|
|
|
Newsletter published by
"The Wine Maker's Toy Store™"
Dallas Home Brew
September
November 2010 Volume 8, Issue 11 866-417-1114 (Long Distance) 972-323-7921 (Local) 972-323-7955 (Fax) | |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Web Site Is Up!
Here is the link to the new web site (If you bookmarked the old site, you will need to change to the following link.): The Wine Maker's Toy Store After months of trials and tribulations, we have finally launched the new new web site. We tried to maintain much of the customization from the old site, but there are some significant changes. We have not moved all of the old content yet, but we are working on it. To see a summary of the major changes, click on the following link:
The new site has an up-to-date ordering system that will be fully integrated with my credit card processor, PayPal, and Google Checkout. We have discovered a problem with both PayPal and Google Checkout. We have turned off Google Checkout until we can fix it. PayPal is still an option, but when you return to the site as directed, your order can not be found. If you receive the email that summarizes your order, then you can know that your order was complete. Although we have tried to test every aspect of the system, I will be greatly surprised if everything works 100% correctly. If you find an issue or an invalid link, please use the "contact us" page to advise us of what you discovered.
We will be creating a survery shortly to find out what you think of the new site. Thank you for your patience. |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2011 Limited Availability Wine Kits
This year we have 19 limited availability wine kits from Mosti Mondiale, Cellar Craft and RJ Spagnols. They are now posted on the new web site along with this year's promotion. Please note the $10.00 off is in addition to the normal 10% off for members of the FVW Grower's Club. Remember, as with all limited wine kits, you will not be charged for them until they ship or you pick them up.
One additional note, ALL of the reds in the Megiloli can be ordered with or without a grape pack. The grape packs are made from the same grapes used that were used to make the wine kit and will not only give you a better wine, but an additional bottle or 2 as the grape packs consists of 4 liters of grapes and juice! In addition, it appears that I am the only retailer that is offering the grape packs for these kits. The grape pack is only $15.00 more and even though it forces us to use a second box, we are not charging you for the additional shipping cost. The shipping cost to you is the same whether you choose to purchase the wine kit by itself or with the grape pack! |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Backorders
From time to time, you may have received an email from us indicating that something you ordered was out of stock and when we expected to receive the item. Most of the time these backorders are related to wine and beer kits. Rest assured, we do not like back orders any more than you do, as they cost us time and money.
The good news is that our new system is fully integrated with our inventory system and is updated every 15 minutes with changes to our inventory. We will have occassions where our physical inventory is off, but most of the time, we expect it to be correct. The comments column on the product pages will tell you if the item is "In Stock" or not. For those items that are "Out of Stock", we will try to give you an expected date when we will have more.
The primary reason that we run out of kits is two-fold. First and foremost is that even after 7 years in business, I can't seem to adequately forecast what you will order. Case in point, last week we sold 8 of the Grand Cru International Piesporters and based on prior sales, we would have expected to sell no more than 2 of these kits! Secondly, I want to make sure that I am selling the freshest products I can. As such, I place my orders in a way that I have fresh products coming in almost every week. Yes, this does increase my inbound freight costs, but it does assure you that you will always receive fresh products from us. |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monthly Sales
Please note that our sales are not based on expiring products or overstocks, but on what I think you will like. I have had a number of calls and emails recently enquiring as to the expiration date of our wine kits on sale as these customers had purchased a wine kit on sale from a competitor and it was either very close to the expiration date or past the expiration date.
Please be assured that we will NOT put items on sale that are either expiring or expired without full disclosure of such. If you read the section on backorders above, you will have seen that we rotate our stock so quickly that we rarely have wine kits that reach the expiration date and when that happens, we normally offer those kits only for walk up customers so we can fully explain the risks.
Wines of the Month
Cellar Craft Sterling and Vinifera Noble - 10% off!
Buon Vino Automatic Bottle Filler - $29.99
Ferrari Automatic Bottle Filler - $13.99
Shrink Wraps (30 count bag) - $2.69
MaltEurop 2-Row Pale Ale Malt - $.82 per pound! |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Price and Shipping Changes
You should note there are quite a number of price changes on the new site. We have had a number of price changes from our manufacturers over the last several months and chose to wait to make any changes until we launced the new site. Most of the price changes are decreases from the old site, but there are a few increases. I have also gone back to the 10% on ALL products for members of the FVW Growers Club. Having some products that did not qualify for the discount caused too much confusion. The really good news is that due to our increased volume with FedEx, they have increased my discount and as I have always promised, as our shipping cost goes down, I will pass on the savings to you. I have never made money on the shipping charges and I don't have any plans to change this philosphy. If you notice that a price or your shipping costs seem way out of line compared to the old prices and shipping charges, please let me know. We have reviewed, reviewed and reviewed the new system, but I will be surprised if we did not miss something. |
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~ Current Specials
To see this month's specials, new products and close out specials, click on the links below:
|
October 16 - Wine Club
October 16 - Brew Day at the store
|
The winners for October were:
Chester N Gilcrease
Natchitoches, LA
Patrick Murphy
Denton, TX
To learn how to qualify
for this promotion,
click here. |
|
|
As a reminder, we continue to add products and content to the web site, therefore, if you have any special requests, please let us know. We like to hear what you have to say about our site, our products and/or our customer service, good or bad. Please send your comments and/or suggestions to winemaster@finevinewines.com.
Don't forget we like you to CALL!
If you have any questions about our products, our service and/or wine making or home brewing, please call us. We are here to serve you and enjoying assisting you in any way we can. We have an international toll-free line so you WILL call us. Someone is usually at the store between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday through Saturday. We always try to answer the phone when you call; however, sometimes, we are unable to answer the phone as we are on the other lines or we have customers in the store. If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief message and a best time to call. We will return your call just as soon as we can. If you don't want to call, just send us an email. We usually answer our emails daily. Please remember, we are a resource and we are here to serve you.
We don't want to be the biggest store, just the BEST!
Cheers!
George Cornelius, President
Fine Vine Wines, LLC, The Wine Maker's Toy Store
Contact Information
|
|
|
|
|
|
