With your subscription to SAGE Online you will receive our Windows-based software to install on your computer. Note that SAGE Online is not a web page, which makes it faster and more secure! It uses the Internet, but looks like any other program you would run under Windows. All of the SAGE services will be at your fingertips with easy-to-use menus and options.

See hardware requirements for SAGE Online

For the first time in the industry you can now speak directly to supplier representatives through SAGEim™, our NEW industry-wide instant messaging system. With the click of a button, you'll be talking to a supplier representative who can assist you with any questions you may have. SAGEim can also be used to talk to a live SAGE support representative for research assistance. You can even chat with industry friends or colleagues.

Now you can track your order status through SAGE Online! No more calling suppliers to see where your order is. With SAGE Online, you have instant access to the latest order status information provided from the supplier. You can even receive email alerts whenever the status of your order changes.

Verified by Supplier is a new tool that is a great asset to your business. When you see the Verified by Supplier check mark you will have peace of mind knowing that these products, pricing and data have been verified by the supplier to give you the most comprehensive and accurate information available. SAGE Online is the only research tool in the industry that provides supplier verification capability. Are you receiving the correct product research information?

Using SAGE's advanced research capabilities, you can quickly find any product in the industry by entering specific criteria. SAGE has a product database of over half a million products, encompassing the entire promotional products industry. We list products from all industry suppliers, not just ASI subscribers or PPAI members. You can search by any combination of categories, keywords, colors, themes, price ranges (net or catalog), specific item number or name, location of the supplier, recyclable or not, made in the USA, union shop, and much more. Also, you can always use "AND", "OR", "NOT", "*", and parentheses to create more complex queries as needed!

For example, let's assume you're looking for 2,500 green ceramic mugs under $5.00. First, you would type "MUGS" as the category. Then, select "CERAMIC" from the mug keyword list and "GREEN" from the mug color list. Notice how, unlike other systems, SAGE shows you a list of all of the available words to choose from. Then you would enter $5.00 as a maximum price and 2,500 for the quantity. In seconds, SAGE will search the database and return all of the matching products.

After the search, SAGE will show you a list of all of the products that match your criteria. This preview listing will show you each product's name, a small thumbnail picture, keywords, the supplier's SAGE #, the abbreviated line name, and whether or not the product is new. SAGE Online will even tell you if the supplier has a special available!

You may then want to sort this list by catalog or net price, profitability, proximity to the supplier, SAGE #, line name, supplier ratings, number of matches, or other available sort options. SAGE offers more sorting options than competing systems so that you can always get your information in the order you want it! Plus, unlike competing systems, it will do any sort in less than a few seconds!

After the sort, you can scroll through the product list, scanning for items that might be exactly what you're looking for. You can also print out the entire list (or specific items) in brief or extended format for reviewing at a later time!

Normally, you will want to see the product list after you perform a search. However, on occasion, it might be nice just to view a list of the suppliers who make the product you're interested in. In this case, the supplier list screen will show you a complete list of supplier names and contact information for you to view or print.

Of course, any of the information on these screens can quickly be printed to your printer for a hard copy.

After you find a product you're interested in, just click on it to see all of its detailed information, including the item number, name, keywords, colors, full coded pricing, themes, packaging, and whether it's made in the USA or recyclable. You'll also see an instant preview-size photo of the product! In SAGE Online, you can also click on the thumbnail to see a high-quality larger image.

SAGE will also show you the calculated net prices and profit margins. SAGE can be configured to ask for a password before showing various information, like net pricing. With this level of security, you can feel confident using SAGE with a client nearby. SAGE also offers the ability to alter pricing by a number of different methods so that you can adjust margins to fit your marketing goals!

If you want to see or print a picture of this product's complete catalog page in SAGE Online just click "Catalog Page" and you'll see the full-color catalog page on your screen! SAGE gives you the ability to view the full color catalog page of every product, so you won't see "Picture Not Available" messages! With the clip/paste and export features, you can even copy a portion of the image to other Windows programs such as Word, Photoshop, or Corel Draw. Of course, you can print the catalog page in color or black and white.

Now that you've found the product you were looking for, you may want to see additional supplier information such as contact person, address, phone, fax, toll-free numbers, email address, web address, production time, rush service, union information, electronic art information, and the catalog year. Also, you can quickly view an index of the supplier's catalog and jump directly to products on any page!

In addition to searching for a particular product, SAGE allows you to search for any supplier in the industry. SAGE contains over 4,300 suppliers from the advertising specialty and promotional products industries, including all of the ones you're probably already dealing with. You can search for suppliers by company name, line name, or SAGE ID number. SAGE also includes a "personal ID" feature that allows you to assign your own alpha-numeric ID to each supplier. Once assigned, that ID will show up on all of the supplier pages and you can search by that ID from the supplie search screen.

Finally, you may need to check out this supplier's general information. By clicking "General Info" from the supplier screen, you'll see all of the supplier's policies and information in an easy-to-read format. If you need to see the actual general information page from the catalog, just click "View Page" and it will appear on your screen in high-resolution graphics. Like everything else on SAGE, you can easily print it out to your printer.

Now your search is complete. In just a few minutes, you've found the exact item your customer needs. Next, you may need to order samples, a hard copy catalog, or write up your quote. SAGE will take care of all of this too!

Instead of searching for the supplier's phone number and waiting on hold all afternoon, just use SAGE to instantly request a catalog or sample. Whenever you're looking at a supplier or product screen on SAGE, you can click "Request" to quickly order whatever you need. You can enter a P.O. number, a ship to address, a specific quantity of catalogs, a shipping method, a memo, and even request a blind shipment directly to your client!

With SAGE Online, our computers will fax or email (depending on the supplier's preference) your request directly to the supplier within 30 minutes, day or night, at no charge to you. You can even print a receipt in case you need to follow-up on your order.

SAGE Online contains many off-line form designers to help you create customized forms, such as quote sheets. For example, after you find the product you need, Presentation Publisher will produce a professional presentation for your client. By filling in a template, SAGE will format the presentation on your logo or a template design. Any fields you don't need can be left blank and won't print, so no one will know you're using a template.

You can even paste the product information and picture directly from your product search, so you don't have to re-key in the information. After preparing a presentation, you can even save it for later use. A personalized presentation along with the picture of the product or the full color printout of the catalog page makes a perfect sales tool for you!

With SAGE Online, not only can you search for suppliers and products, but you can also search for specials! You can find supplier specials by product category, company name, line name, or SAGE ID number. For example, to find mug specials, you would type in "MUGS," choose that you want specials only, and SAGE will quickly show you all of the specials on mugs. You can also browse through all of the new specials that were recently added to the system. You can even take a look at the actual special sheet on your screen to print out coupons or get more details! Since SAGE Online is updated every single day, you'll never see an expired special. Continuous information updates makes SAGE Online a truly superior information service.

SAGE Online has a few additional features that the CD-based system does not have. These features are described below:

• Specials - SAGE Online contains a complete specials area with all of the latest supplier specials
• Continuous Updates - SAGE Online is updated every day to provide the most up-to-date information available.
• Catalog/Sample requests sent automatically - With SAGE Online, your catalog and sample requests are sent directly through the system.
• Instant Online Ratings - SAGE Online includes an instant rating system that allows you to rate suppliers by several different criteria. You can then benefit by seeing other distributors' ratings (shown in aggregate form only).
• Enhanced QuickPics and Catalog Pages - SAGE Online offers enhanced QuickPics, which are high-resolution product images, in addition to the thumbnail images on the product detail screen. In addition, SAGE Online gives you access to the full-color catalog pages from the supplier's catalog.