Frequently Asked Questions (commercial)

Sitolog is a micro-enterprise, free of VAT.

All our prices are therefore free of VAT. You do not pay any VAT and of course you cannot claim any professional VAT refund.
The prices indicated do not include any tax.

The legal mention stipulating the VAT-free sale is included at the bottom of all invoices.

Yes, since the subscription to Merlin Backoffice Flex is monthly, you can stop the automatic monthly renewal at any time.

If you have opted for the annual prepayment option, which gives you a 50% discount and savings on the price of the monthly payments, you can stop the automatic annual renewal at any time. But you can't ask for a refund of the prepaid monthly payments.

This is the same price as if you bought them when you purchased the license.

However, when including several features or options when purchasing the license, discounts of -10% to -25% can be automatically applied to the whole price. If the same options or extensions are purchased later, they do not benefit from these discounts.

Yes, absolutely, provided that you use the latest available software update. Customer support is part of our DNA and we do not sell modules, but solutions, which includes guidance and support, free of charge.

In Merlin Backoffice itself, TeamViewer is integrated, which allows you to call us and share your screen with us. We can then assist you at any time by showing you how to concretely carry out an operation that you do not understand.

The training courses are also freely available online, in the form of numerous interactive video tutorials.

The optional paid services concern the software installation package (honestly, there is no need to buy this service, Merlin Backoffice ® is easy to install by following our step-by-step guide provided with it and in case of difficulty, we assist you free of charge) and the individual training sessions, from 1 to 3 hours, most often devoted to carrying out together from A to Z the import of your own CSV or Excel files into your database.

Yes, this is now possible with the yearly pre-payment option of Merlin Backoffice ® Flex that automatically adds a free 15 day test period to the 12 months. A credit card imprint is requested at the beginning of the process (not registered at Sitolog for security reasons, but only at our financial partner Stripe). The payment of the subscription for 12 months is only made after these 15 days, if you do not cancel the subscription during this trial period

However, any purchase of a license or subscription from Sitolog is covered by a full 15-day "Money back guarantee" (renewable period upon request).Furthermore, every purchase of a license or subscription from Sitolog is covered by an additional 15-day "Money back guarantee

So to test Merlin Backoffice ® Flex, safely, the first step is to subscribe to one of the plans by choosing the annual prepayment option. This allows you to use and test all the features included in the chosen plan for a minimum of 15 days, free of charge, without any limits or constraints.

If you are convinced, you don't have to do anything special, the subscription is automatically confirmed and billed.

In a second time, you have another 15 days to be totally convinced. If you are not, simply ask us for a refund of your order before this second 15-day period. We will then refund your purchase in full, discontinue the subscription and deactivate the license.

Free and guaranteed applicable only once, per person or per company and do not apply to single month subscriptions.

No, the second and subsequent positions of a license are strictly reserved for internal use within the company that owns the license, exclusively by its employees.

Any provider, partner or subcontractor must have its own license to use Merlin Backoffice ® with your site

If you are a web agency or a freelancer and would like to be able to temporarily use the license purchased by one of your clients, contact us to join the affiliate program and eventually get a free license

Your license is nominative (in your name), but is not tied to any particular site or PCs. What is important is that you do not exceed the number of sites managed with the software and the number of PCs on which the software is installed and used, as authorized by the license.

If you have the possibility, uninstall the software on the old PC, just after installing it on the new one (doing it in this order allows you to recover the various connection parameters and settings).

Otherwise simply install the software on the new PC or disk. If the maximum number of workstations is exceeded, the software will notify you and ask you which workstation(s) you want to deactivate, giving you the list of known workstations by name.

You can also upgrade your Flex subscription at any time by adding more stations or stores.

Whether you are purchasing a new license or adding options, the site should send you several emails immediately after purchase. One of these messages contains your personal serial number (and a download link for new licenses).

However, it may happen that you do not receive this email (check your spam folder). In this case, go back to our site, identify yourself and go to the downloads and licenses page (menu "Your licenses"). You will find the serial number of each of your licenses.

If you can't find it or if it hasn't changed after adding options, contact us so that we can re-generate it manually.

Since the release of Merlin Backoffice ® Flex, the price of updates is included in the price of the license. As long as you are a Merlin Backoffice ® Flex subscriber, you get all the new features for free.

For older Merlin Backoffice ® and AutoPresta licenses, they are free for the first six months after purchasing a license.

Sitolog no longer sells update subscriptions for this type of Merlin Backoffice ® license. If your subscription has expired, you should now opt for a subscription to Merlin Backoffice ® Flex to continue to benefit from the patches and new features..

No, after the initial 6-month free period, you are under no obligation to continue to update your software, even though it is strongly recommended.

You can subscribe to updates at any time, even if you have been using an older version for years, at no extra cost.

Please note, however, that free support is only contractually guaranteed for the latest version. We may therefore ask you to update the module, and therefore to take out or renew a subscription, before assisting you in case of difficulty.

Merlin Backoffice ™ checks itself each time it is launched to see if a more recent version is available and then suggests that you perform the update.

If you do not use Merlin Backoffice ® every day and for all other modules, it is advisable to subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

Finally, on the site, in the licenses and downloads page, you can see the latest version available for each module you have purchased.

This is not possible. Not because of us but because of PrestaShop.

Indeed PrestaShop has a particular method of managing virtual products, which means that only the latest version of the files is available for download.

If you live in France and if the purchase is after 2017, Sitolog has sent you an archive CD, containing the installation file of the version dating from the purchase date.

It is strongly advised, when you initially purchase and download each update, as long as you are subscribed to the updates, to keep an archive of the downloaded file, on a key or an external disk. This will allow you to re-install the same version later on another PC or after a crash for example..

The version number is indicated in the title bar of all windows of the application.

There is no universal answer, it depends on your type of business and your needs. Don't hesitate to call us to discuss it.

We can however give some trends :

The most popular plan is the PRO plan, which allows mass management of products and categories as well as the import of csv or Excel files.

The "advanced variation generator" included in the PREMIUM plan is highly recommended if your products need a large number of variations.

To learn more about these features, click on the round button to the right of each of these purchase options on the Merlin Backoffice ® page or on this button:

Details of the options...

Absolutely, and that's the whole point of the new Flex formula.

If the new plan is more expensive than the current one, you will only be charged the difference in price for the current month and subsequent installments, prepaid or not.

If the new plan is less expensive than the current one, the change will not result in a refund of the difference, either for the current term or for future terms if they have been prepaid.

If the new plan is cheaper than the current one and if you have chosen the monthly subscription, without prepayment, the new rate will be applied from the next monthly due date.

If the new plan is cheaper than the current one and you have chosen the annual prepaid option, the new rate will be applied from the next annual renewal date. In this case, it is advisable to wait until the end of the current prepaid period.

Yes, at any time, online, from the download and license management page.

Only the difference in rate will be charged, for the current term and the prepaid ones.

This was not possible with the old licenses, but is now possible with the Flex subscription.

Please note that this does not give rise to a refund of the current monthly instalment nor of the prepaid ones.

No, this is a feature included in the Merlin Backoffice ® code, but not activated by default. The purchase of this "product" enables it to be activated automatically, there is nothing to install. And so by definition, it is not an independent module or application, you must necessarily have a license of Merlin Backoffice ® to use it.

Yes in 1 click if there are two stores (or more) contained in the same installation of PrestaShop configured in multi-shop mode (in the same database).

If it is about two different installations of PrestaShop, it is possible only by doing an export/import of a csv or Excel file.

Yes, most likely. There is no theoretical limit to the size of the file that Merlin Backoffice ® can process because it works in groups of 3 to 10 lines and waits for the server to respond before moving on to the next group.

No risk of time-out. The concrete record to date has been the import in a single operation of a file of 360 000 lines.

It should be noted that it is often the sending of the photos that takes the longest. This is why in Merlin Backoffice ®, we have split the operations into two.

1. creation of articles
2. in the background, send the images.

The declination cloning module does not have exactly the same function as the "advanced declination generator" of Merlin Backoffice ®.

The module allows you to make identical copies of the variations of a model product, to a selection of other products, with their various properties such as their reference, their photos....

The generator in Merlin Backoffice ® allows you not to clone, but to create variations in a selection of products, from a selection of attributes, to add new variants, to modify the impact on the prices of attributes...

They therefore both correspond to significantly different needs and remain complementary.

To conclude:

-If y l'option "Générateur avancé" de Merlin Backoffice ® ou voulez simplement faire des clones ou des duplications de variations, utilisez le module de clonage.

No, but it is quite possible to use the Windows version of Merlin Backoffice ® on this type of machine, thanks to additional software such as Parallels Desktop. This software allows you to add a Windows virtual machine, directly in an application window under macOS. No need for a double boot or complicated things, your Windows applications are then usable under MAC, as native applications, in the same environment.

Please note that at Sitolog, we have not had a PC for many years. We work exclusively on iMac, with // Desktop. This combines the advantages of both worlds, the power and stability of the Mac and the vastness of the Windows application catalog.

The additional cost is not significant:
-The lifetime license of Parallels Desktop (as for Merlin Backoffice ®, you only pay once :-) ), is only 80€ (in 2022).
-Official Windows licenses are easily found for less than 5€. For example on CDiscount, the license of Windows 11 Pro, sold by K-Software, is charged only 1€! Dubious at first, we tested for you, it works perfectly, K-Software sends you within 24h an activation key recognized by Microsoft. Windows 11 pro is downloaded and installed directly from the Microsoft website, there is no risk to install a pirated and corrupted version.

Yes Merlin Backoffice ® is compatible with various PHP server emulators, like Wamp or EasyPHP.

You can even use Filezilla Server to simulate image transfers via FTP.

Once your site is online on a real server, you will only have to reconfigure the connection in Merlin Backoffice ® to work on your site in production.

If you want to be able to quickly switch from one to the other, then the best thing to do is to add a multi-shop extension to your license.

No, because due to its "thick client" design, Merlin Backoffice ® is external to PrestaShop. It is not installed in PrestaShop, but dialogues directly with the database.

The only "intrusion" is the addition of a small module provided with it, called "the connector", which allows Merlin Backoffice ® to connect to the database securely through PrestaShop's secure employee identification protocol.

With very few exceptions, Merlin Backoffice ® uses its own scripts and SQL queries, optimized for mass processing of a very large volume of data. This is why you will save a lot of time on all operations that affect a large number of items at the same time.

This innovative technical approach allows Merlin Backoffice ® to be independent of PrestaShop scripts and therefore of these numerous bugs.