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southern.scents

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Everything posted by southern.scents

  1. Just FYI, PappaShop offers the EXACT same software that Designer218 offers. The only difference will be the look of the software. As everyone else has suggested, you should be looking for a designer to change the "country / kitchy" because almost all DIY hosts will have the same software.
  2. I hate to be negative but Groupon can completely destroy your business. If I was you, I'd do some research on success and failure stories before proceeding...this is one article that points out some huge flaws. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/212328/groupon_nightmares_and_how_to_avoid_them.html Also, keep in mind that with Groupon, stock is a non-existent thing...you cannot limit the number of offers that are sold. Additionally, keep in mind that to grab the attention of Groupon you have to offer an amazing deal (so you start off by cutting your profit margins.) Then, you take out their percentage which can be in the range of 40-60%. After all of that, will you be left with enough money to even cover your costs? Many business have found out a little too late that the answer was no. I'd say that if you want to offer a "group" deal..start off on your own. That way you can limit the number of purchases and keep most, if not all, of the incoming funds. If you want to go this route, check out THIS Facebook application by North Social. I've used it several times with success. I hope that helps and, if you do go with Groupon, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you.
  3. Okay...so far I've shipped about 50 orders in these boxes (and I would have used them for the rest of the orders if I hadn't ran out.) In my case, anything two pounds or over ships for the same price OR cheaper than two pounds via regular priority mail (which covers pretty much everything that I ship.) So, if two pounds was $7.15 via regular priority, it was $7.15 for the Regional Rate Box A. And, since I didn't have to buy the box I saved money. Plus, I didn't have to weigh. Personally, I prefer the Side Loading Regional Rate Box A because it already has a tape strip on it (saves me even more money and time.) The boxes are pretty sturdy without weighing a ton; I have several types of boxes from USPS that weight almost a pound even when they are empty. Overall, love the boxes...love the price. You can bet I'll be using these VERY frequently. But, it does make me ask the question: Is USPS trying to put themselves out of business....if they wouldn't have released these I would have spent MUCH more on shipping.
  4. Make sure in the future that you place a small notice on the page that supplies are limited and that everyone may not receive a sample (or something along those lines.) Additionally, make sure you collect email addresses and in your notice state that by signing up for the free sample they are subscribing to your newsletter. At least then if you didn't receive any orders from sending out so many samples, you have quite a few email addresses to market to in the future.
  5. Well, I'm not familiar with Groupon specifically but I've been approached by many other "deal share" sites with similar principles as Groupon and they always want too much money. The last one that called expected you to offer a really good deal AND they wanted a 50% cut. If I'm going to discount my product by 20-30% and then still have to give away 50% of whats left over...my margins start getting very slim. Instead, I just offered a deal direct to my customers. I still had lots of sales and I didn't have to give away 50% of what I made. Plus, if I remember correctly, these guys collect the money on your behalf and then send you a check a certain number of days later....definitely not my ideal business transaction.
  6. Nothing irks me more than the "Oh, I threw it out" excuse.
  7. You can get labels that have the perforation but I'm not sure they have them for inkjet or laser printers; I've only seen them for my LX810 and even then they were a custom order. But, they are relatively cheap...like .04 each before ink costs.
  8. Personally, I think they should make the reader a little wider or add "ridges" to each side so that when you insert the card it guides it in more accurately. I know they were going for small but an extra half an inch on each side would, in my case, cut down on the excessive swipes.
  9. Mine wasn't too bad. Placed on November 30th and shipped yesterday (December 8th.)
  10. I can't say that I always agree with Paypal's policies but in this case I have to side with them. I received an email regarding the updated refund policy a month before it went into effect. I wasn't happy with it but I can't complain.... First, it should be clarified that you don't actually pay a fee to offer a refund...Paypal just isn't giving you a refund on the $.30 transaction fee that they charged for you to accept the payment. In the past, when offering a refund Paypal gave the merchant (yourself) a full refund on the fees that you paid them and then you refunded the full amount to the customer. Now, they refund the percentage that they charge but NOT the $.30 transaction fee. So, it costs you $.30 to send a refund no matter how large or small of a transaction... You should keep in mind that with a typical REAL merchant's account you don't get any of your fees back from that transaction.....why should Paypal be any different. They do, after all, have fees associated with accepting the payment even if you do cancel or refund it. So, it'd cost you $1.00+ to offer a refund using your merchant's account depending on the transaction amount. All in all, it's the cost of doing business. I believe you can setup your Paypal account so that you have to accept the incoming payments before they are processed. I can't say for sure if this could help you avoid the $.30 transaction fee but it should.
  11. I have an iPhone and an iPad and I bought styli (or styluses) off of eBay. You can just search for iPhone stylus. They are VERY cheap and you might as well buy several to keep on hand. The electro-conductive foam tips on them wear out very quickly in my experience so having extras is pretty much a necessity. Do keep in mind that the iPhone/iPad was never designed for thin lines and accuracy....it was designed for finger-use so accuracy never had to be high. So, even with a stylus the signature won't be great. But, a signature is a signature and really won't make a big difference....
  12. I can't advise on specific insurance providers but you might try http://www.businessinsurancenow.com/ . That is where I found my insurance provider for both of my businesses. From experience, $500,000 in product liability was $500 a year (not too bad, IMO.) However, the taxes and fees totaled a whopping $180+ (that would have been around 36%...our sales tax is only 7%.) Anyhow, my provider allowed payments (monthly or quarterly) so if you can't afford the expense all at once, you should ask about that option. As for going the LLC route, I think it'd be best for you to talk to an accountant about the potential affect on your finances and taxes. I *think* a single partner LLC is taxed the same way as a sole proprietorship but that could vary from state to state. Otherwise, an LLC filing in MS was only $50 and took about two weeks so I definitely think the benefits are worth the relatively small cost and amount of time. Again, it could be completely different in your state.
  13. I have Quickbooks Pro 2011 and it doesn't have native Paypal features (that I know of.) There is a company selling an add-on that will accomplish this but I've never used it.] http://www.bigredconsulting.com/aboutebaylink.htm They do have a free trial BUT, if you are trying to decide which software to by based on Paypal integration, that does you no good ;-). I must say, I enjoy Quickbooks but it sort of makes me mad that there are so many "features" or buttons in Quickbooks that actually cost extra money...I feel like I'm using a big advertisement sometimes with all of the different buttons that take you to a page to buy this or that. I understand charging for extra features but do you really have to push them on me that hard...especially after I've already paid $200+. In other words, I'd like my paid version of Quickbooks NOT to have so many links to the extra services; I can find the way to their website if I decide to purchase something extra. I would imagine Quicken is the same way since it comes from the same company. Also, if seriously considering Quicken, make sure it has the business features you need since it is focused more for personal use.
  14. Highly illegal..well, not illegal but against the terms and conditions set out by your merchant agreement and all of the compliance rules set out by credit card companies. The security code on the back of a card is NOT to be stored by a merchant...it may only be used at the time of submission..not stored in any shape, form, or fashion. This includes writing the number down even momentarily....just for two seconds. The fines for storing the security code from the back of a card are $50,000 for the first offense and $100,000 for the second offense. And, further more, to be a PCI Compliant merchant, you are only supposed to store the other details long enough for them to be processed after which they are to be disposed of in an appropriate manner (shredding) or encrypted and stored in a secure environment. If you fail to do so and the data is later compromised, you are liable for the fees ($30,000 per card, I believe) and you must cover the fraudulent charges made on the cards. You are also liable for the charges to perform audits in association with finding out how and when the data was compromised ($10,000+ from what I've seen.) On page 677 of this operation regulations manual published by Visa you can see where they state their storage/retention prohibition policy: http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-international-operating-regulations-main.pdf (this document is 1218 pages so it may take a while to load.) I'd hate to see a small business owner destroyed by receiving such a large fine....please make sure you monitor the regulations more closely. I think it should be a requirement of Propay and other merchant account providers to give a brief tutorial of the basic rules and regulations of processing credit cards; after all, I don't know many people willing to sit down and read Visa's 1218 page guide. Plus, Propay doesn't require the CVV.
  15. Little secret for you... from what I've been told Ken Co Label is actually the company that produces the labels that Primera sells. So, whatever you get from KenCo...you'll be getting the same quality as you'd be getting from Primera (without the Primera name and exorbitant mark-up, of course.) As for your actual problem, it sounds like you have the TOF (top of form) sensor bar set in the wrong position. There should be a guide that will allow you to adjust the point at which the printer "reads" the top of the label. It is just a sliding guide. You want that guide set so that the TOF sensor reads at the point where the circular labels are the closest together. To see more clearly what I am talking about you can open this PDF and check out Section 2; Sub-section F. http://www.primera.com/pdfnew/510984_link.pdf If you've already done this and it is still giving you troubles, let me know what software you are using and I'll try to troubleshoot more. I've had a lot of trouble with Primera's drivers for my lx810.....mainly because they're ancient so it could also be something with that. And, if it does turn out to be the labels, I'd suggest you just contact Ken Co and let them know you are having trouble. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to help you out.
  16. All of the transactions I've processed went fine. I received the deposit from them a few days after the transaction...
  17. I received my reader in the mail today...without ever having received a shipping notice. Seems to read cards fairly well. Definitely a nice solution.
  18. Well, I'm not sure but I believe that companies such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx offer bulk commercial discounts. So, if you ship over $X every month they'll offer a discount (and I've heard that those discounts can be substantial.) But, as ladysj said, even if it costs you $10 of your profit to offer shipping for $4.95 you STILL made profit (hopefully). And, it could be that lower shipping that enticed the customer to order. It is really going to come down what your business can support. You are going to have to look at your sales statistics, your profit margin, the potential costs, and the potential rewards and decide if you think it is feasible.
  19. I get all of my boxes from papermart.com....mainly because they carry several other things that I purchase often. I always order 6x6x6 because that fits my products best BUT a good thing to note is that if you use Click-N-Ship Priority then USPS doesn't charge based on size as long as your box is less than 12x12x12. So, if you don't mind paying more for larger boxes then you could buy JUST that size and ship all of your Priority orders in that one sized box instead of having to keep several sizes on hand. Also, as Meg_10 pointed out, USPS will send you free Priority boxes. They even have a few sizes that aren't flat rate....just based on weight.
  20. I have both the iPad and iPhone apps and the apps alone are very nice (and free!). You can use the apps to check people out even without the reader...you just enter the cash payment. They still get a receipt and the app still records the sale on the application and online where you can download reports. The credit card side of their business is still in beta but, from my close following, I feel that it will be launched to the public very soon. I heard that they are waiting on new card readers after the iPhone 4 launch due to some compatibility issues. Either way, for a free app, free hardware, and no monthly fees it can't hurt to give them a try when they do launch the credit card processing.
  21. Just make sure that, whatever you do, you do NOT write down their security code (or store it in any way, for that matter.) Doing such is punishable by a fine of $50,000 for the first offense and $100,000 for the second offense. Good thing is, Propay doesn't require it to process a transaction so you really don't need it.
  22. I'm using CC Terminal. Not sure what the price is now but I only payed a couple dollars for it. It is setup to work with Authorize.net, Beanstream, Paypal Website Payments Pro, and Plug n' Pay (<-- never heard of those guys). The actual rates from your merchants will depend on your processing volume, etc. Another solution that should be available soon is Square (https://squareup.com). Their whole platform is built around mobile commerce. They currently aren't accepting new accounts but when they start again, they'd probably be your best bet. They send you a device you plug into the headphone port of your iPhone, iPad, or iTouch and you can swipe cards. Best of all, their services and the hardware are completely free (except for the processing fees, of course.) While I don't have an account with them, I do have the application for both my iPhone and my iPad and it is really nice. You can even use their system to process transactions for cash and your customers will still receive the receipt.
  23. It is really neat. The app that I have even allows you to turn the phone sideways and hand it to your customer for their signature. They then click accept and hand the phone back to you. You click charge and it instantly tells you if it was approved or declined. Would be great for shows or someone who did lots of wholesale deliveries.
  24. Good idea. :smiley2: I am certain you could something really nicely done for MUCH less than $100. And then you don't have to worry about supporting or not supporting any organizations!
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