AS: I’m Alan
Stock, Great to have you with us on this Friday morning on the eye of
entertainment coming up this hour and towards the end of this half hour we have
Kathy Jung coming up with our Pet Pick of The Week! Want to get a preview? No problem. Go to alanstock.com and speaking
of Alan stock.com my internet guru is Kevin Richards with Ventura Web Design. He’s joining us right now on KDWN live line,
and I appreciate it very much.
Kevin thanks for being with us.
KR: Hey good morning
Alan how are you today?
AS: I am doing
absolutely great, let’s get right into it, we have a lot to talk about
here. First of all the internet sales
tax being debated left and right some say it will actually level the playing
field for the local retailers because no the internet does not charge tax. You can buy something on the internet and not
pay tax. You can go to your local
retailer, you have to buy at maybe at the same price, if you’re lucky, and pay
tax on top of that, so they’re saying it’s going to level the playing field,
yes or no?
KR: Well the
history of it is, you are a retailer and your looking in Nevada and you don’t
have any locations any where else nation wide, you’re only required to collect
sales tax for sales that you’re shipping to people in Nevada. So what they’re looking to do is make it so
that retailers in Nevada,
if you collect more than one million dollars a year in revenue, total, you then
have to collect sales tax for fifty states and ninety-six hundred
jurisdictions. So if you’ve ever been
the lucky recipient of an audit from the IRS
now you get 50 more chances, at least, for audits.
AS: Wow. So
you’re going to have to know what it is that each state uses as a sales tax
measure.
KR: Exactly. So people like Amazon use to be really
opposed to this, they had what was basically a heat map and an internal company
heat map and what they would is identify states that were safe to do business
with, and those that were not, and it would be identified like a stop sign, so
red was “absolutely not”, yellow was “maybe, check with legal”, and green was
“go for it.” Now Amazon has changed
their tune because about a year and a half ago they figured out that they could
make money off of the collections sales tax.
So with your seller using the Amazon web-store platform, or selling
through their seller’s central tool, you will now have the ability and the
obligation, to collect sales tax as well as paying Amazon for the service of
collecting that sales tax for you and remitting it to the agencies.
AS: So the
internet sales companies will make money on this.
KR: Absolutely. Now the market place fairness
act, that’s what the senate passed last week, what they’re saying is that
they’re requiring the state to provide free software, and they’re requiring the
states to only have one FC that you have to work with, and twenty-two states
are already on board because they’ve passed the streamline sales and use tax
agreement, but the reality is, online stores use so many different
technologies, they’re called platforms, that’s your e-commerce platform that
you use to sell on, there are so many different technologies, there’s no such
thing as one size fits all. There’s
companies out there that currently provide this for the larger internet seller
who do have multiple locations and are required to collect sales tax, but you
know, if you’re an internet retailer doing a million dollars, two million
dollars, or even five million dollars, the reality is, you’re not making enough
money to cover the ten to fifteen thousand dollars a year that that software
really costs, as well as the maintenance and integration.
AS: So how will this once again affect the
local retailers? I mean, if they in fact
do sell the same thing you can find online without paying tax. I mean is it going to level the playing field
for any of those folks?
KR: No, as a
small retailer, that’s the whole point, it’s not leveling the playing field at
all, that’s the reason Amazon is getting behind it. It’s actually doing the opposite. If you’re a small retailer it’s making your
life significantly more difficult, and one of the things they’re doing is
they’re using this million dollar mark, they’re making it seem like “Wow, if
you’re making a million dollars you’re really rolling in the dough!” Most people don’t realize, that as a small
retailer, you start out, before you sell a product, you purchase that product
for about 60 to 70% of the price you’re ultimately going to sell it for. So before you’ve paid your employees, before
you’ve paid rent, utilities, and all of your marketing, you’re out seventy
dollars of that hundred dollar product, then after you’ve paid all those other
fees, you’re lucky if you end up with a 5-10% margin on that hundred dollar
product that you’ve sold. That’s why
when you look at Walmart and you realize their business is all about volume,
you start to understand the retail business model a little better.
AS: So small retailers it’s not a good idea,
for people like Amazon, a good idea, but chances are it will pass, yes or no?
KR: I’m not one
to…I live in Las Vegas
but I’m not a gambling guy, I don’t know on that one. We’re hoping that the house will put some
amendments in there. You know, it’s kind
of an interesting thing, if it’s so easy to collect the sales tax, and any body
can do it, then why is there a one million dollar threshold exemption?
Shouldn’t it be that everyone can collect it?
You know, if you’re making five to ten million online that doesn’t
magically help you be able to deal with fifty audits every single year, and all
the other legal ramifications.
AS: Tell me about
these Google glasses that are out.
People can wear a glass and…what do they do exactly, what’s the
function?
KR: Well Google
glasses is a pretty cool technology that’s come out, it’s a very Star Trek kind
of technology, basically you wear some glasses on your head, and it has
speakers that use the bone behind your ear to let you hear what’s going on. You’ve
got a camera that’s constantly rolling. Basically it’s got you connected to the
internet 24/7, you can see it right through your field of vision, and it’s kind
of neat technology. It’s caught the
attention of the U.S. Congress. They sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page,
asking him if these products could infringe upon the privacy of the average
American citizen, and asking him to respond to a series of questions.
AS: Well it certainly could infringe. The big issue also is, how will people be
driving? You couldn’t drive with one of
these and then be distracted by all these things going on at one time, and also
I might add that local casinos here in Las
Vegas have banned them.
KR: Yeah, it’s
kind of interesting when you where the glasses, if you want to see what’s being
projected onto the glass you look up.
So you definitely take your eyes off of what’s in front of you, and right now there’s an app that
gives you New York Time’s alerts so you could be walking around and you could
be getting the latest New York Times, what ever is coming across the
stream. Ultimately, obviously, there’s
going to be a Twitter integration so you
can just constantly have a live Twitter stream, and you’re going to be fully
connect 24/7 if you want to be.
AS: Wow, Incredible. Alright, I want to talk
a little bit, when we come back, about Amy’s Baking Company. I happened to see
that particular show that was done on the Kitchen Nightmare with Chef Ramsay,
and we couldn’t believe it. I mean, the
most amazing of all of his Kitchen Nightmares, ever.
KR: Social media experts there.
AS: Well yeah but
they’ve now gone to the social media to deal with this whole thing. We’ll talk about it in just a moment. I’ve
got Kevin Richard’s joining me from Ventura Web Design, and if you saw that
show by the way, stick around, we’ve got some thoughts on that. Right after
Kevin, it’s our Pet Pick of The Week.
I’ve got Kathy Jung bringing in a great pooch. If you want to get an
advanced look go to alanstock.com and I guarantee’ya you’re going to love this
particular pooch.
::Traffic Report::
AS: I’m Alan Stock, thanks so much for joining
us. We’ve got the Pet Pick of The Week
coming up in just a few moments, to find out about the Pet Pick of The Week go
to alanstock.com. Joining me right now is Kevin Richards, he being the
principal owner of Ventura Web Design and I’m glad you’re joining me this
morning. The Amy’s Baking Company was
the last stop of Chef Ramsay on this last season’s Kitchen Nightmare, and it
was an absolute nightmare. He has never
walked out on any job ever before, he walked out on this because these people
are nuts. And now they’re taking it to
the internet, I guess to fight back.
What’s going on?
KR: Well the history there is, about two
years ago, they had some diners in there, and we’ve all heard about Yelp, and
we’ve all heard that bloggers like to go to restaurants, and enjoy or…not so
much enjoy the food and then write paragraphs and pages upon pages about their
experience, so Amy, the chef owner, and her husband Sammy, Sammy’s job is
apparently to yell at patrons who don’t like her food, and then not tell her
that nobody likes her food…and then Amy’s job is to hop onto social media and
call people who have given her bad reviews morons and losers. So the main thing is they aired on Kitchen
Nightmares on May 10th, and since that aired they’ve gone from
nearly zero social media presence to now more than eighty-five thousand likes
on Facebook. The interesting thing about
that is, negative PR, as we all know can sometime be positive, the interesting
thing here is, if they’re smart, which they have hired a PR firm, they’re going
to be able to take all the buzz all the traffic that’s coming from their
website, re-brand themselves, and suddenly be very well known and have a lot of
control over their social media experience.
AS: Wait a minute! They have eighty-five
thousand likes? Meaning people agree
with the Amy’s Baking Company?
KR: That’s the neat thing about Facebook a like
is the only tool you have to kind of interact with a company, it does not
necessarily mean that you like them.
AS: Ah, ok.
KR: I know I’ve got a lot of friends who’ve
like them and they’re doing it because you can’t turn your head away from
watching the train wreck, right?
AS: And it was an
absolute train wreck. I mean Sammy,
somebody actually complained to Sammy that they had waited a long time since
they had been served, and he says to them “F-off” right there. And this is the owner of the place telling a
customer. And they try to shanghai some
customers who were leaving because they didn’t get served and they said “I
don’t care that you didn’t get served, you have to pay for it any way.” And of
course her attitude, she keeps rolling her eyes every time Chef Ramsay tries to
tell her something. It’s like “Yeah.
Ok. Fine. Uh huh. Sure.” She’s like a
spoiled valley girl.
KR: Oh yeah, and
I’m not sure if she’s from Vegas or not.
They claim Sammy was a big Vegas playboy, better than Hugh Heffner,
right?
AS: He, a playboy? Oh. My. God. Ok.
KR: Yeah,
if you’ve seen the episode, I think you’d know better. But I mean if you look at their social media…
AS: If he was a
playboy than I’m the Pope! Ok, go ahead.
KR: Somebody
commented, “Unflattering portrayal on TV included when you yelled at a
customer, demanded he pay for food he didn't receive, physically assault him
and then threaten to call the cops on him? Hmm, the camera must add 5 lbs of
unprofessional.” Because the whole point is, Amy’s screaming on social media
that Chef Ramsay is portraying her incorrectly, that all these bloggers are
portraying her incorrectly, she is just a victim of cyber bullying.
AS: Well that’s
what she said the whole time. That they both claim they were victims. And no matter what went on they were victims,
victims. They ended up firing a gal because she asked a simple question, and
they went through a hundred people in a year.
A hundred employees they fired in a year. These people are psycho. But if you want to see the train wreck it’s
Amy’s Baking Company online, you can go there…I wouldn’t like them . You can go
and take a look and watch the train wreck, because I think that’s all it’s
worth. I mean they really are nuts. And again, this is the only show he’s ever
walked out on. Everyone else was a tough row to hoe, but he stuck with it, and
he was able to help turn things around, and the people went ahead and were able
to make some money and have a successful business. These people would just not listen to
him. Why they asked him there in the
first place when they wouldn’t listen to him…that’s what Rode and I were
scratching our heads about. If you
didn’t want to listen to him, why’d you even invite him in the first place?
KR: Well the funny thing is they most recently claimed that all
those bad comments on their Facebook
and social media was result of them being hacked, and they made a report to the
Scottsdale Police Department. We
actually called them, we tried to get a comment from Scottsdale Police
Department, they said “No comment, they’re not going to get involved.” I highly
doubt that a police report was actually made.
AS: Kitchen Nightmare was not hacked and we
saw…and I’m telling you, these people are nuts. Ok Amy’s Baking Company. Kevin Richards, Ventura Web Design, if you
want to find out more about Ventura Web Design go to alanstock.com and right
there you can click on Ventura Web Design, right on the right hand side of the
page, find out more about them, great people, they do a great job, obviously,
look at my website. Kevin, thanks so much for being with us. I do appreciate it
and we’ll talk again next week.
KR: Hey thanks
for having me next week we’ll talk about Facebook fatigue and what’s going to
happen there.
AS: Alright take
good care. Kevin Richards with Ventura
Web Design, joining us on news talk 720 KDWN.
