17 years helping Irish businesses
choose better software
About Rain POS
The #1 POS system for Quilt, Music, Outdoor, Scuba, and Craft shops. Manage your inventory, customers, and marketing all in one place.
Rain Pos is dependable, well priced with instantaneous software help. The company LISTENS to their clients, I can't emphasize this enough.
Lack of integration with shipping companies. Cumbersome uploads to QuickBooks.
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Filter reviews (133)
Alternatives Considered:
Switched to Rain from Lightspeed
Comments: Overall pleased with RAIN and glad we made the switch. A bit more thought into easier workflow within the Register, Special Order and LayAway screens and it will be a force to reckon with. I was hoping for an easier eCom experience, but that is not what I received. Much like other POS Systems that offer an integrated eCom Site...building out the site and making it look the way we want doesn't follow the basic HTML buildout process. As a web developer for over 20 years...I find the eCom platform to be VERY challenging to use and often times VERY discouraging. I can see they worked hard to have the functionality be similar to other CMS Website Platforms (Wix, WordPress, etc), but it's too confusing to navigate effectively taking up valuable time.
Pros:
Integrated Marketing Automatic "pushing" of items to our Reverb.com Account Lightweight on system resources on our iMac's
Cons:
Special Order Workflow is clunky and needs to be simplified. We've resorted to using the "Quote" option to better manage Special Orders and ring in total sales under a "Gift Card" first. That way when working with multiple vendors on a special order, we have easier use of customer funds when "finalizing" the deal. Register is Average and would prefer ability to see cost of products on screen. In Register - when scanning duplicate items they get entered as "new" line item versus adding to the SKU already input. Can't us an IR Gun on an iPad when scanning incoming inventory or during inventory counts. Layaway Screen has some great features, but workflow is a bit convoluted. Website build out is horribly confusing and NOTHING follows traditional HTML processes. This was the same problem with Lightspeed's eCom platform - hard to work with and no sense of workflow.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Roger for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Alternatives Considered:
Rain/LikeSew vs GoDaddy
Comments: I am glad I took the plunge, put in the work, with the help of friends, and moved the shop over to Rain/LikeSew this past summer. It was worth the hard work and effort. I can now offer my customers specials and appreciation programs, keep up with inventory and manage files more efficiently.
Pros:
LikeSew is more precise at managing my inventory and handling the day-to-day business of running my fabric store than GoDaddy ever was. I now know exactly how much inventory I have on hand and it's value and what categories it falls into.
Cons:
There could be some improvements in the email marketing program and the inventory receipt areas.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you Molly for your response! We appreciate your partnership!
Alternatives Considered:
Disappointed
Comments: It was a rough year and a half trying to operate a business with that many mistakes from their side.
Pros:
I liked that the website and the inventory were combined. That people could see in real time what we had in stock and purchase online. That was nice and was one of the main features of why we went with Rain originally.
Cons:
We spent a lot of time and money on Rain POS. It was the first online computer software company we ever used for point of sale. I spent an entire year in 2017 logging our entire inventory, coming up with pricing and pictures and history on every item. We went live in 2018 and by April 2019 we were done with the contract side and we closed out the point of sale side by the end of that year. Their inconsistences within the contract module were too high. And every time we called in to tech support, all they could tell us what that there was a "glitch" in the system and they couldn't fix it within a timely manner. I really felt like I was losing the trust of my customers because of Rain's mistakes.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 years ago
Holly, thank you for taking time to share your experience with our POS software. Here at Rain, our main objective is helping small businesses like yours succeed, so the fact that you found us to be detrimental to your store is disheartening. We've been busy in the 12 months since you cancelled and have greatly improved our rent-to-own module. If you like, please contact us to see those enhancements.
Alternatives Considered:
Best software for quilting shops.
Comments: Positive all the way. Solutions are always there when we come up with something new or unique to sell. It really helps guide the way I do business.
Pros:
Rain Pos is dependable, well priced with instantaneous software help. The company LISTENS to their clients, I can't emphasize this enough. My POS is with me everywhere, at the doctor, on vacation, in bed at night.
Cons:
I would like an end of day report on products loaded into the system.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Bonita for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Very successful at retail and education management
Comments: Good. It took longer to get set up than we had hoped, as the integration team was swamped. There customer support is ok, but lengthy.
Pros:
I like the integration with My Music Staff. I also like the ease in which we can automate customer payments for services and rentals.
Cons:
I do not like that we cannot easily adjust pricing, and have difficulty on supplier invoice tracking with taxes.
Rain Retail Software Response
9 months ago
Hi Jacob, Thank you for your response! As I am reading the response, I would love to learn more on where we can help make changes. If you could email me I would love to learn. Thank you!
Alternatives Considered:
Love this system!
Comments: I can get the reports I need and want. Tech support is wonderful. They are constantly updating and improving the software.
Pros:
Product is very easy to use. It's nice that I can put items on my website right from the product page. Web page is easy to edit.
Cons:
I wish there were more yarn and knitting notions vendors integrated into the system.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Mary Virginia for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Rain POS
Pros:
This is a great program that integrates a point of sale program with a website store that keep inventory stock levels on the website. The basics functions are easy to use and learn.
Cons:
Rain POS needs to make some of the reporting more functional so that you can see product sales easier and for a monthly and yearly sense.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Lance for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Make the switch to Rain!
Comments: I also love being able to track repairs, replacing our previous hand written system. Priceless.
Pros:
Having out POS integrated with our website and Reverb is key for us, especially during recent times of shut down.
Cons:
At times the system has quirks that are an annoyance to the user and is a low priority fix for developers.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Nate for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Alternatives Considered:
Rain POS for Yarn Stores
Comments: No point of sale system is perfect. But we are happy with the functionality and effectiveness of Rain. The fact that Rain is continually improving and updating their system has only increased our satisfaction over the years.
Pros:
We have used Rain POS (Like Sew) for over five years and are very satisfied with it. We love that our website (recently upgraded by Rain) integrates with our POS, keeping our inventory numbers accurate. The Point of Sale is very user friendly. Reporting is decent. The website is simple to update.
Cons:
While there are sometimes reporting issues or technical issues, Rain has an easy process in place to report problems online or by phone, and they are generally responsive in a timely manner. Rain also has a method to make suggestions on how to change or update the POS/website. I appreciate that they are willing to take our suggestions! I do wish there was a report for Items Received; it would be nice to be able to create custom reports. The only major issue we have with Rain is when the system crashes - either because our internet goes out (in which case we are able to use our iPads on cellular to ring up customers) or because Rain goes down. Luckily, this is very rare! And when it's Rain's issue, it is usually remedied quickly. Finally, it would be great if Rain integrated with Sage Accounting software. We have to manually transfer data from Rain's reports into Sage Accounting. This is time consuming.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Laura for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Alternatives Considered:
Great for a music shop like us. Room for improvement but they're working on it
Comments: Anyone who has migrated from one system to another knows how time-intensive and frustrating the whole process can be. RAIN's support team made the onboarding experience as painless as possible. Their support has continued long after the initial onboarding and I feel very confident in their ability to help us whenever we hit a roadblock and need help. It's also encouraging to see their development team constantly fixing bugs and rolling out new features. They are not the kind of company to rest on their laurels.
Pros:
RAIN lives in the cloud and being able to access our POS from any device is a huge advantage over the POSs we were using before. The Rent-To-Own module helped simplify a very important part of our business. Integrating with REVERB has helped extend our e-commerce reach across the country. The user interface is clean and user-friendly; just what you'd expect from a modern cloud-based platform.
Cons:
The marketing platform did not meet our expectations. The email marketing in particular is not up to what I would consider industry standard in terms of the template builder, contact management, scheduled emails, segmented lists, and analytics. We have since dropped that add-on and went with ActiveCampaign which is light years ahead.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Max for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Alternatives Considered:
Software with lots of dreams but lots of issues
Comments: Rental, class, and automatically populating the website is a big help for us saving time. It hasn't really made us more money as advertised.
Pros:
Overall, this product has helped us get our products on the web and other selling sites quicker than in the past. The rental and class features have saved us a bunch of time
Cons:
Too many bugs in almost every feature. In addition, bugs are fixed and changes are made without communication to the user base. Rain keeps adding features but the basic features still are buggy especially in accounting for costs and inventory valuation. In addition, once a bug is submitted and sent to development, we are not sure of the timing of the fix or the actual fix.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much David for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Really awesome features with some minor bugs
Comments: Tech support has helped us so many times. First, they helped us figure out some of the features that we were not completely certain how to use. Then, when we encountered bugs, another quick call to Support and they had us back up and running within no time. I just wish that the program was not dependent on the internet. We’ve had a few times where the internet went out and we were not able to conduct business. This is not good, but it hasn’t happened too often, just enough to be mildly irritating.
Pros:
This program is so easy to use, even for those who are not technologically literate. While we do not use all of the features, such as the rental option, we are really happy with the program. The fact that everything is stored in the cloud helps us when we are not in the store, such as with trunk shows. The tech support has been so helpful when we experienced bugs in the software, and they were very knowledgeable of the product. I have also found the SEO option of Rain, and we intend to utilize it to its fullest extent to promote our business and get our name out there.
Cons:
There have been a few bugs in the software, but nothing that a quick call to support couldn’t fix. One thing that I did not like was when the internet went out. The fact that everything was based on the internet meant that we couldn’t use the cash register. This led to a loss of sales. Nothing too major, but it’s still significant. There should be a backup or a way to use the register when there is no internet connection. More traditional POS systems allow for use without internet, but for inventory reasons, something like Rain is required. Hopefully, they’ll release a version that stores a temporary backup on your system that updates the inventory once the internet is back up and running.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Shawn for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Alternatives Considered:
Great product
Comments: Inventory management
Pros:
Built in videos and the ability to view both of my stores inventory
Cons:
I’d love if it worked with Comment Sold and Ship Station
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you Marie! We appreciate your feedback and partnership!
very good company to work with
Comments: I love this company. I've been with them from their initial start in our field of music schools, and they have developed very quickly. They still have a feel of a small company, and I feel like if I need an aspect or tool developed, I have a pretty good chance of being heard and considered.
Pros:
The comprehensive nature of having a website, an online store, a point of sale terminal, rental/rent to own terminal makes this a great foundational tool to work with.
Cons:
I love the software, but calling customer support, I often get people who don't seem to enjoy helping me. I've had at least 2-3 calls to different technicians ag in a row where I just felt bad for even calling.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Carolyn for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Overall review of Rain POS
Comments: Overall experience has been 90% positive, & with help from tech support, makes it easy to identify areas we need to improve our knowledge of the system
Pros:
Ability to track sales & purchases on a daily basis if needed
Cons:
Length of time that it takes to make requested changes in the software
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you Michael for your feedback! We appreciate your partnership!
A small business solution that is a head of the curve
Comments: We searched for over 3 years for an new point of sale that would fit our needs and allow us to expand in the future. It was important to have a seamless integration of our brick and mortar location and our online store. Rain really shines above all the other options with more functionality at an affordable price. This has allowed us to grow our online presence tremendously to help keep up with the ever growing online sales market. The continued software updates and helpful customer support makes for a personal and dedicated feel to helping our business thrive. We have recommend it to several other businesses and they have been thrilled as well. Thanks Rain!
Pros:
Online and Brick and Mortar integration, extensive customer tracking, easy to customize website, efficient product ordering/receiving system
Cons:
Updates can be slow to release, lacks a little in the reporting functionality
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Allen for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Never worked, horribly inaccurate migration of sales history
Comments: Unfortunately, all I got was a whole lot of wasted time and a loss of money for absolutely nothing. I really wanted it to work, and it might have, had they been able to migrate my sales history.
Pros:
my contact was really nice. I was very excited about the integration aspects of the software, unfortunately I was never able to use them.
Cons:
I was initially assured our sales history could be migrated. Later I received an email saying it could not. I responded that was unacceptable and I did not wish to continue with the software. It is useless to us without it. I was reassured if I exported the data in the correct formats, it would work. We spent three days checking the data to assure a high level of accuracy and sent it in the requested formats. I was told the migration team would take care of the rest. Untrue. We spent weeks, rechecking the data which was horrifically incorrect. We sent several punch lists. Some of the errors were fixed but often we were told "we don't know why this is happening". Even simple yes/no columns in our spreadsheets were randomly incorrect. Were we told we would just have to manually check all the data; over 3000 customers and 19000 sales receipts. We worked for three months, 100s of hours and have never been able to go live due to all of the errors. I couldn't enter employees in the system without them being an administrator, which they classified as a "glitch" and told me to use a different computer than the one at work. I have desperately tried to get these issues corrected. When I requested a refund they said the fees were non-refundable after the migration is complete. My migration was never complete and I requested not to continue with them if they were unable to migrate my sales history, before they started the migration. This system did not work as advertised and sold to me.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Tami for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Worst POS ever?
Comments: I’ve been suffering through the Rainbow pOS for the past three years. Hands down the worst POS I’ve ever encountered. Only reason we haven’t changed is the hassle of doing so. Once you become a Rain user you’ll have access to a feature that helps to recommend what features you’d like to see. This is probably the best feature only because I can see how every other user of Rain is as frustrated as I am. They keep saying they are making improvements but nothing ever changes.
Pros:
Rain is cloud based software. It’s pretty inexpensive compared to others Works on any computer with internet.
Cons:
Reporting is lacking Have to click three buttons to print a receipt Glitchy and buggy Inability to remove items from orders that don’t ship complete Customer service is lacking
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Jed for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Great user friendly POS
Comments: We had a nightmare with our old POS system and had to pretty much start all over with Rain. We are a local business but with tons of inventory. Over 5000 different piece of merchandise. So we were not looking forward to adding all those items again. But Rains interface makes it very easy, anyone can do it. The interface is laid out very simply and everything is right there without having to scroll through pages and pages to find an option you want. Features like repairs and rentals are also a big plus. Really the only negative thing I can say is the since it's cloud based you better have good internet or you will lose your register if you lose internet. But that's not Rains fault. Just make sure you have a reliable internet connection or a backup 4G method since you can run the POS from any phone or tablet. We have had the software for a little less than a year and although we are still adding products from our previous software crash with another company, we are enjoying the new fresh look and feature packed software provided by Rain.
Pros:
Tons of features and easy to use.
Cons:
To print a receipt there are too many steps. Wish it was easier or less time consuming.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Mark for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Pinewski's Ski & Board Shop
Comments: We have been with rain for several years now and have been very happy with the ease of use of our POS system. The professional handling of all our questions and needs, and their customer service, has been second to none. We are continually learning as Rain continues to improve the functionality of their program. We would rate Rain as a top notch program.
Pros:
simple to use, but yet has the ability to fulfill all our POS needs.
Cons:
the inability to make corrections to mistakes without contacting Rain i.e. reversing voids, having voided sales show up on my daily sales reports, and the customer history shot;ld show open sales and or on account sales as a different color or as an open sale rather than completed sale.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Daniel for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Like Sew Software
Comments: In the beginning support was good and they really seem to care about helping your business grow. Now they want to add stuff that I don't need and keep raising the price
Pros:
I originally like the fact that the POS interacted with the suppliers . Made it easy to load inventory into the system. Now they are raising the cost so much it really does not pay for itself.
Cons:
The cost is high for a same business to use.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Patricia for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Great POS platform - even for beginners! Not intimidating.
Comments: Inventory reporting, mainly. I just began using the Marketing module and so far, it seems like it will be a real winner and time saver for me!
Pros:
I like the data capture feature and the real time aspect of the online merging with the B&M shop. Knowing that what my customer is seeing online is what is actually available is fabulous.
Cons:
The sad lack of report query options, particularly in regards to my inventory. I can put notes in if I make an adjustment but can't ever see those notes again. That's a feature I've been asking for for years.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Kathi for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Review of Rain POS for Quilt Shops
Comments: Overall, I've been very happy with my experience and their software. Customer service has always been helpful if I had a question or issue. The software has integrated well with my QuickBooks software so that's been helpful as I'm learning QB. The efficiency I've gained by using this software versus going other routes has completely justified the value for me and my business.
Pros:
Once you learn the system and features, it's pretty easy and intuitive. I like how integrated everything is - purchasing, receiving inventory, online and in-store transactions. Adding new products through almost any of my vendors is fast and easy.
Cons:
The software is under constant development which is good, but also challenging. I like that they are continually working to improve the product, but it can be time consuming to keep up with constant changes.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Lori for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Good
Comments: For the most part, it's pretty good. Hope they continue to develop better reporting capabilities. Some quirks along the way - some get fixed, some they can't explain.
Pros:
I like that it integrates inventory between our point of sale and our website. We also like being able to access customers' purchase history.
Cons:
Bare bones reporting, i.e. for sales data. Many reports offer zero or very few "drill down" options for specifics.
Rain Retail Software Response
4 months ago
Thank you so much Tawni for your response! We appreciate your feedback!
Terrible Customer Service
Comments: It was great when we first switched. However it has just gone down hill.
Pros:
It was sold that it would be a great fit. It is very inexpensive.
Cons:
They do not know what they are doing. They can only help you for 30 mins and then say that they do not know how to fix the issue so they have to get off the phone. Their labels do not work properly and they ast like it is not a big deal.
Rain Retail Software Response
9 months ago
Hi Sierra, Thank you for your response and I am so sorry for your experience. I would love to learn more about your experience as we are trying to revamp certain areas to make things better for our customers. If you can email me, I'd love to talk through things. Thank you again for the response!