About Tax and Prices and More...

Hi Everyone!

Ok, I'm going to start with the good news :) Our order is nearly done and will hopefully ship out soon, which means that (fingers crossed. knock on wood) some of our gangs may have their new hair before Christmas! On top of that I will have a new style to reveal very soon, once finishing touches are added to it: i hope you will all like it...

Secondly, I have checked with the company who make the wigs for me and they are all safe and sound, here's hoping the current conflicts in Korea can be resolved safely and with no more loss of life.

Here's the not so good news: there's going to have to be a price increase...

The first order was fine as I asked $26 plus paypal fees for each wig, and I was in America at the time so paid no import duty at all... since moving back to the UK I have not added paypal fees and on top of that I have not asked any more to cover the cost of import duty, which is generally 17.5%.

From January the import tax in the UK will increase from 17.5% to 20% (read about it here). On top of this, the company who make my wigs for me say that if I continue to pay with paypal they will have to charge me $2 more per wig: sounds like a little but with the import tax as well if means I'm getting into the relm of this costing me more than it's worth to run! I'm looking at bank transfers at the moment but even then I have to deal with both Paypal and my Banks crappy rate of exchange from dollars to pounds, and then to won. I will do my best to find the cheapest option.

Either way, it's likely to mean a price rise to $28 per wig. I can absorb the cost of either the import tax or the exchange rates, but not both! Please, please let me know how you feel about this as I do not want to alienate people or leave anyone feeling that this is too high a price. I will do my best to reduce it but it's looking like the only option will be this price increase. You're welcome to post on Flickr (please don't make it sound like a sale post though!), send me an e-mail or post on here, any comments are much appreciated.

Thanks a lot, sorry to have to do this!

Chloe xxx

PS the new girl in the pic is a revamped Pirate Lea, who was made over by the wonderful Andreja. Her name is 17 Cherry Tree Lane: I think she's fab!

Preorder closed.

Thanks for the orders everyone, the preorder is closed and the final list has been sent off to Korea with a promised delivery date in December some time (in time to miss UK import taxes increasing!). I have added the unclaimed wigs to the shop here and I have also added a page of face up supplies which will grow in number over the next few weeks.


If you have a Flickr account, please check my celebratory give away here as you could win a wig of your choice! It's a naming contest to celebrate 100 Flickr group members, something I am very proud of.

That's all for now, I'll update when I have a better shipping date idea!

Chloe.

Hi Everyone!

Ok,so it’s time for me to think about opening for new orders. I want to do things a little differently, as the last order proved to me that running this alongside my other jobs is no easy task. Too many mistakes appeared in the last order, caused by both myself and issues with communication with the company, and I want to work to minimise these issues in the future. I never really intended for this to become as big as it is (all I wanted was a wig like Cat Coco’s for my dolls!), but now that it I will do my best to make sure that things go as smoothly as possible and everyone is happy.

As a result there’s a few changes:

1) Each order will be colour and style limited. This means that each ordering period (probably… four per year?) I will offer maybe three wig styles in the most popular colours. This is to cut down on the number of random wigs ordered and also to make things a bit easier to I don’t have to chase people to ask if it’s ok for a grey wig to be switched to silver etc :P If you’re after another style it does mean waiting until the next ordering period, unless I already have it in stock which hopefully will happen someday J

2) I will run the preorder from my shop. This means that you will need to have paid within a three week period. After that period is up, I will only accept new orders through the same site for wigs I will have in stock. This hopefully will stop me making mistakes where I can’t work out who wants what where… if they were all bought from one place I will have a solid record of who has what, instead of trawling through excel spreadsheets and emails to check.

3) You will pay your shipping fees when you preorder the wigs, again so there’s less running around tracking payments etc. This means when they arrive I can start shipping straightaway to everyone, instead of having to work out who’s paid shipping fees.

4) Everyone in this order will sign up to a new mailing list. This is so I can keep the new order separate from the old, and should make mass communication a little easier.

I hope you’re all ok with these changes, and see why they have to be made. I’d love to say that I can keep all the styles and colours open, and chop and change orders but the sad fact is, I don’t have the time or the mental capabilities for hard business! Hopefully this is a good compromise J

The last crappy bit of news is that UK VAT (Value Added Tax) will increase in January of next year, so after this order I will have to increase the price of each wig from $26 to $27 to cover higher shipping fees and higher taxes. The October order should hopefully be here before then so the price for those wigs will remain set at $26.

Ok, essay over! Thanks a lot everyone,

Chloe x

Shop Opening!

Finally the shop is open! Please click the above link to see what's available :) Preorder coming soon!

Chloe xx

Postage!

Just a copy of the order email :)

Ok, so the wigs are on their way FINALLY :) It is Bank Holiday on Monday here in the UK so I am expecting the parcel on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how the customs payment works out. I am hoping to start asking for postage payments now as I will be unable to post any wigs out from September 6th to September 12th: people who pay now will be first to have their wigs sent out to them when they've arrived to me.

Postage costs will be

Service	UK	Europe	World
First Class (up to 6 wigs)	$4.50	$4.50	$6.75
First Class (up to 12 wigs)	$5.50	$7	$11
First Class Recorded (up to 6 wigs, delivery proof no tracking)	$5.50	$10	$13.25
First Class Recorded (up to 12 wigs, delivery proof no tracking)	$6.50	$13.50	$17.50

I believe this is correct based on the weight of the box and wigs I have here with me: I'll be using Royal Mail and have used their website to calculate costs. if you want an additional service (eg. tracking) please contact me. If you've paid for EMS shipping I will contact you soon. If you have only one or two wigs I can check the pricing of sending a smaller recycled box for you but you'll have to wait for their arrival and for me to find boxes I'm afraid!

My paypal is AMAZING ;)

Any questions, let me know :) Thank you for your patience!

Chloe.

PS: Please fill out the poll about the next order: the company has told me I can't get mixes of sizes next time so I have to find a new way of doing this... I need your opinions!

Preview of Work in Progress wigs: do not judge me!

Preview of Work in Progress wigs: do not judge me!, originally uploaded by Gantaeno.

Ok, so these are extreme WIPs but I thought I'd let you all know what direction we're going in :)

1. Gretel. I'm hoping to have this one made with plaits too, just to see if they're interchangeable. It should be possible to get a side parting as well. Not sure if I should ask for a thinner hair bunch?

2. Tinker. I'm sure you know who this is based on! I'm planning on having the yellow-gold wig be my donation wig, where the proifits will go to Great Ormand Street Childerns Hospital in London (the rights to Peter Pan were donated to this hospital by the author). I'm hoping to have the bun a little less orderly, although it does look pretty fancy!

3. Victory. This one needs the most work: as you can see it's too thich and the curls aren't quite as tight and sausage-y as they should be. I'll be sending them a few more pics to see if the more traditional victory roll can be achieved: if not then the idea will sadlyb have to be scrapped!

I'd love to know your opinions :)

PS How AMAZING is my shop background?!? The shop is going to be AWESOME when it's done :)

Quick Query :)

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since the last blog update but as the order is nearing its completion I thought I might as will have one central post to refer people to!
Ok, I am hoping that the wigs are pretty much done: the company contacted me yesterday with some exciting news: they've been working on some new exclusive designs for me and will probably have a preview finished for tomorrow! Oh yeah! As you know up until now I have had to accept that all the designs I've worked on have also been added to the companies website, which is not great. These two new designs will be EXCLUSIVE TO ME (hurrah) and I hope to add piccys tomorrow!!

In other news I'm adding a new poll and would appreciate your opinions :) It's about Hand Craft Glass eyes and whether or not you'd be interested in buying them from me if I had a stock of them?The company gives a discount of 40% if you buy in bulk so they'd be a bit cheaper to buy a single pair from me too :) I've got a few photos of their eyes in my dolls here:


I'm also happy to announce that the website is almost done and looks GORGEOUS thanks to two great people who've offered me help: I can't wait to unveil that too!

Thanks a lot for sticking with me :)

Chloe xx

Closing orders

Hi everyone :)

Been a while, but today's the last day to join the preorder! I'll be adding new stock to the shop and setting up a website soon, but there will be not more preorder periods until October sadly! Just email me at rapunzel-wigs AT hotmail.com to order.

Cheers!

Prima Ballerina 600 Grey

Prima Ballerina 600 Grey, originally uploaded by gantaeno.

For those of you who missed it on Flickr, wigs are here! They're all beautiful and make me super proud :) Can't wait to continue this amazing oppurtunity...

Wig Previews :D

Lati Yellow Pixie Style: A cute boy cut, very happy with this one!

Lati Yellow Cassidy Style: A layered style with a mix of pink and white fibres. Pretty happy but thinking of asking them to tone down the flicks?

Lati White Long Style: Ahh, so cute! I don't know whether to ask them to make it with side swept bangs or not?

Lati White Bob: I hope this will be really cute on :)

Ok, so you've all seen the preview and many people have asked the same questions, so here's my FAQ!

1) Can I get the wig in _______ colour?

I can order the Lati White wigs in any of the black bordered colours in the colour palette (I just added another row of colours). For now the ones available are listed on the individual sample pages :)


Lati Yellow sizes can be ordered in any colour and any style.

2) When can I order these wigs?

I will run a preorder from the UK if there's enough interest: this time I will need to order a larger number and pay customs fees so I will have to see what happens... I plan on keeping the price the same for future orders and refunding current customers their paypal fees to make up for this ;)

3) How much will they be?

For the Lati Yellow wigs I will ask the same as the previous order ($26), but I will refund current customers paypal fees by making their shipping costs cheaper: this is to make up for the fact that future orders will include my customs fees... boo hiss boo!

The Lati white wigs I am talking to the company about. basically they require that I sell at a minimum price but I think the Lati Yellow price is too high for a Lati White wig: I will try to barter them down two or three dollars to make them cheaper, around $23-24.

Thanks a lot!

About Lati Whites

Hey :)

Ok, so I asked about Lati White wigs. Sadly they can't do any of the fancy wig styles in this size (boo) but they can make a short bob and a longer straight wig with side bangs. I'm going to add a few of these to the order and was wondering if anyone had any colour preferences? Please FM me or comment here/on a photo on Flickr to let me know!

Chloe.

Order Placed!

FINALLY, our order is placed! I can't wait until the postman knocks on my door with a bajillion wigs in a massive box, ready to send out to everyone :) I'll keep you all updated, don't worry!

I thought it was about time I revealed the other wig styles that are coming: these are very sketchy sketches as I haven't had time to finish the full concepts, but at least you can see what styles are coming and what's in stock. I'm saving the white Ballerina wigs for a contest, should be fun!

Cheers,

Chloe.

Tentatively Trying Out a New Shop...

Blargh, I have such limited understanding of CSS that this shop thing may not have been a good idea... still, worth a try, eh?

I have a link to the left here that connects you to the shop so you cna see current wigs available for pre order: these are the ones that I added to the order to keep in stock, so they should arrive in the Middle of May. Any orders before that can be shipped from the US or the UK: after that it's UK only I'm afraid, as I'm off back home!

So, please have a quick look at the shop and if you see any issues please let me know.

IF YOU KNOW CSS and think you could code an Ecwid shop layout for me, I'd love to hear from you! Please email me at cj82 at evansville.edu so we can talk: I can trade wigs/cash for your time :)

Hurrah!

Here we are! Please read the post on DoA for full details on the order, I will be sending out messages asking for payment over the next few days. Unfortunately I will now have to ask for paypal fees to be covered by the buyers as the company has put the cost of each wig up by about $3.50... I don't want to put up my asking price so hopefully you won't mind covering this amount. I wish I didn't have to do this but without filling the 50 slots combined with that price hike it's too much for me to cover :(

Thanks!

Pukifee Too!

I snapped a quick pic of my Pukifee Zoe wearing the wig for Pukifee owners who're contemplating :) As of now we have... 29? of the 50 wigs I need as preorders so I'm hoping some more people join us! As I'm already paying for half of the wigs to keep 'in stock' I do need these spaces filled, so please please please join us :) As I said before, I think this may be your only chance to get these colours from me so impulse buy ;)

Off to bump the DoA thread!

Whats Wit' Your Orderin' Spaz, Guuuuurl?? :P

(above title to match Lakhi's gangsta pose ;) )
Ok, so the company in their infinite wisdom have laid a triple bomb on me this week. It's called 'shooting yourself in the foot' in laymans terms because it means I am almost certainly going with the other supplier for future wigs. Here's their terms:

1) "Oh! We accidentally told you the discount was more than in was, but actually the wigs cost more because of the custom wig cap!"

...errr, ya, except the cap doesn't fit properly? They've basically taken away a chunk of discount becuase of this which makes no sense to me at all. If I'd been aware of it I would have priced the wigs differently (probably at $27.50) but they've sprung this on me so late I'd feel awful adding it on now people have placed orders... it means I have to order less wigs to keep in stock because I can't afford to make a loss on these now :(

2) "You need to pay extra for shipping a big order of wigs!!"

... great, any idea how much?? Another price increase...

3) "Oh we forgot, you have to order at least three of any colour!"

... Meh! That's rubbish! It means to keep the people who've ordered unusual colours happy I'll have to stock those weird colours instead of the more popular ones! Meh!

Grr.... not happy with them. I really hope that the other company pulls it through and comes up with something truly amazing from my designs, because the way things are going it won't be hard to come out on top of this mess!

So, in conclusion, please join me if you like this companies colours because it may be your only chance to get them! :P Thread's here.

Chloe xxx

Group Order thread posted + Extra colours

Hey!

I posted a thread on DoA, located here. If you can't see the thread or you aren't a member, you can still join! Please just send me a flickr mail or write a comment on here to join, stating the number and colour of wigs you'd like.

Hopefully we can fill 50 slots pretty quickly! The wigs are $26 plus shipping from me to you, there are no paypal fees. If you are ordering over 5 wigs I can arrange direct EMS to you, but you will need to pay the shipping fee: each wig will be $23 if this is the case but you will need to pay fees so please let me know beforehand :)

Most people seem to want a tighter wig cap and the same length. If you are adament you don't want these details let me know, I can probably get some wigs made with shorter hair but you will not be able to see them as a sample I'm afraid.

NEW COLOURS:

Some people asked about whites, so here's some more (NON heat resisting) colours (bottom row):

Bubblegum, Pure White, Grey White, Gold, Chocolate, Teddy Gold, Gold/Pink mix.

Participants (Rough List) 19/50

1-9 Kitty
10-18 Lorelei
19-21 C

22-25 Pandadesign

It's here!

Hooray, hooray hooray hooray!

It's here! I am well chuffed (a colloquial term :P), it's beautiful. the fibre is soft and silky, the curls only needed a little reshaping, the fringe falls in the right place, love it. The only issue I can see is that A) the wig cap is a little loose, and B) the length is a little long. I'd like some answers about the length please, and also if you think a loose wig cap may be an issue let me know.

I'd like to open orders in a matter of days :) Keep an eye out, it'll hopefully be a short ordering period!

Chloe xx

PS Thinking of naming the Style "Angela" or "Favorleigh" after a character in an Enid Blyton series I read as I child. I remember this girl taking great pride in her blonde hair, and spending ages making sure the curls at the ends were perfect!

Wigs, Glorious Wigs!

Ok, so I got an update from the first company and they are willing to offer me a better discount (yey!) but it requires that I put in an order for 100 wigs (boo...). Normally I'd say this would be fine as I can order an excess of wigs and have some in stock to sell on DoA/Etsy/here, but 100 wigs is a fair amount... I'd need at least 50 of those to be a preorder. If I can manage this then wigs will almost certainly be $26 each, less than if I only order say thirty and split the shipping. HOWEVER:

1) We will have to wait for 50 preorders.
2) I will need to do a quick survey to find out which colours to keep 'in stock'.
3) The wait will probably mean that I am back in the UK when they are made, and so the shipping to the USA will be more, but to Europe will be less.

Please let me know what you think: better to wait longer and pay less on wigs, but more on shipping for USA types, or better to order a smaller amount and possibly have them here before I leave America. If a person is ordering a larger number of wigs and is ok to pay the EMS shipping to get them posted straight to them, that's ok too :)

Please do the poll to the right!

Wig Status :)

Above photo is slightly over exposed, so you can see the differences in colours more clearly ;)

Above photo is colour samples from the second company (shown in mohair, the same colours are available in heat resisting fibre, which I'll be ordering in)... love that blue!

Hi All!

So, I'm in talks with a new company right now about making the future wigs I'd like, as the one I chose for the first wig has plans to add them to their website and don't plan on offering me a profitable discount. I do not want to charge ridiculous amounts for the wigs as I want them to be beautiful but affordable, but I cannot continue to work with that company if they will not offer me the discount I need, especially after moving back to customs central ie. the UK!

To clarify, I'm also taking into account my time designing the wig styles, working with the manufacturer to make sure they're perfect and any restyling they need when they get to me (I'm hoping to reduce the gaps you can see between the curls). I will not be charging Paypal fees and I'm hoping that customs won't require me to increase prices when I get back to the UK (UK taxes are typically £13.50 or $18 plus 17.5%). I can't charge more than they do themselves because they may start to sell this style on their site, so to make this a good venture to me I need them to offer me a small retail discount :)

So, for now the wigs will be made by this company, available in those colours. In the future this may change: I'm not offering them any more concepts until I can be sure I will have exclusivity/a better discount over my designs in future... does that make sense?

Now, on to the wigs themselves.

I'm so excited people are interested in buying them! I can only see one potential problem, and that's the timing of the GO. My wig is on its way and should hopefully be here in a week or two. Then if I give it say a week to put in the order and three to make it, we could be recieving them in early May... only problem is, I don't know where I'll be! I'll be in America for definite, but I am travelling after my course ends and won't be at one address for long.

I think I will give them a friends address: I'm staying with her towards the end of May. That way when they arrive I can do any restyling that's necessary, get the USA ones posted out and probably carry the UK/Europe ones back with me in my suitcase for cheaper postage from the UK: whoopee!

Hope that sounds reasonable, I'll post on here once I know what's going on.

Chloe xx

PS I love bold!

First Wigs!

Hi everyone!

So, you're here because you expressed interest in the Lati Flip wig, but I can't sell on Flickr, especially now they've deleted all the good groups... grrr...

Anyhoo, here I am! *ahem*. I want to wait until my wig arrives before I state a definite price, but I know it will be no more than $30, probably around the $26 mark to get the wig from them to me, and for me to restyle the wig. Postage from me to you will be exact costs only as I'm not a postage profiteer ;) So maybe... $30 total, including shipping from me to you? It'd be less if I'm in the same country (I am back in the UK from June). Would that be ok with people?

As a teaser, I hope you like the bob concept shown above :) It's the one I'm going to suggest next: I really like it! I have a whole sheet of these ready to draw up in Photoshop.

So, in conclusion... please FM me or leave a note here saying if you'd like to join the GO, what you'd like to order and if you're ok with the price. Once I have enough to split the EMS shipping evenly I will start to ask for cash :)

Thanks so much for your opinions everyone!

Chloe xxx

Top Row: Black, Darkets Brown, Chocolate Brown, Auburn, Brown, Dark Blonde, Ash Blonde

Second: Light Brown, Red Brown, Red, Gold, Burgundy, Plum, Maroon,

Third: Light Blonde, White Blonde, Peacock, Bright Blue, Lilac, Pale Blue, Pink

Fourth: Silver, Grey, (Turquoise, Green, Royal Blue, Purple, Red: these are non-heat resisting)

There is also a brighter white, a few more blondes and a pretty gold-pink mix (non heat resisting, not shown)