Quote Originally Posted by SMBConsulting
Software contracts are similar to movie theatre ticket contracts, they both do not guarantee your satisfaction and you will not get a REFUND.
That's one very good reason why you should consider purchasing off-the-shelf software that comes with a money-back guarantee. There are several excellent programs available to help small-to-medium merchants manage their operations. They are very affordable, and have either "try before you buy" or cleary stated return and refund policies.

Small companies should avoid long term software commitments and getting sold more sophisticated and expensive systems than they really need. I've spoken to startup companies that didn't even have their Websites running yet that were considering spending $50K or more on software before they had a single sale, when a couple thousand dollars worth of software would give them all of the capabilities they were likely to need for at least a couple of years. The rest of that $50K would go a long way towards making sure the company actually got off the ground, got some sales, and made it through those first few years.

- Barney Stone