Popularity Of Online Gift Shops To Overseas Filipinos

Sending gifts is one of the most popular practices of being an overseas Filipino worker or OFW. This is typically achieved by the use of packages commonly known as the Balikbayan box. However, in today's growing trends, the use of balikbayan boxes have steadily decreased, particularly when it was replaced by the use of online philippines gift shops.

The reason why online gift shops became popular among many overseas Filipinos is the convenience it provides for them. Compared with organizing a a balikbayan box, which could take several days to even weeks, depending on the time needed to organize all the gifts and items to be sent to the Philippines, online shopping could only take several minutes.

Another great advantage of many online philippines gift shops today is the wide collections of gift items made available for every customers, may it overseas Filipinos or not. Gift items range from the usual such as toys, clothes, books, electronics such as laptops, cellular phones, to other gifts which are usually impossible to send through balikbayan boxes such as cooked food like the popular Philippine Lechon, beverages, Home Appliances like airconditioning units and washing machines, as well as the simple bouquet of flowers.

Its availability is also a great advantage. Compared to shopping for gifts to be sent back to the Philippines, online gift shops are usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which makes it convenient for people not having time to shop for gifts on the afternoon.

However, the main advantage of online philippines gift shops is the fast delivery service. Part of the attraction of the balikbayan box is economic. If the items were sent individually or in smaller boxes through postal services, the cost could be significant. The tradeoff is a long transit time by container ships, typically taking several weeks, as well as the lack of a solid delivery date. This is the reason why many online philippines gift became popular for many overseas Filipinos.

Compared to the use of balikbayan boxes which could take weeks up to a month, online gift shops could provide a much faster means to send their gifts to their loved ones, typically taking 2 to 5 working days, depending on the kind of gift to be sent as well as with its availability. Food stuffs are usually sent within a day or within 24 hours. However, there are still several reason as to why many overseas Filipinos still send use balikbayan boxes to the Philippines. One is that not all items are available in online gift shops based in the Philippines.

Online gift shops based in the Philippines could only provide gifts which are available in the Philippine market. Other gifts such as rare signature clothing lines and hard to find shoes or toys can which are only found in other countries could only be sent through the use of balikbayan boxes. This is the reason why many overseas Filipinos still use balikbayan boxes to send gifts to their loved ones in the Philippines.For more information visit to our site at http://www.myayala.com

Do I Really Need A Business License and Tax ID?

I've gotten quite a few emails recently from ebusiness owners who seem to think that just because their business is conducted online or from the comfort of home that the rules and regulations that govern brick and mortar businesses do not apply to them.

The ebusiness questions I get most often do not involve building websites or conducting ecommerce.

They are more what I call the "Do I Really Have To" line of questions, such as:

"Do I really have to get a business license?"

"Do I really have to get a tax ID number?"

"Do I really have to pay taxes on income from my website?"

Yes, yes, and yes.

Do I really have to get a business license? This is one requirement that many ebusiness entrepreneurs think they can skirt because they don't have a brick and mortar establishment.

Sorry Charlie. Operating an ebusiness out of your office or out of your home does not get you off the hook when it comes to licensing.

Depending on your location you may need a city and county license.

Luckily, such licenses are relatively easy to obtain and are not expensive. For local licensing requirements, contact your city or county government offices.

Home businesses are also subject to zoning laws that regulate how property can be used and may restrict various activities. You should check local zoning requirements and property covenants.

You can find this information at the court house or by calling your local license department.

Legalities aside, the best reason to get a business license is it allows you to set up a business bank account using what's called a DBA.

"DBA" stands for "doing business as."

A DBA is another name that you use in the operation of your business instead of your personal name. For example your name might be Joe Jones, but you might use "Jones Internet Services" as your business name. Having a business license will enable you to set up a business account and get checks printed with your business name, giving you that all important air of professionalism that many ebusinesses lack.

Do I really have to get a tax ID number? Online companies with a physical presence, or nexus, in a state are required to collect and report taxes on sales of taxable goods made to customers living within that same state.

For example, if your online business is based in California, you must collect and report sales tax derived from fellow Californians making purchases on your site.

For this reason you will be required to have a tax ID number if you're selling taxable goods (most services are not taxed).

Getting a tax ID number is usually a simple process of filling out a form and paying a nominal fee. You will file quarterly reports and remit any sales tax that is due.

One word of warning: many entrepreneurs have gotten themselves into deep trouble because they saw fit to spend the sales tax they had collected instead of sending it to Uncle Sam. This can mean death to your business and jail time for you. Many times this mistake is innocently made when a business owner comingles funds collected as sales tax with their normal business checking account.

Open a separate bank account and deposit sales tax monies into the account and do not touch it until the time comes to send the money in with the quarterly report.

Do I really have to pay taxes on income from my website? We've talked about this before and the answer is still the same: Just because your income is derived from an ebusiness does not mean that the income is not taxable.

It's not manna from Heaven. It's income so report it.

The point to remember is this: the "e" on the front of "e-business" does not stand for "exempt."

In the eyes of the law your ebusiness is susceptible to the same laws and regulations that govern the corner mom and pop, so make sure you conduct your business as such.

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Home-Based Baking: Profits from My Kitchen

Over five years ago when I first moved to the Cary, North Carolina my neighbors were telling me to visit the Raleigh Farmer’s Market conveniently located on I-40 and Lake Wheeler Road, exit 297. I was taken back by this 75 acre, modern facility providing up to 225,000 square feet of covered, climate controlled, year round retail and wholesale space. Sold were seasonal vegetable and fruits by the pound or by the bushel. There were homemade baked goods, jellies, jams, honey, and the North Carolina Seafood Restaurant serving up deep-fried Calabash-style seafood, with mounds of home fries and hush puppies.



Now at first glance I was amazed at the amount of food and the number of customers that rolled through the market that fine Saturday morning. I soon learned that North Carolina is a special state; one that possess a cottage food law and encourages home food processors to try their luck at creating unique specialties like pickled collard greens and some of the best homemade snickerdoodle cookies around.



Has anyone ever told you to sell that delicious pound cake? Have friends and family insisted you could be making extra income selling your delicious chocolate marble cupcakes? If this sounds like you, then you could be baking up profits from your kitchen. All over the country there are countless home-based bakeries delivering heavenly baked goods throughout the community.



If you are interested in starting a home bakery business, you need to know that there are many responsibilities that go with starting your home bakery. Every state is different and in some states you will first need to have a Food Regulatory Specialist/Food Compliance Officer come to your home and inspect it. In most cases the Department of Agriculture is the governing agency that will oversee your compliance inspection, however sometimes it is your local health department.



Why an inspection? Your kitchen will need to be inspected to assure that it is clean and in proper condition to produce baked goods that are suitable for human consumption. Although a license is not always required for a home-based bakery, and a separate kitchen may not be needed, you will have to comply with special conditions set down by the Department of Agriculture or your local regulatory agency.



There are currently 25 states that allow some type of home food processing, allowing you to sell baked goods/candies to the public. Operating a home-based bakery means finding your niche. Do you make a "mad" pound cake; custom cookies or a fabulous dry jerk rub? Years ago when the country was predominately rural there were many home food processors selling their jams, preserves and jellies, along with homemade breads, pastries, cakes, pies and cookies.



When I first started out in home baking the Raleigh Farmer’s Market asked home-bakers to sell their goods at the Crafters Shed away from the main market area. Today there is a special area for home-based bakers and the public is flocking to their tables. The baked goods are fresh, delicious and offer a variety not available in grocery stores.



Let there be no mistake, operating a home-based bakery is hard work. It means long hours and a commitment to quality, but for those who take on the challenge it is by far the best job ever. You set your own hours, you provide the public with delicious goods that can only be duplicated by you and for those with families they are their when the children get home from school.



The down side of the profession use to be the isolation, but there are baking forums popping up everywhere online to help bakers stay in touch with one another and support one another building a camaraderie among home-based bakers that never existed before.



Baking for a living is an honorable profession, plus Internet access offers many bakers the opportunity to sell their products online. Diane Purkey, the owner of Maine’s Cakes and Cookies, has been baking from home for more than seven years. She loves what she does and provides the public with incredible baked goods. This is also a wonderful way for those who cook for a living, e.g. personal chef’s to offer their clients a little touch of something fresh from the oven.



The next time someone suggests that you sell that apple pie or Red Velvet cake consider operating a home-based bakery. You never know where the journey will take you and today good homemade baked goods are like jobs, hard to find.

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St. Thomas: The Best Place To Shop In The Caribbean

Beautiful beaches and lavish accommodations aside, St. Thomas is widely regarded as the Caribbean’s premier shopping destination. With over one million cruise ship passengers and overnight Caribbean resort guests visiting St. Thomas each year, the island’s ports have long been bustling centers of commerce and trade. Much of the finest duty-free shopping is concentrated near the waterfront of the island’s historic capital, Charlotte Amalie. At discounts of 40-60% off American mainland prices on goods such as jewelry, fine china, crystal, electronics, perfume, clothing and liquor, the bargains are seemingly endless. Adding to the allure is the fact that U.S. citizens are allowed a duty-free shopping allowance of $1,600, twice the amount of any other island in the Caribbean and three times that of European nations.

Visitors to St. Thomas should begin their shopping tour in Charlotte Amalie’s downtown and waterfront areas. The historic Dutch provincial warehouses along Main, Back and Waterfront Streets, beautifully restored to host a plethora of unique shops, allow visitors to shop and sightsee simultaneously. In the alleys surrounding the Main Street area (Royal Dane Mall, Palm Passage, Riise Alley and many others), shoppers will find smaller boutiques specializing in unique local products and Caribbean oddities. Inviting restaurants and entertaining bars are located amongst these stores, ideal for lunch or an island cocktail. Most shops in this exclusive shopping district are open Monday through Saturday; including holidays from 9am to 5pm. Shops in the downtown and waterfront areas are typically closed on Sundays, unless a cruise ship is in port. The shops at larger St. Thomas hotels usually remain open on Sundays, however.

The Havensight district is another concentrated collection of shops catering to St. Thomas’ visitors. Located near the primary cruise ship dock, this shopping area is comprised of The Havensight Shopping Center, The Buccaneer Mall and The Port of Sale. Featuring over 60 distinctive stores within the waterfront warehouses, the Havensight district is another great option for cruise ship passengers with limited time and overnight tourists alike. Like the shops on and around Main Street, tourists will find great prices on jewelry, clothing, perfume, liquor, electronics, music, sunglasses and assorted souvenirs. Also, Havensight is another great location for lunch, featuring a number of friendly cafes. Shops in the Havensight district are generally open from 9am to 5pm, 7 days a week when cruise ships are in port. Yet, during high season some cruise ships stay in port later into the evening. On such days, the shops in the Havensight will remain open until 7pm.

Also in Charlotte Amalie, across from Emancipation Park and Fort Christian, is the Vendors’ Plaza, an assortment of small booths, tables and tents displaying a vast assortment of souvenirs. Here, in addition to the luxury goods found in other shopping districts, you will also find many locally produced products and unique regional food items. Vendors’ Plaza is generally open Monday through Saturday from about 7:30am, when the vendors start setting up, until 5:00pm. On Sundays, fewer vendors set up, though the Vendors’ Plaza is still worth a visit when one or more cruise ships are in port.

Directly across the street from the Vendors’ Plaza is The Native Arts and Crafts Cooperative. Run by local artists, the Cooperative features a plethora of Caribbean artwork not available in any mall or shopping center.

For the more adventurous tourist, smaller shopping areas catering principally to residents are located throughout the island. Such shopping centers as American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook, Lockhart Gardens, Tutu Park Mall and Nisky Center offer visitors distinctive cultural opportunities in addition to essentials like grocery stores, pharmacies and clothing stores. Tillett Gardens is a charming local haven for pottery, silk-screened fabrics, candles, paintings and handcrafted jewelry. The Mountain Top and Paradise Point centers are also interesting options because shopping is accompanied by captivating, hilltop views. In Frenchtown, travelers can find some of the best cuisine the Caribbean has to offer.

As the heart of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas continues to astonish travelers with its refined pleasures. Combining a relaxed Caribbean atmosphere with the vibrancy of city streets, St. Thomas may just be the best of both worlds.

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The Diamond-Water Paradox

Why are diamonds valued more than water? Water, not diamonds, is necessary for life. So shouldn't it be more valuable? Classical economists puzzled over this question and named it the value paradox.

Scarcity of goods is what causes humans to attribute value. If we were surrounded by an unending abundance of both water and diamonds, we probably wouldn't value either very much.

In order to qualify as an economic good a thing must meet three criteria:

1. There must be a human need or want.
2. There must be an opinion that the thing in question will satisfy that need.
3. There must be command or control over the ability to satisfy this need or want.

The final point is significant. I may like a sunshine and know that a sunny day would improve my mood. However, I have no control over the weather. Thus, weather is not classified as an economic good.

How do we value an economic good? We value an economic good if there is an insufficient quantity to satisfy all human wants for that thing. Under normal instances we do not value air for instance.

Scarcity implies that we will rank our wants and this process results in economic activity. Consumers will use whatever resources they have at their disposal to satisfy their most important wants. Our value system is determined by our ranking of wants.

Take the following example. Assume you are a farmer with three horses and two cattle. Each of the horses is interchangeable with one another, as are the two cattle. You rank the importance of the animals as follows;

1. Horse: For tilling the fields.
2. Horse: For pulling the wagon to town.
3. Cow: For milk.
4. Cow: For cheese and butter.
5. Horse: For recreational riding.

What is the more valuable animal? The answer is the cow.

This answer may come as a surprise. It is the trap that the classical economists fell into when puzzling over why diamonds are valued more than water.

The important concept is that of marginal utility. We put a value on economic goods according to their marginal utility. In the above example, the marginal utility of the cow is greater than that of the horse.

The horse is valued lower than the cow, provided that the farmer has three of them. If the farmer was to lose one horse than the horse would clearly become more valuable than the cow.

In the same way, the marginal utility of diamonds is greater than that of water.

Published on Dollardaze.org - May 21, 2006.

Video Source: Youtube

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How To Install Pergo Flooring

Pergo flooring is specifically designed with a unique tongue and groove system to make installation easy and accurate. You can do it yourself or have a professional install it for you. Your retailer can recommend a professional installer. But if you are thinking about installing Pergo flooring yourself, you will probably find following information very helpful.

First, you need to figure out exactly how much flooring and accessories to buy. You can do this by using a room size calculator that will help you determine the amount you will need. Pergo is a complete flooring system and all the items you will need are available to you from the retailer that sold you the flooring. You will need the following:

1. Pergo Glue (the Pergo warranty dictates that this must be used)

2. Installation Kit (includes spacers and tapping block for tight joints)

3. Pull bar (ensures tight fit in difficult spaces)

4. Under layments (evens out irregularities in sub-flooring and provides sound insulation and heat)

5. Floor clamps (simplifies installation and makes finished floor stronger)

6. Pergo Sealent (secures gap between floor and wall; ensures moisture resistance)

7. Pergo Putty (mends damage that occurred during installation)

8. Installation straps (not required to install Pergo, but simplifies the process).

Pergo floors are for indoor use only and must be installed as a floating floor. The flooring must be installed with sufficient space for movement around the perimeter and must not be fixed to the subfloor. The degree of movement in relation to staircases, pipes, walls and fixed objects must be taken into considered with regard to changes due to humidity and temperature. The expansion difference in normal climates is 1/4”. This is important above all in corners, angles, and openings in doorways, archways, etc.

Pergo products should be acclimated in unopened cartons in the rooms where they will be installed for not less than 48 hours. Allow at least four days or 96 hours for very dry or very humid climates. For acclimation before, during and after installation, the humidity should be 30-90% at the job site. The temperature should be stable and within 15 degrees Fahrenheit of the normal operating temperature.

You can install Pergo above, on or below grade. Install the Pergo planks over Pergo Underlayment Foam or Whisperwalk. If installing over concrete, a Pergo 6-mil polyethylene vapor barrier is required. For more information check the sub-floor requirements.

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Two In One In Microwave Oven

One of mom's greatest assets in her kitchen is the oven. It takes in different features and usage. The conventional oven was primarily used in baking, heating and drying. Today, the microwave became a vogue to chefs and in the households, makes cooking and heating a lot faster and easier, with highest degree of convenience.

If you look few years back, you can't imagine yourself roaming around the house, especially in the kitchen without the modern-day appliances. It is unthinkable; we went thru the discomforts without those before.

Present conveniences in the homes are favorable to housewives and domestic assistants, be they working moms, or non-working. Kitchen appliances reduce work pressure and tension. Operations either in touch, push button, and mere switching denote big leap in the development and growth in the industrial environment.

Reviewing from a series of most advanced novelty techniques from among different manufacturers in Home Appliances, you'll never find one owner of a certain brand who had not gone thru great expense, energy, time and effort just to achieve top quality products that would enhance overall acceptance.

The microwave oven with a lot of trials from the beginning came up with one that outstands beyond expectations. The creation of the microwave propped up without intent. Incidental in its start, it had soared its way to global popularity because of a series of iterative regressions, discarding previous trials in production stages; bridging towards the latest usage-input, durability, and design.

Ensuing of Combination Microwave Oven into the Market

Combination microwave post-opted the convection oven. By dauntless efforts to regress the older models that were inferior in design, materials' durability, functions, easy operational know-how, and advanced capabilities, efforts were never futile.

Improved cooking features as heating, broiling, roasting, microwave grills exceed points of considerations. Inventories to search on how several models to devaluate or render obsolete reached no point of drawbacks. The result is a revolutionary front of a new model with the combination of microwave and the convection ovens complimented with everything that draw acceptance on general patronage.

Basic features include (1) cavity, (2) cooking, and (3) Programming features.

One brand name NEFF (United Kingdom), note exhibit sample of combination microwave oven:

1. Cooking Functions - Microware, Hot air, Hot air grill, Full surface/center surface grill, 41 automatic cooking programs.

2. Features - 24-hour lead clock, Clear text display, Drop down door, Push button and Rotary Controls, Stainless Steel interior, Interior light, microwave stirrer, 5-Power level microwave (90-180-360-600-1000), InnoWave Technology for more even cooking, Rapid heat facility, Child safety lock, self-cleaning back liner, and cooling system.

3. Standard Accessories - 1 flat wire shelf, 1 full width enamel tray

4. Available in Black, White & Stainless Steel

There are countless combination microwave but specifications of the above-named type present a general view of all. Somehow, differences will vary according to adaptability in usage of certain place and culture.