dpowell

Yeah, the pic link doesn't work.

Oh well, I'll check back later.

I'm sure that wasn't meant to be snide, although it did seem a bit rude or harsh. The intent most likely was to offer another opinion on the importance of testing and taking your time.

Just follow the previously given advice, read as much as you can, and make sure you take the time and effort to properly test everything you make. It's not a quick and easy thing to start.

Also, a bit of advice. Try to limit the number of scents, at least to start. This will simplify your starting testing a bit.

Welcome to the addiction.

Yes, the link is much appreciated. I'm going to have to pick up a copy as well. I know the author and she knows her stuff. I'm sure it will be worth the money.

http://www.nu-era.com/multipurpose-spinner-rack.asp

This is the rack I use with my clamshells, in fact I have to buy another one because I have quite a few scents.

Each prong will hold 6 clamshells and there are 24 prongs in all. I bought from this company and they are great with friendly service and fast shipping.

Fire

I have two of the same racks for clamshells but they were much cheaper. Store Supply Warehouse carries those. This site has great service as well and fast shipping. They have three warehouses across the country to ship from. http://www.storesupply.com/pc-12690-850-60108-wire-spinner-rack-63-12h.aspx

Also, you may as well get two racks right away. Check the shipping difference between one and two and you'll see.

We sell A LOT of their Pumpkin Pie Closeout. Also, Wine Cellar (BCN Exclusive) sells great for us.

I would be upset for sure.

If I remember right this isn't the first post I've seen on their slow shipping and poor service. That is why I've stayed away from them.

Another vote for #1 - #2 is nice as well.

A spider is a program / script that searches sites on the web and indexes them. It is usually used by search engines.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler

"Many sites, in particular search engines, use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data. Web crawlers are mainly used to create a copy of all the visited pages for later processing by a search engine that will index the downloaded pages to provide fast searches. Crawlers can also be used for automating maintenance tasks on a Web site, such as checking links or validating HTML code. Also, crawlers can be used to gather specific types of information from Web pages, such as harvesting e-mail addresses (usually for spam)."

We have done several online parties. Sometimes they are great, sometimes the person sells nothing. But there is really nothing to lose.

We do the same thing as far as sending the host/hostess an invite card announcing the party with the dates.

Also, for the percentage of sales we simply send them a gift certificate to their account on our site for the value that they can use how / when they would like.

Overall I'd say if you find people have an interest in hosting a party it can be a great way to bring others to your site. Word of mouth is great advertisement.

We had a similar thing happen about a month ago. Two very close IP addresses went through EVERY page on our site in a matter of about 35 minutes. About a week later we started getting calls from a company called Internet Advancement. They wanted $3000 up front and $129.95 a month to do SEO work on our site. I told them where to go with that and then did a little Google searching on them. Turns out they are a bit of a scam and have many complaints.

I would be more than a little cautious if you get any similar calls soon.

Here is what I found out about Swift Ventures Inc.

From http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_9l1n7

"

Swift Ventures Inc (Swift Desk)

6010 27th Ave Ne, Seattle, WA 98115-7112, United States (map)

Phone: (206) 854-4436

Also Does Business As:Swift Desk

URL:www.swiftdesk.com, www.traffictrader.net

SIC:Computer Processing and Data Preparation and Processing Services

Line of Business:Web Hosting/Servicing & Computer Consulting"

Company Profile: Swift Ventures Inc

Year Started:2000

State of Incorporation:WA

URL:www.swiftdesk.com, www.traffictrader.net

Location Type:Single Location

Stock Symbol:N/A

Stock Exchange:N/A

Also Does Business As:Swift Desk

NAICS:N/A

SIC #Code:7374

Est. Annual Sales:$200,000

Est. Employees:3

Est. Employees at Location:3

Contact Name:Henry R Goss

Contact Title:President

Looks like someone I wouldn't talk to.

Hope that helps.

It's back up

I just got a message that PayPal is performing "weekly maintenance" and will be back up around 11:30 Pacific Time

I managed to get in after a few tries this morning. But now it's the same error every time.

Hope they get it worked out soon.

Several of our wholesale accounts sell quite a few votives. We package them in 6 packs and sell them to the wholesale accounts by the dozen (2 6-packs) of the same scent.

We are in Wisconsin as well and charge $3.00 for a pack of 6 (We're also right on the main road to a state park / campground out in the country.) Probably priced a bit low compared to what we could get for them, but they sell well at that and also gets people to stop to buy the outdoor candles.

dirtybird - yes, ordering Priority Mail supplies on the USPS site is free including shipping. They send them to you parcel post and it'll take about a week to get them.

No worries on getting a bill for them.

All we do is use scrap wax poured into a paper muffin cup with a piece of wick. We also put a few small pine cones in them as well since we have them all over the yard.

Also curious on this. This is our first summer shipping.

So far everything has made it fine shipping out only on Monday and Tuesday for farther zones and no later than Wednesday in the same zone.

As it gets warmer I'm not sure how things will go.

Top Sellers for us to men in order:

Blueberry - NG

Cherry - NG

Butt Naked - BCN

Cinnamon Red Hot - BCN

Sweet Orange (Essential Oil)

Island Fresh - NG

Citrus Musk CO - BCN

As Meredith_D mentioned, I basically use a business card template for MS Word folded in half. Works great.

Yeah, all better. The update is up - just had to replace two files.

Here's the link if anyone needs it.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?p=374017#post374017

For those of you using ZenCart with the USPS API shipping calculator I just thought I'd let you know that your checkout will not work and people won't be able to order.

I was putting through some manual orders and found this out this morning. Also, had a few customers e-mail me saying they couldn't get to the checkout screens.

According to ZenCart the problem is that the Post Office in all its brilliance in changing rates and adding the required box dimension to the equation forgot to update their online shipping system. ZenCart admins have received the information today and are working on updating so that the API works again.

We went to a temporary table rate shipping until this gets sorted and that fixed the problem for people to checkout.

OSCommerce users - I read on the ZenCart forum that there is a fix for the USPS problem already but I haven't confirmed it.

Had to do a little google search (as I had no clue as well), but here is what bagass is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagasse

It has to do with the sugar cane again.

That's the price we are at as well $5.00 for 2 oz. for wholesale

If it is just a lye water solution you should be fine pouring it down the drain - should actually clean the pipes a bit. Lye is used as a drain cleaner.