BerserkerDay 2012 - Jan 27 TOMORROW! UPDATES POSTED HERE

[ToddFrench]

Updated first post, adding Patty Green (woot!). Jeb, if you have any more, let me know!

[RDHudak]

PB Hein rocked it last year. Great QPR.

[John_Grochau]

Grochau Cellars is in

[L_Goldsmith]

I am going to Disneyland!

No, seriously. I will be at Disneyworld this day working. Better pack the iPad along with the photo gear.

[Cameron_Hughes]

@RDHudak

Is Cameron Hughes getting involved this year?

Last year was a blast and I got a few wines I really enjoyed. I have already re-ordered from P.B. Hein.

Sure…why not. What do I need to do?

[Randy_Sloan]

@Todd F r e n c h

We are looking to have an e-commerce site (without any credit card processing, just taking orders and forwarding them securely on to the owners, so there is no actual trade done, as WineBerserkers is not licensed to transact wine) whereby the wineries will enter their own items, prices, and quantities, and it works just like a standard shopping cart (again, without the actual transaction taking place, just forwarding on to the winery/owner). Each deal will be posted on the forum to encourage discussion and allow people to ask questions and get feedback from others, as that’s half the fun!

I’m not sure how this is supposed to work. I know I would prefer orders with WB Day customers credit card information not being passed through a 3rd party. When orders come straight to me, I at least know what happens to customer info and can be responsible. If this 3rd party doesn’t collect financials, then we sellers have to make secure contact again with the buyer to get payment. This sounds like an unnecessary step. Do any of the other potential sellers feel the same way?

If it’s a licensing issue (or WB’s lack of) you’re worried about, posting deals on Berserker Day seems no different than the Commerce Corner - basically space for an advertisement. If the fact that WB moderators are doing the posting, then create a Berserker Day section and make sellers sole thread authors for a day.

Anyway, looking forward to participating again this year if it works out.

[ToddFrench]

@Randy Sloan

@Todd F r e n c h

We are looking to have an e-commerce site (without any credit card processing, just taking orders and forwarding them securely on to the owners, so there is no actual trade done, as WineBerserkers is not licensed to transact wine) whereby the wineries will enter their own items, prices, and quantities, and it works just like a standard shopping cart (again, without the actual transaction taking place, just forwarding on to the winery/owner). Each deal will be posted on the forum to encourage discussion and allow people to ask questions and get feedback from others, as that’s half the fun!

I’m not sure how this is supposed to work. I know I would prefer orders with WB Day customers credit card information not being passed through a 3rd party. When orders come straight to me, I at least know what happens to customer info and can be responsible. If this 3rd party doesn’t collect financials, then we sellers have to make secure contact again with the buyer to get payment. This sounds like an unnecessary step. Do any of the other potential sellers feel the same way?

If it’s a licensing issue (or WB’s lack of) you’re worried about, posting deals on Berserker Day seems no different than the Commerce Corner - basically space for an advertisement. If the fact that WB moderators are doing the posting, then create a Berserker Day section and make sellers sole thread authors for a day.

Anyway, looking forward to participating again this year if it works out.

Randy - no credit card information will be passed through - I thought I made that clear, but apparently not well enough. We cannot take any credit card info - you’d just get the order, and contact the buyer to make the transaction happen. Rather than tons of emails and PM’s and phone calls, it would be orderly and time-stamped, and can be connected live with whatever inventory is available.

[Randy_Sloan]

@Todd F r e n c h

Randy - no credit card information will be passed through - I thought I made that clear, but apparently not well enough. We cannot take any credit card info - you’d just get the order, and contact the buyer to make the transaction happen. Rather than tons of emails and PM’s and phone calls, it would be orderly and time-stamped, and can be connected live with whatever inventory is available.

Hmm… I don’t know if you’ve gotten any other feedback on this process from participants, but I’d urge you to reconsider. It sounds quite cumbersome for participants both buyers and sellers. Buyers will have to basically make the purchase twice and sellers will have to track down the buyers before proceeding.

[ToddFrench]

The reason for it is to do the opposite, really - with how it normally works, the sellers just get bombarded with inquiries, and this could not only help track it all properly, but the seller wouldn’t have to be present at the very time each order is placed, as everything would be time-stamped. Rather standard e-commerce scenarios, only with confirmation done by the seller to get the buyer’s payment information. This very practice is what I’ve done in one of my companies for years - no ‘live’ processing of the credit card, which allows for a personal touch in being in contact with each buyer, individually, at a time that works for both parties.

[Merrill_Lindquist]

@Randy Sloan

@Todd F r e n c h

Randy - no credit card information will be passed through - I thought I made that clear, but apparently not well enough. We cannot take any credit card info - you’d just get the order, and contact the buyer to make the transaction happen. Rather than tons of emails and PM’s and phone calls, it would be orderly and time-stamped, and can be connected live with whatever inventory is available.

Hmm… I don’t know if you’ve gotten any other feedback on this process from participants, but I’d urge you to reconsider. It sounds quite cumbersome for participants both buyers and sellers. Buyers will have to basically make the purchase twice and sellers will have to track down the buyers before proceeding.

I agree with Randy 100%.

[ToddFrench]

If you guys don’t want it, and want instead to just take on all the calls at once, it’s easier for us!

[Karen_Troisi]

Working on our Jean Edwards Cellars offer.

Todd - if you are looking for feedback, I thought the system we used last year for orders worked fine and agree with Randy.

Karen

[Charlie_Rogers]

My company just announced they are giving out an additional ‘floating holiday’ for 2012
I can’t think of a better day to use it I’ve already set my sites on going 3-3 for Brian Loring’s incredibly generous offers.

[Bud_Carey]

Gee… my company took one of our floating holidays away!!!

[J_Singleton]

At least your holiday party didn’t consist of punch and cookies in a large conference room. I shit you not. It’s a very highly scrutinized company by the gov’t and tax-payers, as well as our sister company… both located in DC.

[Brian_Tuite]

What’s a holiday party?

[ToddFrench]

@Brian Tuite

What’s a holiday party?

Brian - the self-employed like us have two options for holiday parties:

1. Real holiday parties with our significant other, provided s/o works in a ‘real job’
2. Successive parties with massive drinking that we can write off and call ‘holiday parties’

[Bill_Tex_Landreth]

@J. Singleton

At least your holiday party didn’t consist of punch and cookies in a large conference room. I shit you not. It’s a very highly scrutinized company by the gov’t and tax-payers, as well as our sister company… both located in DC.

So these were $10K cookies?

[J_Singleton]

@Bill Tex Landreth

@J. Singleton

At least your holiday party didn’t consist of punch and cookies in a large conference room. I shit you not. It’s a very highly scrutinized company by the gov’t and tax-payers, as well as our sister company… both located in DC.

So these were $10K cookies?

I wish. I would have taken some and flipped them. This place is soooooooo cheap now. Tighter than a crab’s ass.

[Dave_Smig]

@J. Singleton

tighter than a crab’s ass.

How do you know this? forget it, I don’t want to know.