GlitterSniffer Cosmetics-Duly Noted

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics proprietor Lela Warren has posted several Facebook notes in the past 24 hours addressing what exactly is going on with her company.

The first can be seen here.

She loves me, she loves me not...

by Lela Glittersniffer Warren on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 11:14am

The last 6 months of my life have been a hellish whirl wind of a roller coaster. I have done wrong & been wronged. I have pushed on & been pushed. I have had it all & lost it all. It is now time to move on with what I have left & do things the way they should be done. For those of you who are still here & never left my side, you're a piece of me forever. For my enemies, there is nothing I can say or do but thank you for tearing me down so I can build myself back up, the right way. What's done is done & there is no way to go back & do things differently, no matter how badly I wish with all my heart, that I could. With that being said, I have a new chapter of life to begin & I pray that you'll be a part of it. Love, Lela aka glittersniffer

In the comments on this post another note is mentioned, asking for feedback. The following is the text and the screenshots of that note.

Thank you for joining me in this conversation! I hope to gain some wisdom by listening to others and getting some input to help me get my company up and running again. I will ask general questions along the way and would love to hear what you think. Thanks again!

First of all, many of you now about the falling of my company, 'Glittersniffer Cosmetics'. If you don't, please feel free to Google it and read away. You will find a lot of dirt, some of it is true, most of it is false, and some of it is so far fetched, my friends and I read it just to laugh. I will not sweep things under the rug or pretend I am a great business woman, because I am not. Now that we agree that I suck at some things, let's move on.

I have been thinking a lot about ways that GS went wrong and examining why exactly. I won't list every single reason but I will touch base on the more important ones.

Again, please give me your input, ask ideas, correct me where I am wrong, etc...This is not a debate. This is not a Q & A. This is not a chance for you to tell me I suck. If you're not interested in making GS better, mind your own bidness.

There are many kinks and details to work out, and I will update this note when I have new developments or proposals. As of now, the VERY "general" idea is to make GS a "club" of sorts. GS will offer different sets/kits/collections, etc that will be pre-made before they are offered for sale. There will be no substitutions to this UNLESS I truly feel that I have the time to dedicate myself to custom orders. One of my biggest problems I feel I had, was that I offered way too many different products for being such a small company. I couldn't keep track of it all, I couldn't keep it all stocked, I had too many deals/discounts going on at once, etc...All in all, I was in way over my head. Having so many different items wouldn't have been such an issue if I didn't have SO many orders come in on a daily basis, with my fellow helpers not knowing what was going on, what we had, where to start, etc...So, I am not saying this is a permanent thing or that I will never offer sales or discounts, I am just saying that for now, it's the best way to offer many people several different items at once, that are pre-stocked and ready to go before they're offered. Input on above said topic?

We will have a new payment processor. You will have 2 options. To use our online credit card terminal to enter your card info OR you may call it in to the new GS phone number which will be released when we open back up. Accepting payments this way will allow me to control the flow of orders coming in and this will help tremendously.

A huge issue I had was keeping up with emails. I would get TONS a day ranging from order info, promotional offers, YouTubers/bloggers, general questions, and te list goes on. I will be putting together a huge Q & A, if you send me/us an email asking about information that can be found in the Q & A section, you will most likely receive an automated response with a link to the proper answer UNLESS I have a few extra moments to personally answer it. Another option is to have someone who's only job would be emails. Input? Volunteers? J/K :D

Not really an issue but a topic I am going to touch base on is being a vegan company. I will most likely not remain a completely vegan company as I cannot offer many color shades as I would like to, and I am very limited to the number of products I can make. I will most likely make note on every item that is/is not vegan so it makes shopping easy. Input?

I have a few options on where to sell. I can re-open the Artfire shop, sell off of the fan page, or via email/phone/personal contact. The final answer will depend on which one will work best with our new payment platform, it is very important to me that shopping and paying are easy, quick, and give me the information I need to correctly process orders. What appeals to you the most?

The fan page. The fan page can be my best friend and at times, my biggest headache. I will most likely find people who would like to help me run the fan page so that I do not have to devote so much time to it (volunteers? :D ) . There will be posted rules for the fan page and those who do not comply, will not be welcome to post. Most posts will have to be approved before they will show up.

Shipping. As always, we will use USPS. I would like to strictly use Priority Mail shipping however not everyone likes this of the cost, especially if shipping costs more than the actual item purchased so I am considering offering First Class or Priority, depending on the order total. All orders will come with a tracking number. I will not be able to determine shipping days or frequency of shipping until I get closer to opening up again. Would you prefer Priority shipping or First Class?

Company mission/rules. I have written these before and I used to put them in action for awhile, and they would slowly slip away. While writing up company statements, I will be asking for your input and ideas. Tell me, what morals/missions/ideals do you like best about your favorite company?

Although I feel like I have covered a lot of important topics, I am sure I'm missing something so please feel free to remind me.

I don't have an expected date of when I will be selling again as I have a long To-Do list and I am not sure as to how much help I will have in completing it.

I will update this note as new information comes in and ideas are finalized. If you feel you have something to offer to myself or GS as a company, please email me or send me a message, my door is wide open :)

Alright ladies! Let's hear it!

I was going to cover this point by point but there is not much more that can be said that hasn't been said before. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics was always good in the past with the mea culpa, at least in terms of having them, if not in terms of actually following through on the promises made during them. The vegan question is moot because GS was NEVER 100% vegan. It's like GlitterSniffer Cosmetics version of Groundhog Day.

Lela Warren asks for ways to make GS better. Quite honestly, I don't know if that can be done. It will take an absolute sea change in the business practices and a complete revamp of the company as a whole. The fact that the charities and the recall refunds were not addressed at all aside from a flippant "what's done is done" is very concerning. While you cannot undo the past you can certainly make it right. Given the fact that within the past 2 weeks at least one refund request was denied by GS it appears this "shaking the dirt off" includes "shaking off" their previous customers. Not the most comforting of bellwethers for change.

We shall see over the coming weeks and months how this plays out. It is, as always, my sincere hope that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics does what is right and what they promised going as far back as October of 2010, and treat their customers, both past and present, as they themselves would like to be treated; that they will move forward with a commitment and proper plans in place to follow every rule, regulation, guideline, law, and TOS that they agreed to the minute they opened their doors as a business. Mostly I continue to hope that one day very soon I can post that all monies owed to both charities and customers has been remitted.