ConsignPro
By Visual Horizons Software, LLC
ConsignPro typical implementation process:
Needs Assessment & Preparation: Review hardware compatibility and business requirements. Plan for any necessary data migration or hardware upgrades if coming from another system.
Software Installation: Download ConsignPro directly from the website or use the installation CD. Run the setup on your main POS computer and any additional terminals. Each computer that runs ConsignPro must have it physically installed.
Registration & Activation: After installation, enter the registration number at the sign-on screen and contact ConsignPro support to receive your unlock code. This activates the full version for your store.
Set Up Network (if applicable): For multi-register environments, install and configure networking according to ConsignPro’s instructions, ensuring all computers run the same version. Reference the detailed guide for step-by-step networking.
Data Restoration or Migration: If transferring from another system or reinstating a backup, use the “Restore old database” function within ConsignPro to load existing data or backups onto the main/server computer.
Configure Peripherals: Set up and test connected POS devices (printers, cash drawer, barcode scanner, etc.) using ConsignPro’s POS hardware guide. Some users may opt to have a local tech assist, but many can self-configure with the included instructions.
Credit Card Processing Setup: If using integrated payments (e.g., OpenEdge, CloverConnect, or X-Charge), coordinate with the payment processor to install and configure credit card processing.
User Account & Security Setup: Create employee logins, assign permissions, and adjust security settings relevant to staff access and audit trails.
Business Customization: Enter store information, tax rates, consignor terms, and other preferences to tailor the system to your operation.
Training & Onboarding: Utilize the ConsignPro User Guide, online training videos, and any purchased support time to train staff. ConsignPro is known for being user-friendly, with most employees able to learn the basics quickly.
ConsignPro offers a range of customization options that allow it to adapt to the specific needs of individual consignment and resale businesses. Here are the key data points demonstrating how it can be tailored:
Customizable Reporting: The software comes with 25+ pre-built reports, all of which can be customized. Users can track metrics meaningful to their business—such as sales activity, inventory status, revenue streams, and individual consignor performance—over various time frames (daily, monthly, quarterly).
Receipt and Invoice Customization: Store owners can personalize receipts by adding custom headers, branding, notes, or legal terms to suit their specific communication or compliance needs.
Adjustable Store Terms: Critical aspects of how your store operates, such as consignment period, markdown automation, split percentages (store vs. consignor), fees, layaway policies, and sales tax rates, can be configured on the “Maintain Store” screen. For example, owners can set different split percentages for specific consignors or item types.
User Permissions and Roles: Staff accounts can be set up with customized permissions, allowing you to control access to sensitive data and specific functions within the software, such as reporting, inventory management, or payout processing.
Barcode, Tag, and Label Setup: ConsignPro lets you choose tag formats, adjust barcode and label printing settings, and configure supported printers, enabling the label system to match your merchandise and shop design requirements.
Export Options: Customer and consignor email addresses, as well as detailed inventory or account data, can be exported in various formats (CSV, text). This supports integration with marketing tools like Constant Contact or use by third-party mailing services.
Online Store Customization: The ConsignPro Online Store Builder lets you modify the online storefront details—including welcome messages, shop information, brand colors, and more. You can even bring your own URL to further personalize your online presence.
Inventory and Item Field Options: ConsignPro provides custom fields for inventory and consignor records—such as account notes, item categories, codes for batch processing, and options like “wants items returned.” Shop owners can use these fields to suit unique operational needs.
Undo/modify bulk actions: Features enable quick adjustments, such as the ability to “undo” time-based markdowns or bulk update inventory, supporting agility as business requirements change.
E-commerce and 3rd Party Integrations: With integration options for WooCommerce and other platforms, businesses can create custom online stores that sync with in-store inventory—tailored to the business’s preferences for layout and functionality.
Website Packages: Complete website solutions built for ConsignPro can be custom-branded, with tailored layouts, fonts, color schemes, and domain names for a cohesive business identity.
Data Migration Flexibility: During setup or conversion, existing data from old systems can be imported and adjusted as needed, ensuring business continuity and historical data integrity.
Business-Specific Email Marketing: Built-in tools allow messages to be customized by recipient group, occasion (like birthdays), or special event, enhancing loyalty and customer engagement.
ConsignPro offers multiple training and support resources to help new users onboard and operate their consignment software efficiently:
Comprehensive Training Materials
New users have access to a detailed user guide that serves as a complete walk-through of the entire ConsignPro system, covering setup, daily operations, and all major features. The guide includes real screenshots and is designed to be followed alongside the software for faster learning.
ConsignPro provides a 7-hour training video series, formerly available on DVD, that covers every aspect of the system—from basic functions to advanced topics. This series is structured as short, modular lessons and is intended for use by both new and seasoned users.
Their official YouTube training channel offers concise, 10-minute modules focusing on key tasks such as adding consignors, processing sales, and using reporting tools, which simplifies ongoing employee onboarding.
Hands-On Training Modes: The software includes a “training mode.” When activated with a specific password, this mode lets new employees practice processes within ConsignPro without altering live data, making it ideal for staff orientation and practice sessions.
Live Onboarding and Support: ConsignPro historically offered free, unlimited onboarding sessions for new customers. Users who did not receive a one-on-one walk-through are actively encouraged to reach out to support to schedule personalized training.
Direct and Ongoing Support
Multiple channels are available for support, including phone, email, and remote assistance. Company representatives are known for being accessible, responsive, and knowledgeable, addressing onboarding and everyday technical issues alike.
ConsignPro’s website features dedicated contacts for both sales and support, and many users have praised the company for actual hands-on problem-solving and for answering technical questions rapidly, even outside normal office hours.
Ongoing support covers issues like hardware setup (e.g., label printers, barcode scanners) and troubleshooting, with a POS Connections Guide provided to help users integrate new devices.
Peer Community and Continuous Improvement
The company culture encourages user feedback and learning; support channels often become spaces for community knowledge sharing, with the founder and staff directly engaging with customers for problem-solving and software improvement.
ConsignPro implements several security measures and controls to help protect business data and reduce risk at both the system and user levels:
Login Authentication and Permissions: ConsignPro uses a login system requiring each user to enter credentials before accessing the software. You can create unique accounts for each employee and assign specific permission levels to restrict access to sensitive features and data. This minimizes the chance of unauthorized access and lets owners audit who performed certain actions in the system.
Role-Based Access Control: Managers can configure which employees see and perform various operations—such as sales, reports, payouts, and system maintenance—by customizing what each role can do. This "need to know" setup is a core retail security practice.
Password Protection: Every staff account can be assigned a unique password, ensuring that only authorized users make changes or access specific business and customer data. Passwords can be changed as needed, and new users can be added or deleted through the employee management screen.
Audit and Activity Logs: The system maintains activity logs that record user actions, such as sales, account changes, inventory adjustments, and voided transactions. Owners and managers can review these logs to detect irregularities or potential theft attempts.
Automatic and Manual Database Backups: ConsignPro supports both scheduled automatic backups (usually performed each night during proper system shutdown) and manual backups at any time. Data can be backed up locally (onto a flash drive, for example) or to a remote/corporate server. This feature sharply reduces risk from data loss due to technical failure, theft, or disaster.
Limited Data Exporting: Tools exist to export consignor and customer data, but they require explicit action and user access rights, minimizing the risk of unauthorized data removal.
Data Restoration and Recovery: The backup and restore functions allow owners to quickly recover from accidental deletion, corruption, or malicious actions, ensuring business operations resume with minimal delay.
User Session Management: ConsignPro tracks which staff member is logged in for each sale or transaction, supporting both accountability and accurate reporting.
ConsignPro releases software updates several times each year, typically rolling out new features, enhancements, and bug fixes regularly. These updates are largely driven by customer suggestions and feedback, ensuring practical improvements relevant to consignment and resale shop operations.
Update Frequency and Process
Updates are released multiple times a year; the exact cadence may vary, but users are encouraged to check the ConsignPro update page every few months to see if a new version is available.
Update release notes show that updates frequently address new marketplace requirements, usability enhancements, feature requests, and technical fixes.
Updates include both minor maintenance releases (for bug fixes) and more substantial feature enhancements.
How Updates Are Managed
Only users who are members of the Annual Support Plan can freely download and install the latest updates. If not on the support plan, users need to renew it to access updates.
The process is manual: users are not automatically notified when a new update is available. Instead, they must periodically visit the ConsignPro update or release notes page to check for and download the latest update.
Detailed instructions for installing updates are provided on the update page. The user downloads the update package and follows step-by-step installation guidance.
Release notes are posted alongside each update, summarizing new features, fixes, and any changes implemented in the version.
ConsignPro’s policy on data ownership and portability is grounded in a traditional desktop software license model and the applicable End-User License Agreement (EULA):
Data You Enter Belongs to You: As the store owner and licensee, you own all business data you enter into the ConsignPro system—this encompasses customer, consignor, inventory, and sales information generated in the course of operating your business.
Software Is Licensed, Not Sold: The ConsignPro application itself is licensed to you for use at your business location. Visual Horizons Software (VHS), the publisher, retains all intellectual property rights to the software code and user documentation, but not to the business data or records you create within the platform.
Use on Closure or Sale: If you close your business, your license to use the software ends immediately, and you forfeit future rights to use ConsignPro. If you sell your business (business name and physical location), you can transfer the software license to the new owner (once) for a fee, but all rights to the license end for you at that point.
User Access to Data Files: ConsignPro stores your data in standard Microsoft Access (MDB) format, typically located on your local hard drive (e.g., C:\Program Files\ConsignPro\Consign.mdb). You have full access to this file for backup, migration, or further use.
Export Capabilities: The software provides in-app tools to export important business data—such as consignor records, inventory, payouts, and sales transactions—into various file formats (e.g., CSV, Excel/IIF for QuickBooks, and text files). This enables you to take your data with you if you migrate to another system or need to pass information to accountants or third-party vendors.
Conversion Support: If switching to or from ConsignPro, their team assists with importing or exporting data from/to other consignment platforms or generic formats, facilitating relatively easy migration.
ConsignPro’s terms and conditions for contract renewal and cancellation are structured around its perpetual desktop software license and annual support plan. Here are the most relevant data points:
Perpetual Software License: ConsignPro is typically sold as a one-time, perpetual license for use at a specific business location. This means you do not need to renew the core software license each year to maintain rights to use the program.
Annual Support Plan Renewal: Access to technical support and software updates is tied to an annual support plan. Users must proactively renew this plan each year to continue receiving support and updates. If you do not renew, you lose support/update access, but may continue using the last version received.
Manual Process: Renewals for the support plan require user action—there are no automatic renewals. You must contact ConsignPro or follow the instructions on their website to renew the plan before expiration.
30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee: ConsignPro offers a 30-day return policy for the software, allowing customers to obtain a full refund (excluding certain hardware and data conversion restrictions) by returning the software and license materials within that period if they are not satisfied.
After 30 Days: Beyond the initial 30 days, the software license purchase becomes non-refundable. Users are bound by the End-User License Agreement (EULA) for the remainder of the license term.
Support Plan: The annual support plan can be canceled at any time, but no refund is issued for unused time after cancellation.
Closure of Business: If you close your business, the ConsignPro license expires immediately, and you forfeit all further rights to use the software.
ConsignPro’s compliance focus primarily centers around payment card security rather than broader regulatory or data privacy standards. The most relevant compliance standards addressed by ConsignPro are as follows:
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): ConsignPro integrates with payment processors—specifically OpenEdge and CloverConnect—that both exceed the security requirements for PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard) and PCI DSS. This means that while ConsignPro itself manages point-of-sale data, it relies on certified partners to securely process, transmit, and store credit card information in compliance with these industry-leading standards. This protects both merchants and end customers from credit card data breaches and fraud.
PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard): Through its payment integration partners, ConsignPro meets PA-DSS standards, which are aimed at ensuring that payment applications do not store prohibited data like full magnetic stripe, CVV2, or PIN data, and that cardholder data is protected through encryption and secure processes.
Software Licensing & Export Regulations: According to the End-User License Agreement (EULA), ConsignPro users must also comply with all applicable export laws and regulations when using the software.
What ConsignPro Does Not Claim:
There is no public evidence that ConsignPro meets more comprehensive compliance standards such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), HIPAA, SOC 2, or ISO 27001.
