sockmonkey

Rather than this "reserve" they place on every order, they should do as other businesses do--assess a $25 fee to anyone whose card is rejected. If someone's card gets maxed out it's probably because of their high s&h charges! Forty percent and up for small orders is extreme, and then on top of that the "borrow" an extra $25. That's outrageous!

Thanks for the info. It looks like several states still do not have any laws pertaining to truncation of creditcard receipts. In my case, this was the first I've heard of it, so I looked under my state's laws for further info, and they have no law regarding it.

Nothing ships from their warehouse until a charge clears I'm sure--unlike pumping gas.

I don't understand holding a "reserve." Nowdays, things process instantaneously. What excuse could there be for this except that it's another way to earn money by holding onto funds for a few days to earn a little extra interest off of someone else's money.

Here is a policy of Craftlobby.com regarding their shipping: Reserves: Please note that when you place an order, Yahoo places a reserve on your credit or debit card. It will be the total of your order plus $25.00. This reserve will help expidite the processing of your order, should any changes be required. When the order ships, the correct amount is charged and the reserve is released. I was not aware that they had this policy. I have ordered from them a few times in the past and was well aware of their hideous shipping charges, but didn't know they did this! Don't you love that they say "Yahoo" places a reserve on your card, instead of Craft Lobby places a reserve on your card? I tried calling the company to get an explanation for how this expedites an order, but keep getting a recording. This is insane. It seems like this should be against the law.

Most products are good even after their expiration date, but they do have one for a reason. What I've found is that often, in cosmetics/lotion it will begin to take on a fatty-rancid smell when the product becomes old, but does not grow mold (at least visible mold). If you have to add more reservatives to a lotion base, what's the point in using a base any more? I don't want to hex myself, but I've used WSP lotion bases and never encountered any mold. Are you sterilizing your containers? I've received containers that are actually pretty dirty--when I wiped them down the paper towel showed all of the dust that was on the lids.

http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/history.html

Are they soy candles?

I'm with you Beth.

If she were already famous, and her logo so well known as to be associated directly with her (much as the golden arches are with McDonald's) then I could maybe see it. In this case, I'm sorry but I don't. Just as Daniedb said with "editing" software, filters are available to manipulate anything, and people are capable of duplicating the same thing without even knowing it--especially when it comes to something as basic as a box or circle. With some of them, no mater who uses them, the program puts the same elements in the same place on the object, time after time, so the only solution is to reverse it or invert it in some cases to give a different look to something. There are millions of people outthere with the same software. Do you think no one will ever come up with the same design, especially when using a box? I'm not saying anyone is guilty or innocent. I just hate to see someone get bashed publicly over something that may simply be coincidental.

I'm getting more and more confused by your post. You plan on getting an equity loan from your current home to buy a new home/business? Did I misunderstand something? Maybe you were referring to the profit from selling your current home and moving into the new business/home? So you plan on making candles at your new home/business, yet you wouldn't be telling your insurance agent that either? I think you're kind of asking for trouble. You might be able to get away with it forever, but with your new policy they will ask what type of store you have, how much your inventory is worth, etc. If heaven forbid, there should ever be a fire due to your candle making and they determine you were in fact a manufacturer, you might not be covered. Just to be on the safe side, call a different insurance company, explain exactly what you are contemplating doing, and get a quote from them. I don't know what volume you're at now, or what volume you intend on doing, but that might have an effect on your insurance rates.

That's very surprising, since she posts here and does logos for other members, and gets lots of raves for them. I will say this for anyone not familiar with graphics software...there are programs out there that can put various gradients on your designs with minimal effort on the operators part--simply scroll your mouse to get highlights where you want them, etc. Do you think it could be in any way possible that it could have happened here. It does appear to me that it was reversed as you say because each area highlighted in your box is in the exact same place on hers, except that it's reversed of course. But honestly, I don't consider a box around text that crucial to your logo or hers. I understand completely where you're coming from, but I truly don't think that the box is that unique and identifiable as a branding issue. Shame on her if she has indeed attempted to steal your work.

Question: What is a "b&m" store? Why wouldn't you go to the bank for money, rather than the home equity route? I wouldn't want my house in the bank's hands in case things went sour with the shop. The home equity might possibly be an asset you could use in the future if need be. If you took a loan out and had trouble repaying it, the bank likely would give you a home equity loan to pay off your debt, but, if you have trouble paying the home equity loan, they would repossess your home rather than give you another loan to default on. As far as insurance, I don't know if you think $200 per year will cover it, or if your talking quarterly, because where I live, $200 per quarter is more like it. If your agent knows you're selling homemade candles, maybe it's $200 per month. I don't know. My agent poo-pooed the idea of me getting the majority of my income from b&b products. He said if it's not a major source of income for my store, I could get away with the rates I was currently paying, but if the majority of my income came from it, I would have to get a special policy. If you've been reading the posts, you know what an issue it is for insurance. Utilities? I don't know about that. My phone/internet alone is $100 per month (that's with unlimited long distance). My gas bill last winter was over $200. Then you have electric, water, sewer to consider. Marketing costs need to be increased. Postage alone for my mailings is well over $100. Newspaper advertising is pretty expensive and ususally not very effective unless you can have a rather large ad, and run your ads frequently--and even then there are no guarantees. Unless you are made of money, it's very hard to have a successful (meaning you can totally support yourself on it) shop anymore. With Walmart and other big box stores everywhere, it is difficult to compete. They can sell a huge candle for $3.99 and still be making a profit. If you are anywhere near a mall, Dollar tree store, Walmart, etc. people will likely expect similar pricing from you. It is very tough.

I personally don't like the sound of it. The $15 "jury" fee is simply a donation. The juried fairs I am familiar with charge one fee. If you don't make the cut, you get your money back. With this church, since they broke it down, I'm assuming they get $15 whether you make it in or not. Frankly, I doubt that they will reject anyone, since this is a first time event. So, you're out $15 no matter what, then you pay $75 on top of that. Now you're up to $90 in fees. Suppose, hypothetically, since it's a first year event, that you only sell $100 worth of merchandise, that's another $15 in commission you will have to pay the church. That will put the total you have spent at $105 to rent a space, yet you only took in $100. Their advertising is pretty lame. I can't believe they aren't putting an ad in a local paper or getting it promoted as a community event on the tv or radio. Some people who attend a real art fair might not be the least bit interested in going to a church for an event, so they are severely limiting the potential visitors to their event by only advertising there. Unless you just want to support a church (which I assume you don't have any ties to), I wouldn't do it--at least not this year. Is the church on a real busy road, so that it would get any traffic? Otherwise, I don't know how they will bring in the volume of people you would need to make a decent profit at it.

http://indigowild.com/shopping/productdetail.cfm?ID=793&catPg=%2Fsearch%2Ecfm

Alabaster Candle has it.

You know, when people are told a certain thing by a business, they should be able to expect it. In my former jobs I gained a lot of experience with customer service. As a company representative I was on the front line dealing with irate customers on several ocassions, so I know what I'm talking about Chris. Errors that occurred were not my fault, but it was my job to make sure they were corrected, and that in the end, the customer was happy. I think it's attitudes like yours that is part of the reason customer service in many industries has gone to hell in a handbasket. You put the onus on the customer for making sure things are correct, and make excuses for businesses that allow for over charges and mixed up or shorted orders by saying "they're just people, they make mistakes." Would you say the same thing for a brain surgeon? I don't know why you think anyone should cut a well known company any slack when they make an error just because they have a "good" reputation. If anything, I think it's worse when they make mistakes because we tend to hold them to a higher standard. I don't want to name the person here, but I think we can remember a certain website that had great prices, etc., but suddenly orders started taking longer and longer to arrive, until finally some people never even got their orders. People made their posts about it, and because of that, I never got caught up in that trap. She was respected here, and then look what happened. Don't you think the same thing is possible with any company? I want to make it perfectly clear to you and anyone else, I had nothing bad to say about Bittercreek. In fact, I give credit to them for taking action to correct the problem. How many other vendors take the time to read these boards and respond? Very few, and some of the ones who do would have been better off not responding at all. I also think it's disprectful to Carol to criticize her and opinion over a legitimate business complaint (it wasn't like she was telling people to boycott, for Christ's sake). What ever happened to "the customer is always right?"

I'm sorry, but I don't think your analogy is a good one. Most people go to the grocery store in person to do their shopping, not the internet. That is what gives rise to issues like this. You can easily take care of a problem when you can deal with people face to face, however, over the internet you are going on blind trust when you place your order. When it comes to money, most people have little tolerance for mistakes. I can understand her anger over getting charged twice what she was quoted for shipping. I personally appreciate it when people share their experiences with vendors--good or bad.

Don't try to turn this big mistake into CarolK's fault. She was well within her rights to complain about it here in my opinion. What a blame the victim, not the perpetrator mentality. If there wasn't an oversite on the part of Bittercreek it never would have happened. No one is obligated to contact a company when they make a mistake. Of course, it's the smart thing to do, but the simple fact is, if you want to keep your customers, don't screw up their orders in the first place. Some people would just be mad, not complain to anyone, and not contact the company--but they would never place another order with them again. CarolK did say she was going to contact them, but they were closed for the weekend already. It's the company's fault for whatever reason it happened, and they have graciously accepted responsibility and are correcting the situation. I applaud the company for taking a pro-active role and publicly addressing the issue in a courteous manner, unlike some other vendors have done here in the past. I'm sure Doneen recognizes the value of good PR and understands how these forums can help or hurt a company. I think the fact that she posted regarding this subject shows that she has respect for CarolK, as well as our entire group and values our business.

I agree with you Cyber, and I'm not saying foreign words should never be used. Everybody's brainstorming, but I can see from a few suggestions that the original guidelines for naming the company seemed to have been forgotten by some. Brainstorming is great. One thought might spur another and the next thing you know, you've got the perfect name. I was trying to offer practical advice, not criticize suggestions. I hope it didn't come across otherwise. Oh, here's something you might like to know...around here we have pizza parlors called "PIZZA MAGIA." I don't think it's regarded too highly, but it uses your favorite word!

I've tried both. I wasn't happy with the results from email--bounced addresses and less response as far as resulting sales go compared to snail mail.

You can put anything in your newsletters besides your new products and fragrances. You could include a food recipe, a puzzle, horoscopes, interesting "factoids," or pictures. You could also discuss color trends in home decor, aromatherapy; or you could have a contest, asking readers to come up with a name for your newest candle fragrance. Those are just a few ideas that popped in my mind.

I'm anxious to put out fall stuff already and have been deciding on what fragrances I'll be using. As far as I'm concerned, I would like to roll them out as early as possible in August. JoAnn's already has fall stuff out, and Hobby Lobby has Christmas out, so I don't think you'd be rushing anything.

Something to keep in mind is, that although a foreign word might have a nice ring to it or a nice meaning, will it be something that will make a customer remember it? If it is a combination of word they are not familiar with, chances are they might forget it. Look it up in the phone book? If it's a foreign language, they might not know how to spell it. That means lost business. It's possible to use a foreign word or two for a product name or fragrance name. I've seen that done, and sometimes text below it to say what the meaning is in that particular language. I can view that two different ways: 1) It's interesting to learn new things, or 2) the manufacturer is trying to present an upscale or glamorous image, but knows its clientel is not--i.e., treating customers as uneducated, ignorant, or lacking culture. The bottom line is, you shouldn't give your company a complex name that will require you to explain what it means. Who want's to eat at Branco Castelo? That means White Castle in Portugese (according to my free internet translator). Of course, since I don't know the language, I don't even know that I put it in proper order, but the point is, who knew you could get hamburgers there? I'm not saying never use a foreign word, since some of them are commonly used already--primarily in the cosmetic/bath industry. Just be careful using them--use words that are easy to spell and pronounce.

You know, some companies just rip you off on shipping as part of their normal business practices. However, when a company states shipping will be one price, and it turns out to be double what they approximate, then there's a real problem. Two or three pounds--even five pounds of stuff does not cost $15 to ship. Like everyone else said, call them.