With the upcoming new year, it would seem as though people are pinching their wallets even tighter. Sales at Menomin Treasures have dropped considerably, thus the amount of money coming in isn't very much. Many of the cool features that we have at www.menomintreasures.net will begin to be put on hold, or pinched to help us make ends meet.
Mystery auctions will still be plenty, but the amount of products that go inside will now be cut down considerably and will now go by how much the auction actually goes for. So that means if the auction ends at 99 cents, you may only get one item sent out. We hate doing this, but during these difficult times, we don't have a choice.
Items selling on auction for 99 cents (not including mystery auctions), will be pulled or set to regular price as planned, or set on sale above 99 cents on our website.
We're on several venues across the internet including onlineauction.com but with sales either at none or about 3 per week (that's an average of all sites combined), we cannot afford to continue spending money that isn't there. So we must begin cutting down our expenditures or we will be forced to file for bankruptcy. Not a very good thing for a business that's been strong for over 5 years until the last 2 months.
What else will we be cutting?
On our website we have live help. This program will be shut down because it costs us $1,200 to run per year. This is our biggest expenditure and it will have to go. Normally we could afford it, but during these times as the United States gets closer to a depression, and money flow is nearly null, we have no choice.
Please stay tuned for possible other cuts and/or services.
Menomin Treasures
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
SPAM SPAM SPAM UGH
I have several email accounts, something you all didn't know, but now you kind of do. I mostly use Yahoo, except for my website, I have my own special email for that. Today I want to talk about SPAM. It's frustrating isn't it? I know some of you only get maybe 5 spam messages a month, a week, or a day. So tell me, how many spam messages do you get in a single day?
In one of my accounts on Yahoo, I wanted to see just how many, so 16 days ago I cleaned out my Yahoo SPAM folder, that was November 23 for those who can't count backwards ;) (or if your name is SARA you can't count at ALL, poor child LOL). Anyway, since clearing the SPAM folder, I received 1,842 SPAM messages! That's 115 SPAM emails PER DAY! That's pathetic. And the majority of them are dated for 2009-2038 or dates that haven't happened yet such as December 13th, 2008. It's only 12/9/2008! If this is the email of the future with so many spam emails, then I'd like to go into the future, slap the futuristic people with some REAL SPAM in hopes they'd knock it off. I mean seriously 115 emails per day! Imagine if that was your mail box. You'd have your regular mail and it'd take you forever to sort out junk mail from real mail and you'd be very ticked off.
So my question is, why can't email companies do something about this? Does anyone know how hard it is to check the SPAM folder before deleting everything? I have to just in case I have important messages that Yahoo Mail thinks is SPAM, but really isn't.
Feel free to leave comments, they're always welcome :D
In one of my accounts on Yahoo, I wanted to see just how many, so 16 days ago I cleaned out my Yahoo SPAM folder, that was November 23 for those who can't count backwards ;) (or if your name is SARA you can't count at ALL, poor child LOL). Anyway, since clearing the SPAM folder, I received 1,842 SPAM messages! That's 115 SPAM emails PER DAY! That's pathetic. And the majority of them are dated for 2009-2038 or dates that haven't happened yet such as December 13th, 2008. It's only 12/9/2008! If this is the email of the future with so many spam emails, then I'd like to go into the future, slap the futuristic people with some REAL SPAM in hopes they'd knock it off. I mean seriously 115 emails per day! Imagine if that was your mail box. You'd have your regular mail and it'd take you forever to sort out junk mail from real mail and you'd be very ticked off.
So my question is, why can't email companies do something about this? Does anyone know how hard it is to check the SPAM folder before deleting everything? I have to just in case I have important messages that Yahoo Mail thinks is SPAM, but really isn't.
Feel free to leave comments, they're always welcome :D
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Growing With Time
As each day passes, we wonder, will we ever grow to see our business take off?
The answer may be simple, yet also may not be, or simply doesn't need an answer.
We believe that every good business takes time once you find your place. We believe we found our place, and continue to add as many products as we can every single day! Not only do we list on OLA.com, but on menomintreasures.net as well. We want to see our business grow, so will it? It will in time. How can we be so sure? Like a simple question, it deserves a simple answer, and that's just because we know that every product we add is instantly added into search engines for better performance and ranks.
We are a growing company, one that offers great products to anyone, as well as allowing anyone to sign up to make money to start their own business. Starting your own business in this day and age is tough, but with the proper guidance, we know we can help. We share our secrets every chance we get, but only with our wholesalers. We know what works for us, and form there our wholesalers can try it too. If they find it doesn't work for them, that's fine, they can try something new. We understand that not everything works for everyone, but we do understand the importance of being there for our customers. This is our #1 priority, to always be there.
So what are some key factors that Menomin Treasures tackles on customer service?
A. We answer emails, not with canned or fake responses, but real responses.
B. We answer all emails within 12 hours except during peak holiday times, then it's usually within 24 hours.
C. Questions are answered fully, not with a quick "yes" or "no" just to hurry you along so everyone can go home.
D. We've installed Live Help onto our website, so that in case you do need any help at all, we'll always be a click away. You may even find our Customer Service Representatives (CSR) contacting you while you're browsing our store, just to make sure you're finding everything okay, and if you can't don't worry, they'll help you to see if there is anything we have that may not be listed. It will then be listed within a minute or so after checking the database of all of our products. The CSR that's helping you will then give you a direct link to the product you were asking about once it's listed.
Our goal is to have great customer service, offer the best products with great quality (if it doesn't meet our own standards and is not approved by the U.S. government, we don't list it), and help others start their very own business.
On top of it all, we know shipping prices can sometimes be a hefty price to pay, so we've also taken that into consideration. This is why we charge only $7.50 for orders up to $29.99. Actual shipping costs are $10.90. We pay the $3.40 difference! For orders $30+ shipping is free, and is the best value that we offer because we pay the full shipping to you!
We also offer a drop shipping program that will allow you to not have to keep inventory for yourself. All you have to do is list what we have available (or use the catalogs to help you list), and when you make a sale, just come back to us, place the order, and we'll ship it out under YOUR name. It's very easy and a quick way to make money online because you get a profit instantly, meaning more money in your pocket faster than working a regular job and getting paid every other week.
With that, we hope you've enjoyed reading this little blog/article about our business. If there is anything we can do better, please be sure to tell us. Also, come and join us as a customer or as a wholesaler at www.menomintreasures.net we sure would love to see you there.
Menomin Treasures
The answer may be simple, yet also may not be, or simply doesn't need an answer.
We believe that every good business takes time once you find your place. We believe we found our place, and continue to add as many products as we can every single day! Not only do we list on OLA.com, but on menomintreasures.net as well. We want to see our business grow, so will it? It will in time. How can we be so sure? Like a simple question, it deserves a simple answer, and that's just because we know that every product we add is instantly added into search engines for better performance and ranks.
We are a growing company, one that offers great products to anyone, as well as allowing anyone to sign up to make money to start their own business. Starting your own business in this day and age is tough, but with the proper guidance, we know we can help. We share our secrets every chance we get, but only with our wholesalers. We know what works for us, and form there our wholesalers can try it too. If they find it doesn't work for them, that's fine, they can try something new. We understand that not everything works for everyone, but we do understand the importance of being there for our customers. This is our #1 priority, to always be there.
So what are some key factors that Menomin Treasures tackles on customer service?
A. We answer emails, not with canned or fake responses, but real responses.
B. We answer all emails within 12 hours except during peak holiday times, then it's usually within 24 hours.
C. Questions are answered fully, not with a quick "yes" or "no" just to hurry you along so everyone can go home.
D. We've installed Live Help onto our website, so that in case you do need any help at all, we'll always be a click away. You may even find our Customer Service Representatives (CSR) contacting you while you're browsing our store, just to make sure you're finding everything okay, and if you can't don't worry, they'll help you to see if there is anything we have that may not be listed. It will then be listed within a minute or so after checking the database of all of our products. The CSR that's helping you will then give you a direct link to the product you were asking about once it's listed.
Our goal is to have great customer service, offer the best products with great quality (if it doesn't meet our own standards and is not approved by the U.S. government, we don't list it), and help others start their very own business.
On top of it all, we know shipping prices can sometimes be a hefty price to pay, so we've also taken that into consideration. This is why we charge only $7.50 for orders up to $29.99. Actual shipping costs are $10.90. We pay the $3.40 difference! For orders $30+ shipping is free, and is the best value that we offer because we pay the full shipping to you!
We also offer a drop shipping program that will allow you to not have to keep inventory for yourself. All you have to do is list what we have available (or use the catalogs to help you list), and when you make a sale, just come back to us, place the order, and we'll ship it out under YOUR name. It's very easy and a quick way to make money online because you get a profit instantly, meaning more money in your pocket faster than working a regular job and getting paid every other week.
With that, we hope you've enjoyed reading this little blog/article about our business. If there is anything we can do better, please be sure to tell us. Also, come and join us as a customer or as a wholesaler at www.menomintreasures.net we sure would love to see you there.
Menomin Treasures
Monday, November 24, 2008
UPDATES
It's been 3 months since I've last posted!
I think its time for some updates.
First thing that's very important, we switched hosting companies to one that is more of our liking. We've been wanting to be able to expand and grow our business for a long time and offer more and more great services. Now that we have a new website to add products on, we're also able to offer our wholesale package for a lifetime membership fee of $40! Eventually our sale of the wholesale membership package that we currently have on onlineauction.com will become discontinued. However, we will send the package out upon signing up for a wholesale membership at menomintreasures.net We plan on discontinuing the sale of the package by itself by December 31st, and only make it available to anyone who signs up to sell our products. We still don't have an exact count as to how many items we have, so we can only guesstimate that we have over 22,000 products.
BLACK FRIDAY SALE
We host the Fabulous Friday Sale at onlineauction.com and this next Friday through the weekend is the biggest sale we've ever done! Starting the day after Thanksgiving all the way through Monday we will be hosting the Fabulous Black Friday Sale which begins at midnight Central Standard Time Friday morning and ends at 11:59:59pm Central Standard Time! So far we have 40 sellers signed up, each with a different special! Be sure to check us out. You don't want to miss this sale! Click here to see sale.
How did we come up with the idea for a 4 day after Thanksgiving sale?
Easy! Raggy-lady came up with the idea of have the Black Friday sale from Friday through Sunday. Legendsofbatman suggested also having the sale on Monday because it's one of the biggest sales events on the internet! So we thought, why not, and that's how we got the 4 day sale! Please join us for this huge sales event. If you're not yet a customer of onlineauction.com, you can sign up as a buyer for FREE!
I think its time for some updates.
First thing that's very important, we switched hosting companies to one that is more of our liking. We've been wanting to be able to expand and grow our business for a long time and offer more and more great services. Now that we have a new website to add products on, we're also able to offer our wholesale package for a lifetime membership fee of $40! Eventually our sale of the wholesale membership package that we currently have on onlineauction.com will become discontinued. However, we will send the package out upon signing up for a wholesale membership at menomintreasures.net We plan on discontinuing the sale of the package by itself by December 31st, and only make it available to anyone who signs up to sell our products. We still don't have an exact count as to how many items we have, so we can only guesstimate that we have over 22,000 products.
BLACK FRIDAY SALE
We host the Fabulous Friday Sale at onlineauction.com and this next Friday through the weekend is the biggest sale we've ever done! Starting the day after Thanksgiving all the way through Monday we will be hosting the Fabulous Black Friday Sale which begins at midnight Central Standard Time Friday morning and ends at 11:59:59pm Central Standard Time! So far we have 40 sellers signed up, each with a different special! Be sure to check us out. You don't want to miss this sale! Click here to see sale.
How did we come up with the idea for a 4 day after Thanksgiving sale?
Easy! Raggy-lady came up with the idea of have the Black Friday sale from Friday through Sunday. Legendsofbatman suggested also having the sale on Monday because it's one of the biggest sales events on the internet! So we thought, why not, and that's how we got the 4 day sale! Please join us for this huge sales event. If you're not yet a customer of onlineauction.com, you can sign up as a buyer for FREE!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Back From Vacation
What a week!
I left Saturday July 26th, to fly down to New Orleans to see my friend Keri for the first time in 4 or 5 years. It was a blast! I would definitely go back and visit, but with a long list of things to do. We just kinda winged it all week on what to do, without actually having a tool to help us with what sights we should see and the like.
The places we did get to see are, the aquarium, French Quarter, French Market, Bourbon Street, Canal Blvd, River Walk, the bayou, Lake Pontchartrain, the long bridge over the lake, and that's all I can remember.
The aquarium was a lot of fun, and we made it in time to watch the penguins be fed. I think it could have been a little bit bigger, but it was still a lot of fun.
The French Quarter was my favorite places. We walked all over there and the old buildings were astonishing and beautiful. We even ate some of the famous Beneits (I know I spelled that wrong), they were delicious. Not sure you would like them? To me they tasted like a funnel cake that you get at a carnival, but instead of the batter being spread all over, it's kept into a square shape, and drowned in powdered sugar YUM!
The French Market was a lot of fun as well. A lot of people were selling a lot of the same things, but to see a lot of great deals that you can't get in the shops in the French Quarter, is great. I wanted a real taxidermy Alligator head, one shop wanted $15.99 for them. Another claimed to have the lowest prices in the French Quarter, they wanted $11.99 for them. In the French Market, they were only $6.99! Before hitting the shops, I suggest hitting the French Market first because the prices there are cheaper than the stores!
Walking down Bourbon during the day was a bit weird. It was completely dead except a few tourists like us. Some of the bars only had a couple people in them, or none. We went back Thursday night, and it was a completely different scene. Police and security were everywhere, which was a good thing, because some people had their kids with them. When I say kids, I don't mean 13 and 14 year olds (there were some that age there), but I'm talking anywhere between almost new born to 3-5 years old. Between the 3 of us, we agreed Bourbon isn't the place for those kids.
Walking down the street, there were quite a few kids tap dancing trying to earn money for whatever it was they were raising money for. Keri told Chris and I that there are people there that will con you into giving them money, by giving you a service for "free", only to ask for money later. Chris was stopped by a man who suddenly came out of no where and started asking him about his shoes. I thought he was gonna try taking them off and steal them, but instead, he went down and spit on them and shined them up. Keri and I walked away and tried giving Chris the excuse to get away, but it didn't work. The man then asked for some money, but Chris told him he didn't have any and the man walked away. Luckily nothing bad happened.
I really liked Canal Blvd because there were places to see everywhere, plus palm trees lined the street. I love palm trees! Plus they have street cars that run up and down Canal. We got the chance to ride in one and it was a lot of fun. It was a different experience though because it was raining. If you've never experienced a New Orleans rainstorm, then you don't know what I mean that it was raining. Every time it rained, it came down hard. So hard and fast that everything would become white. New Orleans floods easily as we all know, but these steady downpours turn the roads into rivers. When we got off the street car the road had about an inch or 2 of water flowing over it. Where Keri lives in Metairie, every time it rained, puddles would form and they'd get deeper and deeper. That's not exactly a good thing, when a puddle is deep enough to be a pond.
At the River walk we watched some of the tug boats pushing barges and then we went inside the River walk mall and looked around all the shops. We then ate in the food court, and then headed home to just chill after a long day of walking.
The Bayou was cool, if you like swamps. It was really cool to see authentic Cajun houses in the bayou with nothing around except water and alligators, sometimes trees and water and alligators, depending where the houses were built.
Lake Pontchartrain was huge! Looking out to the North and seeing nothing on the other side was like looking across the great lakes or a sea of fresh water. We drove over the bridge and and got some pictures. It was really cool! We also had a picnic there in the park area. It was very nice and peaceful and gave us a chance to talk more.
I also remembered some more things we did. We went to City Park and walked around. That was fun because we went over to where there was water and watched a family feed the ducks and the pigeons. We walked away from them following a few other ducks. Suddenly, right in front of us was a raccoon. Yes, a raccoon in the middle of the day. Raccoon's are nocturnal animals, so to see one during the day is rare. It slowly walked closer to us looking for food while keeping an eye on us like we would hurt it.
Keri also took us to a part of town where there are still buildings damaged from Katrina, and where there are visible water lines still on the houses from the flood, 3 years after the devastating storm. Some areas were completely clear with no sign of there ever being houses. Weeds and grass took to the areas covering up what was once a house. The best way to describe it is like looking at Hiroshima and the after math of the bomb, years later.
New Orleans is still rebuilding, and fixing up the city, but crime there doesn't seem to be getting better. Those hardest hit have resorted into selling drugs to get money, others haven't moved back. Many shops are still closed with for sale signs because the store owners never came back after the storm. The city is getting a lot of money from tourism though, which is helping to rebuild. I don't think New Orleans will ever be the same as it once was, because of the devastation we all saw and the destruction that turned many places into fields, even wiping small towns completely off the map.
I left Saturday July 26th, to fly down to New Orleans to see my friend Keri for the first time in 4 or 5 years. It was a blast! I would definitely go back and visit, but with a long list of things to do. We just kinda winged it all week on what to do, without actually having a tool to help us with what sights we should see and the like.
The places we did get to see are, the aquarium, French Quarter, French Market, Bourbon Street, Canal Blvd, River Walk, the bayou, Lake Pontchartrain, the long bridge over the lake, and that's all I can remember.
The aquarium was a lot of fun, and we made it in time to watch the penguins be fed. I think it could have been a little bit bigger, but it was still a lot of fun.
The French Quarter was my favorite places. We walked all over there and the old buildings were astonishing and beautiful. We even ate some of the famous Beneits (I know I spelled that wrong), they were delicious. Not sure you would like them? To me they tasted like a funnel cake that you get at a carnival, but instead of the batter being spread all over, it's kept into a square shape, and drowned in powdered sugar YUM!
The French Market was a lot of fun as well. A lot of people were selling a lot of the same things, but to see a lot of great deals that you can't get in the shops in the French Quarter, is great. I wanted a real taxidermy Alligator head, one shop wanted $15.99 for them. Another claimed to have the lowest prices in the French Quarter, they wanted $11.99 for them. In the French Market, they were only $6.99! Before hitting the shops, I suggest hitting the French Market first because the prices there are cheaper than the stores!
Walking down Bourbon during the day was a bit weird. It was completely dead except a few tourists like us. Some of the bars only had a couple people in them, or none. We went back Thursday night, and it was a completely different scene. Police and security were everywhere, which was a good thing, because some people had their kids with them. When I say kids, I don't mean 13 and 14 year olds (there were some that age there), but I'm talking anywhere between almost new born to 3-5 years old. Between the 3 of us, we agreed Bourbon isn't the place for those kids.
Walking down the street, there were quite a few kids tap dancing trying to earn money for whatever it was they were raising money for. Keri told Chris and I that there are people there that will con you into giving them money, by giving you a service for "free", only to ask for money later. Chris was stopped by a man who suddenly came out of no where and started asking him about his shoes. I thought he was gonna try taking them off and steal them, but instead, he went down and spit on them and shined them up. Keri and I walked away and tried giving Chris the excuse to get away, but it didn't work. The man then asked for some money, but Chris told him he didn't have any and the man walked away. Luckily nothing bad happened.
I really liked Canal Blvd because there were places to see everywhere, plus palm trees lined the street. I love palm trees! Plus they have street cars that run up and down Canal. We got the chance to ride in one and it was a lot of fun. It was a different experience though because it was raining. If you've never experienced a New Orleans rainstorm, then you don't know what I mean that it was raining. Every time it rained, it came down hard. So hard and fast that everything would become white. New Orleans floods easily as we all know, but these steady downpours turn the roads into rivers. When we got off the street car the road had about an inch or 2 of water flowing over it. Where Keri lives in Metairie, every time it rained, puddles would form and they'd get deeper and deeper. That's not exactly a good thing, when a puddle is deep enough to be a pond.
At the River walk we watched some of the tug boats pushing barges and then we went inside the River walk mall and looked around all the shops. We then ate in the food court, and then headed home to just chill after a long day of walking.
The Bayou was cool, if you like swamps. It was really cool to see authentic Cajun houses in the bayou with nothing around except water and alligators, sometimes trees and water and alligators, depending where the houses were built.
Lake Pontchartrain was huge! Looking out to the North and seeing nothing on the other side was like looking across the great lakes or a sea of fresh water. We drove over the bridge and and got some pictures. It was really cool! We also had a picnic there in the park area. It was very nice and peaceful and gave us a chance to talk more.
I also remembered some more things we did. We went to City Park and walked around. That was fun because we went over to where there was water and watched a family feed the ducks and the pigeons. We walked away from them following a few other ducks. Suddenly, right in front of us was a raccoon. Yes, a raccoon in the middle of the day. Raccoon's are nocturnal animals, so to see one during the day is rare. It slowly walked closer to us looking for food while keeping an eye on us like we would hurt it.
Keri also took us to a part of town where there are still buildings damaged from Katrina, and where there are visible water lines still on the houses from the flood, 3 years after the devastating storm. Some areas were completely clear with no sign of there ever being houses. Weeds and grass took to the areas covering up what was once a house. The best way to describe it is like looking at Hiroshima and the after math of the bomb, years later.
New Orleans is still rebuilding, and fixing up the city, but crime there doesn't seem to be getting better. Those hardest hit have resorted into selling drugs to get money, others haven't moved back. Many shops are still closed with for sale signs because the store owners never came back after the storm. The city is getting a lot of money from tourism though, which is helping to rebuild. I don't think New Orleans will ever be the same as it once was, because of the devastation we all saw and the destruction that turned many places into fields, even wiping small towns completely off the map.
Restaurants
Please allow me to tell you about the places we ate at. These reviews may make or break some of these places, and I'm sorry, but the truth sometimes hurts.
IHOP: While eating here, we had wonderful service and the food was great! I believe our server was Natasha and she was wonderful! Kudos to her! I will eat there more often as long as she is our server. She made everything very pleasant and was very nice and courteous.
Copeland's: Here our waiter was a little pushy, but the food was DELICIOUS! I had the chicken Parmesan and I HIGHLY recommend it! You get a big plate of angel hair pasta with marinara sauce topped with 3 chicken breasts topped with Parmesan cheese and sprinkled with parsley. I know it may not sound that great, but it was incredible! If you ever visit New Orleans, you must eat at Copeland's. It is a little on the pricey side, but worth it! The food was just that good.
Hard Rock Cafe in the French Quarter: Sorry, but the service sucked. I do not recommend eating here. It's so loud you can't understand the waitresses with their foreign accents, plus the service was slow. The food wasn't that great either. I ordered a BBQ pork sandwich and actually had to put more ketchup on it just so it would have flavor. I love BBQ pork, but this was nasty. I cut the sandwich in half and upon doing so, I revealed that some of the pork wasn't done. It was still red, as in raw red. It seemed like it was strategically placed on the bottom and in the middle as to not all the customers to know that it wasn't done. For $10.75 for the meal, it wasn't worth it. I could have made my own by buying the ingredients I need at the grocery store and had it turn out much better and be fully cooked.
Harrah's Casino Buffet: For $12.99 + tax, the service was great! The food was good, wasn't the greatest, but usually food in a buffet isn't that great, but still good enough to eat and keep you going back for more. Between the 3 of us we had about 8 plates of food, and about 20 desserts.
That's all the places I can remember we ate at. I'm sure there's more.
Thanks for reading! Comments are welcome.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
First Post
Here is our first post! We're very excited to tell you all about our products.
Our store can be found here: www.ola.com/store/cvmso021
We're in the process of listing over 12,000 products including books, gifts, home & garden decor, men's clothing and a whole lot more!
Plus we have started a Daily Grab. Checkout today's Grab: http://www.onlineauction.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=9713
Please note: We will be on vacation July 26th-Aug 2nd 2008
Thanks for looking, we will be making more posts shortly :o)
Our store can be found here: www.ola.com/store/cvmso021
We're in the process of listing over 12,000 products including books, gifts, home & garden decor, men's clothing and a whole lot more!
Plus we have started a Daily Grab. Checkout today's Grab: http://www.onlineauction.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=9713
Please note: We will be on vacation July 26th-Aug 2nd 2008
Thanks for looking, we will be making more posts shortly :o)
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