What is our primary use case?
We are a software development company, and we sell our software. We have been doing that for many years. In order to purchase the software, the visitor or the user needs to go to the webpage and provide the payment information and get the license. We had a partner who was doing that before, and then we started to integrate Softline. So, the only thing we do with them is collect payments via the web page. We've integrated it on our website. We have integrated a widget into our page, and this widget helps us to collect payments.
It is a cloud deployment based on how we partner and the service they provide for us.
How has it helped my organization?
The payment is possible not only by credit cards but also by PayPal. That was really useful to us because nearly half of our customers prefer the PayPal option. We were checking some other payment partners, and for some of them, PayPal was not available. That was a benefit for us. They are working on increasing the local payment providers, which is also good because we sell worldwide, and for us, having local payment methods is really beneficial.
One important point for us was that they handled taxes for us. There is this term "merchant of record," and this was an important criterion for us. This is a really cool feature that a payment provider is taking care of all sales taxes, and we, as a software development company, don't deal with them. They just take this headache away from us. They work with all the taxes for all the countries. We just get the net revenue regarding taxes. There are not that many payment providers that do that.
They provide the translation to required languages, and if needed, create new ones.
We don't have all possible languages. We have seven most-popular languages, and they just prepared a translation of all the text to these languages. We were happy with them in that aspect. In terms of emails, for some time, all the emails were in English, but they have prepared the translations and localization of billing, payment confirmation, or other billing-related emails. In this aspect, everything is covered.
They have been good so far in terms of fraud protection. We have been using their service for half a year, and we haven't had any issues related to fraud with them. With our previous partner, we had some issues.
What is most valuable?
What we really appreciated is that they basically tailored their widget for us. They showed us their possibilities. They had some kind of widget, and we just asked them if it is possible to change the design, and they basically really tailored the design to our needs. That was great. Their team was very nice, and we really appreciated that they were prompt with any replies and any feedback. For example, we ran an AB test, and we saw that something could be changed. They fixed it in a couple of days, and we could go ahead without waiting. That was really amazing.
One of the really nice features is that there is a trigger for the customer who has started to enter the details and make a purchase with the credit card. They have a feature to send a reminder about the credit card, which works very well for us too.
Our previous partner was good at selling in the USA and in some English-speaking markets, whereas Softline showed really good performance in other regions, especially in Latin America. They have a lot of processors there. We were really amazed at how good they are in Latin America.
What needs improvement?
Their customer support has some room for improvement. Our customers can contact Softline for billing-related questions, and sometimes, the customers come back to us because there are some delays from Softline's end.
They have translated and localized all billing-related information, but their support is in English. This is something that could be improved.
Our previous partner had a really good admin panel. We could apply some settings on our own without any additional help from our partner. For example, we could change the design, settings, and the fields that show up on the widget, whereas with Softline, we cannot do that. Everything is on their end. It would be good if they provide some tools in the admin panel to make some minor changes. They should also allow us to customize the widget, at least the color. In this aspect, we are currently limited. We cannot really change the design, and the widget is just the way it was developed.
The admin panel is also a bit confusing. Our previous partner had a really intuitive and user-friendly admin panel. We could easily find everything. Softline's admin panel is a bit complicated. So, it took us time. I think they plan to improve it, and they might apply some changes in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for half a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. In the last half a year, we didn't experience any downtime with them.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
They tailored it for us and understood our needs from the beginning. So, we managed to create a solution that is really easy to scale for us. At the moment, we can scale without any difficulties and without any need to change. If we see that there is a need to improve something or add some additional features to have better scalability, they would just include it into their plans. It may take three months or so.
How are customer service and support?
Their customer support has some room for improvement. The customers that use our software have the contact of our own support for the software, but regarding the billing and such questions, they can also go to Softline. Sometimes, it happens that the customers come back to us regarding billing questions because there are some delays on the end of Softline.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to have another partner. We had some issues with our previous partner, and we wanted to look for a replacement. With our previous partner, we noticed that there were some technical issues or some errors on the webpage. Even while having stable traffic of customers to that page, we noticed that there were some drops in sales for certain periods of time. So, we wanted to fix that.
We have tried some other payment providers too, but the Softline worked the best as compared to others. We tried PayPro, and they were so-so. There were some limitations that didn't work for us. We also tried FastSpring, but it just didn't really work well for us. Regarding the sales that we could have, Softline showed us better sales in volume and in quantity.
How was the initial setup?
It was medium in complexity. It was not that easy, and it was also not too difficult. Their admin panel is a bit too complex. To add something new, apply some settings for the product, or to integrate it, we had to go to them and say, "Okay. How do we do that?" There was no manual on how to do that. That was the only thing; but in general, after their reply, it was prompt. We figured everything out, and it didn't take us that long to integrate.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For us, its pricing was really nice. It was more or less the same one as everyone else. I don't know what they offer to others, but for us, the offer was perfect.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise really understanding your needs in advance. You should also understand the markets, the geographies, and the languages that need to be covered. If you want 100 languages, it will take them some time to prepare everything. If you are looking for mostly English, you should go for it. They are really good for the Russian and the Latin American markets. They are in fact perfect for these markets because they have many payment processors there. You will see an increase in the revenue and also payment acceptance there.
It is a website. In terms of the design, it is not really flexible, but on the other hand, we're fine with the current design. It is good.
They are limited in terms of currencies. They have around 20 most common and most popular currencies, and for us, that's enough because for other countries in which we sell, we just show prices in USD, and it is working fine.
In terms of reducing the fraud rates by using its AI-based fraud minimization technology, it is hard to say how much fraud rate it has reduced because they just don't show us this information, so we don't really know. We just know that there were some "payment is not accepted," which is common because sometimes, when you try to pay multiple times, at some point, it gets blocked when you enter the wrong code. So, it's hard to evaluate.
I would rate it an eight out of 10. What is a bit unpleasant is that it is not that flexible, but Softline's will to change things or adjust things to our needs is really amazing. They do their work, and their solution does work, so they're good. They're definitely worth a try.
*Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.