We recently opened up shipping to Canada and appreciate all our new Canadian customers. 

Please note that our online system has not been reliably predicting actual shipping costs. While we are tied to Fedex, which we use for all Canadian shipments at this time, there are so many special rules that apparently affect the costs that are not automatically estimated. 

The lowest cost to date has been about $56 and the highest cost to date about $126. All Canadian orders are subject to pass through shipping fees. We will contact you for your credit card information so that we can adjust your total amount when we receive the bill, usually within 2 business days of shipping. 

Additionally, all shipments are sent with duties to be paid by the recipient. A typical cost for $270 in apparel is about $34. We do not collect duties. That is a function of your province & Fedex regional arrangements.  For more specific duties information

Canada Customs Duties

Because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canadians do not have to pay duty on most American and Mexican manufactured items. Most, if not all, apparel items in our store are imported from other countries, therefore a duty is usually required. 

Duties on goods vary depending on the product and the country in which it was manufactured. Our products come from all over the world.  If you have specific questions about Canada customs and duties, please contact a Canada Border Services Agency office or the Border Information Service. 

We will  add country of manufacture information to products in the future. 

Club Glove recently requested we offer their products to our customers. We will be adding a few top products to our ecommerce store immediately.

The entire line of products is available and we’re thrilled we finally have quality products to fill the void since the last leather golf bag was discontinued by one of our other suppliers.  Every bag can be customized with your company branding or other personalization. Club Glove Golf Bags in our store.

Nearly every Touring Golf Professional in the U.S. carries their clubs in a Club Glove travel bag.

All Club Glove travel bags and luggage are manufactured in the U.S.A. and constructed from Invista Cordura. Invista Cordura is actually three times stronger than similar nylon fabrics in the market. Though considerably more expensive, it has been a key ingredient to the durability and success of the company’s products.

There is a great business article on Free Shipping at shop.org. It’s something we’ve been grappling with over the last year. Everyone knows there is a high cost of shipping since they are paying at the pump higher prices than ever. Our lowest cost to ship is now about $15, regardless of what we charge customers.

We recently changed our return policy. But think about the impact. We pay to get product from the manufacturer warehouse to us. Then we ship to the customer. If something comes back, we pay to ship it a second time. That’s up to $45 in shipping costs on a consumer order, depending on the initial volume/cost from the mfr warehouse. if the product is defective, we also pay to return the product to the warehouse from our corporate offices, since it may not be OK for individuals to ship anything direct to a manufacturer, and the shipping expenses on a minimum $200 now rise up to $60! If the customer orders the minimum $200, about 25% goes just to shipping.

What do you think? What is the most important factor for you to purchase at CEOgolfshop.com vs another online store?
- Free shipping promotions.
- Product selections.
- Great customer service.
- Whoever has the lowest price, including shipping.
- Whoever has the lowest price, I don’t look at shipping unless it seems unreasonable.

NATIONAL RETAIL FOUNDATION (NRF) Foresees Challenging Holiday Season, Forecasts Meager Sales Gains of 2.2 Percent
–NRF/BIGresearch to Unveil New Consumer Survey Info at 1 p.m. Media Briefing–

Washington, September 23, 2008 — The National Retail Federation today released its forecast for the upcoming 2008 holiday season, projecting that sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.* This gain would fall well below the ten-year average of 4.4 percent holiday sales growth and would represent the slowest growth since 2002, when holiday sales rose 1.3 percent.

“Current financial pressures and a lack of confidence in the economy will force shoppers to be very conservative with their holiday spending,” said NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells. “We expect consumers to be frugal this season and less willing to splurge on discretionary items.”

A number of economic indicators point to a challenging holiday for retailers. A struggling housing market and rising unemployment accompanied by meager income gains will continue to hamper the consumer throughout the season. Food and energy costs will remain high. With the current financial industry crisis continuing to chip away at consumer confidence, NRF does not foresee an economic turnaround until the second half of next year.

The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry’s key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail companies, more than 25 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents over 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com

Contact: Kathy Grannis (202) 626-8189
Holiday Headquarters: www.nrf.com/holidayhq

To date, our corporate wearables prices have remained pretty constant over the last 18-24 months, despite the rising cost of conducting business. Fuel costs have had the greatest impact on our cost of doing business as they have across all wearables distributors.

In some sectors of our business our suppliers are adding a $5-15 per shipment surcharge. This is in addition to shipping fees. While some distributors can no longer afford to eat these costs, and they are now being forced to raise their prices, we’re still measuring the impact and ROI of various promotions. Increasingly, competitors are being forced to pass along increases as high as 15% to end-users. Fortunately, since we are both manufacturer and distributor, we have a more control than most promotional products companies. However, we are more carefully watching these estimates vs bllling to ensure that they are passed on.

The issue for companies like ours that provide services like embroidery is that we have to pay for shipping multiple times, depending on the brand and volume ordered.
For our own products, we pay to bring product in to the USA. Then we ship to the local embroiderer for those who do not advance order, then back to us for later fulfillment or direct out to the customer. Some brands we sell do not have embroidery on the premises. So there is a cost to send the product to the embroiderer, then to us (small orders are batched), then to the customer.

The smaller promotional products companies are the most likely to be hurt. We’ve already heard from suppliers who have closed huge numbers of reseller accounts because their business volume was low. The cost of fulfilling orders is high so by eliminating small accounts, operational costs can be trimmed.

CEOgolfshop.com is a valued member of the wearables resellers industry. We continue to have manufacturers request we sell their products to our B2B customers. Despite economic issues in the country, our company continues to grow and we will continue to specialize in the executive or luxury brand niche market.

Our customers are fanatical about the Bugatchi brand and we want you to share your opinions with others.

Send us an endorsement and we’ll send you a free shirt!
Include why you love the Bugatchi brand and why you recommend others shop at CEOgolfshop.com. You can also share a personal experience that you think is relevant to prospective buyers.

Three ways to get your free shirt:
1. Send a personal video. Be sure to wear your favorite Bugatchi Shirt. Accepted formats include digital video cassette, quicktime VR, or any Apple software format. If your computer has a camera built-in, we should be able to accept whatever format it records in.
2. Create an audio recording. First, call (888) 587-6787 - Ext 5 and record your your testimonial. Please practice before you call in! Second, email us a photo of you in your favorite shirt.
3. Mail photo and written testimonial via email or snail mail.

TIPS ON WHAT YOU MIGHT INCLUDE:
What is your name, City, State? You can use your first name only, but we’d appreciate if you used your full name, Job Title and Company name if possible. It’s free advertising for your company too! What items do you own? What makes this shirt your favorite? Do you ever complimented about your shirts? What do they say? If you have worn shirts made of the same fabric, why do you like the Bugatchi one better?

Example: “Hi, I’m Joe Smith, CEO of Paper Goods USA. I wear Bugatchi golf shirts, shorts, and some dress shirts too. My favorite Bugatchi shirt is the ribbed long sleeve with mock neck. The fabric is super soft. When I wear it I feel …. Fill in the blank. Compared to …. The Bugatchi shirt is better because …..”

FREE SHIRTS OFFER DETAILS
First 5 Video’s accepted- FREE BUGATCHI SHIRT, ANY STYLE IN STOCK.
First 5 Audio/photo combinations, accepted- FREE BUGATCHI SHIRT EQUAL TO YOUR HIGHEST PRIOR PURCHASE- IN STOCK
First 5 mail/photo testimonials- - Free Bugatchi mercerized cotton shirt (SKU 1525)
All other entries: $25 off any future purchase by 12/31/2008

When will I get my shirt or other gift?
Your shirt will ship within 2-4 weeks of your entry acceptance and receipt of your shirt size and color selection.

Where do I email my entry?
art@ceogolfshop.com
or
CEOgolfshop.com
2633 NE 26th Ave.
Lighthouse Pt. FL 33064

Audio entries 888-58-POPUP ext 5 / (888)-587-6787 ext 5

Who is the judge of entries?
Christine Speedy, CEO

What are my odds of getting a free shirt?
This offer is being made to our top 50 customers as of 9/1/2008. Any other customers who discover this promotion may also enter, regardless of the date of their first purchase.

Who can enter? Any CEOgolfshop.com customer as determined by bill to or ship to address in our customer records.

What is the entry deadline?
We will run the promotion until September 30, 2008, and reserve the right to change the date at any time we’ve met our promotional objectives.

USAGE RIGHTS RELEASE
By submitting your entry you agree that CEOgolfshop.com may use any information and images you supply in current and future marketing and promotional efforts, without any further compensation. CEOgolfshop.com is not responsible for lost entries.
We do not require personally identifiable information, however, it provides more value to our prospective customers.

The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) is urging LPGA sponsors to withdraw support of the Tour until the English proficiency policy is retracted. As previously reported, LPGA will require all players to be proficient in English starting in 2009 and those who cannot pass an oral evaluation of English skills face suspension from the Tour. There are currently 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour.

“This policy is tantamount to national origin discrimination, which is prohibited under Civil Rights Act,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of AAJC. “The policy is an affront to our American principles of diversity and equality. It is even more unconscionable that the LPGA is devolving to past divisive and exclusionary practices of their sport following the successful closing of the unifying Olympic Games.”

“There is already a strong endorsement incentive for the players to learn English to increase their global marketability,” said Tuyet G. Duong, senior staff attorney at AAJC. “The new LPGA policy along with their actions to have a special meeting with the South Korean players, smacks of clear discriminatory targeting of those players.”

“The game of golf has a long history of exclusion of minorities and women and they have fought for years to be included in sport,” added Duong. “That is why it is shocking that the LPGA would issue this policy, which is completely contrary to the spirit of inclusion that drives LPGA pioneer women to continue breaking new ground in their sport. This will ultimately result in depriving the audience and fans of seeing the best golfers in the world.”

Callaway golf custom gift cards are available online in the golf shop store. You can buy the card at a discount from the actual value and break the total into several cards. Great for stocking stuffers, tournament auction items, longest drive gift and incentive programs!

Available in a variety of denominations, the Callaway Golf Gift Card offers recipients the freedom to choose the gift they want making them ideal for any occasion. Best of all, Callaway Golf Gift Card recipients have access to a full lineup of products from one of golf’s most respected brands. All purchases are made on the Callaway Golf web site or by calling 877-CALLAWAY seven days a week.

Recipients can choose from Callaway® clubs, bags, balls, apparel, accessories, footwear, eyewear and more.
A Full-color mini catalog and ordering instructions are included. Your price includes a full-color imprint on the white paper label on the inside cover of the mini-catalog. Card values range from $50-500.

There is another online retailer out there labeling every single product on their web site CEO golf shirts. Every item is listed in the search engines with CEO shirts or CEO golf shirts, even if the product is not a shirt! Hopefully this won’t cause any confusion and people won’t click through to their web site. I looked and there wasn’t anything I wanted to buy so I imagine you won’t either. They do not offer the high quality shirts for executives that we do, they just are advertising with the words of our web site.

I’m sure if you are an existing customer you’ll agree that our shirts are truly fitting for CEO’s. We don’t just say this, that’s who our customer base really is.

When you are searching for products or our site on the web, please realize our actual corporate name is CEOgolfshop.com. We have started some ads running CEO golf shop just so that people don’t end up at the wrong store by mistake.

Play hot, look sharp.

Christine

FINAL NOTE: Where will it all end in the world of SEO? Will companies write for their customers or will they continue trying to trick consumers into getting to their site all in the name of more eyeballs to improve web site traffic? Will Google ever find a way to stop nonsense like this?

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2. It appears the Google bots have booted the other site out of the top listing. Nothing to do with us! Looks like we’ll be back on top for one more day.

Click here now to buy golf shirts.