When you apply for wholesale, we do need your sales tax ID. If you are in a state where there is no Sales Tax, lucky you. But there is a business ID most likely. If you live in California, it is absolutely necessary that we have your Sales Tax ID, which we verify with the State. Additionally, you must sign and submit the Certification which says that you recognize that you must pay taxes on these items (through sales to your customers, or if you choose to use it, then you still owe the state sales tax). Without this, you will be charged sales tax. If you live outside California, and in a state where sales taxes are charged, you still aren’t off the hook. One day in the near future, all states will require online business to collect sales taxes. So in preparation for that wonderful day, we require your sales tax ID. The National Retail Federation is actively lobbying for this and some major players have already acquiesced, namely Amazon. It is a nightmare for small online stores and a national tax makes more sense than the 7,500 local tax jurisdictions and as many as 15,000 tax rates to administer. But getting the states to agree to sensible solutions has so far been futile.
Tag: Venice
Tips for Visiting Venice and Murano
This week one of our customers asked us for recommendations in Venice and Murano. Since many of you may be planning travels. We’ll share a few of our tips with you
Visiting a Furnace: There are 2 ways,
1) DELUXE: Ask at your hotel who always has an arrangement with a furnace in Murano. They will pick you up and take you in a taxi. You’ll get a grand tour, history & info on making the glass.
At the end you will be escorted to the “showroom” where you will get an aggressive sales pitch. Some people enjoy the personalized visit, want to spend a chunk of Euro on glass and they are happy. Others enjoy the tour, but have no intentions of buying.
This makes the furnace owner unhappy as he has paid the hotel a “ransom” to deliver you there, so probably there will not be a taxi to take you back to your hotel and you’ll have to find the public vaporetto. (So read carefully #2 below)
2) DO IT YOURSELF (My Pick): Take the public vaporetto to Murano. Take the 41, 42 or the DM (departs Venices from Piazzale Roma or the train Station only). The 41, 42 take about 40 minutes, the DM about 20. Get off at Colonna (its the first stop on Murano).
When you arrive, there will likely be several men (with badges) who will offer you a tour. It’s a short walk with them and you’ll get part of the DELUXE and less of the sales pitch. There will be someone making little horses or animals and it is still interesting.
Afterwards you can wander around the islands (yes there are more than one) and maybe catch another tour.
Shopping in Venice and Murano: 3 Pieces of Advise.
1) If you see something you love, must have, buy it. Don’t think that you will find it somewhere else cheaper because chances are you won’t and secondly chances are you won’t be able to find the first store again or run out of time and then dream about it forever!
2) If it’s cheap it is not Murano Glass. This goes for jewelry, vases, anything glass. The “Merchants” of Venice will let you think it is. Sometimes they will downright lie to you.
3) Do Not Buy from the street vendors – this means anyone with goods on a bedsheet, selling out of a canvas bag, or lined on the steps of bridges selling purses, toys, watches or whatever the current racket is. You can be fined. It is all fake, meaning illegal.
Eating in Venice: First about the food in Venice. It’s a lagoon and their local cuisine is derived from fish and shellfish. Just visit the Fish Market any morning (before noon) and you’ll see the locals buying their daily supplies. The local traditional foods are seppie neri pasta (it’s squid with the ink in the pasta), baccala (dried cod in paste), sarde & soar (onions, sardines & vinegar) and Fegato alla veneziana (liver). The grilled fish is always a good choice and besides it’s healthy.
The good news is that the wine, even good wine, is inexpensive.
My favorite Prosecco, Carpene Malvoti, is about 6 Euro in the local grocery. In the US, it’s $24.00 plus tax!
A cappuccino cost about 1.5 Euro, yes it’s a bit smaller but vastly superior!
The other great thing is that there’s no additional tax. What you see on an item is the price, the VAT (equivalent of tax) is already included. Makes figuring out prices a whole lot easier.
Morning Pastry:
In Venice, one of the oldest pastry shops is Pasticceria Rosa Salva. It’s a century old and there are 5 in Venice and one in Mestre (mainland). Ask any local and they can point you in the direction.
Indulging in Venice:
Many tourist, especially Americans make the pilgrimage to Harry’s Bar made famous by Ernest Hemmingway. But for my 50 Euro, nothing beats sitting in the Piazza San Marco (pick any of the cafes with outdoor seating) and listening to the bands, drinking prosecco and just enjoying being in this historical setting with a backdrop of the Chiesa San Marco and the lagoon.
Working in Venice – Technology
Every time we come to Venice, I think the internet access will be better and in general, it is better than it used to be however, for an Internet Company, we never have the bandwith we need. I am holed up on the landing between stairs which is the only place in the house we get reception. Touted as the only city with free WiFi, we can get it only on the Grand Canal, so riding the boats I can work as well as sitting at the boat stops.
It has been raining for what seems like an eternity with 2 small children with us. One day when we were headed out of Venice to work with a supplier, a tree fell on the train track and we were trapped on the train with our hungry 6 year old. No trains moving, we had to take a bus back to Venice which took about 2 hours. The traffic was snarled with the lack of the trains to move people around.
It seems there are more tourist here than in the previous couple of years. We spend most rides on the vaporetto giving directions. Jeff has been complimented on his English! One tourist thought the platform where we wait for the vaporetta was a boat and wondered when we would be moving.
Our Ipads have been a huge hit here and even better than a dog or baby to break the ice. Italians love new electronics. One day on the train we met an Italian journalist who was intrigued by the Ipad. He already had an iphone, but was having problems with it. Jeff rebooted his iphone and now he is writing a story about the Apple support on the train.
I shall give you the rules for Tourist as rain magnifies every movement in terms of time and effort. So if you come to Venice here are some rules. Too bad the Italians don’t read this as I have a few suggestions as well.
1. When you get on, don’t block the entrance,especially if you have luggage. Move inside. Move back. The locals have no way of getting their carts of groceries home other than the boat and dodging giant luggage makes it difficult.
2. Before you come, go to www.actv.it and look at the boat schedules. Get a bit of the lay of the land so you are not standing on the wrong platform. The Grand Canal is rather a two lane highway and if you figure out which way the boat is pointing, you will be fine. Now the Gira Citta is yet another story. One goes around clockwise and the other counter-clockwise but both eventually work their way around the island.
This Week’s Work
The beginning of the week we went to Effetre to select the canes for a project where we are matching fused pendants, beads for a total look.We bought our sample beadsto begin producing the matching pieces and to take to our fusion supplier to begin producing.
We worked with one of our furnaces to produce some new mosaic canes which will be exclusive to us. Everyone can buy the standard canes from Effetre,even in the US they are sold. But these canes and the colors are being produced only for us.
Additionally there currently is not available aventurina from the factory, but our furnace is now producing for us the canes we will use in the beads. The aventurina is in block form and takes a little work to make the stringers, but the result in the beads is quite stunning.