UppSales vs Excel for order collection: which one really pays off?

If you are a business agent, you probably already use Excel-or have used it-to manage orders, price lists, and customers. It’s the tool everyone knows, it’s cheap, and it works. So why change?

This page answers that question honestly, comparing Excel with UppSales on eight concrete criteria-not to convince you to buy something, but to help you understand when Excel is enough and when it starts costing you more than you think.

Spoiler: Excel is good up to a point. The problem is not the tool – it’s the time that disappears every night doing things you might not have to do.

Direct comparison on 8 criteria

The table below is based on actual use of both tools in field order collection contexts.

ASPECT	EXCEL / SPREADSHEETS	UPPSALES
Order collection during the visit	Take notes by hand or on file, then transcribe into Excel at home	Order created directly during visit, sent before walking out the door
Product catalog	Separate Excel file, manually updated, risk different versions per agent	Digital catalog or interactive PDF that is always up-to-date, the same for everyone
Price list and discount management by customer	Possible but manual: formulas, separate sheets, high probability of error	Automatic: the correct price list applies itself to the customer’s selection
Offline use	Yes, it works without internet	Yes, it works offline with automatic synchronization upon returning to the network
Multi-mandate (multiple brands)	One file per brand, separate folders, high operational confusion	Each brand has its own space, one-click navigation, no confusion
Risk of errors on the order	High: copy/paste, wrong codes, outdated prices, wrong quantities	Low: the product is selected from the catalog, the price is preset
Sending order to the supplier	Manual email with Excel attachment, often out of business hours	Automatic sending to confirmation, with copy to client in real time
Cost of the instrument	Free (included in Microsoft 365) or nearly so	From 7€/month per agent (basic)
Initial setup time	None if you already use Excel	15-30 minutes to import products and customers from Excel
Learning curve	None for those already familiar with Excel	Low: interface designed for non-technical people
Works on all devices	PC/Mac mainly; mobile inconvenient for data entry	iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, browser – same exact result
Technical Support	Online community, no direct support	Support in Italian Mon-Fri, team based in Italy

Legend: cells with bold text indicate advantage in the category.

The hidden cost of Excel: the hours you don’t count

Excel costs nothing as software. But there is a cost that almost no agent calculates: the time they spend doing things they would not need to do.

An agent who collects 8 visits a day and transcribes each order into Excel in the evening spends an average of 45-60 minutes a day in repetitive work. That’s about 18 hours a month-almost three work days.

Add to these the time to look up incorrect product codes, correct quantity errors, call back customers after submitting an incorrect order, and update price lists on files that each agent has saved in different versions.

This is not Excel’s fault. Excel is designed to process data, not to collect field orders. Using it for this is like using a kitchen knife as a screwdriver: it works, but it is not the right tool.

When Excel is the right choice

To be honest is to say it clearly: Excel is just fine in some situations. There is no point in switching to a dedicated app if:

• Make few visits per day (less than 3) with small catalogs and stable listings
• Your supplier only accepts orders in a specific Excel format that you cannot change
• You work in an industry where catalogs never change and products are few and fixed
• You are the only agent and never have problems with errors or versions of files

If you recognize yourself in all of these points, Excel is probably good enough for you. But if even one of these isn’t true-if you make a lot of visits, manage multiple brands, have complex catalogs, or frequently make corrections to orders-it’s worth doing the lost time calculation.

When UppSales pays off

UppSales becomes cost-effective when the time saved is worth more than the cost of the plan. Here are the most common cases:

Agent with 5+ visits per day

Each visit requires quick access to the catalog, application of the right price list for that specific customer, and immediate order submission. With Excel this requires 3 separate tools (notebook, price list file, email). With UppSales it is all in one during the visit.

Multi-firm agent with 3+ brands

Managing multiple brands on Excel means more files, more lists, more risk of confusion. With UppSales each brand has its own separate space but accessible from the same place. There is no risk of sending an order with the wrong brand’s price list.

Agency with multiple agents

When there are multiple agents, Excel becomes a coordination problem: Who has the updated version of the price list? Who has the data for customer X? With UppSales everyone works on the same data updated in real time, from the same platform.

Who works with PDF catalogs

If your supplier sends you seasonal PDF catalogs, with Excel you have to open the PDF, find the product, copy the code, paste it into the order file-each time, for each product. With UppSales you upload the PDF once and it becomes an interactive catalog: you touch the product and it goes directly into the order.

The real cost in comparison

Let’s put the numbers on the table. Let’s compare the cost of Excel with UppSales by also considering the cost of lost time.

SCENARIO	EXCEL – monthly cost	UPPSALES – monthly cost
Software	0€ (or included in Microsoft 365)	7€/agent (basic plan)
Single agent – 45 min/day lost in transcripts	~18 hours/month lost. At 20€/h = 360€/month hidden cost.	7-22€/month. Time lost: close to zero
Multi-firm agent – 3 brands, 60 min/day	~24 hours/month lost = 480€/month hidden cost	~25-35€/month. Setup once, then automatic
Agency – 5 agents, manual coordination	List and file coordination: ~10 hours/month for those who manage = €200+	~85-150€/month for 5 agents. Coordination zeroed out

* Cost of time is an estimate based on one working hour at value 20€. The real value depends on the agent’s hourly cost and lost opportunity (visits not made because he/she was transcribing).

Switching from Excel to UppSales: how difficult is it?

The main concern of change assessors is this, “I have years of data on Excel, do I have to start from scratch?” The answer is no.

UppSales imports directly from Excel. The typical process is:

1. Export your Excel file with products and customers in the standard UppSales format (downloadable template)
2. Import the file into UppSales – 15-30 minutes for normal datasets
3. Upload PDF catalogs (if you have them) – minutes per file
4. Place a test order to make sure everything is correct
5. You are operating

If you have complex data or need support, the UppSales team can follow up on the import directly-we are a software house and have done this many times before.

Frequently asked questions

Can I continue to use Excel and UppSales together?

Yes. UppSales exports orders to Excel at any time. If your supplier requires orders in Excel format, you can collect them with UppSales and export them in the required format. You do not have to choose one or the other for the final step-just for the collection step.

Excel works best for complex calculations. Does UppSales support them?

UppSales handles price lists, discounts, product variants and minimum quantities. For data analysis, advanced reporting or custom calculations Excel remains superior-and is not meant to replace it in these functions. UppSales is optimized for the field order collection phase, not for post-sales analysis.

Can I try UppSales without abandoning Excel?

Yes. During the 15-day free trial you can use both in parallel and compare your workflow. You don’t have to stop using Excel to test UppSales.

What happens to the data if I stop using UppSales?

You can export everything to Excel format at any time – products, customers, order history. Your data remains accessible for 30 days after expiration. You are never locked into the platform.

Try UppSales for 15 days – then decide

There is no better way to see if UppSales is right for you than to use it in your working reality for a few days. The 15-day trial is free, comprehensive, and credit card-free. Worst case you come back to Excel exactly where you started.

→ Start the trial at platform.uppsales.io

→ Do you have any questions? Call us: +39 0332 239546