MP3 Sunglasses
It is so rare that we carry anything at Sewell that really can be considered “cool” that I had to point this out - we just added some MP3 Sunglasses. These are the same form factor as the popular Oakley Thumps for 1/3 the price.We tested a pair of them and they sounded really good. My only concern is that the battery won’t last long enough but the manufacturer says they have 8 hours of playback time when fully charged, which would be great.Right now we only have the 256 MB model but we are working on getting some 512’s with polarized lenses.
Google - Say it Ain’t So
Jennifer Laycock has a piece about the possibility that Google may be dropping conservative sites from its index. Regardless of your political persuasion this type of censorship should not be tolerated.Google has never been shy about their liberal political stance but if people perceive that they are actually penalizing conservative websites then they will lose the image of the unbiased, relevant search engine. I hope for their sake that that this theory isn’t true.
Corporate Blogging
Recently I was asked by a friend whether a company starting a blog should host the blog on their primary domain or use another domain. I have been asked this question a few times now and as unhelpful as this may sound the answer is really that it depends.First of all you should decide what the purpose of your company blog is. Here are a few common examples:1) To communicate with your customers (provide support, free information, etc.).2) To improve your search engine rankings by developing unique, informative content. This is especially helpful for a site that has very few pages (to allow for deep-linking, ranking on tail terms, etc.).3) To build a ton of backlinks to your sites through services such as technorati, icerocket, etc.4) To have a SEO resource that will allow you to write an informative article and build a powerful link to your site with killer anchor text.Most likely you are considering a company blog to satisfy a few (or all of these). If you are most interested in either 2) or 3) then you will probably be better off hosting the blog on your main site, i.e. www.yoursite.com/blog. If option 4) appeals to you you should definitely start the site on another domain (as a side note you should make sure that you host the blog on a different Class C IP Block - if you don’t know what this means then just make sure that you have different companies host your blog and your main website.If option 1) is your main goal I would just decide which other option is most important to you as a fringe benefit. It may be easier for your customers to find you if you keep everything on the same domain but most people tend to be more relaxed and open with their customers when the blog is not hosted on their main site.Blogging can be a powerful tool for increasing your internet presence and remember that anybody can start a company blog. For a great example of an internet retailer blogging check out The Vintage Tub and Bath Blog, an extension of the Vintage Tub & Bath brand.
Never do a bad deal
It took me 4 years of working in internet retail and I still make the same mistake occasionally (though, hopefully, less often): I do a bad deal with the idea that I will make it up on the “real” deal later.Let me give you an example - a few years ago a large government contractor called and wanted a quote on several thousand pieces of a popular product that we had a good margin on. I remember the first time I got one of these calls - “This is what’s going to take us to the next level,” I thought. The contractor needed a new driver built for the adapter so we agreed to go to bat for them and contact the manufacturer of the chipset for the device.My head was spinning from the size of the ultimate deal and how it would impact our bottom line. I couldn’t stop thinking about getting the sale - maybe that makes me a loser since most people wouldn’t take their work so personally, but anybody who has had a chance to work in marketing at Sewell probably knows what I’m talking about.Almost as an afterthought the customer mentioned that they needed a few hundred initially for some testing but they expected the same price that they would have on several thousand pieces. I immediately agreed and chalked the “thin” margin on the sale (i.e. nonexistent) to a marketing expense required to close the ultimate deal. They received the parts and the driver that we worked with the chipset manufacturer on and tested the part extensively - they would frequently email us with problems and have us talk with the manufacturer of the chipset (the chipset manufacturer refused to work directly with an “end-user,” even in this case where our customer wasn’t the ultimate end-user).Well, as I’m sure you can guess we never heard from the customer again - I followed up frequently with them and finally realized that after all the time and work we put into the relationship they had cut us out of the equation and probably gone directly to the factory.Knowing what I know now I would never do this again. Here are my two suggestions when you are put in this situation:1) Require your customer to provide a blanket PO for all of the pieces and a signed agreement stating that you will be their exclusive supplier on the particular product. I don’t recommend this option because it is hard to enforce these contracts and you have to take the customer’s word that they will honor the contract if you’re not prepared to enforce it.2) Offer your customer standard pricing on the initial “test” units with the understanding (provided in writing if necessary) that you will credit the difference back when they place their large order. I really like this approach because it weeds out customers who are not seriously considering a long-term relationship and it is flexible enough to compensate those willing to follow through with their agreements.I know I’m not a sales expert or anything, but I hope that this information is helpful - if anything I hope the guys here at Sewell read this and keep it in mind when we are working with volume customers 
FOB
A common term that you will hear in internet retail when you are buying products from suppliers (particularly overseas) is FOB - free on board.So what does FOB mean? If you are ordering from a supplier in China their terms will probably state “FOB Hong Kong” - this means that they will pay to ship the products to Hong Kong and you are responsible for it from there. So in this case you would pay for shipping costs from Hong Kong.(Side note: I learned what FOB meant the hard way - I was in Taiwan and a supplier kept using the term so being naiive I played along like I knew what they were talking about and looked it up when I got back to my hotel room that night)There is another catch to FOB, though - it doesn’t only apply to shipping charges, but also to liability. As soon as you have received your freight (ie, are paying for the shipping) you are responsible for any losses. Your supplier isn’t going to do anything to help you out if something happens in transit and most freight companies have ridiculous rules limiting their liability (ie, if a boat sinks en route from Hong Kong you are responsible for a portion of the cost associated with recovering the remains of the boat even if your products are lost).This has an impact on your financial records as well. If you are on an accrual method of accounting you will need to book your inventory as an asset at the FOB point (and the offsetting transfer of an asset such as cash). At the end of the month your books should account for all inventory in transit.
Our famous bunny
I have talked about Honey Bunny before and I’m proud to announce that she’s now famous.Here’s the story - Honey Bunny loves to chew on cords, but we don’t like her to because it ruins the cord and if she manages to get through she can shock herself. Jen found some cord covers online called Critter Cords and we love them because the bunny never tries to chew on our cords anymore. To be honest I am surprised that they work because they use some citrus scent and Honey loves citrus fruit, but she will not go near those cords anymore.We liked them so much that we figured it was a smart product for Sewell to carry since we have so many expensive cables (HDMI cables, DVI cables, Monster Cables, etc.) and people with dogs, cats and other animals want to protect their animals and their investment.The marketer who added the product, Lewis, decided to take my picture of Honey and put her on the product page. I just hope that she doesn’t look so ferocious that she would intimidate people thinking of buying some Critter Cords.
Google is claiming Microsoft has an unfair advantage?
Microsoft is including a search bar built into its new Internet Explorer browser - that makes sense.Microsoft is setting the default search engine to MSN - that makes sense. They even provide a drop-down box that allows the searcher to change the setting to another search engine.Google is complaining to the European Commission about this default setting - wow.Have you downloaded FireFox lately? The default search box is Google and MSN is not an option on the drop-down. Have you bought a Dell lately? When I go to a bad URL on my new Dell Precision M65 I land on a Dell search page “Powered by Google” and the Google toolbar was pre-installed.Don’t get me wrong, I understand Google not being happy about Microsoft’s latest move but they did kind of start the whole “bundle battle.”