Frequently Asked Questions

Hardware

Just a PC! While we specifically tailor features to some hardware, such as paperless tattoo & piercing release forms and instant client entry from their driver's license, you don't need any of it. At a minimum though you should have an external hard drive for your database backups to automatically backup to incase of a critical hard drive failure. You can always add pieces as you see fit or get more experience with our software.

Mostly, no. If you just want to scan bar codes for retail, then possibly. However, to read the 2-dimensional bar code on driver's licenses, you need a more advanced reader. We specifically write our code for the reader that sell and don't recommend trying to get a different one as it may not work and we will not go out of our way to support it.

No. The cash drawer must plug into the receipt printer. The receipt printer receives a code to pop open the drawer. We do not support USB cash drawers.

REV23 Desktop only supports the Wacom STU-530.

Currently, no. We feel the Wacom offers a better experience, however this is something we're considering.

No. The signature pad cannot scroll text. Your client must read a copy of your release form, for example, a laminated copy you hand them, then sign the signature pad. Their signed copy can then be emailed to them as a PDF.

Sure, but we definitely recommend our pre-selected receipt printer. Here's why: we design receipt printer specific documents to that printer's paper sizes and margins. While you can modify these to fit your receipt printer's paper, if we make changes behind the scenes to our receipts your copy would not receive those changes and you would have to continually make these changes manually. Over time it just begins to be a pain. But, its certainly possible!

Integration

A REV23 + CardConnect account is required for credit card processing. You can get started here.

No, however you can export anything to Excel, which you could then import into QuickBooks.

Pricing & Licensing

A REV23 recurring billing subscription offers you our great software and services for an affordable monthly payment. Your credit card is billed automatically each term unless you cancel. The subscription ensures you're always on the latest version of REV23 and receive priority support.

A REV23 prepaid subscription allows you to prepay for a subscription for a year. While still a subscription, this payment is not automatically billed each year. Instead, you will need to renew your subscription manually to continue using your REV23 services.

If you do not want to pay monthly for REV23 software, you can license it. This allows you to pay for REV23 software once and never pay again. When you license the software you receive any update we put out for 12-months after your purchase as well as priority support.

When you license REV23 software you get updates and support for 12-months after your purchase. If after this time we release a new version you would like to use, you can optionally upgrade your license for a fraction of the cost of the original license. The upgrade entitles you to another 12-month period of updates and priority support. If your license has been expired for more than 6 months, you will need to license the software at its original price, or obtain a subscription if you wish to upgrade. Add-on PC licenses do not need to be upgraded annually.

You don't have to! If after the one year of updates after you purchase your license REV23 releases an update with new features that you want you can upgrade. We don't force you to.

Definitely! If after your license expires you like what REV23 has to offer and always want to be up to date, you can just sign up for a subscription!

No. If you wish to move from a subscription to a license, you will need to purchase a license at its full price.

Well that'd be a silly thing to do! But in the event you no longer want to use REV23 software or services you can cancel your subscription. In the case of our Desktop software, your software will go into read-only mode, allowing you to access your data but not create, edit or delete existing records. You cannot transfer an inactive license to another computer. You cannot transfer the software to another PC after your license has been deactivated.

Unfortunately life just doesn't work this way. The largest reason is that it would be impossible to sustain a software business this way, especially a niche one like REV23. Aside from that fact though, we constantly update and improve our software. New versions of Microsoft Windows are released which we have to update for. Support wise, it's difficult for us to support versions older than two years old because of the quick-paced evolution of REV23 software. So to even go back to an old version to fix a tiny bug is impossible.

No. Hardware is not included with any software purchase and must be purchased separately.

REV23 Desktop

Our Desktop software is for Windows PCs only. Remember those "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials from the early 2000's where PC was boring and for business and Mac was cool and fun? There was some truth there because Windows has always been better at business-to-business software. That said, many of our users find success using Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Desktop is not cloud based, hence the name (which refers to the Microsoft Windows desktop). The data is stored on a single PC in your environment that you designate as the server. However, you can connect to your database remotely from any REV23 Desktop Add-On PC.

NO. Backups are the responsibility of you, the user. REV23 Desktop provides automatic backups through the Backup Service, but these are stored locally on the device. You should configure the backup service to automatically backup to an external hard drive. If your PC crashes and you do not have a backup there is unfortunately nothing we can do to help you recover your data.

No. To send mass email to your clients you will need a third party Email Marketing service. You can easily export your email list to CSV or XLS and import that into your email marketing service of choice.

No. This is one of the features our salon software competitors offer that we do not. While this works just fine in the salon industry when each service requires a fixed time to complete, tattoos don't work that way. Having clients book themselves would be a disaster in our opinion.

Yes! Users can see their schedule on any mobile device using the built-in calendar app. You currently cannot create or edit appointments from devices, however.

Support

Because writing code and answering ringing phones don't mix well. We call you when necessary for scenarios that would take too long to address otherwise, but for the most part we try to solve as many issues as we can via email. Our satisfaction rating for support generally hangs out at 100%! This blog post has some great information about our support. Send us a support request.

REV23 Development, LLC was acquired by Painful Pleasures, Inc. on September 13, 2012. REV23 is a brand of Painful Pleasures. If you purchase REV23 through Painful Pleasures you are completely supported by REV23.