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29
Nov

Some Answers To Your Questions

categories News, The Store    

Just to get this out of the way, the Bella’s Bracelet Signature Edition has sold out.  The Classic Edition will still continue to be offered as one of our regular products.

We had one of the most unbelievable sales blitzes in the history of Twilight Teez with the recent offering of the Bella’s Bracelet Signature Edition.  We managed to sell 213 bracelets in under 36 hours.  Our site has never seen that kind of traffic, and I think our poor little server had the darndest time keeping up.  It may be time to upgrade the baby to something a little more robust.  I’ll have to look into that.

Speaking of server overwhelmingness (I am not making that word up), if you have not received an e-mail confirmation for your recent order(s), first check your spam filter to make sure the confirmation didn’t get marked as spam.  If you still do not have it, please contact us and let us know.  We’ll get another sent out to you ASAP.

So anyway, since the Signature Edition bracelets have sold out, we have had a number of questions brought to us.  So I will attempt to answer all of your questions now.

1 – Will I get my bracelet in time for Christmas? 

This information is in the product description page for the bracelet, so I will say this only one more time.  Please pay attention:  THESE BRACELETS WILL NOT BE DELIVERED IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!  Because of manufacturing requirements, we expect it to be early January 2008 before we can start sending out the first of the bracelets.  This is true even for those of you who selected express shipping! This is also true for both the Classic Edition and the Signature Edition.  We know that many of you may be disappointed in this, but we stated up front that this was a pre-order phase only, that your credit cards would be charged immediately upon completion of your order, and that we can not deliver for at least 4 weeks.  We have never tried to hide this fact.  We appreciate your patience and understanding on this issue.

2 – Can I buy the charms just by themselves or remove them once I receive the bracelet?. 

Because the bracelet is a copyrighted item as a whole, we are unable to sell the charms individually.  Once you purchase the bracelet and receive it it’s yours and you can do with it anything you want, even remove the charms if that is your desire.  However, keep in mind that once you remove a charm, the bracelet or individual charms are no longer covered under our return/exchange policy.

3 – What is the difference between the Classic Edition and the Signature Edition?

The following comparison chart shows the differences between the two editions.

Feature

Classic Edition

Signature Edition
.925 Solid Sterling Silver components

X

X
Swarovski Austrian Crystal Heart

X

X
Custom-carved copper wolf charm

X

X
Limited to 213 numbered pieces  

X
Certificate of Authenticity personally signed by Stephenie Meyer  

X

(an X indicates that the bracelet has that feature)

As you can see, as far as quality and craftsmanship are concerned, both editions of the bracelet are exactly the same.  And while the Classic Edition doesn’t come with a Certificate of Authenticity, it is still the official authorized version of the bracelet.  Please keep in mind that since the Signature Edition has sold out, the only version we have on our site now is the Classic Edition.  So when you look at the product description page for the Bella’s Bracelet Classic Edition, you are looking at the only bracelet that we currently sell.  While the Signature Editions are sold out, we will continue to sell the Classic Edition for some time to come.

4 - Are we going to make the Signature Edition (SE) available again? 

I cannot say anything is definite at this time.  However, I have learned in this industry to never say never.  I cannot say at this point if or when we will offer the Signature Editions again, but we certainly would like to.  We set a precedent when Stephenie offered to sign each individual Certificate of Authenticity (CoA), so a lot of our ability to re-offer the numbered SEs will depend on her schedule and ability to sign another set of CoA’s.  So it is a possibility, but I am not in a position to say when that will happen if it will at all.  At this time, it’s up in the air.  If we do start offering them again, we will not start over on the numbering.  In other words, any new set will start off at 214 and go up from there.  We will make an announcement well in advance of the actual offering if we are able to start up the Signature Editions again.

5. - I cannot find the bracelet anywhere on your site.  Where is it?

I mean no offense to anyone who has asked me this question (and there have been several), but I have to admit this is the one question that had me the most baffled.  Particularly because currently, we have the bracelet featured in two areas of our home page, and one area of every other page on the site.  Currently, the bracelet is listed under the Featured Products section on the left side of your screen.  But the easiest way to get to it is to simply click on the big graphic on our home page that says "Bella’s Bracelet".  The normal navigation to the bracelet is Stephenie Meyer->Jewelry->Bella’s Bracelet.

6 – How come the wolf charm isn’t made of wood?

This is probably the most anticipated question relating to our interpretation of the bracelet.  The answer is very simple; wood is too fragile. We consulted with Stephenie on what she had in mind for the actual design of the wolf charm. The design she showed us was a very detailed, near-scale wolf pendant. After some research we determined that a wood charm as small and intricate as the one she demonstrated would break far too easily. The only way to mass produce such a charm would be to use a wood-based casting material, which does not have the strength necessary to withstand the normal wear and tear that this bracelet could receive. The head, feet, and tail would be likely to break off. And it simply would be impractical to hand-carve a wolf out of a stronger wood material for every bracelet we sold. So we decided to make it out of copper. This is allows us to mass produce the bracelet in a timely fashion while still maintaining the strength needed and keeping the color tone that we were looking for.  We would have loved to make it out of wood, but we felt durability and long-term satisfaction with the product was far more valuable to our customers. Had the wolf been a more stylized piece, it might have been different. We went with the official vision that Stephenie had.

7 – How fine is the silver used in this bracelet?

This question reflects a sentiment that we have seen expressed by a small few not only on our site, but other web sites as well.  We have seen this statement from people who allegedly know a lot about jewelry.  While I’m certainly in no position to address these peoples’ knowledge or background, as I certainly am not one to claim to know much about jewelry myself, but I can say that the .925 Sterling silver used in this product is the best that you can get in the industry, second only to .999 which is tremendously expensive.  Anyone who knows anything about the silver industry should understand this.  But for those who don’t know, here is a brief education about silver (information gathered from BlueNile.com).

Pure silver, also called fine silver, is relatively soft, very malleable, and easily damaged so it is commonly combined with other metals to produce a more durable product. The most popular of these alloys is sterling silver, which consists of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper.

Although any metal can make up the 7.5 percent non-silver portion of sterling, centuries of experimentation have shown copper to be its best companion, improving the metal’s hardness and durability without affecting its beautiful color.

The small amount of copper added to sterling has very little effect on the metal’s value. Instead, the price of the silver item is affected by the labor involved in making the item, the skill of the craftsperson, and the intricacy of the design. Because pure silver is so soft, it should only be used when malleability is required, such as in handcrafted jewelry featuring weaving and other intricate designs.

Sterling silver is most often used for jewelry and household accessories because of its combination of beauty and durability. Acceptable quality marks for sterling silver include:

  • sterling
  • sterling silver
  • ster
  • .925

The silver that is used in this bracelet is .925, which as I mentioned earlier is only one step away from near pure silver.  For those of you who have stated that this isn’t good quality silver, I’m not sure what you’re expecting, but it’s quite honestly the finest silver we can get and still keep the bracelet durable and within a reasonable price range.

I hope that this answers a lot of your questions.  If you still have some things you’d like clarified, please send me a note.  If the question is big enough, I will put it here on this post.

-Brian

27
Nov

When In The Name Of Gilbert* Are You Going To Make It Available!?

categories Shirts and stuff, The Store    

Update to the post below!:  We have just confirmed with Stephenie Meyer herself that she will be personally signing each and every certificate of authenticity that comes with our Signature Edition bracelet!  This has caused untold levels of giddiness here at Twilight Teez and Infinite Jewelry.  Until now, we had planned on using a digital signature supplied by Stephenie in order to alleviate any imposition we may have placed upon her, considering her very busy schedule.  But she offered this herself.  When we got the news, the fangirl squees could be heard a mile away.  I promise you, being that I’m a guy, I was not squee-ing (guys don’t squee), but there was a lot of punching the air and "Whoo  Whoo  Whoo-ing" from me.

Okay, you all have been waiting for it! We’ve been bugged about it incessantly ever since we announced it! And we finally have it!

Of course, I’m referring to our new hard-drive based digital video camera!

Ooops! Wait, sorry, wrong blog.

No, seriously, I’m referring to the one and only, fully authorized Bella’s Bracelet©. Yes! It’s finally here! And we will have it up for pre-order at noon (MST/GMT-7), today (Tuesday 27-November)!

The bracelets will come in two different versions. Our classic version, which will include the expected charms and the Sterling Silver and copper components as well as an attractive carrying pouch. Then there is the collectible Signature Edition, which will be limited to only 213 numbered pieces and comes with a certificate of authenticity bearing Stephenie Meyer’s signature. The classic version will sell for $65.00 while the Signature Edition will be available for $80.00.

This is not just some piece of costume jewelry, we’re talking about. We took great strides to ensure that this bracelet is as authentic as possible, and we knew that Stephenie’s fans would not accept anything less. We’re talking 0.925 Sterling Silver, Swarovski Austrian crystal, and a hand-crafted, custom-made copper wolf. This is as fine a piece of jewelry as you would buy at any jeweler. Except, of course, you’re not buying it from just any jeweler. You can’t get this anywhere else except Twilight Teez!

Now some of you may be saying to yourself “Brian!” – which is a funny thing to be saying to yourself, when you think about it. But you’re saying, “Wait a minute! If you wanted to be true to the actual description of the bracelet, why on Earth did you make the wolf charm out of copper?!”

This is an important question. One that has an equally important answer. And the answer is, “I don’t know.”

No, seriously, the reason is very simple; wood is too fragile. We consulted with Stephenie on what she had in mind for the actual design of the wolf charm. The design she showed us was a very detailed, near-scale wolf pendant. After some research we determined that a wood charm as small and intricate as the one she demonstrated would break far too easily. The only way to mass produce such a charm would be to use a wood-based casting material, which does not have the strength necessary to withstand the normal wear and tear that this bracelet could receive. The head, feet, and tail would be likely to break off. And it simply would be impractical to hand-carve a wolf out of a stronger wood material for every bracelet we sold. So we decided to make it out of copper. This is allows us to mass produce the bracelet in a timely fashion while still maintaining the strength needed and keeping the color tone that we were looking for.  We would have loved to make it out of wood, but we felt durability and long-term satisfaction with the product was far more valuable to our customers. Had the wolf been a more stylized piece, it might have been different. We went with the official vision that Stephenie had.

The only sad bit of news about this whole thing is that we can’t ship them out before Christmas. We tried to get them ready in time, but it just couldn’t be done. We’re going to be in a pre-order phase with these, with an expected delivery time frame of about 4 to 6 weeks out. This is due to the manufacturing of these bracelets and the anticipated demand for them. I know many of you were hoping to give/receive these as Christmas presents. We apologize for this disappointment. However, if there is a silver lining to this news, it is that the bracelets will make an excellent Valentine’s Day gift. If you’re anything like me, though, getting a Christmas gift after Christmas is just as nice – it extends the holiday that much longer. ;-)

There is one other thing to keep in mind when you buy a bracelet (or seven); your credit card will be charged at the time of purchase. This is the only way we can make the bracelets available at this time.

These bracelets are being made for us by Infinite Jewelry Company based out of Utah, who we are working very closely with to ensure the highest quality possible as well as maintaining as much of the authentic design as possible. It helps that the owners of this fine company are also huge Twilight fans. ;-)

I suspect that if we had a real building, people might be lining up outside the doors to get this thing. Being that we’re an online firm, if you’re looking for the Signature Edition, I recommend getting here as early as you can. There’s only 213 of them, and we expect they will go fast.

Merry Christmas, everyone! -Brian

*No offense to anyone who might be named Gilbert.

19
Nov

Hey! What’s Going On Around Here?!

categories News, The Store    

UPDATE: As of this morning (21-November-2007) it appears that our web host has finally solved the problem with our database servers. We were (cautiously) making our credit card payment option available to the public again. I’ve done some testing on our end, and things seem to be back in order. Please, please, please let us know right away if you experience any trouble at all relating to processing your order at the Confirm Order page. Thanks again for your patience, and by all means, we wish everyone out there who celebrates it a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

-Brian

Okay, so some of you have probably noticed by now that something’s afoot on the ol’ Twilight Teez web site. And indeed, something is afoot. And it’s not my feet.For the moment, all things point to our web host. My current theory is that the connection to our database server is timing out during the Confirm Order part of our checkout process. What happens is, for credit card orders, credit card information is sent via a secure link to our credit card processing gateway. The credit card is charged, and a confirmation is sent back to our web site. At this point, under normal operation, our site would then update our database with your order information. This process generates the final invoice that you receive, and creates the order information that we ultimately use to fulfill your order.

The problem appears to be time. Processing credit cards is taking longer than it used to, and our database server appears to be somewhat impatient. My theory, which has yet to be confirmed by our web host, is that the connection to the database gets closed down before the site gets the confirmation back from our cc processor. This effectively generates the database errors that many have been seeing lately.

Our web host has stated that there is a known issue with their servers at this point, but failed to be more detailed. I’m hoping to hear back from them by noon our time on Tuesday (20-November). If they can’t give me an adequate answer by then, I may have to seriously consider switching web hosts.

So what does that mean for you? Nothing, right? You want your shirts, and that’s completely understandable. So what do we do in the meantime? Our only current work-around is to provide a manual method for processing your orders. We can do this in one of three ways:

1) You can process your order via PayPal. If you have a PayPal account, this will probably be the easiest method. Simply select the Check/Money Order/Credit Card/PayPal option during the Payment Selection step (this is currently the only option available). Make sure you state in the Special Instruction section that you will send a PayPal payment for this order. Once you complete your order, go to your PayPal account and manually send us a payment using whatever payment option you wish. Our e-mail address for this transaction is paypal@twilightteez.com. Make sure you reference your order ID when sending the payment, otherwise we may have trouble resolving your payment to your order. This will effectively close the transaction just as if you had completed it on our web site.

2) What if you don’t have a PayPal account, and you don’t want to set one up but you still want to pay by credit card? Fair question. And I have an answer. Simply process your order as I stated above, but make sure you put in your Special Instructions section a phone number so we can call you. We will then call you back between the hours of 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM (Mountain Standard Time, GMT -7), at which point we can process your credit card over the phone using a virtual terminal setup to our credit card processor. Please note, we will not process orders outside of these times. We promise that we never record your credit card information, and we will never use it for anything other than to process your order at that particular time. We would offer to have you call us, but we do not have a toll-free number for you to use at this time. If you still wish to call us long-distance, please state so in your order, and we will provide you our contact phone number.

3) So what’s the third option? You can pay us by check or money order. Keep in mind that doing so will delay the shipment of your order (as it always has) until your check is cleared. This can take up to 10 business days, so if you’re looking to give the shirts as a Christma present, you may not want to take this option.

We know that this is a terribly inconvenient way of doing things. Unfortunately, until we can straighten things up with our host (which has a national reputation for high-quality service) we really don’t have much choice. Trust me when I say this is more frustrating for us than it is for our customers; and our customers have been pretty frustrated! Just know that we are working dilligently to get this resolved as quickly as possible. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this issue has caused.

We appreciate your patience and your understanding. If you have further questions, please use our Contact Us form. We will return your inquiry as soon as possible.

-Brian

13
Nov

Up and Coming

categories The Store    

Well, everyone, it’s time to make a few annncements.  First, and foremost, I have to announce that Twilight Teez will be going out of business.

No, wait, that’s not it.  Sorry, my notes got a little bit of water on them, and there’s water spots all over the place.  No, Twilight Teez is going to be stepping up it’s business.  And we’re doing this by offering a few new products in the very near future.  I will outline them right now.

First, I want to confirm all the rumors – Edward and Jacob are getting married.

No, wait, sorry, another water spot.  We are, in fact, getting ready to introduce the one and only Bella Charm Bracelet, as given to Bella by Jacob and Edward in Eclipse.  We are very excited about this new product, and know that many of you are also.  We are in the final stages of the design, and have received the stamp of approval from Stephenie herself.  The bracelet that we have now is only a prototype, and we have identified a few small areas that need to be fixed before we can make it available to our customers for order.  We will start accepting pre-orders in the coming weeks, with expected delivery dates sometime in early January or sooner.

We’re talking about a fantastic toggle bracelet hand-crafted by the folks at Infinite Jewelry Co. using only the highest quality materials such as Sterling Silver and Swarovski crystal.  We worked directly with Stephenie on the exact specifications for what she envisioned for this bracelet.  This is an exclusive with Twilight Teez, and is the only officially licensed bracelet for the Twilight series.  To help establish the collectible aspect of this bracelet, the first 200 in production will be numbered.  All will come with certificates of authenticity from Stephenie Meyer.

Next up, as many of you probably already know, the results of Stephenie Meyer’s recent slogan contest are in.  The winners have been announced on her web site, and we are already in the process of putting the designs together.  We hope to be able to start offering these new shirts very soon, with the first being Bella’s.  We’ve all been waiting for these new designs, so we are doing the best we can to make them available as soon as possible.  However, it is unlikely that all of them will be available before Christmas. 

Finally, we are pleased to announce that our popular Edward, Jacob, and Alice designs will soon be available on baseball caps.  We have been working with our screenprinting partner to produce a series of high-quality, embroidered designs on canvas-covered caps.  At this point, the only thing that we’re waiting for is for me to get off my duff and get pictures of these things.  Of all our new products, these are the closest to being made available right now.  We hope to have them on our web site no later than Sunday, November 18.

So, that’s all for now.  With all of these new products coming up, I sort of feel like we’re at an all you can eat buffet and we have a way-too-small plate in our hands.  But I think the next few weeks are going to prove very exciting, and I hope you will agree.  It’s been one heck of a wild ride and it’s showing no signs of letting up anytime soon.  Here’s hoping we have plenty of Dramamine

-Brian

4
Nov

Long Sleeves Are Here!

categories Shirts and stuff    

Holy female bovine, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here!  Too long, but I have an excuse.  I’ve been incredibly lazy.

No, wait, that’s the excuse I have for not posting on my personal blog.  No, for us, we’ve been incredibly busy.  This entire year has been unbelievable for us.  We owe it all to all of you out there in Twilight-ville (or should that be Forks, WA?).  Every single one of you who have stopped by our store and purchased a shirt.  We are ever so grateful to you all.

Which is why this particular announcement is so exciting for us here at Twilight Teez.  Many of our customers may have begun to notice that the days are shortening up, and the temperatures are dropping.  Except for here in Southern Arizona, where we have completely forgotten how to be cool all together (our seasons are either hot, or fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk).  For crying out loud, it’s November and we are still wearing t-shirts and shorts!  Those of you in Australia probably understand this very well.

Anyway, we are proud to announce that we now are able to offer long sleeve versions of some of our more popular designs.  We’ve also slightly altered our category structure to include the new shirts.  You’ll now see a Long Sleeve and a Short Sleeve category for both the Stephenie Meyer Designs and FanMade categories, but for convenience sake, I’ll just link to the shirts here.

Edward Cullen Fan Club

Jacob Black Fan Club

Alice Cullen Fan Club

Runs With Vampires

We are currently in the process of manufacturing the Diamonds design in a long sleeve version, and hope to add that to the list very soon.  Other designs will follow.

We hope to introduce some new product types very soon, as well.  We’re not just talking shirts, here.  Hats, mugs, and maybe even something for your wrist!  Keep your eyes open in the coming weeks.

-Brian