The VAT and you, what American Etsy sellers need to know

Did you know that starting January 1st all sellers of digital goods who sell to European countries will be required to pay a VAT tax to that country?  Did you know that as of January 1 2016 any US sellers of physical goods will also be required to pay a VAT tax to that country?  What's worse is there is no minimum.  If I sell one crochet pattern all year for 4.50 cents I have to apply for a VAT tax ID number and pay 1.50 or whatever that tax rate is in that country to that country in order to stay legal.  Now as a freedom loving American this doesn't sit right with me.  Why should I be required to pay a tax to another country's government that has absolutely NOTHING to do with my intellectual property.  It's not owning the site that I sell on.  It's not in charge of the site where I get paid from.  It's simply the country that my buyer happens to live in.  What???

So as of January 1st my patterns will no longer be available to buyers in other countries.  I feel bad for the people who live in these other countries as I am sure they still want my product, most of my buyers of patterns are from other countries, however I am out that income.  I don't even make enough to be charged taxes in my own country I refuse to pay taxes to other governments in order to sell my products.  And as if Etsy couldn't possibly make this harder on its sellers. .

It is up to the SELLER to prove where these buyers are coming from.  When you sell digital items on Etsy, it doesn't tell you where these buyers come from.  If you only sell one item a day you can figure it out by the map but what about sellers that all they sell is digital items?  How are they supposed to know what product went to what country?  Also since there's no way to add the tax onto the purchase as of right now the taxes are coming OUT OF YOUR EARNINGS.  So you can either raise the price on all of your items because the average VAT tax for the country of randomness is about 25% or you can just loose money.  Some VATS are as high as one third of your price.  Also from what I am looking at online the VAT seems to change every year so  .. . your never going to get a current real time cost of VAT you can guess and try and make up for the revenue loss but yeah this is just bad.

One step closer to a world currency and a world government.  Not to sound like a crazy person but this is just another sign of the end times.  This is the part that bothers me  most.  Why did our government allow this to happen?  Why did Etsy not even tell us about this?  Had I not been on an amazing team that told me about this I still would be in the dark.  Please share and reshare this with anyone you know who sells digital items (prints, patterns, ebooks) on Etsy or any other global platform.  Please don't shoot the messenger. . ..

Brigitte Gabriel: Radical Islam: The Plan to Destroy America from Within...

The Script - Superheroes ( OFFICIAL VIDEO LYRICS)

A perfect day

Well it's officially summer so we had to have our official beach trip.  Since my kids are late coming home AGAIN I figured I'd share some awesome pic's and write a tid bit about how it all went down.  See my daughter was bored at about 11 since we did the whole sleeping in thing and watching a couple of shows thing and she wanted to go to the beach.  So we did.  I love that I live 10 minutes away from a perfectly free beach where my kids can swim in the awesome lake Michigan.  Bonus this beach is man made so you can walk like 30 feet out and still only be in about one foot deep water.  After a quick lunch and getting everyone suited up and sunblock on we were out the door about a half hour later.  We got to the beach about 10 minutes later and to my surprise we got right in to the "close" lot.  The one where you only have to walk about 50 feet and your there.  Not super great for getting exercise but hey we were there to have fun.  And fun was had by all. 

At Mom's pool

Fun with Google analytics and a new addition to Crochet By Mel

One of the features on Google Analytic's that I think I understand is the audience overview.  One of the things I like to look at is my top 10 city's so I thought I would share them with you and maybe my fellow Etsy'ians would like to share your own top 10 cities?  I get a little thrill every time I send something out that something I made is going off to enjoy wild and exotic locations that I will probably never get a chance to see, but here without further ado is my top 10 city's (lately) via google analytics:

1. Valparaiso (Me) for some reason it seems to record every time I go to my own website, since I am pretty sure I don't have that many fans in Valpo it seems like that's the only logical reason.
2. Beverly Hills Crochet artist to the stars?  Why yes thank you don't mind if I do .. .
3.  the ever helpful "Not set" yeah.  Depending on what device your on Google may hide your location from me.   Okay then. . .
4.  New York, New York. .  . I wanna be a part of it New York!! 
5.  San Francisco From what I hear it's pretty nice there.  Maybe someday I can get out there. . . I know my parents sure enjoyed it.
6.  Moscow- Thank God for the programs that translate languages, for some reason a lot of my stuff is on par with the stuff you find over there in Russia, they have such beautiful needlework over there, its good to be noticed by them.
7.   London England, yet another place I have always wanted to go, see Big Ben and all that.  Listen to the sexy English accents. . .  you get the idea.
8.  Dublin is that in Ireland???  Pretty cool . .. if it wasn't for Craig Furgason I wouldn't even know that much :)
9.  Chicago- Chi-town!  Kind of sort of my home town, glad to see that it made the list!  The second City has never been the second one to me.
10.  Sydney Australia- g'day mate!  I used to be online bud's with a girl from Sidney she was a very cool person.  Miss her. 

So there you have it folks the beauty of online shopping you can sell to anyone in the entire world.  Very cool.  And now without further ado, my new hat I just finished.  I am getting ready for the winter (hopefully) rush.  What do you guys think?  I would love to get your feedback.  It is of course in one of my signature colors, purple and you can find it right here if you like it but want a different color I would be happy to assist you as this yarn helpfully comes in just about any color you can dream of.  I like this hat because it adds some volume and is unique.  I made the pattern myself so if you'd like it please just let me know.  The color in the first picture is most like what it looks like in person, for some reason the light was bouncing off of it like crazy in the others. 

People Make Etsy

What's new in Crochet By Mel land. . .

So what's new peeps???  Very happy to say I had my first 2 sale day yesterday :).  Where as I will say the money is nice it's not so much about the money and more so much about the fact that someone liked something that I made with my own two hands enough to give me money for it and then (presumably) add it to their wardrobe.  Getting paid to do something I love?  Amazing.  Being able to provide for my kids?  Awesome.  They weren't super big sales or anything but after a long drought its nice to get a couple sales in.  I think people just don't think "crochet" when they think summer, even though I do have more than a few items that are great for summer. 

So what's new?  I don't know I have been adding products like crazy lately but my latest two are fingerless gloves.  From what I hear people like the fingerless gloves so that they can text.  ( I don't text) but I could also see them coming into play when your strapping your kids in the car, or driving at least you won't have to touch that freezing cold steering wheel with your bare hands.  Here' take a gander .. . .

 

 These hand crochet fingerless gloves are made from soft vegan friendly acrylic yarn.  One size fits most women, if you'd need a different size or color I'd be happy to make them for you.  You can find these gloves right here and the price includes shipping to the 48 states.  So comfortable to wear! 

Below is my take on rainbow fingerless gloves.  Colors may vary a bit by pair depending on what colors I have in my stash but you will always get an adorable pair of gloves.  As always made in a pet free smoke free home.  I would love to get some feedback on these in the comments!  thank you for stopping by :)