Going to Fairs Related to Your Industry

I've been thinking about going to the Toy Fair in movers New York next year. I'm in the toy business and it seems like a write off I can justify. It also seems like it would be a new and exciting experience. Have you ever thought of going to an industry related fair or seminar? Well, if not, it might be a good thing to do. It's good in the sense that you can educated yourself and on your business' dollar. You can build some social networking skills and maybe even make some connections to drum up even more business. The way I see it, it's great business sense for everyone involved. So what do you think?

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Company Fringe Benefits

So I think I mentioned that my husband wants me to think about adding him as an employee of our company so that he can get benefits. He feels it is a good idea just in case he decides to change jobs. What benefits can we afford right now? Relatively none, but we were thinking about looking into health insurance. I don't think we could afford to get a term life insurance quote, but perhaps health insurance is doable.

That's the beauty of owning your own company. You can decide how to spend the profits. It's not all about paying yourself monetarily, but benefits wise too. On top of that, I believe your benefits are tax deductible. How about that!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)

Best Time of Year!

Isn't this just the best time of year! It's great for retailers and e-tailers, because the money is steadily flowing in. I'm not trying to be focussed only on money, but that was the reason for this post. Business is just booming! It can always be better, but I am satisfied. How about you?

I remember once when I went to this Arizona bed and breakfast with my uncle, who lives in Arizona. It was up near Lemon mountain. I think that was the name of the mountain. The trees were just gorgeous and the streams flowing through the mountain were enough to make you want to remember your maker. I mention this experience, because that was when I was eleven and life was so much more simple. Now, I have to worry about where the money is going to come from to pay for bills and necessities. I can't take for granted the blessings I am experiencing since opening up my online shops.

It's amazing what a year can bring with a little bit of effort and a whole lot of motivation. So, I'm here to say that you can DO it! I did!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)

Are You Busy?

So, are you busy? Is having a business online bringing you lots of surprises this gift giving season? I remember my first holiday season being in business. That was only last year. I can tell you that things were rather crazy, but my husband and I were ecstatic about the results. The business we received was somewhat unexpected since we were our one website had only been live for a few months. I mean, I guess we weren't as busy as the big fortune 500 companies, but for a start up business, I'd say we made most of the money we invested in the company back in the first year.

So, what do you sell? Is it a very popular item or somewhat nichey? Do you sell watches like the famous D&G watch? Or are you more of a pedal car person like myself. I find that things that aren't usually attractive throughout the year sell pretty nicely at this time of year. This is the time when people buy things just to buy them. Some people really put a lot of thought into the gifts they give, but many people don't. Do you find that to be true?

Anyway, I hope you are busy with your online busienss. Just remember to give yourself a break every now and again.

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)

Return Policy

I have been in business for going on two years now and have come across many different kinds of products, good and not so good. What do I mean? Well, sometimes customers call you about their great experience with something they purchased from you and other times they call about something they bought from you that turned out to be a total disappointment. When that happens what do you do?

It is extremely important to have a well thought out, covering all basis, return policy. It is also extremely important that you be clear on where you stand when an item is damaged or simply not to the customer's liking. It's not like when customers pay for beach weddings or funerals. I mean, I'm talking about minor things like, the color is just not what I expected or I've changed my mind.

So what kind of return policy do you have? Is it manufacturer based or have you built a policy from scratch to cover all basis?

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)

Weight Watching

So what are you doing to watch your weight these holidays? Is it a struggle as usual, what with all the holiday parties and family gatherings already in full swing? I need to get out my treadmill and do some serious walking. It usually does the trick for me, but lately, I've been thinking about getting one of those elliptical things. Either way, I must do something. Watching what I put in my mouth would be ideal, but it just seems impossible these days. Right! Right! Nothing is impossible, especially if you put your mind to the thing, mind over matter, if you will. Anyway, as usual, exercise is on the menu for my future. What about you?

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)

Detecting Credit Card Fraud

Are you good at detecting credit card fraud? Maybe you rely on special merchant software. I use Authorize Net for my merchant gateway. They supply a suite of software products to help in detecting credit card fraud. Of course, it's up to you to use it or not. Many credit card verification software programs are created for use in the US, so if you have lots of international transactions, it might not work for you. On the other hand, for someone like me who's customers are 90% US Residents, the problem of detecting credit card fraud is relatively simple. You should check for some very important data.

1. Does the name on the credit card match with the credit card issuing bank data?
2. Does the billing address match?
3. Does the CVV code match?
4. Does the zip code match?
5. If those things do match, sometimes it would be good to go the extra mile in a transaction where you are still not 100% sure and call the credit card issuing bank and verify if the phone number on file matches the credit card information that the bank has.

There are a number of ways to check this information, so if you do have a merchant account, verify with the merchant account supplier ways in which you can detect fraud. In fact, it is imperative that you find out what kind of protection you as the merchant have. I mean, we're not talking about selling real estate and then having the closing fall through. We are usually talking about small amounts of money (in the hundreds). If fraudulent activity is evident, you want to know what to do to avoid accepting bad credit cards along with protecting yourself and your business from fraud.

This is the biggest quarter of the year for many merchants and it is also the biggest time of the year for frauds to try to get over on merchants. Be careful, be protected, be prepared!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment Below or Email Me Using the Sidebar Link. Thank You. :-)