Linnworks are to change their price plans from Tuesday 13th September, although existing customers will have up until January 16th 2017, before they are required to move over to the new pricing plans.
Linnworks tell us that their analysis means around 35%-40% of their customers will see a price decrease. The flip side is that others will see no change or an actual increase in the fees that they pay.
This new pricing model, has been simplified and now offers only three plans instead of the previous six, and no longer limits users on support or functionality on either the PRO or Corporate subscription. All paying customers on this new plan will have access to unlimited 24/7 support, by means of phone, LIVE chat or the Linnworks ticketing system.
| Linnworks Community Plan | Linnworks Professional Plan | Linnworks Corporate Plan |
|---|---|---|
Free1 User |
£120/mth billed annually or £150/mth2 Users |
£800/mth billed annually or £1000/mthUnlimited User |
The new Linnworks pricing model is based on usage requirements, where customers will pay for the number of users they wish to have access to the Linnworks system. The initial cost of a subscription will start at £150/mth for up to two users, with an additional £50/mth incurred for each additional user registered to the system. Customers who require 19 or more users will be charged a fixed rate of £1,000/mth, either with a PRO or Corporate plan.
Linnworks said “This pricing change ultimately reflects our customer’s requirements for both extended support and for no limitations on features, while further ensuring fair pricing, with no hidden costs and no commission charged on sales. Overall, Linnworks acknowledge that they must adapt to meet the complex needs of their customers businesses, going forward“.
How to delay a price increase/decrease
If you’re an existing Linnworks user, you can switch to a new plan immediately and access 24/7 support. Alternatively you can delay until the 16th of January 2017 if it keeps you on a lower price plan.
If you were thinking of signing up to Linnworks, sign up before the 13th of September and you’ll access the old price plans through the Christmas trading period right up to the 16th of January if you wish to.
Either new or existing Linnworks customers also have a sneaky option to hold the old price plans for a further year. If you pay up front annually for the next year’s usage, Linnworks will honour the contract. Again you would have to do this before th 13th of September should you wish to play the system.
All users, both existing customers and potential businesses wishing to utilise the Linnworks solution, can switch to a new price plan from the 13th of September should they wish to do so to access 24/7 support.
130 Responses
So what are the alternatives? Not interested in 24/7 support.
If anyone can offer good alternatives I would be interested to hear them. I will be paying an extra £80 per month for 24/7 support that I don’t need.
Christmas may have come early for Linnworks competitors.
I’m moving over to Veeqo, been with Linnworks since 2012 and we were at the limit of SKUs on our current plan so were going to be spending more either way. Seems to be good so far, a few things that could do with a little work but isn’t that the case with everything.
Massive price hike by Linnworks – our costs will jump from £380 – £800 per month (if billed annually).
At least they have a sense of humour, the email we received started “we are excited to announce our brand new pricing model”….
I doubt many customers will share their excitement.
Wow, a 150% increase from £336/month to £850/month purely based on number of users.. ouch!
Proper kick in the nuts for Linnworks customers!
I have been with them for years, it’s an OK product, not great, the support was good but is now dire!
To be fair the only time we need to use support is when they, Linnworks change something or break something that messes things up for us!
I would not mind a price increase, everybody is in business to make money but the amount and the way they have gone about it will just annoy customers, a shame really as customer loyalty is so important these days but they obviously don’t give a hoot. We can afford it but there are better alternatives out there now, this has given me the incentive to move systems.
Good luck to them if they think they can get away with the price hikes. Looking at the reactions, I think they will be regretting it right now!!
Any alternatives?
Totally agree with the above. Linn works have shown little or no interest in my requirements which their product perfectly suited when I first started to use but now because they won’t stop faffing with what works and concentrating on what doesn’t it’s almost obsolete for us.
Shocking decision from linnworks, perhaps a price increase was needed, but to treble our price is awful tactics, needless to say we will be moving away from their flakey servers, poor support and very bug ridden software. Proves there’s no loyalty in business the way they have treated their long standing customers.
You sort of make do and work around bug ridden software if it’s cheap but now it’s not cheap but still bug ridden, shall be looking for alternatives asap
This is a PR disaster for Linnworks and their customers are not happy.
They posted this update in their forums and the there are 168 comments (so far) – mostly from extremely disappointed and angry customers.
Linnworks.net is awful – using it is an absolute chore compared to the desktop version – there are so many things missing and or too cumbersome/not intuitive to setup. Unfortunately this seems to be their current focus. They have spent so long creating a system that none of their users like, they’ve abandoned developing their desktop version which is actually quite popular.
We will pay approx 100£ more and probably wont use the “great” 24/7 support. Wont leave now as its Christmas time, however, first time Im actually going and start calling to their competitors.
Not sure what you were thinking about, but there are others alternative out there.
Good luck!
Proper move of gI’ll posts and been with them 8 years or So.
If you like a desktop app check 1stoporders and plenty markets is also an option but online only.
Zen stores if you are stuck for 2d barriers and daily manifest while you work it out.
People have invested a lot of time on this system to then get shafted.
£120 + vat and no other options for entry service is not good
Free package has been mulled and no other options.
Bonkers, I over see a number of linnworks accounts having been a linnworks partner. Today’s announcement puts one counts bill from £75 to £150 a month with no foreseeable gains in function. Another client goes from £370 a month to £1000! As they are already an enterprise customer they will get no extra functionality whatsoever for a £630 price increase. It’d be funny if it was April 1st, but they seem deadly serious! Looking at M2e to replace the smaller accounts, probably something bespoke for the larger one as its mostly inventory and order management. Oh yes, and .net is an absolute travesty they should be offering discounts for forcing spon us! *angry customer*
This is a great opportunity for anyone looking elsewhere to use the TameBay guide for alternatives.
I’d also recommend checking reviews of other systems before going ahead – on Tamebay guide, Webretailer & Trustpilot.
I work for ChannelGrabber and we offer free phone support on any package, including on the minimum spend £60 per month.
Get in touch via [email protected] or 0161 711 0248 for more information.
Lots of Linnworks competitors on here looking to steal some business.
Would be good to hear from someone at Linnworks, you’d think they’d be concerned by this.
24/7 support??
I think Linnworks has looked at eveyones profit reports within eBay and decided from there all their customers can afford this.
Thats the way they are acting anyway
StoreFeeder offers a free trial, fully inclusive support and free setup AND training.
If you’d like an initial discussion I can be contacted at [email protected] or you can call the head office on 0115 784 2150. We are always happy to help and have a 5 star rating…
Anyone feeling they’d like to look for an alternative, without the price rises or the hassle can generally get setup on StoreFeeder within a few weeks, with a complete hand-holding service to help you along.
Linnworks is a great system BUT they have MAJOR issues with their support.
1. The instructions on getting everything set up are not clear. They do not use plain English but everything is cloaked in vague and meaningless technical terms.
2. They then charge £80 +vat per hour if you want somebody to do an on-screen web chat with you to get things set up.
3. Their support is based in Eastern Europe with people whose first language is not English so they struggle to communicate clearly on what is already a complex system
If anybody has suitable alternatives I would be interested.
Yes as Barbosa said, this is a massive price hike. Reducing 6 to 3 is a selling technique to choose with less option. Linnworks may loose its customers due to their heavy price rates
Our software has often been seen as the next logically step up for businesses who have outgrown their current Linnworks package.
If you are now looking for an alternative low cost multi-channel solution for your business on the back of this news, why not contact our team with your requirements on 01522 704083 or send an email to [email protected].
Alternatively, we will also be exhibiting at the eCommerce Expo at the Olympia in London on the 28th and 29th September. If you want to come visit us and meet the team, you can find us on Stand E1370.
I’ve just had a little gander at Linnworks’ accounts. There is no way they can justify these new prices. They’re raking in cash at the moment as it is, so this friendly injection of what seems to be about 100% more revenue means they’ll probably be multi-million by the end of this year.
Hi All,
If you are looking for an alternative but better solution that can bring more flexibility, personalised support and guaranteed increase of sales.
Please take a look at 247Commerce as they have most advanced cloud based multi channel system included with unlimited SKUs, Orders, Users, Marketplaces and Support.
Their Amazon repricer is included and most intelligent and sophisticated algorithm in the market
Raj Madabushi
Senior Business Consultant
247 Commerce Limited
12 Times Court, Richmond TW9 1AF
Registered No. 07775662 in England and Wales.
Cell:+44 75 o677 6554
Tel: +44 20 8940 7011
Good afternoon all,
Just wanted to follow up on some of the comments here and give a point of contact for any further concerns. I’m Customer Experience Manager at Linnworks and thought that I might be able to assist with any questions there might be.
The first thing I wanted to mention is that this isn’t an across the board increase on prices; we’ve completely changed the way that we price our product as compared to the options we’ve offered for the past 6 years. For some clients this will mean an increase, for others it will actually be a decrease, with an increase in the available services across the board.
Up until now, we’ve never changed the pricing for existing customers over the past 6 years. This lead us to a position where we had businesses that have benefitted greatly from Linnworks (we typically see at least 70% growth in a businesses first year with us) who were paying the same prices we offered back when we were still a 4-man business with a platform to match. We’re now an 80 strong team with a platform offering huge range of integrations with marketplaces, websites and couriers.
The intent behind this move is to both address problems with the old pricing model which our clients have raised with us over time, and also to provide the level of service that’s come to be expected from us in offering 24/7 phone, chat and ticket support to all our clients.
If you’d like to discuss the changes with us and how they might affect you, we’re happy to assist. Feel free to reach out to our team on 0203 651 7045, or on [email protected].
I’ve used Linnworks for over 6 years and recommended it to loads of other businesses. It’s clunky but it works. This is just a kick in the teeth. Our monthly subscription (Professional) will go up by almost 80% and, if we add another user (making 3 in total), by an additional £50. This is absolutely outrageous.
Our small business, like thousands of other Linnworks SME customers, don’t need 24/7 support plus we’re happy using the desktop system. There just seems to be a total lack of empathy with businesses of a certain size. These are the very businesses that got Linnworks to where they are today, from when they were a 4 man band.
You should be respectful to people when you’re on the way up because you never know when you’ll meet them on the way down!
Anyone else been blocked on twitter by Artem at Linnworks? No doubt a pre-emptive move in anticipation of the massive **** storm heading his way!
Half of these comments are alternatives advertising their software/services;
1 is 150 pound more than Linn with product, order and warehouse restriction!
The others have no transparent pricing available.
You may be angry at Linn for price increase however there are no real actual alternatives, all have restrictions or take % commission of your sales. There is reason you subscribed to Linn.
Just spoken to Artem at Linnworks. Fair play to him, he spoke to me in depth for 35 minutes and explained why there was a need for price hikes. The Linnworks conference should be fun!!!
I’d love to know Artem’s views on Linnworks.net
It seems to be hated by everyone. Now I know people hate change, get used to the change and then like the change.
Except Linnworks.net has been around for a few months now – and is still hated by pretty much every Linnworks user.
Linnworks has always been a restrictive solution – I’m sick and tired of the times I’ve wanted to do something, find that doing it is restricted – then speak to one of the team members to be given the answer that “many of our customers want these restrictions in place” – basically treating us like little children.
Linnworks.net is terrible, I can’t use basic filters within the order screen without having to make specific tabs for each filter. Sometimes I just want to tick a box to filter orders from a channel or category. Linnworks.net makes this cumbersome.
2 pence from Alex @M2E Pro.
@ Linnworks: keep up a good work and focus on customers who see REAL value in what you do. You have given a decent notice period and many would understand.
@ “Angree customers”: multi-channel business is one of the most complex areas of SaaS. This is why there are not many choices and no decent “10$ per month” solutions around.
For example: eBay makes changes every month literally and companies like Linnworks have to reinvest time and money to continue being on a top of these changes. Hard work with R&D – 24/7/365.
For many sellers: it is a trade off between paying “fair fee” for the the system that is guaranteed to work for many years ahead vs “cheap imitations” (or clones) that will stop working at some . There will be now plenty “alternative” solution providers popping up here and there, but it is only the time that will show if these are worth what they advertise.
Try to evaluate if you are using your multi-channel system to the full extent? Focus on revenue growth not cost. Get Support to review/advise/ train your staff?
hope I did not offend anyone. If so, please accept my sincere apologies.
N.B. none of above represents opinion of M2E Ltd, everything is IMHO
regards, Alex
At £120 per month at current UK minimum wage rates (for example purposes at 25yrs+ £7.20) is around 16.5 hours work/labour cost per month. If it saves you that or more it’s worth it and don’t forget the amount of additional hours you will spend implementing a new system and any glitches/training time also.
I don’t promote any single solution but the above should always be taken into consideration before changing to another solution provider. 🙂
Well this turned into a spamfest didn’t it?
As a volume licence holder with Linnworks we may be able to offer subsidised prices as part of an overall outsourced fulfilment package – email [email protected] for more details.
Many eCommerce systems available in the market make very complex pricing plans and restrict businesses to grow making as non-profitable either ways. Hence you see the sudden increase in pricing structure by few e-commerce companies. Why do you want to tie down your business to a number of SKU’s, Orders, Market Places and Users when there is an unlimited cloud based solution available. 247Commerce provides cloud based multi-channel e-commerce platform with all the key features bundled in a single system. You can automate 90% of your daily tasks and can quickly go to new market places beyond eBay, Amazon and Website. Bulk listings is made so easier where Product description and images are automatically captured using ASIN, EAN, ISBN, UPC. We are integrated with all the major shippers & couriers in the UK and our Amazon Re-pricer is more intelligent and unique with an objective to win BuyBox and retain your profits all the time. Some of the strong differentiators and benefits we offer when compared to our competitors are
• All in one (Inventory, Stock control, Listings, Order fulfilment, Re-Pricer, Reports)
• Growth and profit guaranteed plan
• Onboarding ; Onsite training and Go Live within 2 weeks
• Unlimited services (SKUs, Orders, Market Places, Users, Support)
• Personalised support (Live Chat, Email, Telephone, Site Visits)
• Free Consultancy & Customisations
• No Contract and 30 days’ notice
Please visit our Website (www.247Commerce.co.uk) and book for an online demo. With the peak sale period about to start we will show you how to reduce 30% operational cost; double your profits and revenue before X-MAS.
Many thanks,
Raj Madabushi
Business Strategy Consultant
247 Commerce Limited
12 Times Court, Richmond TW9 1AF
Registered No. 07775662 in England and Wales.
Cell:+44 75 o677 6554
Tel: +44 20 8940 7011
Email [email protected] || http://www.247commerce.co.uk
Funny – a lot of useful comments seem to have been “moderated” – shame.
Has any one heard of 247Commerce? They specialize in being annoying. Their lack of transparency is also excellent.
WoW this is a sales board gone mad… for my 2p i can highly recommend the guys over at Seller Dynamic. Been using the system for about a year now…
All working great. Granted very very annoying that they don’t share future plans with the customer, so you never know what changes are going to happen, or in what order, but the system overall for what you pay. Very good!
There are a lot of people who will get their plan cheaper but there are some (who are typically the ones who have been with LW for a long time) who will see an increase. (due to LW never increasing their pricing for existing customers)
I did a video on my thoughts about it and the Pro’s & Con’s , I do waffle on a bit but it really came down to this.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGPfSpIn9qY
Pricing for some will be a hit but existing customers won’t have to change pricing until after xmas and you can technically take a 12 month sub on your current plan until the 13th September.
They still don’t take commission and they have a 30 day rolling agreement, so I think they are still highly competitive.
I would also say to existing customers who may have issues with the new pricing to talk to them, they aren’t a massive investor backed cooperation and they’re decent people.
Noticed someone mention Expandly was only £20 so I checked it out. I didn’t understand how they could be so cheap so emailed them and this is what they said:
With the change from traditional software to cloud based SaaS models, it is not only the features and efficiency that improves but the benefit is that pricing models have also evolved over the last few years.
The future of SaaS models are clearly with low-price-high-volume subscription offerings as explained https://www.zuora.com/vision/subscription-economy/ and below are examples of highly successful companies to prove this model works:
Xero https://www.xero.com/uk/
Zuora https://www.zuora.com/
Zoho https://www.zoho.com/
Subscrobe HR https://www.subscribe-hr.com.au/
Deputy https://www.deputy.com/
I hope this helps to put any concerns over our price strategy to bed.
They look very promising to me to me so I’ve signed up to their trial!
Free Unlimited Multiuser eCommerce Order Management Suite.
Full source and SQL: https://intrabuild.co.uk/
Works with XAMPP on Windows or Mac, works best with LAMP and direct attached printer.
Well surprise, surprise, another busy Monday morning and Linwworks has crashed out again!
We have hundreds of orders to get picked and packed, it crashed out 15 minutes ago and none of us can do anything.
Do you think they will fix these daily crashes with all their extra income??
It is well beyond a joke now, it could be such a good system but is is so infuriatingly unreliable that we certainly could not recommend it to anybody now. This and the price increase just reinforces that we have to look for a better alternative.
Linnworks are saying that it is working, on their status page. But it isn’t.
We have hundreds of orders which will now arrive late, and our defect rate will be damaged. Will be seeking compensation from LW.
Is anyone able to log-on?
Its down down and now getting down in my nerves.
100s of orders to ship..
Can’t believe they do not have a backup connection
Starts working at 5pm, great… Just in time so that we cannot dispatch 200+ orders. At least we were able to manifest!
Luckily we managed to print 1000+ before it went down. At least its not all bad.
Will be pushing for compensation, regardless of who’s fault the outage was.
Dear Friends,
At eBusiness Guru, we have been working with Linnworks for nearly 5 years, helping businesses to implement and get the most from both the system and other automation tools, in order to get a competitive edge over their competition.
When we first started looking around for a multi-channel software provider many years ago, as a company we wanted to make sure that whatever solution we chose would be:
1) Cost Effective
2) Feature Rich
3) Scalable
We contacted all of the leading members of the multi-channel seller software community – eSellerPro, Volo, Channel Advisor, Channel Grabber, Orderwise and Linnworks. While each one had its own pros and cons, out of them all, only Linnworks ticked all of the boxes.
I must admit, the user interface for Linnworks desktop wasn’t impressive, but the functionality itself was. The fact that there was no restriction on order volumes, unlimited products, no commissions, over-shadowed any other limitations Linnworks had.
I found the Linnworks team to be very helpful and welcoming. We later expressed our interest to become a reseller of Linnworks, and Artem and Fed gave up their valuable time to listen to our requirements and concerns.
I have worked in the software reseller & distribution industry for over 10 years, but this was the only company who wasn’t interested in the revenue numbers we brought to the table. Instead, their main requirement was which infrastructure we would put in place to handle the support of our Linnworks clients, as well as which SLAs we would follow, to meet client expectations. All of this gave me lot of confidence that Linn Systems were a customer-focused group. and that’s who I wanted to work with. Our agreements are structured to ensure we maintain a high standard of customer service, and we accepted it because it was a win-win situation for all the parties involved – Linn Systems, eBusiness Guru and the customers.
Years have gone by since that first agreement, and Linnworks (and Linn systems) has grown significantly. One thing hasn’t changed, however, which is that their core ethics still remain, helping SMEs to grow their online business, by providing a world class solution at a cost effective price.
As we all know technology moves fast, and as business owners we always want the best of the best at a reasonable price. That said, we can’t foresee all of the possibilities, as we only have so much time and energy, and that’s why we work with partners for some areas of our business.
Linnworks as a partner accepted this responsibility, and they started working on the next generation of their multi-channel software two and half years ago. This was Linnworks.net.
When I first heard about this, I was shocked, because I love Linnworks desktop – It’s what I have used from day one, and facing a change like this can be distressing.
So I requested an urgent meeting with Fed and Artem, to explain how horrible their decision was. I travelled from Manchester to Chichester, and they were kind enough to agree to see me on very short notice.
I came ready with my list of complaints; the things that linnworks.net can’t do, the new pricing structure which they were introducing, and basically explaining that I felt they had made a bad decision…. My prices were going to increase by 75%, which meant it would be impractical for me to continue to work with Linnworks!
For a good hour and a half, I expressed my disappointment about their strategy for Linnworks.net, as well as their pricing updates. I wanted them to make immediate changes and go back to where we were few months back.
Fed and Artem both listened, and made notes of my comments. They then explained why it was important as business that we accept the changes.
I have tried to put their explanations in non-technical language here:
1) We all agree that online tools are the future, and it is no longer a part-time business for the majority of us who sell online.
2) The technology used to create and maintain Linnworks desktop is more than 7 years old, and one day it will break in such a way it’s no longer feasible to fix it.
3) If we don’t move to a new house sooner, rather than later, this house will collapse and we’ll be trapped inside it.
4) I agree that the change from Linnworks desktop to Linnworks.net has not been smooth. Things are not going as expected, but some of this is beyond anyone’s control, and we have to remember this, no matter how scared or angry we might be.
5) Linnworks.net is no longer just a piece of software. With growth and changes that started in Linnworks Anywhere, it is now a platform for multi-channel businesses. Its foundation is strong enough that it regularly handles thousands of orders for thousands of customers without any downtime.
6) Adding new marketplaces or couriers is no longer a restriction. The development for this can soon be achieved in days, not months as the work the team have put in starts coming to fruition.
As an established and responsible member of the Linnworks family, I would humbly request that we all calm down, and wait for Linnworks Academy, where most of the doubts will be cleared. This is the time when Linnworks most needs our support. They’ve supported us for so long, we should in turn support and encourage them to give us what we asked them for all along – a world class solution for the needs of our businesses.
I agree one should have the right to express our disappointment, but don’t make fun of them. If you look around, there is no cheaper option out there. Remember, all of the companies out there need to make money, and even with this price increase, in my eyes Linnworks is the most cost-effective solution, with the most transparent and progressive pricing.
I am organising an open discussion event on the evening of the last day of the eCommerce Expo, 29th Sep 2016, between 6 and 8, at our offices at Stanmore Business & Innovation Centre, Stanmore Place, Honeypot Lane, London, HA7 1BT, where we will all be able to talk, and express ourselves to the Linnworks team. If you would like to come, or are going to the Expo and can stay in London afterwards, please fill out this form to get a chance to raise your concerns and work this out as professional business people, in person – not on Facebook. My team and I look forward to seeing you there.
Regards
Tejas Dave
Linnworks is down AGAIN.
Ridiculous
Yes, just been out of the office for a couple of hours, come back and find nobody has been able to pack any orders all afternoon.
We cannot login via desktop or .net, it is a complete farce!
No doubt they will be blaming the full moon or something just as ridiculous again!
Linnworks still down at 18:10.
Yep, Just waiting in the hope it will come back online in time to get some orders packed and loaded into our cars and we will take them to the sorting office and couriers ourselves. Anything to avoid the hassle we are going to get from customers not to mention getting told off by Amazon and Ebay for late dispatch.
It’s not just inconvenient for LW customers, it I damaging to their customers businesses.
alternative to using a cloud based system like linnworks is to use a locally installed system such as orderwise or khaoscontrol.
both cost systems cost a minimum of £10000 plus extra charge per user and module.
also need to invest in a DB sql server and hardware server for it.
if your company is doing over a £1-2 million than it is worth looking at these systems. i would prefer to look at orderwise over khaoscontrol due to the fact they are always increasing their staff headcount and documenting new features in their newsletters. gives you confidence in using them.