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28
Dec

Blog Comments And Forums Are Down

categories News, The Blog    

This is just a note to let y’all know that comments have been temporarily shut off for the blog.  This is because I am in the middle of moving the database to our new host provider.  In order to maintain the database integrity and keep everyone’s comments alive, I need to prevent further entries so that there will be no data loss during the move.  For the same reason, our forums have been temporarily shut down.  As soon as I am able to move our domain name (twilightteez.com) to our new host provider, the blog commenting and the forums will come back online.  I hope I can get this done within the next 24 hours.  I really apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you need to get in touch with us for anything, click this link to write us a message.

UPDATE: I have managed to transfer our blog and forums databases and software packages to our new host. I have re-enabled commenting on the blog. The forums I still have some maintenance to do, so they will be down until sometime Saturday (Dec. 29).

-Brian

28
Dec

Bella’s Bracelet Signature Editions Are In!

categories News    

Please Read This Entire Post Before Commenting!

We are pleased to announce that we have received the Signature Edition bracelets from our manufacturer.  We will begin shipping these to our customers on Saturday, December 29, 2007.  Those who ordered with Express Shipping will have their orders processed first.  Orders with Priority Mail will be processed immediately following that.

Kind of weird, if you ask me, the terms Priority and Express.  Priority, to me seems to be the more immediate of the two.  But Express shipping will get you the 1- to 2-day shipping while Priority gets 3- to 5-day shipping.  But that’s the USPS for you.

For those of you who ordered the Classic Editions, your orders will begin shipping on January 7, 2008.  Again, the process will be those who ordered with Express shipping will get processed first, with Priority shipping being processed immediately following.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or post your question in the comments section.  I promise, we won’t ignore your question.

-Brian

UPDATE:
Lots of you are asking us if we can lower the price of the bracelet.  Keep in mind that our price is based in large part on what we are charged for the raw materials.  We pay for the silver, the crystal, and the copper, not to mention the labor in putting the bracelets together.  Some have accused us of a large markup, but I can assure you that is not the case.  We can only lower our price if the costs of the raw materials and labor decrease.  I understand that for many, $65.00 is a lot to pay.  Especially for teenagers.  I wish we had more control over these prices, but we really are operating at the best possible price we can at this time.

For those who have asked for an image, normally you’d be able to look up the images on our web site.  However, since it’s in the middle of a remodel and unavailable, I’ll post an image here.

Bella's Bracelet

18
Dec

Answers To Your Questions Part II

categories News, The Blog    

We’re getting a lot more questions about Bella’s Bracelet based on information that is either misinterpreted, misread, or simply incorrect.  So I’d like to make another post here in hopes of clearing up a few more misconceptions.

My first set of answers to Bella’s Bracelet questions can be found here:

http://blog.twilightteez.com/?p=47

1. – Will I receive Bella’s Bracelet in time for Christmas?

No.  You will not.  You can read my detailed answer on this question in post linked above.  If anyone asks me this question again, I will find you and I will kill you.

2.  But it’s really important.

Look, the only way it’s going to come in before Christmas is if you happen to have a flux capacitor, a Mr. Fusion, and a DeLorean.  And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to see this movie.

3. Will the Signature Edition ever come back?

It’s possible that we will make it available again.  This first go around was very successful.  The desirability of the Signature Edition, with the personally signed CoA and the numbers, has not been lost on us.  But it’s not going to happen for a little while.  I promise, if we decide to make it available again, we will give everyone plenty of notice.

4. How long will you make the Classic Edition available?

The Bella’s Bracelet CE will be available for as long as Stephenie will let us.  We do not intend to stop selling it in the forseeable future.  If we do plan on discontinuing the bracelet, we will give you all fair warning.

5. I saw a Bella’s Bracelet available on such-and-such web site.  Why is yours better than others that I can buy online?

Because ours is the only bracelet that is an official authorized reproduction.  We worked directly with Stephenie to get a precise definition of what she envisioned when she designed the bracelet to begin with.  No other bracelet can make that claim.  To back it up, we are providing a Certificate of Authenticity with every bracelet we sell, even the Classic Editions.  The CoAs on the Signature Edition will even be personally signed by Stephenie herself (her offering – what can we say, she loves her fans).

6. But isn’t it a violation of copyright to create and sell another bracelet without Stephenie’s permission?

Copyright law can be pretty complex because it was written by men who have trout entrails for brains are much smarter than any of us.  But when it comes right down to it, while you may hold the copyright on text you wrote, you do not hold the copyright on derivitive works based off of that text.  For example, I could write a description of a Wernher-Strakowski Hyperdrive Motivator and I would be the legitimate copyright holder of the text for that description.  But if someone else were to actually make a working Hyperdrive Motivator based on my description, I could not claim the copyrights on it.  I could, however, point out that Wernher Strakowski and his Hyperdrive Motivators might be a good name for a rock band.

7. One last question.  Do you ever intend to make a Bella’s Engagement Ring?

Let’s fire up the ol’ Rumor Mill running for this one, shall we?  Yes.

8. When?

Soon.  We expect to introduce them in 2008.  Let’s get the bracelets dealt with first, okay?

17
Dec

The Worst Thing

categories Not Twilight Related, The Store    

I look around our little place here and I see a lot of things.

I see an incredibly chaotic mess in our home, which is filled with boxes and boxes of inventory.  There are messes that haven’t been tended to, piles and piles of shipping supplies, mailing labels, plastic packing bags, and seven or eight people running in 15 or 16 different directions at the same time.  Everyone’s shouting, panicking and trying to get orders properly packed and out the door.  E-mail is backing up because we don’t have time to answer everyone’s concerns, but we feel an obligation to do so.  People are sleep deprived, living off of Pepsi and leftovers, and generally feeling every bit of the chaos that energizes our little enterprise.

And yet it’s none of this that bothers me.  I find it all part and parcel to running a successful and popular Internet business.

No, what bothers me the most is the accusations we receive from those few people out there who are convinced that we are nothing but a scummy dirty fly-by-night Internet business with no scruples.  Our only concern is for ourselves, sacrificing our integrity and scamming off of poor unsuspecting teenagers and their parents so we can make a quick buck.  These people have no idea who we are, have never met us, and have no clue what kind of sacrifices we’re making, but they have made their judgments.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they don’t have their reasons to be skeptical.  I know for a fact that for every legitimate, honest Internet company out there, there are many more scummy dirty fly-by-night Internet businesses run by people with no scruples.  But I know who I am, and I know I am not one of those people.  I am an honest person, and so is my wife, and we try diligently to do what is right.  And because of this, sometimes it’s hard not to be affected by these accusations.

What gets me the most is that our business is supported by Stephenie Meyer herself, and by accusing us of being dishonest, these people are bringing into question Stephenie’s judgment.  I find it particularly hard to believe that someone who considers themselves to be a fan of hers would do such a thing.  I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong about that whole thing.

So I’d like to take an opportunity to declare to the world that Twilight Teez is not out to hurt anyone.  We are just as much fans of Stephenie’s as anyone else, and the last thing that we would want to do is cause harm to our family of Twilighters.  Our goal is to provide top-quality apparel and other items that reflect the nature of the Twilight universe as Stephenie has envisioned it, so that her fans can proudly wear their fanaticism for what she has created.  If we have done anything wrong, we will make every effort that we can to correct things and make them right, again.  We thank every single one of you for your business, and hope that we can continue to serve your Twilight product needs far into the future.

Thank you for letting me get this off my chest.

-Brian

7
Dec

Closed For The Holidays

categories The Store    

I just wanted to make an announcement here to let everyone know that Twilight Teez will be shutting down its web site starting from Christmas Day (December 25) until January 2, 2008.  There are several reasons for this:

  1. The site needs some cleaning up.  There’s a lot of stray code in the software for the store and things just generally need tidying up.  There’s some software updates that need to be made as well, and we are going to put up a new look for the store.  We want to make the place easier to navigate.  We feel the best way to do all of this is to simply rebuild the site from scratch and essentially start over with a fresh set of code.
  2. In the days following our introduction of Bella’s Bracelet, our daily orders have skyrocketed from 20 to 30 a day to well over 150 a day.  This was a level of business that quite frankly we didn’t expect.  Don’t get us wrong, we knew the bracelet would be popular.  Just not this popular.  We want to take that week to let our order fulfillment deparment get caught up.  If we can shut down the orders for 1 week, we feel we can concentrate on getting your orders out the door and start the new year fresh and with the ability to take on new orders.
  3. We’re just plain exhausted!  We’ve had an unbelievable level of activity in this store, and it’s taking its toll on us.  We need a breather, folks!  And, well, we’d really like to be able to enjoy the holidays with our family like everyone else.  The level of stress in our household has had a bit of a negative impact on everyone in our house, and that’s just not a good thing.  We love supplying these products to you, and we’re particularly excited and anxious to get the bracelets out to you.  But we need to give our children an opportunity to have their parents back for at least a few days.

So we’ll be closing down the site for that last week of 2007.  And we’ll be back with a new look and new products for 2008.  We’re preparing the designs from Stephenie’s character contest, and we have a couple new designs from Daymond Hoffman to introduce (I’m wearing one now and it’s just plain cool).  Of course, we’ll be getting your bracelets to you, too.

So here’s the 411 on the days we’ll be closed:  We’ll close the shop on December 24 at midnight and reopen on January 1.  All times are Mountain Standard Time (GMT -7).  Although I’ll try to make the site browsable during that time, no orders will be accepted.  If you have any questions, please send them to me.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

-Brian

4
Dec

Twilight: The Books, The Author, And The Movie

categories The Store, Twilight Books, Twilight Movie    

(if you’re looking for information about Bella’s Bracelet, you can find it in the previous two posts below)

In the comments for the post that answers questions about the bracelet, we are starting to get a number of people making assumptions about Twilight Teez.  I think it’s time to clarify a few thing:

1 – Twilight Teez is not run by Stephenie Meyer.

Our story is told on the About Us page of our store site.  However I will summarize it here.  My wife, Sharon, and I started this business in response to the demand for Stephenie’s t-shirts.  We worked directly with Stephenie to start this business, and she has total control over the designs and on what shirts they go on.  However, Stephenie does not partake in the actual day-to-day activities of the shop, nor do we have any ability to forward any messages on to her from our customers.  Comments such as "I love your books!" and "You are an inspiration to me!" are not seen by her unless she happens to stop by this blog or our forums and read through them.  If you have anything to say to her, please say it on the fansites that she frequents.  The official fansite is the Twilight Lexicon.  She does read through that site regularly, and you have more of a chance of her seeing your comments over there than here (at least as far as I am aware).

2 – Twilight Books

Twilight Teez is not set up in any way to sell books of any kind accept through our Amazon affiliate links.  Therefore, if you are looking to buy Stephenie’s books, you will not find them here.  Especially if you want signed copies.  Your best bet for those is to order them online from Changing Hands bookstore.  If you live anywhere in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, you can go visit them live and in person.

3 – The Twilight Movie

Twilight Teez has absolutely, without any question, no information about the Twilight Movie.  We are so far removed from the entire movie making process that we are just as in the dark about things as anyone else.  The only thing we do know is that there will be some restrictions now on what products we can offer related to the Twilight series.  For example, except for what we already have in our store and the designs for the recent character contest that Stephenie held, we will not be able to make any other products that are directly derived from the first book of the Twilight series.

So we cannot provide you with any answers to questions such as "Are they holding open auditions for the movie" or "Who is playing Edward?"  The most we know is what has already been officially announced.  Stephenie will keep us all up to date on her web site.

I hope this post doesn’t sound snitty or snooty or whatever.  I just thought I should make one big post to answer these questions so that everyone can promptly ignore it.

-Brian