Well, in addition to the production delay, I have encountered another problem that has adversely affected my holiday launch plans. The photographer I wanted to book is now busy with other jobs until the 16th. Thank you again, Mr. Loser Manufacturer, for foiling my plans: if I had gotten my products earlier I could have booked an earlier photoshoot date! *sigh*
I’ve spent a lot of time today trying to decide what to do about my launch plans. I talked it over with my husband and have decided that I will still try a “soft” launch by the 18th, but if I can’t make this date I’m not going to kill myself just to make the holiday season. I fly back home to Nashville on the 23rd, so I would only have a short timeframe in which I could process any Seattle-area orders and deliver the goods on time. I want to launch my product line the right way: with a fantastic web experience and with amazing photography. The worst thing I could do now would be to compromise my reputation by putting up a buggy website and risking delivery mayhem. And who knows, mother nature might throw in another snowstorm during this time period, just for added drama.
On another note, I put in my order for the die cut parts of the purse organizer, and they should be ready in 2 weeks. To not be charged any sales tax I needed to provide this vendor with a reseller certificate. This state certificate (unique to Washington State) isn’t an official license or anything, it’s strange 1-page document that says that the wholesaler and reseller agree to do tax-free business together, and it’s kept for your records only. From what I can tell I don’t need to pay sales tax because the raw materials and components for my purse organizer are sold to me wholesale, and the sales tax to the state is to be paid by the buyer of the end products. This means no double taxation.
I found out that the State of Washington will be changing their resale requirements so that beginning January 1, 2010, anyone involved with reselling will need an official resale permit issued by the state, which means that the bizarre resale certificate will be defunct at the end of this year, and businesses will need the authorized permit to do wholesale purchasing within the great State of Washington. I recently mailed in my application: let’s hope that it gets processed quickly.
Tomorrow I get an update from my manufacturer. Anyone care to wager on the delivery date?