AAA Cafe' Daily Chat 11/22/2014

[NaturalClocks]

Welcome to new members, welcome back to returning teammates! If this is your first time here - this is a place to ask questions, share your most embarrassing secrets, or just chat about the slow and boring bits of your day…we want to hear from you!!

Be sure to check out the discussion board. There are games to be played and threads to explore. The more you promote your fellow team mates, the more you get promoted, so be sure to participate on a daily basis. Check out our blog and our Facebook page, as well as the other links provided below.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
* Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/301427606658253/
* Etsy Calculator: salecalc.com/etsy
* Etsyology: www.etsyology.net/
♥ Online Photo Programs: fotoflexer.com/ or www.picmonkey.com/
treasurypin.com./ and editor.pho.to/
arwmedia.net/tools/pixlr_express.php
* Etsy Craft Tools: www.mycrafttools.com/
* Etsy Gadget: www.estygadget.com
* Craftopolis -Edit multiple listings: www.craftopolis.com/#com=ee
* Etsy Banner Maker: bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php?bnew=1&pses=1a256d05
* Craftcount - craftcount.com/teritory.php
* Google+ tutorials blog.kissmetrics.com/personal-google-plus-account/ and moz.com/blog/tips-to-use-google-for-s
* Chrome Treasury Box: brittanysbest.com/treasurybox-chrome-extension/
* Google+ information plus.google.com/communities/112658132414010568954
* Etsy team page: www.etsy.com/pages/aaasupport

Please don't forget to post in the AAA Support Team thread in the promo forum :)) www.etsy.com/uk/teams/21915/promos/discuss/15267796/

Good morning team!

Really grey out there, but at least it's not raining yet so I'd better hurry and take Blake out for his walk before it starts. That's if the weather forecast is correct of course.

Nancy, I've seen your post on yesterday's chat. Well done on your sale!! The way I would do it, so that the customer can pay for the express shipping, is to either send her a Paypal invoice for it, or you can make a listing for $0.20 and enter the extra shipping cost that she needs to pay for in the shipping box, so that she can purchase that.

Lol Betterwythage! Sorry Hafsa for giving credit to Betterwyth for the Pinterest link and sorry Betterwyth for giving credit to somebody else in a previous chat. I must pay more attention!

So, what do you guys in the US have planned for Thanksgiving this Thursday? It's not a holiday we celebrate, so I always enjoy reading about it :) Do you run special promotion on Etsy, do you sell related items?

Have a great Saturday everybody!

[naturepoet]

Val, when Canada has Thanksgiving in October, we celebrate by having a huge meal and giving thanks for the harvest and many other things. It is a statutory holiday here and everything is closed except the corner stores.

[naturepoet]

NEW

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/212178984/angel-christmas-vintage-resin-figurine?

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/212102980/christmas-eve-at-the-homestead?

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/212108375/fairy-vintage-resin-figurine-with?

[Viyoli]

Mary, beautiful items,
Great weekend,

[Former_Member]

Mary, you might want to take a look at this thread from the forums.
https://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/questions/discuss/15628360/

[naturepoet]

Thanks, Alanna, Here is a link with a lot of different countries and their rules. I have already looked into this long ago, when I started my shop, Only people in Ontario have to pay what we call HST.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax

That said, I can make $30,000 before I have to pay. This is in the Ontario laws:

Q: Do I need a GST number?

A: "If your annual revenues are more than $30,000, you have to register for the GST/HST."

[CherryPicks]

Good Morning Team!

It's been raining all week! The rivers are looking much healthier. The giant Redwoods are sparkling clean. I hope it continues.

[Former_Member]

Good morning everyone -

As far as Thanksgiving goes, my wife will be making a large meal and two different pies and deviled eggs and a few other dishes. Right now it is almost 36 degrees out and we had freezing rain this morning so now it is icy on top of the snow. Tomorrow they say it will get to 50 degrees for the day. That will be nice if it holds out.

Mary - Very nice items!

Today is a day of working on a custom order for a curtain (window) valance and getting an order ready to ship out Monday for one of my favorite deer coat racks that sold.

Have a great day!

[COLDHAMCUDDLIES]

Have just posted a comment on that forum link that Alanna gave you Mary. It has always been my understanding (which I said on the forum) that stuff exported from the UK does not attract VAT (it's one of the boosts to export the government used to highlight their help to businesses).

Also, there is a limit at which VAT needs to be paid which is something like you mention, Mary, in Ontario. You don't have to be VAT registered, and therefore don't charge VAT. Alas, it doesn't work the other way, though. You can be charged VAT, and then not be able to collect it back!!! The trick is to work out how you benefit - to be registered, or not!. They (Govt.) always win in the end!

Been off line all morning, thanks to some sort of fight going between my Norton security programme and Google Chrome! Sorted now, but it's been mighty frustrating to what I'd actually planned on doing today.

Hope everyone is having a good week-end.

Isobel

[ZingRetroFinds]

Hi All,

Val, Thanksgiving usually tends to be a BIG eating holiday and not a gift giving holiday. Normally we go to upstate NY to be with family. It is a loud raucous event with everyone eating, drinking, visiting and watching football. This year we will celebrate the holiday at home in Philadelphia to be with my daughter who is working on Black Friday. My daughter's boyfriend will be making the traditional turkey dinner which will be a treat.

Have a great day

[ItsSewYouDear]

Good afternoon all!

Nancy, congrats on the sale!

Since we moved to Florida, we have been spending Thanksgiving with my husband's 88-year old grandma. My husband smokes a turkey and I prepare al the sides to go with it and we drive 6.5 hours to Nana's house on Wednesday and come back on Friday. Because we prepare everything beforehand, Thanksgiving itself is usually low-key, just visiting with Nana, watching football and this year, I will be taking my sewing machine and stitching on orders while there :)

As far as promotion, I am not running any as I can barely keep up with orders. Thanksgiving though, retail wise, is the beginning of the busy holiday shopping season here in the U.S. Last year, and I believe this year as well, big box stores opened stores the evening of Thanksgiving to start the Black Friday madness. I am curious to see how things will be on Etsy for that. Next weekend is one busy shopping weekend with Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday and then Cyber Monday. We shall see what happens on Etsy.

Happy Saturday all!

[naturepoet]

Isobel, I phoned them a long time ago and they told me not to register.

[Former_Member]

Hmmm. That new EU law seems odd. I read most of that thread. How can the EU force people in other countries to pay taxes I wonder. I am probably missing something.

Thanksgiving --National Gluttony Day.
Like Christmas, Thanksgiving is touted as a day to gather with family. More suicides around this time of year than any other time.
I believe I may be a bit of a curmudgeon.

There is something posted at the top of the forums about search not updating.

Happy Saturday all.

[NaturalClocks]

Thank you for that link Alanna. That EU new regulation doesn't make any sense, I mean, how can they possibly enforce it on non-EU sellers? I don't understand it much to be honest, but it sounds like sellers like Mary in Canada for example will have to charge VAT (tax) to each individual EU country according to what percentage applies to each individual country. According to the link given on that thread http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/index_en.htm#new_rules :

NON-EU BUSINESSES supplying:

1. Business in the EU - No VAT charged.
Customer must account for the tax (reverse-charge mechanism).

2. Consumer in the EU (telecoms, broadcasting or electronic services)
Must charge VAT in the EU country where the customer belongs.

How on earth would that work? It's plain stupid. I think that Etsy, as an international platform, has a duty to investigate this with their legal department and make a clear statement for what both EU and especially NON EU digital sellers need to do from 01/01/15.

Thank you for sharing your Thanksgiving traditions in the US and Canada. Lots of food, that would suit me fine :D

Candi, I hope you are right and that next week end we'll see a shopping frenzy in our stores!

[naturepoet]

I will phone the post office on Monday and find out what is going on with VAT. I'm hoping it doesn't mean I will remove the digitals from my shop. I'm not going to sell items that cost my customers for an image because the government says I need to.

[Former_Member]

Just a quick bit.

Pam and I plan to have a regular, quiet dinner on Thanksgiving. Mostly we'll be watching football. I do plan to get a carrot cake for desert, however. Neither Pam nor I are into baking. We'll do the turkey and all the trimmings for Christmas, when we plan to have a couple of friends over for the meal.

[NaturalClocks]

Absolutely Mary! And why should you remove your digitals because of some stupid EU law? How can the EU enforce it on every single country and every single seller across the world? What it's not clear to me is if by electronic services they mean also digital downloads like those that you sell, they are giving some examples on that page I linked above, and they are not mentioning digital downloads. If that's the case though, then maybe the only way is to remove EU countries from the list of those you sell to, if you can pick and choose like you do for physical items?

I really don't understand it, so I can't comment further, I'm just speculating. I don't know if the post office would know much about it, as this doesn't affect physical goods, but it's a good start Mary. Etsy should really clarify the matter, as there seem to be quite a few angry and confused sellers on both sides of the pond...

Sounds like a good plan for your Thanksgiving Alanna! :))

[DCArtandPhotography]

Hello Everyone!! I know it has been awhile since I have posted in the group, although I am trying to be active in our forum thread regardless if I have time to post in the group or not. I hope everyone has been doing well! :)

I got a promotion to Store Manager a few months ago (only about 1 month into my job too! Yay!) So between running the store, and running my shop on here, I have not had alot of time for extra posting.

For thanksgiving I will be having lunch with my family, and then I will be heading off to work. I figure If I work the evening shift then my employees can be home with their families for dinner. I am not overly fond of making people work retail on Thanksgiving day, but it is what it is.

I am not familiar with these new laws you guys are referring to, so I cannot comment much on that topic.

If I dont make it back this week, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday week and have MANY MANY sales!!! <3