in acknowledgement of these early hiccups and our failure to communicate effectively with our users, we would like to offer all DecoNetwork.com customers 1 month subscription free of charge. This will be applied to your account automatically as an extra on the end of your current subscription.
> 
> Ken: I would like to apologise for your credit card transaction error. As you noted this was not a DecoNetwork.com system error but a banking issue. We were extremely disappointed by this experience and will address this directly with our provider.
> 
> We remain committed to you and your business and believe that DecoNetwork.com can deliver some great returns for you. We hope that you join us in this and welcome any further feedback. You can contact me on [email protected].
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Brenden Prazner
> (DecoNetwork.com Product Manager)
> Wilcom International


yes, it has been copied


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## bluetooter

It seems that the "New" pricing plan being presented by Pikiware and Deconetwork is not as clear cut and simple as some may think.

The pricing is based on "transactions" with a monthly or annual fee (min $2,000), however, the problem begins with their definition of what really is considered a "transaction":

*Transaction = *Each process that generates a new order line for any purchase:

Example: A design is placed upon different surfaces on an apparel item that requires two separate images to be generated for printing.

Example: Different shirt colors are selected: this necessitates the generation of a separate image file for each color selected.

Basically a transaction is "NOT a single sale or a COMPLETE order", everytime a single order has any kind of variation to it (design, design placement, change of item OR change of item color), it will cost you a transaction fee:

1 -A consumer orders 100 white shirts, in 4 different sizes with one design on the front. This would account for one transaction.

2-A consumer orders 100 white shirts, in 4 different sizes with one design on the front and one on the back. This would account for two transactions. Note: the total number of shirts is the same, but the transactions number has changed because of the generation of order lines (transactions) needed to process the order.

3 - A consumer orders 100 shirts, 20 in blue, 20 in white, 20 in black, 20 in red and 20 in yellow in 4 different sizes with one design on the front and one on the back. This would account for ten transactions. – Note: the total number of shirts is the same, but the transactions number has changed because of the generation of order lines (transactions) needed to process the order.

In other words, be prepared to pay alot more per year than you may have been led to believe! Why, would the exact same design cost another transaction fee because a customer changes a shirt color? This means that your annual fee, which has a limited amount of transactions, will get used up faster! Theoretically, 1,500 transactions per year could get used up very easily in 150 orders or less!

In this electronic age, every entry line item in an order costs you a fee??? Are they kidding! 

They make this out as if it is costing them "deconetwork" money, time and effort to process every line item in an electronic order. An order is an order, and why would there not be one fee to process an order, not every line item in an order? Is Deconetwork ordering those shirts? - No, Are they printing those shirts? - No, Are they shipping those shirts? - No, Are they paying the credit card fees for that order? - No. So what are the fees for? one yes, 10++??

Imagine if a supermarket did that at the checkout line!


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## wdkrause

Yes. That is a true statement. I brought it up on page 11 of this discussion as soon as Piki-Wilcom announced their new pricing structure. And, I followed up with Justmark who was going to discuss it with them. The initial assurance I received was that the pricing structure would be changed (to something more reasonable, or something that made more sense). Perhaps Brenden could address where they are headed with it, or if they intend to keep it as-is.


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## Daniel Slatkin

Maybe we should all pool our resources and have someone develop our own system.


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## wdkrause

In a few months we may be able to buy the Piki 1.0 version and take it in the direction we needed it to go...


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## Riderz Ready

wdkrause said:


> In a few months we may be able to buy the Piki 1.0 version and take it in the direction we needed it to go...


How great that would be - Piki 1.0 with a portal is more then enough.


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## bluetooter

wdkrause said:


> Yes. That is a true statement. I brought it up on page 11 of this discussion as soon as Piki-Wilcom announced their new pricing structure.


Its important to bring up in more detail because there is new advertising from deconetwork and it would appear that there are not going to be any changes. It is not clearly defined anywhere how it really truly works, so new customers may not be totally aware of what they are getting into.


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## rushorderprints1

I was wondering if anyone knew any sites that are using piki and are considered in the top 3 as far as stores opened.

I would like to get some feedback from them who may have 100 or 200 stores opened to let us know how it works at that level and what feedback their store owners are telling them as far as the software working or not.

I figure if there are sites with alot of stores and they are making money then to me that means the software works on some level.

Just looking for input


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## Riderz Ready

rushorderprints1 said:


> I was wondering if anyone knew any sites that are using piki and are considered in the top 3 as far as stores opened.
> 
> I would like to get some feedback from them who may have 100 or 200 stores opened to let us know how it works at that level and what feedback their store owners are telling them as far as the software working or not.
> 
> I figure if there are sites with alot of stores and they are making money then to me that means the software works on some level.
> 
> Just looking for input


From our experience to have a 100-200 stores operating you would have to have 1,000-2,000 affiliates. We have found that for every 10 that open a store 1 may actually be viable. The only way we saw of this concept working was Piki's commitment to release their "portal" many months back befor Wilcom entered the picture. With a portal you really could look and operate as Zazzle/CafePress. This would allow the small on-line store operators the ability to be in a shopping mall environment and thus increase the likelyhood of exposure and sales. Most affiliates have no experience on such things as SEO, etc. thus will never gain the exposure needed to operate successfully. Without the portal the vast majority of affiliates are basically taking up space.


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## Daniel Slatkin

The software works ver 1.0 at least. My main concern is with so many dissatisfied customers and things always changing, how long are they going to still be in business. It makes me wounder how smart it is to have a business based on a system that seams to be dying. From what I am hearing those of you on version 1.5 can't even sign up affiliates or process orders. Like I said in an earlier post you can Expect about 1 out of 10 affiliates that sign up to be serious about their stores. So out of every 100 stores you get to sign up you can expect about 10 good selling stores. Things are going good for us but with this economy you can't expect much, so far this year new affiliate store sign ups are up but sales are way down. On the other hand we completely redeveloped the front end of our system and that probably explains the increase in affiliate sign ups.
We had a great Christmas season, Valentines day has been a flop.


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## Daniel Slatkin

Mark I was just typing the same thing. Even with the portal and the support forum we have set up we only feature the affiliates that take their stores seriously. And even with help you still only average 1 out of 10 serious affiliates.


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## JPD

When we met with the Sales Manager before and when we signed-up, I specifically asked if the transactions were based on product, #'s of prints or completed sales (ie: one shopping cart with numerous different items). I was told that one transaction equaled to one completed sale, no matter what was in the cart. 

I have heard or received nothing from Wilcom/DecoNetwork saying that has changed.

Eric


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## rushorderprints1

Totally true, I have had the software for not about 2 1/2 weeks and I have 15 stores and I must say only 1 is serious, the others are incomplete or have done nothing to them or visited them since they were created.

I am thinking instead of advertising for people to open a store. I think it is easier to maybe go to schools and businesses and actually have stores that will get traffic immediately.

For example, a restaurant where the employees can go to the store to order uniforms etc... or schools where they can order basketball or baseball shirts with their name on it but have the school promote it.

I think that way you have more credible and profitable stores, instead of joe blows apparel line that don't even know what google ads or seo is.

What about this? offering store owners for a fee per month to do a ad campaign for them, they pay you to manage it??? or maybe charge them to design their store for them for a fee??

Any ideas???


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## rushorderprints1

I think helping their stores become successful only helps your pocket and theirs. They need some guidance, so for a fee that may be a good idea.

We have to remember they don't know the business like we do, and with piki they dont have the option of having their designs on our main site for purchase. If that were the case I could advertise my homepage and the stores would make money instantly from my traffic, like cafe and zazzle.

Since we can't do that we have to work harder to make our store owners more successful


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## bluetooter

JPD said:


> When we met with the Sales Manager before and when we signed-up, I specifically asked if the transactions were based on product, #'s of prints or completed sales (ie: one shopping cart with numerous different items). I was told that one transaction equaled to one completed sale, no matter what was in the cart.
> 
> I have heard or received nothing from Wilcom/DecoNetwork saying that has changed.
> 
> Eric


Once again, there is a huge communication problem which Wilcom has already admitted to. It is not surprising that the pricing is confusing and completely misunderstood.

There is a Deconetwork distributor that is now advertising and stated in their website that transactions are not based on a single total sale:

Wilcom's DecoNetwork Online T Shirt Design Software T Shirt Website Template

_"Apex Online Designers is proud to be a key distributor of the DecoNetwork software by Wilcom"_

All of the examples I provided came from this website since Wilcom's site has no realistic explanation and statements from sales reps are at best misleading and conflicting. That we have learned over the last 6 months with unrealized promises.


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## wdkrause

According to their web site DecoNetwork and Wilcom International Pty Ltd : Pricing the definition is "*a transaction is defined as a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge". Note especially the words "line order". 

The problem with affiliate stores is that each has to start basically from scratch. There does not seem to be a way to clone a store and pass custom products to populate the affiliate store OR a way to offer a percentage of sale commission to any referring site (sales affililiates, as opposed to affiliate stores). This would also increase inbound links for SEO as well as boosting exposure. The pieces are there but they just can't seem to put them together in a way that benefits us (and therefore themselves).


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## bluetooter

rushorderprints1 said:


> ...I am thinking instead of advertising for people to open a store. I think it is easier to maybe go to schools and businesses and actually have stores that will get traffic immediately.
> 
> For example, a restaurant where the employees can go to the store to order uniforms etc... or schools where they can order basketball or baseball shirts with their name on it but have the school promote it....


I agree, that is what we were planning all along. We have so many schools, universities and corporate clients and we already promoted the idea and they were like, lets do it! It was an easy sell, no problem, BUT it is now completely unrealized and we look like idiots.

We were not planning to have the automatic setup link, but just having a page for inquiries, that provides us with the ability to prescreen who is who and not waste alot of time and effort. The big problem which I raised months ago is that there is no control over what affiliates can offer as designs, so what if someone decides to start selling copyrighted, trademarked or licensed designs that are not authorized, or what about smut and pornography. Big liability problem.

Fortunately, we did not lose any customers, just blamed it on unreliable software developers! That seems to be par for the course.


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## bluetooter

wdkrause said:


> ...a transaction is defined as a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge". Note especially the words "line order...


Yes, I had seen that, but that is part of the communication problem, that is why I brought it up. Why does a sales rep say one thing and a distributor another? It is not clearly written in exact unmistakable terminology. Deconetwork has to clarify clearly in writing to all of us what it means.


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## Riderz Ready

rushorderprints1 said:


> Totally true, I have had the software for not about 2 1/2 weeks and I have 15 stores and I must say only 1 is serious, the others are incomplete or have done nothing to them or visited them since they were created.
> 
> I am thinking instead of advertising for people to open a store. I think it is easier to maybe go to schools and businesses and actually have stores that will get traffic immediately.
> 
> For example, a restaurant where the employees can go to the store to order uniforms etc... or schools where they can order basketball or baseball shirts with their name on it but have the school promote it.
> 
> I think that way you have more credible and profitable stores, instead of joe blows apparel line that don't even know what google ads or seo is.
> 
> What about this? offering store owners for a fee per month to do a ad campaign for them, they pay you to manage it??? or maybe charge them to design their store for them for a fee??
> 
> Any ideas???


You are on the right track! Most affiliates can not and will not create decent stores. They will start, get frustrated and abandon. The only way to get great affiliates is as mentioned above with a service to actually create the stores for them. Again, if Piki released the portal many months back the stores would not be as important as people could sell designs without stores. It would of been great.

One more thing to consider - If you realize how many people start stores and quit due to confusion do you ever wonder how many people do the same thing when creating a jersey, shirt, etc? How many lost sales do you have due to people not being able to complete their design? In our market we deal with $65 jerseys and a lost sale is fairly significant. How many people have started a custom jersey/shirt/etc. saved it and never went back? That is a goldmine of potential sales if we were able to get that information from Piki so that we could send an email to offering our assistance. We even offered to pay Piki to have a script written to retrieve this information but they were to busy creating the mess that is now the new release.


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## bluetooter

On-line Jerseys said:


> ...If you realize how many people start stores and quit due to confusion do you ever wonder how many people do the same thing when creating a jersey, shirt, etc? How many lost sales do you have due to people not being able to complete their design?....How many people have started a custom jersey/shirt/etc. saved it and never went back?


EXACTLY! I brought this up to Greg at Piki months ago. There is no ability to communicate with a user, no idea what designs are in progress, no control over affiliate stores, even if a customer wants to email a design the system does not even request "their e-mail" - how are we supposed to reply when you don't know where it came from. It is just one more important topic of the backend that was ignored.


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## JPD

My questions were directed to, and answered by, the National Sales Manager in my area, as well as my local "distributor".

Eric


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## bluetooter

The problem that many of us have been experiencing over that past several months, is that what is being said verbally and what is reality are two totally different things.

I would not rely on anything that is being said from Piki or Wilcom or Deconetwork and ONLY rely on what is in writing.


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## wdkrause

Greg at Piki has always been a great asset and very responsive. But, apparently Piki-Deko Wilcom, et al have been persuing their own path despite (our) customer feedback and requests. Branden, can you please let us know who is calling the shots there so that we can have the portal, pricing and other requested issues addressed rather than the beta bells and whistles initiative that does not seem to be meeting customer and market needs. Many of us know that the critical elements are there and that some relatively minor changes could greatly improve the reputation of the system and its usefulness to everyone (not to mention promoting Piki-Deko Wilcom's own sales, i.e, win-win).


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## rushorderprints1

I am lost are you telling me that if a person orders a white shirt with joe on it and a blue shirt with jack on it and they order it together, that is 2 transaction fees for 1 order?

if this is the case that is crazy, it should be per order transaction...
meaning if a person ordered 7 designs with 10 shirts per design that should be 1 order transaction.


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## bluetooter

That is part of the failure of Wilcom to communicate!

It is stated that transactions are not complete orders, but "line orders", so any variation on an order, i.e. change of item, change of design, change of print location, change of item color - constitutes a transaction fee because its a new "line order"!

This is exactly the way it is explained on the distributors website which I listed before. So a single total order can be made up of many "line orders".

So if you thought that a complete order was costing $1.33 per transaction, in reality depending on all the customer variations, it could cost 10x times that amount.


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## kenscott

I emailed wilcom directly from the email that was enclosed with that lengthy excuse of a letter. I have not been answered. They must have changed the transaction limit. This is the example they give on their site.

*a transaction is defined as a line order for a unique product of any size/quantity which may or may not include a set of decorative designs
e.g. a blue polo shirt with embroidered left pocket logo and printed back - 3 Medium, 2 Large, 4 Xlarge

If its 1 order from 1 person for 3 med, 2 large, 4 xlarge polo shirt with " I'VE BEEN SCAMMED" EMBROIDERED ON IT AND 
3 LARGE SHIRTS, 3 XLARGE SHIRTS WITH "BETA TESTER FOR HIRE" ON IT 
BUT THIS IS 1 ORDER FROM 1 PERSON...
HOW MANY TRANSACTIONS IS THIS?
they use to have this mentioned on the site. it is not on the site any more... it use to describe this as 1 transaction.
luckily I printed all that out before we joined.

I think I am going to send this to our attorneys. This would be a great case if we have to go that far to get our money back.

WE should pool together on this one!


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## bluetooter

The question to now ask is who is Apex Online??

They are claiming to be a Deconetwork distributor and all of the same information from deconetwork has been copied.

Pricing - Online T Shirt Design Software DTG Screen Print embroidery Website Shirt Software Affiliate stores

They are quoting and providing examples of transaction costs. So who is telling the truth? I am not even sure what the truth is anymore!


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## rushorderprints1

Lol to be honest, I know the transaction fees are crazy, but I can't even get a order using the software.

I would be happy to pay a fee, that would mean I am atleast getting orders, but I get more people calling me saying they can't upload a image correctly and the checkout times out with a error message


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## wdkrause

If your customer creates a design (or choses a fixed product; with or without a design), they can specify any mix of sizes. If they change ANYTHING (name on the back, etc.) = ADDITIONAL TRANSACTION for each variation. 

The definition is still on their site just under the cost per transaction table.

If Branden (with Piki-Deko Wilcom) would please verify the intent to continue this definition of "transaction" or revise it to something more store-owner friendly, that would certainly help us all on determining if it works for any of their customers (us).


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## kenscott

Well, I just checked my email and I have 2 response emails...One from Greg addressing the clip art issues that we are having..(Great!) 
And another email from Wilcom...
_I will keep you posted guys...They are going to call me tomorrow ..
any questions we need to ask other than the ones I am going to ask?
upload clipart?
bugs with prices?
when will their clipart be available?
what in the heck is a transaction? ( I think this should be 1 order from whoever be it 1 shirt or 100 shirts with 100 different things on them if it is placed at the same time? ( is this what you guys think? )

any thing I am overlooking?
thanks
guys..
and thanks to Greg and Wilcom for getting back with me.

_


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## jlgill

brenden said:


> We have failed to sufficiently communicate the plans and current status of the software has been a failure and as a result misconceptions and misunderstandings have arisen. We recognise that this is our failure and we are committed to resolving this now.
> 
> Of course, like all leading edge technologies, some early glitches and changes are to be expected. We sincerely apologize for some recent issues some customers have been experiencing. The majority of the defects mentioned have been resolved today. We are working tirelessly to deliver an exceptional product.
> 
> As a company, Wilcom highly values early adopters and the entrepreneurship and industry insight you bring. This is why we have chosen to be open in our approach to Beta testing and allow customers to help shape this product to be the best possible.
> 
> In some cases the availability of a Beta version to some users was not properly handled. This did result in some users becoming frustrated by their experience. We completely understand this situation and undoubtedly this was a failure to correctly communicate the beta stability and manage expectations. Having said that, we will be working to improve stability of Beta versions in future but we are mindful of communicating the true intent of Beta and the potential impact of a Beta version on a business. Beta is ultimately designed to provide early access to people willing to assist in finding problems with the software and help us in fixing them before major release. Communication is key and we clearly did not communicate this well enough.


 
I've been reading this thread since it was first posted. This mea culpa had me rolling. I can't believe they placed this written post online given the allegations of unfair and deceptive acts regarding a service they received money for.


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## stco

I was interested in this product and thought Wilcom does a good job on thier website advertising this product. I emailed them a couple questions (3 times now) and have not received a response back yet. This certainly doesn't help the company if the sales department won't answer emails. I have also tried to call them 5 times and always get a voicemail. Doesn't anyone answer the phone? I guess wilcom has so much money they don't need more sales.
I have been reading this forum for the past couple weeks. It seems most of it is negative toward Piki/Wilcom. Is there anything good about this product or should I give up and find something else? It certainly hasn't been a good start if I can't get a salesperson to answer my emails or the phone.


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## bluetooter

Wilcom is processing refunds for those that want it. My suggestion is to either look elsewhere if you need a tool now, or take another look later this year. At this time, Deconetwork has too many problems with this software to deal with which are affecting their ability to deliver a properly working and reliable product, despite all that advertising.


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## rushorderprints1

bluetoot,

They emailed me today about a conference call concerning the questions we wanted answered. I missed the call did you get a chance to talk with them or did anyone on this post??

to see if changes are coming or if they have anything positive to say?


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## Daniel Slatkin

I heard nothing. It is so nice to never get updates or any news fron piki/Deco. At least you get E-mails.


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## bluetooter

I received an e-mail from Brenden yesterday probably at the same time as you did. He wanted to have a call this afternoon, but I was busy with appointments.

I asked for AND received a full refund this morning and never received any further correspondence from him other than confirming that they processed a refund and cancelled my site.

What is also disturbing is that noone from Piki/Deconetwork is responding to any inquiries or posts on the internal forum as well. So much for improving communication.

The following is the text from the e-mail I sent to Brenden yesterday:

Brenden,

I have a full day of appointments tomorrow, so that will not work (evenings are best and work better with the 15 hour time difference). I would prefer that all concerns be answered in writing to alleviate any further confusion. Much of the problems have all been created because too many representatives "saying" too many different things. I think it is imperative that you answer all the questions and concerns that have been posed by myself and many others. There are paying users who have posted concerns within the DecoNetwork Forum who have not received proper replies as well.

Communication along with a non-functioning product is your big problem right now and you need to calm alot of growing concerns, otherwise DecoNetwork along with Wilcoms reputation will utterly fail. Here you are coming up on the next ISS show 30 days since you debuted v1.5 in California and it still does not work properly, public opinion is failing, there is no clipart, there are no stock embroidery designs, there are serious image upload problems, existing customers have not been migrated and face further delays, fee structures are confusing and lack clear definition. How can Wilcom honestly and legitmately market this product again at any upcoming ISS show or other trade events knowing and understanding what is going on?

I hate saying I told you so, but back on January 28th:

_"From a business point of view, it would have been better for Wilcom to come to market with a fine tuned completed printing TOOL, wow the marketplace, sign up lots of users, and have embroidery on the horizon, rather than a hodgepodge of non or partially working elements. You need to focus on incorporating administrative backend solutions quickly as part of 1.5. If you think that I am disappointed just wait until all those visitors at the ISS show who signed on find out what the limitations are and get just as impatient waiting for your development team to catch up."_


We really want this product to work, but cannot rely on the timing, progress and direction the development is taking. We are willing and available to assist you and Wilcom with this endeavor, the choice is yours.


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## kenscott

They are going to call me today... I think I am going to just cancel the service. I will join again if an when they have it 100% ready.
Ken


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## Riderz Ready

I did speak with Brenden and Greg today and left with a much better sense of what had happened and what is planned for the future. Having already installed RSK and ExpertLogo I knew there was nothing else on the market that was close to the orginal concept and functionality of Piki. Obviously there has been a severe lack of communication between Wilcom and the user base. It also appears to be a significant miscommunication between what is the live version and what is the beta version which is another error that Wilcom lives up to. On the plus side the portal is becoming a reality which is key for us. There are several phases of the release. If this functionality is key to your success I would definitley spend a few moments with Brenden and Gregg to understand it fully as once fully deployed will allow people to post designs for sale without creating a full store. Very exciting for my market. As important is the future of Piki. The announced relationship with Corel is pretty significant and will allow for additional functionality that no other on-line tool will come close to being able to match. Now, if you only want somone to add simple Times Roman text to a design it may not matter to you but for creating efects second to none it will be a great solution. More important for Corel to integrate to the level they soon will it truly indicates an open ended architecture that will allow for other partners and products to "bolt" onto the solution that programs written in Flash, etc. would never be able to do. 

Although one call did not erase all the concerns I have with the Wilcom-Piki solution it did motivate us to sit back evaluate the portal and continue to communicate with Piki. As of today I am not aware of any other solution that is bringing a true portal to market. If the portal comes to life as described in todays call I can see Piki being a critical part of our business growth.


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## kenscott

I also spoke with them on the phone also, I am at ease a little more where things are going. I also asked them to put our account on "HOLD" and to start our subscription when it was 100% complete. I am really still concerned about the transaction limit and payments. It will be on a pay scale, ex. meaning that a $6.00 shirt will be around 15.00 for a line order...and no more than 2.00 for a line transaction ex. 
5 small , 6 med 15 large, 45 x l 30 jackets with the same thing.
( that's they way I took it anyway )
That may kill me on (example) a corporate softball team order.. .45 shirts with the same front and 45 different backs (names and numbers) This would be 1 order but 45 different transaction. Could cost you 45 to 50 for 1 order..
Thats not going to be good.

 I will sit and wait till this get's going.... I am switching my site back to another version till it is ready to go.

Ken


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## bluetooter

I've been emailing Brenden and I guess all of us are supposed to be on a conference call later today, so we can discuss this more then.

BUT, remember the issue is that there have been significant promises that have been made since the Summer of 2008 and ALL of them remain unfulfilled. Yes, they are proposing lots of great ideas and features, but those were basically the same promises that have been constantly repeated since last year. The Corel partnership, embroidery, portals and all the rest are nothing new. AND the pricing is ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever.

My issue is, we all get wowed with promises, but its RESULTS that we want, not more starry-eyed promises.

We received a full refund so we are not incurring any more costs, but that does not mean that we are not interested. We will not agree to pay anymore money until such time as:

1 The system is GUARANTEED bug and error free!
2 Features that were promised are delivered and work as proposed!
3 Committments to timeframes must be honored with no exceptions!


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## rushorderprints1

I have decided to go ahead and cancel the piki service today with Brenden.

I had 2 store owners, the actual 2 that are meaninful and have great stores that are advertising their stores through google and so on want to cancel their stores through me because of customer complaints to them about not being able to checkout properly, that is unacceptable that makes me, and the store owner look like we run a bad business and not know what we are doing, not to mention the ad dollars spent from me to get the stores opened and the ad dollars the store owner spent to get his customers their.

That alone broke the straw on the camels back for me.

The software is not even close to being functional for a top level website.

I have been using ossdesigner.com software now for my core designer for almost 2 years and have to say it is by far the best priced and most reliable custom product store front solution. I have taken almost 5,000 orders with that designer with not one single issue as far as a customer purchase is concerned or any other issues for that matter.

They are working right now on a list of new features that are going to make their software even better, and the best part is the features are actually going to get done not be a broken promise.

I recommend all piki subscribers to check them out, or go to www.ossdesigner.com and give Chris a call and he can answer any questions regarding the advantages of this software over the rest.

I gave Piki a try to open stores outside of my own to bring in additional revenue, but just not functional at this point


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## Parkwood

After I realized that Piki wasn't the solution because of their numerous problems I checked most of the other designers. The one thing that turned me off about Expert logo (ossdesigner.com) was how slow the design interface loads. I have a certain tolerance as to how long I'll wait for something to load and each time, without extended patience, I would have not waited as a customer. Is this just me or is it a concern of others and current customers?


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## rushorderprints1

The loading time to me is average. If I go to cafepress or zazzle or even customink, they are all within a second or 2 of each other. I don't think it is a real big deal it also depends on the persons computer speed as well as internet connection. I haven't had any customers in 2 years call or email and say the loading was to slow, but if you go to piki lol you may get to their designer a hair quicker, but wow your gonna have fun after that trying to complete the order.


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## bluetooter

Piki loads faster initially because it is using Java, whereas the others are using flash.

Flash is heavily dependent on RAM and CPU processing along with the internet speed, so it all depends on what you are used to.

As far as piki goes, who cares right now if its Java or Flash, at least many of those other sites work properly! Unless you are willing to shell out 10's of thousands of dollars to have your own site created, there are not alot of options.

ossdesigner by far appears to be the most popular tool that is being used.


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## Chrisatexpert

I am very appreciative of what I have read from our store owners and others that are familiar with the ossdesigner solution. One thing that I have gathered from this thread is that there is a growing need for affiliate programs. Even though our model is a little different than our competition, affiliate programs can be accomplished with our software.
We offer a proven solution that has the flexibility to bend and mold to meet the needs of the constantly changing demands of this industry. I look forward to any questions you may have.

Chris


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## Parkwood

I know this is a little off topic but rather than starting a separate topic, I figured I'd ask it here as I know lots of you know your stuff.

Does Spreadshirt.com use their own dedicated designer software or do they use a commercially available application?

I like the fact that they offer pre-designed styles that you can see as a t-shirt and then load into the designer and customize. That's a feature I haven't seen presented by anyone else.


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## Jamey

Chrisatexpert said:


> I am very appreciative of what I have read from our store owners and others that are familiar with the ossdesigner solution. One thing that I have gathered from this thread is that there is a growing need for affiliate programs. Even though our model is a little different than our competition, affiliate programs can be accomplished with our software.
> We offer a proven solution that has the flexibility to bend and mold to meet the needs of the constantly changing demands of this industry. I look forward to any questions you may have.
> 
> Chris


Very interesting. I just got off the phone with your developer as you were on the other line. He explained me how an affiliate type of system would work. Not bad, but I would love to see it be able to have a control panel for our affiliates and the ability for them to get paid their markup automatically on top of me getting my wholesale price. That would be the shizz.


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## Jamey

I'm not going to wait around for a miracle with Pikiwear/Deconetwork. I need something before spring.

The more I see of *OSSDESIGNER*, the more I think I am going to go with it. You can do something like an affiliate or fulfillment system with it for sure. It seems to work real smooth and the people who have it aren't complaining. Pretty easy to implement into an already established site also. You just drop an iframe into the html body and the store is up. It's pretty customizable also. *OSSDESIGNER* keeps it simple and straight to the point. I can install it on multiple sites too.


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## Riderz Ready

Jamey said:


> I'm not going to wait around for a miracle with Pikiwear/Deconetwork. I need something before spring.
> 
> The more I see of *OSSDESIGNER*, the more I think I am going to go with it. You can do something like an affiliate or fulfillment system with it for sure. It seems to work real smooth and the people who have it aren't complaining. Pretty easy to implement into an already established site also. You just drop an iframe into the html body and the store is up. It's pretty customizable also. *OSSDESIGNER* keeps it simple and straight to the point. I can install it on multiple sites too.


 
I bought and installed both OSS Designer and RSK before Piki. From one that has experienced all three in a live environment I can say there is nothing that comes close to Piki. You will never be able to understand whether a system will work for you till you have used it for at least 30 days. Unfortuantely those are expensive lessons learned. OSS Designer does have tools for screen printers that the orginal Piki ddoes not but in our market, dye sublimation, the screen printing functionality makes for unneccessary key strokes and confusion to an end user. 

If you need something now and do not mind investing in older technology it may be a wise option. For us I would rather have a few growing pains knowing that the technology, features and functions Piki is working towards is in a class by themselves.


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## rushorderprints1

I think Piki has potential, but it doesnt make any difference if a person gets a error messages when they try and check out on version 1.5, and can't complete the order

I would go with the software that works 24/7 with no bugs, rather then software that has great features but none work lol 

I wish them great luck with their designer, but I would hate to build 100's of stores that don't work then find out you can do the same thing on ossdesigner, and it works, then you can't convert your store owners to new software you just lose them and have to start from scratch


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## digifacmp

Hi!
I am not sure if anyone has seen this. Its really amazing. Welcome to Aviary
If it could be done for ecommerce, would be wonderful.
Manoj


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## bluetooter

WOW! That is the most unbelievable site that I have ever seen. Its a FREE online site with browser based graphic design tools equal to Illustrator, Corel and Photoshop combined.

Absolutely amazing!


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## TPrintDesigner

Updated pricing information DecoNetwork and DecoNetwork Solutions: Pricing


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## bluetooter

Yes, that is in line with some of my discussions with Brenden this past week. The only clarification is whether they are going to charge for product color changes. Brenden had agreed with me that they were going to look at how their system deals with line items and tentatively agreed that they were going to address that issue.


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## bob emb

Hello Everyone,

Bob McCormack here. I am very new to piki and stood back during the blood letting. I just saw the new pricing and it is still unclear. The biggest thing that iI do not understand is this

20.00-49.99
50.00-99.99
100.00-199.99
200.00+

these all have the same point value, can someone explain this to me. If you looked at the sample order with line transactions all the above amounts were used but all carry the same value.

Also what is it with the decal/stickers I do not even know what that is. Could someone please explain.

Regards,

Bob


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## Riderz Ready

bob emb said:


> Hello Everyone,
> 
> Bob McCormack here. I am very new to piki and stood back during the blood letting. I just saw the new pricing and it is still unclear. The biggest thing that iI do not understand is this
> 
> 20.00-49.99
> 50.00-99.99
> 100.00-199.99
> 200.00+
> 
> these all have the same point value, can someone explain this to me. If you looked at the sample order with line transactions all the above amounts were used but all carry the same value.
> 
> Also what is it with the decal/stickers I do not even know what that is. Could someone please explain.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bob


QFT - Anytime pricing needs to be reexplained following the explanation there is an issue. I have yet to figure out why it needs to be so complicated. Not sure why it can not be as simple as percent of the wholesale or retail price? Seems to work for PayPal and allows store owners to easily calculate cost.


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## bob emb

Makes sense to me. If the order totals a certain amount then maybe an escalating percentage would be very easy to understand. KISS keep it simple stupid.

Bob


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## bluetooter

I discussed this at length with Brenden and can only get so far with him. I agree that the issue of transaction costs per line item is still not the way to go. Wilcom is bent on the concept that an annual fee is not enough. I am not against a company providing a service, but charging for every line item in an order when you are not doing anything other than providing a "platform" to process orders is not fair.

Credit card processing companies charge a flat rate to process a sale, why can't Wilcom? Imagine if you paid a high annual fee for credit card processing PLUS transaction fees for every line item a customer bought. You would go out of business.

Brenden is operating under the misconception that ALL of the other sites including OSSdesigner charge 10% of gross sales as a fee, even though that is not true. So that is part of their justification for transaction costs. And for some reason he feels that a low flat percentage is not workable for them and unacceptable to "their" customers.

Personally either they should charge a monthly or annual fee, or a reasonable flat rate percentage of sales, but not both. Unfortunately, Wilcom has not put alot of thought into this venture and it shows.


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## Chrisatexpert

Ossdesigner does not charge a per transaction fee, whether you make 10 sales or 10,000 sales you pay the same monthly flat rate. No charges for clipart, no monthly / yearly sales caps, nothing.


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## stylee

I have been lurking for quite some time keeping tabs on Pikiware and its morph into Deconetwork. Pikiware seemed so promising like it was going to be the one to beat. I am not quite sure why they decided to partner with Wilcom. It seems all the hype leading up to this partnership took all the steam out. Soft releases arent good. Now all their competitors are grinning and finding ways to plug the hole Pikiware left behind. I think the majority of the users wanted the DTG/screen printing solution along with the affiliate portal and their cool viral marketing tools. Now with Wilcom onboard, it seems as if Wilcom is flexing their muscles at Pikiware and *doing with them as they please.* Pikiware seems much more of an organic company. *Wilcom seems like the glove that doesnt fit Piki.* While adding embroidery and partnering with corel etc etc may be nice, most people dont need all that. They are complicating themselves into a hole. I imagine the guys like Ossdesigner and RSK are already looking at this situation and figuring out how add an affiliate portal and viral marketing tools to their service. I have seen three or four different pricing models and all of them are *confusing as heck*. This last credit type pricing scheme is a little better, but why dont they just *do it by the order* instead of using credits per line item.... this is getting more *silly* by the day. _If_ I were Pikiware, I would look hard at their contract with Wilcom and *lose them* if they could. Go back to their roots of "*Organic Growth"* and bring back the Viral Tools! 
*BRING BACK PIKIWARE!!!*


----------



## wdkrause

I'll second that. Piki was on a good track. Instead of trying to impress everyone with how complicated they can make something, just provide us (the customers) with a reliable, easy to use designer and the tools we need to market and develop our businesses. With that in mind, everything else becomes matter of course and win-win. Seems like the Wilcom push has really thrown them completely off the track that worked for their customers.


----------



## bluetooter

The big problem that I see is that Wilcom is going to make the entire package too expensive and too complicated and when online software gets too complicated it never works right. Like it does now!

I doubt that anyone has actually launched a store under the v1.5 flag and has made a sale. There still is no clipart, no embroidery designs and numerous issues which are supposed to get resolved in the near future, whatever that means.

Trying to have an online designer that mimicks all of the powerful Corel design tools for t-shirt printing and/or embroidery in an online environment is a disaster in the making. Embroidery on demand (EOD) may be fine for simple text or premade stock designs, but not for commercial logo embroidery where proper digitizing and hands on knowledge are absolutely required.

As far as online graphic design tools go, Aviary.com is unbelievable and works like nothing else I have seen, BUT unless you are a very skilled graphic artist or understand advanced drawing tools, its all moot!

If a tool is too complex for the *average consumer*, they WILL get frustrated and WILL leave your site. Thus all you have is an expensive advanced design tool that noone wants or is "able" to use.


----------



## Riderz Ready

stylee said:


> I have been lurking for quite some time keeping tabs on Pikiware and its morph into Deconetwork. Pikiware seemed so promising like it was going to be the one to beat. I am not quite sure why they decided to partner with Wilcom. It seems all the hype leading up to this partnership took all the steam out. Soft releases arent good. Now all their competitors are grinning and finding ways to plug the hole Pikiware left behind. I think the majority of the users wanted the DTG/screen printing solution along with the affiliate portal and their cool viral marketing tools. Now with Wilcom onboard, it seems as if Wilcom is flexing their muscles at Pikiware and *doing with them as they please.* Pikiware seems much more of an organic company. *Wilcom seems like the glove that doesnt fit Piki.* While adding embroidery and partnering with corel etc etc may be nice, most people dont need all that. They are complicating themselves into a hole. I imagine the guys like Ossdesigner and RSK are already looking at this situation and figuring out how add an affiliate portal and viral marketing tools to their service. I have seen three or four different pricing models and all of them are *confusing as heck*. This last credit type pricing scheme is a little better, but why dont they just *do it by the order* instead of using credits per line item.... this is getting more *silly* by the day. _If_ I were Pikiware, I would look hard at their contract with Wilcom and *lose them* if they could. Go back to their roots of "*Organic Growth"* and bring back the Viral Tools!
> *BRING BACK PIKIWARE!!!*


Some good points made. There feally are two separate markets. If one is looking for a solution that requires only the basic feature of adding text or a piece of clipart to a shirt then any of the solutions on the market will work. If you are looking for something more then you really need to research and study each solution as mistakes are costly as we know first hand. The pricing issue is complicated and no pricing scheme will be satisfactory for all people. OSS Designer is a perfect example. Their pricing revolves around number of products you have in the store and is complicated further as to what is a "product". Think of how many diferent products afiliates will want and you can see an issue as the affiliate owner. How a company calculates cost means little to me I just want to understand clearly the cost of doing business.

In regards to clipart and associated cost there is a definite line between standard clipart that OSS Designer, RSK and Piki have offered. These cliparts, no offense, are garbage. Very amature and thus free. In each case with OSS, RSK, and Piki we deleted all of them from the system as they are far from professional. Something that is free yet useless serves no purpose. Having the ability to link to professional images and vectors at a per cost rate is a viable option. There are many sites such as iStock that have used this model very successfully. 

Being an early adapter of Piki we have felt the pain of the Wilcom merger and which greatly limited our use of the system yet if they can work out the relationship this in the long term is a huge plus. The cost of software development has skyrocketed and the day of a small company being able to fund on-going enhancements, etc are coming to an end. The relationship of Wilcom and Corel opens the doors to significant opportunites and future enhancements. Being able to deal with vector files instead of jpg alone is significant. 

Summarizing our experience there are significant features and functions Piki has that other solutions simply do not offer. Should it be priced at the same as solutions that do not offer a turnkey solution? 

We have not drank the Wilcom cool-aide yet as we are still awaiting the portal and how the pricing will effect our business model. Until then we will sit and wait as it is dificult to have driven a Ferrari and walk away to drive a Ford.


----------



## bluetooter

On-line Jerseys said:


> We have not drank the Wilcom cool-aide yet as we are still awaiting the portal and how the pricing will effect our business model. Until then we will sit and wait as it is dificult to have driven a Ferrari and walk away to drive a Ford.
> 
> In regards to clipart and associated cost there is a definite line between standard clipart...offered. These cliparts, no offense, are garbage. Very amature and thus free....Something that is free yet useless serves no purpose. Having the ability to link to professional images and vectors at a per cost rate is a viable option.


We drank the cool-aide and then spit it out. At least we received a full refund and are now sitting on the sidelines. Deconetwork is not a Ferrari, it is a concept car that crashed on the test track.

Yes, I agree that pay per use "high quality" clipart is better than the cheesy stock stuff, but as of today, none of it exists, not even the cheap stuff. AND, noone has even broached the topic of how much "pay per use" will cost.

We outlined to Brenden our conditions for returning as a customer:

As we discussed, in order for us to consider resuming our arrangement with the Piki/Deconetwork, we want to see the following issues as a minimum resolved to our satisfaction:

1 Transaction costs must be clearly defined. As we discussed, as long as a transaction cost includes ALL aspects of a single "Product", meaning all colors, sizes and print/embroidery locations, then that seems to be more acceptable vs charging a transaction cost simply because a customer elects to change a products color.

2 Shipping costs need to be integrated and real time. This is important since shipping costs can vary dramatically by location AND many customers require the option of expedited production and/or faster shipping options.

3 The price table matrix that is used for embroidery must be applied to DTG printing. Printing costs must be totally and completely separated from apparel costs and should not be affected by markups or discounts. That is the purpose of a table.

4 Clipart and stock embroidery designs must be installed and working. If any of these are pay per use, then the option should be available to either charge the customer or keep the cost internal so that we do not nickel and dime a customer for a cost that we may consider to be a business expense in order to induce that sale.

5 Paypal is a problematic gateway and WILL cause a certain percentage of sales to fail or be declined. You need to consider having Google Checkout as an alternative.


----------



## stylee

I truly hope they can pull this off. The idea that you can seamlessly and transparently create an on-demand fulfillment/affiliate shop online is truly unique. Sure the bells and whisles would be nice (corel etc) but what they had before Wilcom was leaps and bounds ahead of the nearest competition. Vector files, effects, etc are becoming easier to do online (Adobe, Xara, Aviary etc.). It would be only a matter of time before vector and effects would be integrated even without Corel.
As for pricing, I can see some of the good points to the pricing being higher. It weeds out some of the smaller shops whom would be in competition with you. But moreover I see it as a way for Wilcom to weed out the small shops whom would rarely go over their deco-credit limit. They would rather have the larger shops because these shops would be more likely to go over their deco-credit limit thus increasing revenue for Wilcom. There is no "Unlimited Deco-Credits" plan. I wonder if they have any plans for that sort of plan. Also, I think that they could make good revenue by giving a low end plan that would be free to the decorators, but charge a higher percentage of their profits (like the old piki plans). I am sure they have calculated reasons for their pricing and policies, but the constant changes, miscommunuications, and delays are really wearing thin. I am really just airing my frustrations because I wanted to hang my hat on this system, but am quickly being reminded to hold your own and never rely on anything other than my own business. Trust me though, I will hop on that train as soon as its chuggin unless another trains come steaming by . One of which is the Art Studio people. They seem like they are on the right track as far as text, effects, high quality clip art (even their standard clip art is advanced in its color editing), team names and numbers. Now if this company were to go live with an affiliate based system...Ahh I can only wish....
But back to the relationship between Wilcom on Pikiware.... I just see Wilcom trying to force the solution where piki was on the path to "ORGANIC GROWTH".


----------



## stylee

stylee said:


> Vector files, effects, etc are becoming easier to do online (Adobe, Xara, Aviary etc.). It would be only a matter of time before vector and effects would be integrated even without Corel.
> .


Xara actually used to be part of Corel too. Graphics Software by Xara It used to be call CorelXara.


----------



## stco

I think this website needs embroidery only option. I don't have a DTG or screen printing equipment and it would be nice to see just embroidery.


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## ourbod

If I already have my own site that does not allow me to have a store, and I want to use Piki, how to I handle the url's, I don't want to give up my site, but really need a site that does the design, management and shopping card.


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## dkprint

You can use your own url in the deconetwork product such a ourbod.com. You can even use it as a master domain for your stores. ie, shirts.ourbod.com, apparel.ourbod.com, coolprints.ourbod.com.


----------



## Chrisatexpert

Why can't you add a store to your existing site?


----------



## jlgill

bob emb said:


> Hello Everyone,
> 
> Bob McCormack here. I am very new to piki and stood back during the blood letting. I just saw the new pricing and it is still unclear. The biggest thing that iI do not understand is this
> 
> 20.00-49.99
> 50.00-99.99
> 100.00-199.99
> 200.00+
> 
> these all have the same point value, can someone explain this to me. If you looked at the sample order with line transactions all the above amounts were used but all carry the same value.


I agree. It seems that all "line transactions" with a value of at least $20 costs 1 credit. 

They probably left the pricing structure displayed this way so they can change it in the future. i.e. charge more for higher value of "line transactions". It wouldn't surprise me if they are trying to get everyone accustomed to the pricing structure before changing it and justifying it when they live up to everything that has been promised.


----------



## bob emb

JIGILL,

You may be correct, sounds like bait and switch. If they make the $200.00 line transaction higher the blood letting will be a thing of the past. IT WILL BE WILCOMS LAST STAND, NOT CUSTERS.

Bob


----------



## dkprint

Chrisatexpert said:


> Why can't you add a store to your existing site?


You can. There is no limit to the number of stores.


----------



## zaniejanie

justmark said:


> Yes you can add your own clipart, as many as you would like. Your affiliates or sub stores have the ability to add clipart as well. We will have built into the system very soon the ability for the end user (customer) to change the various colors in a clipart say a red shoe to green. At this time we have approx 5000 color images that all colors in a design can be changed and 3500 1 color design that the color can be changed.


Justmark - I realize your post is from a year ago, but I hope you are still out there and can answer my question about the colors you brought up here. I looked on your site but didn't see any examples. 

We are an established business with our own art that customers can custom color. (Well, we do it for them, but we are looking to automate.) Would we be able to set specific colors in a design that can be changed, and set the colors that they can be changed to?

Like a red hair bow can be changed to a pink or orange that we have chosen?

If you have an example of this, I would really like to see it.


----------



## Riderz Ready

To anyone that talked to Brenden on the phone - Did he follow up on ANYTHING that was discussed on your call?


----------



## bluetooter

Lots of discussion, but no actual changes have happened. Basically the status and features of the tool remain unchanged since weeks ago.

They added more clarification to the pricing structure, BUT did not change the concept of charging for every line item, so everytime a customer orders a different color shirt, you get charged a transaction fee.

No communication on status, except that its "still coming", "we are going to fix it", or "I will look into that!" What else is new.


----------



## bluetooter

Has anyone seen anything or heard anything from Piki or Deconetwork?

There has been no emails, no communication, no updates, no progress on any changes since...well for a very long time. The last I heard the software for v1.5 became unstable and noone with v1.0 was going to be upgraded for another 30 days or more...


----------



## rushorderprints1

I have cancelled my subsription and have been very happy with ossdesigner. I have tripled my orders since not using piki. I see that they have not made any updates except for clarification of line orders and credits. Just for the record I took a 1500.00 order the other day on ossdesigner and had 5 different types of designs on one order and as any other order through them it was free all you pay for is hosting after set up.

It just makes me wonder how they could put out version 1.5 and it not work at all. I mean wow you think they would have tested it enough to make sure it could actually take a order.

I wish them well.


----------



## kenscott

I also contacted them to cancel my subscription. I haven't heard anything back.. Really sad.


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## kenscott

I also told them to cancel my subscription also. They are keeping us from potential business waiting and waiting.. and they told be to just keep checking back...What tha?
I want my money back too.
Ken


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## justmark

bluetooter (Larry). you where using OSS designer and changed to Piki and then back to OSS designer.Did you not leave Wilcom software in February with a full refund ? Why are you continuing talking about deconetwork if you are not using it and really never went live with your site ? I am starting to feel that you have been associated with OSS designer this whole time and was just using pikiware to try to knock it off and bad mouth it on the forums.


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## bluetooter

Mark, As usual you have no idea what you are talking about! I never signed up for or used OSS designer at any time.

I have no issues with OSS designer, at least it is a proven working system and appears to live up to its promises. Although the Piki potential of bigger and better features still lingers and keeps us waiting for a resolution, but only for so long.

If Deconetwork cannot climb out of the giant hole it dug, (dug in part with your help), within the near future, then we will move on and consider other viable software solutions.

Yes, I AND OTHERS received a refund which is no secret and I posted that, however, I also have been maintaining conversations with Piki and Deco in the "hope" that we can use their system "IF" it ever really works as advertised. (I posted that as well). At least I have the ability to continue to review and comment on its progress, WITHOUT, having to worry about being out-of-pocket on any funds. Perhaps you seem to feel that getting a refund was hush money, well you are wrong!

Piki and Deconetwork created this problem, they have admitted that and as of today, they still do not have a working solution to all of their promises. v1.0 users still have never been upgraded. v1.5 remains unstable, and promised features and upgrades remain absent or unproven.

Yet, they and YOU continue to market and promote the product as if it is a proven and viable solution, which it is not. There are far too many companies that are being baited into signing up at ISS shows and online, and paying thousands of dollars based on false or misleading promises. I see a class action suit brewing!


----------



## Chrisatexpert

justmark said:


> bluetooter (Larry). you where using OSS designer and changed to Piki and then back to OSS designer.Did you not leave Wilcom software in February with a full refund ? Why are you continuing talking about deconetwork if you are not using it and really never went live with your site ? I am starting to feel that you have been associated with OSS designer this whole time and was just using pikiware to try to knock it off and bad mouth it on the forums.


Mark,

You and I have done business together in the past and when we went separate ways I was sincere when I wished you the best of luck in your ventures, with that being said you know that I don't need "spies" to increase the value of my product. I would appreciate it if you would not make ridiculous statements on a public forum and show a little more of the class that I know that you have.

Chris Blakely


----------



## Riderz Ready

Chrisatexpert said:


> Mark,
> 
> You and I have done business together in the past and when we went separate ways I was sincere when I wished you the best of luck in your ventures, with that being said you know that I don't need "spies" to increase the value of my product. I would appreciate it if you would not make ridiculous statements on a public forum and show a little more of the class that I know that you have.
> 
> Chris Blakely


"Class"? Trolling for business in a thread discussing a competitive product is at the least a questionable business practice.


----------



## Chrisatexpert

On-line Jerseys said:


> "Class"? Trolling for business in a thread discussing a competitive product is at the least a questionable business practice.



Last time I checked my software has been mentioned dozens of times in this thread. So don't I have a right to speak up? 
I haven't blatantly self promoted and have adhered to the guidelines that Rodney set. So what's the problem?


----------



## Riderz Ready

Chrisatexpert said:


> Last time I checked my software has been mentioned dozens of times in this thread. So don't I have a right to speak up?
> I haven't blatantly self promoted and have adhered to the guidelines that Rodney set. So what's the problem?


 
Amazing you do not even get it - When RSK, Piki etc start posting in a thread about OSS Designer it may sink in - - - Until then feel free to skirt the rules and troll for business in competitiors threads.


----------



## Jamey

On-line Jerseys said:


> Amazing you do not even get it - When RSK, Piki etc start posting in a thread about OSS Designer it may sink in - - - Until then feel free to skirt the rules and troll for business in competitiors threads.


Chris has a valid point. When one mentions his software, he has the right to respond. The same would go for the others in other posts.

This thread is about Pikiwear and there are obviously a lot of upset people who bought it that have posted above. When they try another software and like it, it is a good thing that they share their findings and comparisons...even in this thread.

Finally, I would like to add that I own and run several large sites where we have many advertisers/sponsors. We run things the same way for the most part. The only difference is, we drop sponsors with bad products.


----------



## kenscott

I have been emailing them to cancel my subscription and refund our money for 3 weeks. They won't respond to me! I got 2 emails at first. 1 said keep checking from time to time to see if we added the art. the 2nd said. you can have it free until we have it ready to go. I have spoke to my Lawyer about this. I am about to turn everything over to her..anybody else out their not getting any response or answers?

Does anybody have a number for the US that we can speak with.. I keep getting a recording when I call.


----------



## bluetooter

Call Wilcom in Georgia, ask for Frankie Rittenhouse. He has been riding some kind of shotgun on the problems with Piki/Deco.

If you are talking with an attorney, now would be a good time to address a class action suit on behalf of everyone.


----------



## kenscott

still no refund!!! i've called , i've emailed...nothing....


----------



## bluetooter

*Pikiware and Deconetwork - Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices*

Time to get serious about the next step! Besides not getting a refund, the tool has still not progressed any further than where it was months ago.

There are still cross browser operating problems, shopping cart checkout issues, no clipart or stock embroidery designs of any kind, noone from v1.0 was ever upgraded to v1.5 and a list of operational bugs.

Piki has announced that they are now going into "FEATURE FREEZE" which means they are suspending any new improvements or changes. They are concentrating on stability. Stability? Either a software tool has been tested properly for operational errors AND stability BEFORE it has been released or it hasn't.

Obviously, the deco network is a BETA test product, it always has been and it will continue to be nothing more than a hopeless attempt until Wilcom/Piki gets kicked in the butt by some legal expert.

Taking fees for a Beta test product under the premise that it is fully functional is deceptive and should be dealt with accordingly. Many businesses were making plans based on false promises and now is the time to take action and stop this fraud!

Not responding to your email and telephone calls in order to get a refund is indicative of something even worse! Is the Piki/Deconetwork actually a scam?


----------



## rushorderprints1

Very simple...call your credit card company and tell them you requested a refund several weeks ago and they have yet to respond, and tell them that the product was not functional or did not meet expectations. The credit card company may ask for emails sent to them with date etc requesting a refund... but in the end it will be considered a chargeback and you will get the money credited back to your account, whether they respond or not. Basically you are disputing the charge, because you are not happy with services and they won't respond in any way.


----------



## kenscott

No its not that simple...already did that... I had to do it 2 times so far...the first time as when they overcharged us 30,000.00...yes 30,000.00 first bug we came across!
They have to wait till they respond....that process actually takes months...but we have started it... The communication between piki and wilcom is a joke...nobody knows whats going on....we have talked to so many people....


----------



## bluetooter

*Pikiware and Deconetwork - Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices*

Yes, call the credit card company file a complaint. I was able to get a refund from Greg by sending him a paypal money request for the full amount due.

Yes, communicating with them is a pain in the neck. They are always there and occasionally respond to SKYPE IM requests. There is absolutely no excuse for what is going on.


----------



## rushorderprints1

I agree that it takes months, but here is the thing if they dont respond after a certain amount of time they credit back to you the money, and if they do respond, they still have to refund the money to you. I mean what are they gonna say lol, the software works?

I was curious if there is any software out there that is on the start up or even similiar to piki? the reason I am asking is because even though I use ossdesigner which I am happy with the service. I would still like the idea of company stores as well as a marketplace for people to sell their designs on my site. I would rather be a zazzle then a cafepress


----------



## pikicentral

Hi all

Thanks everyone that has contributed to this thread.

I want to acknowledge that I have not been proactive in this discussion.
I have let things become very negative without directly responding and informing you from my side. I apologize to our Deconetwork.com Version 1 users. The upgrade to version 1.5 has been delayed far beyond what is reasonable. We are testing the upgrade code now. We are doing many, many tests to ensure that your service will not be adversely affected.

Similarly, with the decoration library, I am very sorry about the delay.
That code is nearing completion. While you have always been able to upload any of your existing graphic libraries, we raised your expectation about the free libraries and the pay per use libraries into a time scale that has been missed by us.

We made a strategic decision to engage with Wilcom in June 2008. We researched our industry and identified that Wilcom International has the best reputation for the quality of service and software that is delivered into our industry. They are the true pioneers of embroidery software and have been around since the late 1970s. They are located in offices throughout the world and can support worldwide. Wilcom knows and understand the needs of serious businesses in this industry, particularly when it comes to support, service and delivering the right solutions.

Wilcom is very passionate about enabling their customers to succeed. 
Wilcom's business strategy is about empowering their customers to be more efficient and more profitable by delivering applications that are best of breed, innovative and fully supported.

This attitude resonates with what we aspire to achieve. Pikicentral is about innovation and creating a new business model for our whole industry. We believe that businesses that use Deconetwork.com will cut their image handling expenses, cost effectively reach more customers and make more profit. The key to success will be support and training. With Wilcom we will deliver*.*

Both Wilcom and Pikicentral are focused upon our customers succeeding and growing their businesses.

The sting in the tail. Pikicentral now more deeply understands and appreciates that businesses not only want innovation, they crave stability and certainty. This is a hard lesson learned. Pikicentral undertook a most audacious step forward to deliver embroidery to our customers. My commitment to you is that any service we release into the future will be rigorously tested. We are listening to you. You rightfully demand stability and we are committed to deliver rock solid service along with innovation and your feature requests.

The 1.5 version of Deconetwork.com is a world first: a new and exciting way to market and engage with embroidery and DTG customers. This is awesome and we are very proud of our efforts, if somewhat chastened by our delivery experience.

Deconetwork.com will get even better over time. Pikicentral is now fully focused on research and development to provide even richer and more rewarding services to you, our licensees.

Wilcom is now charged with delivering our sales, marketing and support.
I will always monitor what you are saying here and I invite you to register on our dedicated Deconetwork.com forum where I support our users and answer their questions.

I look forward to each of you enjoying the fruits of the Wilcom/Pikiware DecoNetwork and Wilcom International Pty Ltd : the premier solution for merchandise and apparel printers looking to get online service.


----------



## bluetooter

*deconetwork and pikiware*

What is the point of this post? Just another admission that the system still remains no different than it has been for months. Still in testing with unfulfilled features and promises. Tooting your horn regarding this magnificent relationship is getting old. Apparently the Wilcom/Piki relationship has been a disaster now for 6 months.

The deconetwork is NOT a world first, far from it. There are other tools already on the market which work and demonstrate an operational functionality with embroidery far in excess of what Piki/Wilcom has produced so far. I would suggest that before you make claims like that you check out Zazzle, Melco Live Designer, Blue Cotton and the RSK embroidery module.

Why don't you refund money to customers that want it, respond to communications in a timely fashion and deliver the software that you promised last September 2008 without making any more excuses.

The common answer to every question regarding this tool is that it is in testing and in testing and in testing, but never once do you provide any committment as to when it WILL be stable and WILL have the features that have been promised.

There is no excuse for Wilcom/Piki taking any fees for software which once again you admit does not work as advertised. The deconetwork is a BETA test product and continues to be a BETA test product and should be considered as such until you can prove otherwise. Charging for a BETA test product is downright deceptive.


----------



## kenscott

So since you are reading.. My refund will be credited to our card tomorrow? 3000.00? March 30, 2009.
Kenneth Scott
Ken's Custom Tees.
Tired of waiting.


----------



## Parkwood

Mr Pikicentral---Geez, haven't you read this whole string? Your message was an insult to all those who have been burned by your product. That post will only add fuel to flames that are already burning out of control.

If anything, your post is so clueless as to give further concern as to whether or not Piki/Wilcom has the right stuff to ever get it right.

Wanna try a short rewrite? Here's what I suggest:

_Dear Frustrated Piki Customers:

We sincerely apologize for our product.

We will immediately issue refunds to all those who request one.

Additionally, after we have taken 1.5 from beta to an actual, functiioning product, we will notify all past customers and you will have the opportunity to use our product, free of charge, for two years._

Action, not words. And the industry would acknowledge this as a sincere and noble effort on your part to do the right thing.

And how difficult would that effort be? Not very.


----------



## Riderz Ready

kenscott said:


> So since you are reading.. My refund will be credited to our card tomorrow? 3000.00? March 30, 2009.
> Kenneth Scott
> Ken's Custom Tees.
> Tired of waiting.


I do not get the problem you have getting your card refunded. In the case of Chase Bank the second you file a formal complaint the money is credited back to your card until the issue is resolved one way or the other. Same thing with PayPal.


----------



## bluetooter

On-line Jerseys said:


> I do not get the problem you have getting your card refunded. In the case of Chase Bank the second you file a formal complaint the money is credited back to your card until the issue is resolved one way or the other. Same thing with PayPal.


That is not always true. If you pay with a credit card then YES. BUT, if you pay with a debit card, then NO.


----------



## wilcomsupport

zaniejanie said:


> Justmark - I realize your post is from a year ago, but I hope you are still out there and can answer my question about the colors you brought up here. I looked on your site but didn't see any examples.
> 
> We are an established business with our own art that customers can custom color. (Well, we do it for them, but we are looking to automate.) Would we be able to set specific colors in a design that can be changed, and set the colors that they can be changed to?
> 
> Like a red hair bow can be changed to a pink or orange that we have chosen?
> 
> If you have an example of this, I would really like to see it.


Hi Janie - Yes, this function is possible. You can upload the art as .PNG and select "Split Color". This splits the colors out from the graphics so the consumer can change the colors as they order the goods.

If you'd like any more information click here or contact Wilcom: 

*Wilcom America:* 1 877 657 7500, [email protected]
*Wilcom Europe:* + 44 (0) 8703 851 246, [email protected]
*Wilcom Australia:* + 61 2 9578 5100 [email protected]


----------



## wilcomsupport

Parkwood said:


> Mr Pikicentral---Geez, haven't you read this whole string? Your message was an insult to all those who have been burned by your product. That post will only add fuel to flames that are already burning out of control.
> 
> If anything, your post is so clueless as to give further concern as to whether or not Piki/Wilcom has the right stuff to ever get it right.
> 
> Wanna try a short rewrite? Here's what I suggest:
> 
> _Dear Frustrated Piki Customers:_
> 
> _We sincerely apologize for our product._
> 
> _We will immediately issue refunds to all those who request one._
> 
> _Additionally, after we have taken 1.5 from beta to an actual, functiioning product, we will notify all past customers and you will have the opportunity to use our product, free of charge, for two years._
> 
> Action, not words. And the industry would acknowledge this as a sincere and noble effort on your part to do the right thing.
> 
> And how difficult would that effort be? Not very.


As a few people have already mentioned, while there are similar products on the market - none of them offer the combination of features and business potential that DecoNetwork.com does.

For some perspective - some of the improvements we have mentioned are just that - improvements. They do not stop many of our customers who are actively building their sites and making money from them.

While we have been honest and open in mentioning that some of the new functionality needs more stability, the core of DecoNetwork.com is still there and is a very rich product.

We have already resolved many of the earlier complaints and are working hard to deliver a quality product.

We have responded to and are actively following up on any customer concerns we have received. If you have any questions please contact Wilcom and we will be sure to resolve any concerns with you.

*Wilcom America:* 1 877 657 7500, [email protected]
*Wilcom Europe:* + 44 (0) 8703 851 246, [email protected]
*Wilcom Australia:* + 61 2 9578 5100, [email protected]


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

How about clarifying in writing in this public forum how exactly the per line order fee structure works? How about concerning yourself with things that will really give the users of your product a competitive chance in the POD industry. When first started we were promised the ability to have a caffe press style portal store, this is probably the most requested feature by my 80+ affiliates. The feature needed most by me to promote this system is the ability to issue discount/promo codes to be used by my customers at check out. I brought up both these issues when it was the Piki forum and was told like every thing else, that it is all included in our new release coming in the next couple of weeks. I was assured that these things where already done and being tested, just go ahead and start signing up affiliates and we will have theses features out in the next couple of weeks.

I will say the guys at piki have always been great at returning my E-mails and taking care of any stability/bug issues, but when it comes to delivering on their promises they have fallen far short. But in all honesty, you do owe those of us who have stuck by your product, patiently waiting for you to meet your promises! I don't blame the people who feel you offer no more legitimacy than a Nigerian Banker Scam. You sold us a product based on false promises and false expectations. Now it is your responsibility to fix the bad name you have given your product and your companies. This (T-shirt Forum) is probably the most widely used resource in the T-shirt printing industry I think it would be in your best interest to conduct yourself in a more respectable manner, treat us with respect, don't be condescending, and if you are not going to read the thread and respond to our issues please don't just blow more smoke up our A$$es. That's why we all quit using your forum it's hard to breathe in there due to all the smoke. 
I wish you guys the best of luck and I hope you get it all worked out soon, I have spent way to much time and money developing our system to just walk away now. So here's to hoping you get it figured out soon.


----------



## Riderz Ready

Daniel Slatkin said:


> When first started we were promised the ability to have a caffe press style portal store, this is probably the most requested feature by my 80+ affiliates. The feature needed most by me to promote this system is the ability to issue discount/promo codes to be used by my customers at check out. I brought up both these issues when it was the Piki forum and was told like every thing else, that it is all included in our new release coming in the next couple of weeks. I was assured that these things where already done and being tested, just go ahead and start signing up affiliates and we will have theses features out in the next couple of weeks.


We have been waiting for the portal way before Wilcom came around. If what I understand to be the new plan for the portal I can wait as phase one was not going to help our business nor address the flaws with the concept of affiliate stores.. The issue is simple - anyone who is running an affiliate system will soon realize 90% of the potential store owners will not be able to create and complete a store regardless how simple it may be. For those that do only 10% have the skill set to attract people to their store and get enough traffic to be profitable. This would not change with what was phase one. What phase two was to bring to the portal was the ability for people to sell products without having to open a store. In our market this has a huge upside. If I can have a "mall" that sells products for individuals without them having to create stores and become SEO experts then you have unlimited opportunites. We do not sit idle while waiting to see if Piki can come through with this ability but if it does it will FINALLY be worth the wait - - at least for us.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

On-line Jerseys said:


> We have been waiting for the portal way before Wilcom came around. If what I understand to be the new plan for the portal I can wait as phase one was not going to help our business nor address the flaws with the concept of affiliate stores.. The issue is simple - anyone who is running an affiliate system will soon realize 90% of the potential store owners will not be able to create and complete a store regardless how simple it may be. For those that do only 10% have the skill set to attract people to their store and get enough traffic to be profitable. This would not change with what was phase one. What phase two was to bring to the portal was the ability for people to sell products without having to open a store. In our market this has a huge upside. If I can have a "mall" that sells products for individuals without them having to create stores and become SEO experts then you have unlimited opportunites. We do not sit idle while waiting to see if Piki can come through with this ability but if it does it will FINALLY be worth the wait - - at least for us.


I would fully agree with you on the 10% conversion ratio. 

We have not sat idle either. We created our own portal site and have been actively working with our own software designer to create a back up plan to the piki system. I don't believe in putting all my eggs in one basket. We will be ready for our beta testing stages on our software soon and hope to have something stable for DTG purposes within in the next year. We don't do Embroidery or silk screening, and when we signed up this was not part of the system and the last thing the average user needs is for things to be more complicated.


----------



## wilcomsupport

Hi Daniel and Mark,

We sincerely thank you for your patience and for sticking by the product. 

Mark you made some good points about the affiliate system and the portal. 
Daniel – we again invite you to discuss this and other future plans with us. 

In the meantime, happy to clear up how the pricing works. 

The low down is that we came up with this pricing after many discussions with customers and potential customers about their preferences in pricing. 

We’ve tried to keep it simple, while making it fair for everyone. 

*Basically what people told us was:*

1. They couldn’t afford to pay for this kind of technology upfront 
2. They didn’t want to pay a flat monthly fee. 
3. They didn’t want us to take a flat percentage of their sales

So – we came up with the idea of DecoCredits. It basically works like a mobile or cell phone plan. You choose a plan based on your expected usage. This includes a certain amount of credit. 

The credits are calculated annually so they roll over from month to month (ie if you have a slow month, the credits you didn’t use roll over to the next month).

The credits are only deducted when you are making money from the site. 

Of course we want to be fair to those selling low cost items so we introduced a sliding scale. 

We thought it was fairer to charge 1/10 of credit for items less than $5 which works out to be no more than 20c. 

On the other end of the scale you could have a shirts order for $200, $2000 or more and the order would only cost you a maximum of $2. 

If you do the maths this pricing model generally works out cheaper than doing a straight percentage or even a flat monthly plan. This is because the price of the plan is based on your usage. 

We’ve used the term DecoCredits to keep it simple as different plans have different rates. This is because we give a volume discount to high traffic sites.

Definitely open to your thoughts and questions. We’ve actually responded to the feedback we’ve had so far which is why we introduced the sliding scale of DecoCredits. 

If this doesn’t come across well enough on our site, please let us know and we will revise it.

*Wilcom America:* 1 877 657 7500, [email protected]
*Wilcom Europe: *+ 44 (0) 8703 851 246, [email protected]
*Wilcom Australia:* + 61 2 9578 5100, [email protected]


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

What????????????????????????????????????


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

*This is the message I recieve whenever I try to go to your forum. I have not been able to access the forum since the Piki/Wilcom merger.*

*Warning*: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to 172.16.5.1:25 (Connection timed out) in */var/www/pikiforum/library/Framework/Framework.Class.Email.php* on line *196*

*A fatal, non-recoverable error has occurred*

*Technical information (for support personel):*

Error Message Could not connect to SMTP host 172.16.5.1:25 Affected Elements Email.SMTPSend(); The error occurred on or near: 110: Connection timed out​For additional support documentation, visit the Lussumo Documentation website at: lussumo.com/docs


----------



## John Wilson

I just tried and had no problem

tested with a few different browsers too

http://forum.deconetwork.com/


----------



## dkprint

i can access it fine and have everytime i've tried. what browser you using? I use firefox.


----------



## bluetooter

*Deconetwork is a scam and a fraud*

*Its not an improvement, if it does not work.* The only aspect which is different from other tools on the market, is the ability to setup affiliate stores, but currently that is very problematic since the tool generally has so many bugs and lacks features which already exist in other sites. 

Piki has already stated on their forum that the system is going into "feature freeze", so you can forget that portal and all those other features that were discussed, whatever, the tool is now, thats it! *Which isn't saying much.* And as of this morning, their server had crashed again so accessing anything is moot! I am sure it crashed because of all the inquiries coming in - NOT!

It is still racked with bugs (also referred to as STABILITY ISSUES) and no clipart of any kind, no accurate shipping cost calculations, no accurate pricing matrix for DTG printing, cart checkout issues, no portal. Nothing has changed, except that Wilcom is putting "spin" on every comment trying to look like they are just peachy. The only achievement is a lack of communication, lack of trust, lack of truth, lack of committment, lack of features and a true lack of concern for us the consumer.

Has anyone from v1.0 been upgraded to the v1.5? NO.

Has anyone who is currently trying to get a refund received it? NO.

Is the tool "STABLE", BUG FREE and reliable? NO, NO, NO!

Is there any committment to time frames? NO.

The pricing structure is absurd and what is more insulting is the Wilcom insists that the structure is based on customer input, has anyone ever been queried on that subject? NO!


----------



## dkprint

I think we get your point bluetooter... the first 20 times... if you dont want the product move on. from what I read you got your refund.


----------



## bluetooter

I'm glad you got the point. But getting ripped off as a business by a business deserves constant repeating. Until such time as Piki and Deco get it right, I will be right here voicing my opinion.

Oh and by the way, it seems that our friends down-under have encountered catastrophic server failure. All sites and affiliates of the entire Piki/Deconetwork system have been down for over 12 hours. Now that is what I call a reliable and stable system!!


----------



## Riderz Ready

*Re: Deconetwork is a scam and a fraud*



bluetooter said:


> The pricing structure is absurd and what is more insulting is the Wilcom insists that the structure is based on customer input, has anyone ever been queried on that subject? NO!


Yes we were queried and if Wilcoms post regarding the pricing is correct it equates to 1% of the sale with unlimited number of products. If you are calling that absurd then you simply are blinded.


----------



## bluetooter

At least my math skills are better and I am not blind. The fee is not based on "Unlimited Products" and it is not for a single shopping cart order.

Lets see:

sell 1 shirt at $15, transaction cost = $1.33 = 8.8%

sell 2 different colored shirts 2 x $12 = $24; transaction 2 x $1.33 = $2.66 = 11%

sell 100 shirts all the same color 100 x $8 = $800; 1 transaction = $1.33 = .016%

sell 100 shirts but 5 different colors still $800 but transaction cost = $1.33 x 5 = $6.65 = .08%

It is not consistent and it is not set for unlimited products. The transaction costs vary depending on how many different items are in an order and yes depending on what transaction rate you sign up for your costs can be less than 1% but as high as 11% or more. Now that is what I mean by absurd. The transaction cost for an order varies greatly.


----------



## kenscott

this just in....Credit card refunded in full...
thanks piki!


----------



## John Wilson

kenscott said:


> this just in....Credit card refunded in full...
> thanks piki!


I asked for a refund today, will sign back up once all bugs are fixed and it's got the features that was promised when i signed up

will see tomorrow if its been granted or not


----------



## brenden

Hi Ken and Larry,

Firstly I will correct Larry's calculation of the credit. If you visit wilcom.deconetwork.com/pricing it will explain the credit system.

Larry's example:

sell 1 shirt at $15, transaction cost = $0.67 = 4.4% (1/2 a credit as it is under 19.99 so equates to $0.67)

sell 2 different colored shirts 2 x $12 = Same as above (0.67 ea, so $24; transaction 2 x $0.67 = $1.33 = 5.5%

sell 100 shirts all the same color 100 x $8 = $800; 1 transaction = $1.33 = .016% (Correct)

sell 100 shirts but 5 different colors still $800 but transaction cost = $1.33 x 5 = $6.65 = .08% (Correct)

A credit will never cost more than $1.33 for an active DTG plan.

Credits are not a flat 10% as other systems. Therefore, the highest you will ever pay for a credit on an active DTG plan is $1.33 on a 20.00 and above product (6.7% on $20.00)

Regarding: "_Oh and by the way, it seems that our friends down-under have encountered catastrophic server failure. All sites and affiliates of the entire Piki/Deconetwork system have been down for over 12 hours. Now that is what I call a reliable and stable system!!_"

This is not accurate. The server did not fail and was not down for any period.

Kenscott - I noticed you edited you post. Thank you for changing it to state the current situation. I actually sent you several emails and left a voice mail regarding your refund but as you stated on the phone you didn't seem to get them. I have confirmed with a phone call with you just after your original post this morning that you received it so I am glad this is cleared up. During our call this morning and in our original call in February you stated you actually don't have any problems with the system except that you were waiting on the clipart to be delivered and one bug which was when you clicked on "Create Now" the page showed "Not Found" error which we fixed that for you while you were on the phone.

We agreed at that time to put your account on hold until the clipart was available so I was surprised to read that your post was counter to what we spoke about on the phone.

Thanks again for your time Ken during the call this morning. You sounded very busy (which is great!) so best of luck with your orders. As you requested I'll give you a call in a few weeks time.

Cheers,
Brenden


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

I check my sites almost hourly and they have been stable for a long time it has been at least 5 months since I have had to complain or worry about stability issues. I just can't seem to fully understand the new pricing structure. I would love to see the portal function that was promised when we signed up for the system, and it would be nice to be able to access the user forum, and get updates on system progress once in a while, etc... I know you guys have my contact info. I get my payment receipts fine.
In piki's defense we were contacted about a conference call with them a month or two ago but unfortunately we where way to busy with conventions to have time to respond at that time.


----------



## Jamey

I wouldn't take any of this to Wilcom's forum. That only buries what's really going on so that potential customers can't see what's really going on.

On a side note....why is their links even allowed here? I surely wouldn't promote a company that is clearly terrible in customer service and openly promotes a broken product.


----------



## sunnydayz

T-shirt forums allows discussions of companies in general, and all feedback is appreciated.


----------



## Rodney

OK folks, while I definitely understand being upset about a company not delivering what they promised, please let's keep things professional here so the discussion thread can stay open.

While we welcome reviews and opinions both positive and negative so that other members can learn from the experiences of others, there comes a point when it gets taken too far and it just turns into namecalling and bickering.

I understand that when money is involved, emotions can run high, but please remember that T-ShirtForums isn't a place to try to bash any company or solve any business gone bad.

I really appreciate wilcom/deconetwork posting their side of the story trying to get things cleared up, and I appreciate the customers voicing what they feel are the outstanding issues, but let's take it down a notch so we can have a civil discussion. 

If that can't happen, we'll need to close out the threads which would be a shame to those trying to learn from this situation.

To keep things on topic, please feel free to contact me directly via PM or email if you have questions about this post. I hope we can keep things constructive here


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

Rodney I have tried to pm you but Just get a blank page when I try.


----------



## Rodney

Daniel Slatkin said:


> Rodney I have tried to pm you but Just get a blank page when I try.


If the link in the post doesn't work you can click on my username to send a PM or scroll to the bottom of the page to send an email.


----------



## wilcomsupport

Daniel Slatkin said:


> I check my sites almost hourly and they have been stable for a long time it has been at least 5 months since I have had to complain or worry about stability issues. I just can't seem to fully understand the new pricing structure. I would love to see the portal function that was promised when we signed up for the system, and it would be nice to be able to access the user forum, and get updates on system progress once in a while, etc... I know you guys have my contact info. I get my payment receipts fine.
> In piki's defense we were contacted about a conference call with them a month or two ago but unfortunately we where way to busy with conventions to have time to respond at that time.


 Thanks Daniel, appreciate the confirmation. 
 
We'll arrange to talk with you on the phone about your questions. 

 In terms of forum access - our forum hasn't been down at all. In your case it appears that you have requested a reminder for your password which resulted in the error message you posted. 
 The server that handles that request has now been updated, to accommodate for password reminders for accounts signed up under the Pikiforum name.

 Thanks for informing us of this issue. Try it again and it should be fine now. 

 To make sure we can assist you quickly and effectively please always direct your inquiries through our Wilcom customer service channel. 

  *Wilcom America:* 1 877 657 7500, [email protected]
 *Wilcom Europe: *+ 44 (0) 8703 851 246, [email protected]
 *Wilcom Australia:* + 61 2 9578 5100, [email protected]


----------



## Liberty

Well this thread has been both informative and entertaining. I'm glad to see Wilcom participating at last. 

I've been a long, long time Wilcom customer on the digitizing side and can attest to the fact that their embroidery products are second to none. I'm hopeful their affiliation with Corel will result in a fantastic web product, in time. I can honestly say that their latest embroidery product does a remarkable job of integrating the digitizing and Corel graphics. If they are guilty of anything with DecoNetwork, it is rushing to market with a product that wasn't quite there yet.

I would also like to add that I personally think their pricing structure is flawed. I would rather see a much higher initial cost as a barrier to entry. I think that this product will eventually be the standard and I'd personally rather see fewer users. $10K? $20K up front? For the right product - you bet. Heck, I'd be willing to write a check right now for something with the functionality of Blue Cotton's site. Add embroidery and I'd be a happy camper.

I'm personally not concerned with the affiliate sysems. I want and need a intuitive, consumer friendly web based graphics program that can handle Screen printing, DTG and embroidery on a variety of garments and substrates. I need access to decent fonts and clipart/stock designs and the ability to add my own or for the consumer to upload their own. (although this poses problems for embroidery) I'd like to see template driven basic designs that the customer can modify quickly and easily. I'd like to see basic functionality like text effects, outlines, drop shadows etc. This doesn't have to be capable of full on custom graphics, that's why I have graphic artists on staff and on call.

So maybe, just maybe, we can turn this thread into a positive by proactively participating in the future direction of DecoNetwork? (It is April first though?)


----------



## Jamey

I doubt it. Coming on here and tooting their own horn a little is by no means a positive thing.

I can appreciate your position Rodney. So you are saying there no advertising/sponsor or scam guidelines here? I just think we'd all like to know the answer to that question.


----------



## John Wilson

Liberty said:


> Heck, I'd be willing to write a check right now for something with the functionality of Blue Cotton's site.


Feck me, just checked out there site.... Hell I'd sell one of my kids for that


----------



## Rodney

Jamey said:


> I doubt it. Coming on here and tooting their own horn a little is by no means a positive thing.
> 
> I can appreciate your position Rodney. So you are saying there no advertising/sponsor or scam guidelines here? I just think we'd all like to know the answer to that question.





> I can appreciate your position Rodney. So you are saying there no advertising/sponsor or scam guidelines here? I just think we'd all like to know the answer to that question.


I'm not sure what you mean by advertising/sponsor scam guidelines? 

No one participating in this thread is a current advertiser on this site and there is no evidence of any competitors contributing negatively to the thread.

Just customers and the company voicing their opinions and experiences and trying to get things worked out.



Liberty said:


> So maybe, just maybe, we can turn this thread into a positive


That would be my hope as well


----------



## Jamey

Thanks for the clarification.


----------



## John Wilson

I was offered a refund since I was still in my first 28 days but when I thought about it I decided to just stick with it as there really isn't anything like it on the market

Been on there forum to try getting help setting it up but there isn't alot of traffic on there site, maybe if everyone on here reported there bugs/problems then it would make life alot easier all round?

http://forum.deconetwork.com/


Cheers

See you all over there


----------



## kenscott

Hey John, Let me know when they get the artwork up and everything working...


----------



## John Wilson

Will do Ken, you mean the clipart? if so that's what i'm waiting for mostly


----------



## kenscott

yea, I waited for 3 months...got tired of waiting...internet sales went to 0!


----------



## Plech

John Wilson said:


> Feck me, just checked out there site.... Hell I'd sell one of my kids for that


The Blue cotton developers ask for $90,000 to start...


----------



## John Wilson

Plech said:


> The Blue cotton developers ask for $90,000 to start...


Ok well I'd better sell both my kids then LOL

I'm sure DecoNetwork will work just as good once the clipart is up and running fully


----------



## bob emb

Hello All,

Bob McCormack here in New Jersey. You know how everyone loves to complain amd nobody says anything good about anyone or anything. Well I would like to choose the latter.* I just spent over 1 hour on a 1 to 1 call with Brenden from deconetwork.* I emailed him last week asking if i could get some questions answered. He immediatley offered to do a 1 on 1 with video conference so I could see on screen what he was talking about.

Yes there were some misunderstanding and he admitted to them, are they behind schedule-yes. But what is coming in the next2-3 weeks is amazing. I understand some of you thought you were beta testing people, maybe so. But we all know that things sometimes do not go according to schedule. Some said the network was down, i had no problems ever getting on line. I know some of you are going to answer my post with the nasty attiude that you question everything-" if it aint ready why did you bring it out." I am not going to say who is right or wrong. I will say that as a businessman I would be upset about paying for something that does not work, but sometimes we have to loose a little to go forward 5 steps.
This is what I got tonight after my conversation with Brenden.
Brenden walked me thru setting up affiliates, helped me with some things that are particular to my site and emailed me back what was highlighed in our conversation to let me know what he was personally going to do. What more can you ask, I ask you.

PEOPLE if you are thinking about coming on board do it and if you are thinking about leaving- think twice about it. Everyone who has bashed Brenden and Deconetwork all agree that there is nothing like it. I to believe this and that is why I am staying and I hope the the business people out there that have level heads consider doing what I am doing STAYING.

Bob


----------



## Riderz Ready

I believe Wilcom has all the right intentions and has owned up to their mistakes. One strong suggestions to Wilcom and Brenden is to STOP providing dates as I have heard "2-3 weeks" for 6 months plus now. As much as we have hopes for Piki I simply do not include the solution in any critical business decisions we make. When the portal comes - it comes and we will be one of the first to move forward with it as it will truly change the way we do business.


----------



## John Wilson

Yes same here, Brenden has been very helpful via webex and also on there own forum which I suggest all those with problems post on to get the best help


----------



## John Wilson

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t82304.html


----------



## kenscott

The thing is...that they told me 2 or 3 weeks 5 months ago! thats what we were complaining about....
And the things they show that are working in the demo video that you watch before you sign up...ARE NOT WORKING... The clip art was the big issue for me...and it dosen't display the same on every browser...Some browsers it shows missing graphics? how are you suppose to know what your customer is using for a browser?
If and when they get every option working 100% I will go back.. I just didn't have the money to tie up in a non working website at the time...A non working website can loose you a customer forever.
Ken


----------



## Rodney

The online design software business posts were moved out of this into a thread of their own here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t82608.html​


----------



## stco

Plech said:


> The Blue cotton developers ask for $90,000 to start...


A lot of college kids are graduating in a couple weeks and jobs are not easy to come by right now. I bet if you paid one $40k a year he/she would take it as a first job to get some experience and it would be done within a year. You won't have to dish out all the money at once either. All you need is an extra computer($1000) and desk($200) for that person.
If they don't want the job, they can go apply for a couple hundred jobs and get a phone call or two.


----------



## Bostonteeparty

Hi all

I have been using the Deconetwork shop software. I have used Cafepress and Zazzle.

I was blown away with the huge number of options I have had with the Deconetwork shops. Being able to map to my own domain has been a real revalation for me. Especially learning how to do it.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin

from the end user/affiliate it is a great system but for those of us that run printing senters using the software it has been a little ruff.


----------



## Bostonteeparty

Hi Daniel

I am very close to going the whole commitment to doing the printing. You said there are some issues with Deconetwork - I have been reading the forums, and their forums. The complaint I see is about design libraries. Is there any other big issues that I need to be careful about?


----------



## Solmu

Bostonteeparty said:


> The complaint I see is about design libraries. Is there any other big issues that I need to be careful about?


Did you read this thread? There are other issues customers are having that have been discussed in it.


----------



## kenscott

its 26 pages....that should be a clue of the bugs!


----------



## John Wilson

In all fairness most of the bugs mentioned has been fixed


----------



## Riderz Ready

One thing Piki has not done a great job at is communicating what really took place. From my understanding they combined rewriting the foundation of the software with trying to convert peoples legacy system into the new system. if anyone has gone through a data conversion with any software they understand the nightmare. Surely there may be a few that are so put off they may not see what the benefit is going to be for going through the process. For those who can get by the past and see what is just around the corner it truly is incredible. The portal concept and what it brings to the table is enormous.


----------



## bluetooter

blah, blah, blah. c'mon guys, nothing has changed. It's always ooooooh piki has all this great potential, just wait and see. Hmmmm, lets see, I signed up last summer 2008 and that was all being said last year. At least I got a refund 3 months ago, and guess what, nothing has changed since then. THEY ARE STILL TESTING!!!!

Noone on version 1.0 was ever upgraded and since 1.5 came out 4 months ago, nothing has changed on that either. None of the features that were promised have ever been delivered and its always wait and see, wait and see, wait and see. Oh and how about, "thats a good feature we will add that to our development list" or, "2 or 3 more weeks" or, "testing is going well" But alas, hope springs eternal.

The only thing that matters are RESULTS, not talk and empty promises. The issue still remains, why are businesses being charged 1,000's of dollars in fees for a system that has been in testing for over 9 months???

There are no discounts or perks for paying them money. You will not have any inside advantage by hanging around. Right now, Piki/Deconetwork is nothing more than a delightful Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Businesses are paying money into a software development fund that is promising big returns, but there is never a payout.

How much longer are you actually going to keep paying for something that may never happen?


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## Rodney

We get the point, bluetooter, you weren't happy with them and got a refund  

Your _bad _experience doesn't mean other people haven't had _good_ experiences or are happy with the direction that pikiware is going.

No need to jump on people who want to post their good experiences


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## Riderz Ready

Can someone walk by and nudge Bluetooter - he is a scratched record stuck on the same old lines. Here is a direct quote by Blueetooter from a previous post, "I could care less about Piki. Get over it!" 

Who needs to get over it? 

Where is the super system that does everything Piki does and more?

After professing how Zazzle, Cafe Press used screen printing to make one off shirts I really lost interest in your expertise and your post.


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## bluetooter

I never said anything of the sort. Noone uses screenprinting for a one off.

Get over it!


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## Riderz Ready

bluetooter said:


> I never said anything of the sort. Noone uses screenprinting for a one off.
> 
> Get over it!


 
"POD using screenprinting IS PROVEN and works perfectly. Obviously, you do not understand what other companies have accomplished (customink, uberprints, bluecotton, ossdesigner, shirtsoftware)."

In which Rodney replied - - "I'm pretty sure those companies are printing on demand using Direct to Garment printing. CustomInk does for sure."

Just keep digging yourself in hole deeper and deeper. You never did answer about your super, does it all software that was going to allow you to laugh at us all. Is it a little bit more difficult then developers thought it was going to be?


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## kenscott

Did they ever get the stock clipart or embroidery designs uploaded yet...I knew they had told me 2 or 3 more weeks about 4 months ago...just wondering how you guys like it?
Ken


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## Riderz Ready

kenscott said:


> Did they ever get the stock clipart or embroidery designs uploaded yet...I knew they had told me 2 or 3 more weeks about 4 months ago...just wondering how you guys like it?
> Ken


Ken,

Not sure as I have never seen free stock clipart that was anything close to professional. When we went through the selection process and literally bought and installed OSS, RSK and Piki the first thing we did was review and delete the stock clip art. I can't believe graphic design shops would use that stuff. I do hope there are options in the future that allow pay per use clip art IF it is professional.


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## Rodney

No need for a back and forth about who's right or who said what  Let's just try to move on and keep things professional so people can continue to learn from this thread.


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## bluetooter

kenscott said:


> Did they ever get the stock clipart or embroidery designs uploaded yet...I knew they had told me 2 or 3 more weeks about 4 months ago...just wondering how you guys like it?
> Ken


 NO, they never added anything. The site remains unchanged.


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## Juno808

LiveDesigner from Melco is amazing. Even zazzle.com uses it as their underlying technology.


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## kenscott

we we're talking about rival art, and great notions and oems
embroidery art. they were weeks away from adding it! ha!
that was 7 months ago...I know the other clipart was crap 
we had joined because of the better art..


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## Rodney

Juno808 said:


> LiveDesigner from Melco is amazing. Even zazzle.com uses it as their underlying technology.


I haven't heard that Zazzle uses live designer for their underlying technology. Do you have any articles or links that explain how (or if) they are using it?


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## Parkwood

Keep your head up bluetooer, you're doing a good job keeping things in perspective, despite the critics. For the fees Piki charges this thread should be filled with satisfied customers raving about how cool Piki is. Piki has something to prove, you don't. They wasted one year of your valuable time and that will take a while to get over. Good luck.


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## psu5118

I looked into both RSK and Piki, but neither seem to work properly. Does anyone have any truely positive information on Piki? I don't mean information on what is coming in the future, but what it is right now!?


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## Riderz Ready

Teeparty,

We are an earlier adapter of Piki and can say 1.0 is very stable and as noted the real issues lay in moving from 1.0 to 1.5. As you stated anyone who has gone through a software conversion or major upgrade that included a rewrite of code knows that in the best of cases it is a nightmare regardless of the vendor. That is why we stayed on 1.0. Yes we have struggled because of the delay in the portal tools and feel Piki has not always done a great job communicating with the client base but have actually seen the portal in a test/screen test environment and look forward to working with Piki in the next couple weeks working with it in a beta environment. 

In short there is not another tool on the market close to Piki although everyone may not need a Piki like system. For those there are many choices including Piki. Developing these tools is a huge undertaking. How many times on these forums has someone mentioned a buddy, group of friends, new company was going to release the super system that does it all for very little money yet I have not seen one of these miracle solutions ever come to light.


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## psu5118

All I asked for was positive feedback on Piki _right now_, and all that happens is more ranting about other people. I am not interested in other people or in what is coming in the future because it seems that has been a real sore point. Obviously, piki does not communicate whats going on or fulfill their committments. So, Lets keep this on point, what is positive about Piki RIGHT NOW?

If noone has anything positive to add about Piki, then why should we sign up?


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## John Wilson

psu5118 said:


> All I asked for was positive feedback on Piki _right now_, and all that happens is more ranting about other people. I am not interested in other people or in what is coming in the future because it seems that has been a real sore point. Obviously, piki does not communicate whats going on or fulfill their committments. So, Lets keep this on point, what is positive about Piki RIGHT NOW?
> 
> If noone has anything positive to add about Piki, then why should we sign up?


hi larry LOL 

If people need support all they need to do is ask for it and it's there

I had problems setting up custom products and it was sorted via webex each time, just spent nearly 2 hours in webex with Greg tonight, what other product/company would do that?

I'm just on my way to bed right now but when I get up in the morning I'll post info


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## Rodney

Closing out this thread as it appears that the discussion has deteriorated into (several) people making duplicate accounts to try to bolster their position.

I had hoped to keep this thread open so people who are considering pikiware could get updates on how the service is progressing. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem possible.

Hopefully those using or considering pikiware/deconetwork will be able to find the help they need in this thread and other threads here and on the official pikiware site forum.

Any questions about this, please feel free to contact me directly.


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