Thursday, October 11, 2018

Webinair Report Card ... Meh

So, I had that Webinare about the new sales tax regulations yesterday. I logged on about five minutes before the hour, and even though I hadn't done one of these in years (if ever, I can't recall for sure - but I have done web classes, if that counts), I jumped through all of the appropriate hoops quickly. I was one of the few, however, so the presentation itself started almost 15 minutes late while the moderators waited for everyone to log in. Microphone questions were not allowed, but text questions could be asked. Out of more than 300 of us logged in, there was only a single question - "Will a transcript of the presentation be available afterward for us to download?". Good question. Short answer, "Yes". 



Sales tax - it's assessed on almost every purchase made in
the USA, but when you pay it as a shopper, you don't
think about it very much. As a vendor, the tables turn
and suddenly it looms large in your thoughts. 



I was looking for information on how to determine appropriate sales tax for my out-of-state mail order sales, as well as mail order sales to jurisdictions other than my own within my state. I had already phoned the Dept of Revenue last week for help with an in-state issue, but I do have customers in other states who order and now I need to charge them sales tax for their jurisdiction as well as file sales tax reports in their states. As a small business, this is a royal PITA! 



It's not good to piss off government, especially the
Department of Revenue. They can make your life
hellaceous. I don't want to anger them, I just
want to find out how to comply with the new law. 



Unfortunately, the only information really offered that addressed my out-of-state questions were to refer us to a specific location on the MN Revenue website that would help us with that specific issue. Whoopie! I think I could have figured that out with another phone call and/or a bit of clicking on their home page. 



The entire experience was meh. There was an hour
I spent on this that I can never get back, and I'm
not sure it was an hour worth taking. 



Brass tacks review - the experience was totally "Meh". Although there was some good information in there, it just didn't go into enough depth to really address my needs, so I probably could have avoided it completely. I did learn a couple of things, so it wasn't a complete waste of my time, but ... yeah ... my review wasn't glowing. I was honest in my review and said the presentation just didn't have enough depth, especially for a long-time business just needing guidance in an area that had never been necessary in the past. 



The newest world-wide update for LOTRO is Number 23 which went
live on Tuesday. "Where Dragons Dwell" challenges us with new
Dwarven lands and more beasties. Of course, dragons in Tolkien
are few, but we're beyond the book tale now and into new areas. 



As a balance for the sales tax ridiculousness, however, Aearwen and I had a totally delightful chat late in the afternoon. As usual, our topics bounced across the board, from family to "Lord of the Rings Online" and everything in between. As a quick note to her - DH realized that the Scroll of Delving I wanted to use was a level too low for that weapon. I'll use it on a different one. I sent a followup email to the Devs explaining that my issue had been self-resolved and thanking them for a great game which has kept me occupied for more than eleven years. 

And on this note, I'm wrapping up. It's cold today - in the mid-30's - so I grabbed my heavier leather coat from the closet last night. I'm not quite willing to grab the parka yet. Supposedly we'll have a late Indian Summer next week with some much higher temps. I'll believe it when I see it, but we'll have a lot of raking to do if that turns out to be the case. Have a great Thursday and do something wonderful for yourself today. I'll be back tomorrow. 





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