September 27, 2001
Clearing up a misunderstanding...
A&R Marketing has revised its "Crying Eagle" button
offer. Renee has received over a thousand "orders" for
buttons only that included no donation for the Red Cross whatsoever. The
intent in offering the buttons was to raise funds for the Red Cross.
Shipping and Handling alone doesn't do that. When I received Renee's
email this morning revising her offer I thought I may have worded the
offer last week wrong and checked their webpage - but no, it seems clear
to me as it stands:
(Original text from the website) If you are requesting the button without ordering
candlelighters please remit your donation, if you wish, plus shipping
(55 cents for one button and 10 cents for each additional button) to
A&R Marketing.
Revised Offer as of September 27:
Buttons are now $1.00 each plus shipping, with 70% of the
$1.00 going to the Red Cross and 30% used to cover costs of producing
the button and restocking the materials to produce more buttons.
If you are actually ORDERING regular products from
A&R Marketing you will receive a button free with your order, as
originally offered - and 5% of your order total will be donated to the
Red Cross Fund. Thank you for your understanding.
September 26, 2001
<sigh> Yes, the message board servers are down again. EZBoard
is aware of it and working to restore service. Up & Running
normally around 11 a.m. CST.
Paron
Candles Kids Shirts - back by request
If you attended Conference you probably saw the "My
Mom Sells Candles" t-shirts. Because of the overwhelming demand the
"My Mom Sells Candles" shirts have been added to Paron's
regular product line. There are similar shirts for adults to wear:
"Lite up the World with Candles". See these and all other
products at www.paroncandles.com
September 25, 2001
Fundraiser How-To Guide added to the Fundraiser section on BoB and
tealited. Includes tally sheets to help you determine price
to charge according to the tax rate in your area. This is a
compilation of information from various consultants on the message
board. Guide assembled by Jackie
and tally sheets by Laurie
September 23, 2001
Here
is another in what is sure to be many scam artists out to make a quick
buck. This one doesn't even have a text domain yet - just an IP - but
the solicitation is the same method as yesterday's - to your email with
a subject line of "Do You Want To Show Your Patriotism?".
DO NOT ORDER from these websites - again - this one looks like a full
shopping cart but the order transaction page is not on a secure server
and no identification of who you are ordering from is given.
September 22, 2001
THIS
is an urgent warning to
everyone to be aware of "companies" (I use that term very
loosely) sending unsolicited email to you advertising patriotic products
for sale. In particular I would caution strongly about the following
website: www.withlibertandjustice.com
You will receive an email with the subject line: "Get
Your American Flag and More Here". Every one I have received
has been from a hotmail address, which expectedly, bounces if you
attempt to contact them in return. If your email is set to receive html
mail it will look similar to the graphic pictured - colors and
all.
What specifically is "deceiving" or
"unethical" about this website?
#1 - There is ABSOLUTELY no identification of any kind
on the ordering, entrance, or order confirmation pages of the website
telling you WHO you just sent money to if you are a less than savvy
internet surfer reacting to a tug on the heartstrings to buy patriotic
products in this time of crisis. There is no way to use payment other
than by credit card.
#2 - the domain referenced: withlibertandjustice.com
(NOTE _ no "y" in liberty) - was registered on September 18,
appearing to capitalize on the tragic events of the previous week.
What's wrong with registering whatever name you want to do business
under? Nothing - if it is a straightforward and identifiable, reputable
business. The obvious intent to create instant name recognition with a
patriotic phrase is offensive and just plain wrong.
#2 - It is not even on the most basic of secure
servers - order pages OR completion pages. The "shopping cart"
is not a valid one - it contains no cart ID or vendor ID. I was able to
complete a bogus order, with no identifying information whatsoever,
using a totally bogus credit card number that would not even pass a
basic check-digit scheme in ANY kind of credit card verification, upon
which I immediately received a confirmation webpage that tells me my
order has been shipped. They collect no sales tax, and there is no
identification on the confirmation page to track who you just sent money
to, or any way to follow up on the transaction number they provide on
the confirmation.
I normally just delete and go on when I receive SPAM
in my mailbox - there's just too much to deal with. This one has come to
me three times in the past 24 hours, and to associates of mine similar
amounts of times as well. Why am I bothering with it? Because of their
statement "We will donate a portion of the proceeds...." - I,
like almost every American I know, am being very generous right now with
time, money, and resources to do my part in the national crisis. I don't
want ANYONE giving money to an unseen, unverified, unreliable source in
the name of patriotism. It disgraces our country and the military
personnel who are about to give their lives in the coming days. I am
attempting to track the source of this blatant ploy to grab funds from
American credit cards - who knows WHAT it could be funding. The headers
on the ads I've received have originated now from three foreign
countries - Canada (this morning's - originating from
carpathiacapital.com domain), France (another identical email
solicitation originating from gandi.net domain), and a country of Latin
origin (the site is not in English and I am not versed in it -
reddedatos.com domain). ALL are being masked through bouncing hotmail
addresses of course. I'm sure there are many others.
Please do not ever blindly fill out an online order form without knowing
WHO you are ordering from and at least having contact information and a
secure ordering environment.
General E-Commerce Important Note:
But remember - just because the PRODUCT pages you may be looking at
are not on a secure server, doesn't need to necessarily raise a flag
for concern. The pages that HAVE to be on a secure server (designated
by a lock in the status bar of your browser window at the bottom,
and/or a URL that starts with https) are the ones where you actually
transmit your credit card numbers. It is STANDARD industry practice
for pages previous to the completion of the order to NOT be on the
secure portion of the server.
All BoB Businesses that utilize ONLINE ordering do so
in a secure shopping method. If they do not have the capability then
their order forms are simply static ones to print out and mail, fax or
phone in the credit card information separately. PayPal transactions are
secure.
September 21, 2001
Just a sampling of the
nearly 100 candles I had burning during this evening's telethon for the
September 11th Fund. It was only a drop in the bucket compared to the
numbers of candles they used in tonight's production! Wasn't it
beautiful? I rarely need an excuse to light candles anyway, but since
moving this is the first time I've lit every one that was available and
out of packing boxes LOL. My living room shone brighter than with the
lights on. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to everyone
touched directly or indirectly by the events of 9/11.
September 15, 2001
Check the Business Link Special Offers (scroll to the right) Daily
for updated specials!
September 13, 2001
New
teal candlelighters only:
