Just launched this week at Supplies Guys are brand new compatible toners for the Okidata C8600, Okidata C8800, Ricoh Aficio MP C2800, Ricoh Aficio MP C3300, Sharp MX-2300, and Sharp MX-2700. You no longer have to pay full retail prices for the OEM toner cartridges. These compatible toner cartridges are 100% brand new, not used or recycled. They carry the same page yields as the OEM toners and are backed by The Supplies Guys 100% Quality and Satisfaction Guarantee. Here are some additional details:

Oki C8600 Toner (Oki C8600n, Oki C8600dn, Oki C8600cdtn):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $199

Oki Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $439

You Save: $240 (55%)

Oki C8800 Toner (Oki C8800n, Oki C8800dn, Oki C8800dtn):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $199

Oki Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $439

You Save: $240 (55%)

Ricoh Aficio MP C2800 Toner (Ricoh Aficio MP C2800 SPF):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $309

Ricoh Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $569

You Save: $260 (46%)

Ricoh Aficio MP C3300 Toner (Ricoh Aficio MP C3300 SPF):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $309

Ricoh Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $569

You Save: $260 (46%)

Sharp MX-2300 Toner (Sharp MX-2300N):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $287

Sharp Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $405

You Save: $118 (29%)

Sharp MX-2700 Toner (Sharp MX-2700N, Sharp MX-2700G):

Compatible Full Set Special (includes all colors): $287

Sharp Brand Full Set Special (includes all colors): $405

You Save: $118 (29%)

Does your small business have the best customer service EVER?

That may be a tough assessment. But as long as your customer service is an important focus of your business, it’s likely that you’re headed in the right direction. I say “right direction” because here at The Supplies Guys, customer service is a huge part of our company.

Here’s an inside look at some of the things we do to be sure our customer service is up to par. First of all, we employ a full staff of PEOPLE. Many companies don’t have real people answering their phones!

Anyway, all of these “people” are thoroughly trained to understand the element of professionalism we want to exert to our customers. We also provide them with sufficient product information, so they have the resources to address situations as they come in. Weekly meetings are held on Monday mornings to start the week off with positive reinforcement and important updates. These meetings assure the team knows what to expect for the week ahead – company goals as well as personal goals.

Secondly, we stand behind our product. The Supplies Guys offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee and we strictly enforce that through our customer service team. If a customer is not satisfied, our team knows how to bend over backwards to make sure we don’t lose them. After every purchase, we implement BizRate to offer an optional survey to our customers to help us know where improvement is needed.

As a result of these efforts in customer service, BizRate awarded us with a Circle of Excellence award for the year of 2009. The Circle of Excellence “recognizes the top performing online retailers that provided outstanding customer experiences throughout the year, as rated by their customers.” While over 5,000 companies work with BizRate as we do, only 167 of them were given this Circle of Excellence. The Supplies Guys is proud to be one of them! To learn more about how companies are chosen for this award – head over to BizRate’s blog.

What are your thoughts on customer service? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

Google, Inc. has faced serious opposition by expanding it’s operations across international waters over the last few years. Earlier this year Google threatened to pull out of China due to the government’s attempted control over the search engine giant’s search results. Now trouble continues in the European Union. Companies within the European Union filed suit against Google alleging that a significant change to the keyword policy of Google’s paid advertising platform, Google AdWords was necessary. The company’s were arguing that Google’s policy on permitting companies to bid on trademarked keywords through the AdWords advertising platform should be restricted or removed all together.

Google AdWords is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising system that gives individuals and companies the opportunity to bid on keywords which are relevant to the bidder’s website. According to Google’s earnings statement, revenue generated from AdWords contributed to 97% of the company’s 2009 total revenues ($23.7 billion dollars.  Louis Vuitton and several other European based countries argued that Google should restrict the bidding of trademarked terms. Companies obviously have a vested interest in protecting their brand image, but for Louis Vuitton the case in their opinion has caused an inverse affected on their bottom-line. Counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise has been a growing problem since the advent of the internet and e-commerce sites. Counterfeit products are more accessible today than they ever before. A problem which has significantly disrupted the revenue streams of Louis Vuitton. Therefore allowing competitors and retailers to bid on such keywords is a contributing factor to the growing issue. Google however does have a strict policy on using sponsored links (Google AdWords) to advertise counterfeit products.

In 2004, Google began permitting advertisers to bid on trademarked keywords in North America. That practice expanded to countries in the European Union such as the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2008. Much to the dismay of the companies who felt Google AdWords was in direct violation of their trademark policy, the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled in favor of Google. The ruling stated that Google AdWords was not in violation of trademark policy and that advertisers would be permitted to bid on trademark protected keywords.  The Court of Justice that that the infringed brands should pursue legal action against the advertisers individually, and not against Google. This court decision is clearly a large win for Google as it enables the search engine to further grow in the European nations.

Google’s senior litigation counselor, Dr. Harjinder S. Obhi had this to say about Google’s favorable court decision. “We believe that user interest is best served by maximizing the choice of keywords…For instance, if a user is searching for information about a particular car, he or she will want more than just that car’s website.” Dr. Obhi went on to say that, “We have strict policies that forbid the advertising of counterfeit goods…We work collaboratively with brand owners to better identify and deal with counterfeiters.”

To learn more about Google’s AdWords Trademark Policy we suggest that you review Google’s policy.

It’s that time of year again, March Madness! The time of year when 65 college basketball teams are all competing for the same prize, pushing towards the same goal… To become the 2009 – 2010 NCAA Basketball National Champions.

While the coaches and players are preparing for the games to tip off on Thursday 3/18/2010, millions across the United States and throughout the world are also preparing… Their tournament brackets. This year, “bracketology” reached an all time high when the President of the United States publicly filled out his bracket on ESPN’s Sportscenter and then posted it online for millions to see. CLICK HERE to see President Obama’s NCAA Bracket.

With March Madness gaining popularity every year, I thought it would be worthwhile to review a few of the many different philosophies or strategies used to choose the right teams. Who knows – maybe you can use one of these strategies and be the envy of your office this year. What better way to review these strategies then to break down and analyze a few of our own brackets from within Supplies Guys.

#1 – EJ’s Strategy: Local, Local, Local. Picking the hometown Ohio State Buckeyes to go all of the way may not be too far of a longshot, but picking Ohio University (my alma mater!) over the much higher rated Georgetown was a pick most would shy away from (even me)… But hey, check the scoreboard! So, if you are proud of where you are from and want to support your local teams, this bracket strategy is an easy one and only takes about 5 minutes

#2 – Jeff’s Strategy: Go with what you know. Jeff admittedly has not been keeping up on much college basketball this season. So his strategy incorporates his general past knowledge of teams (like “I think Pittsburgh has been good recently”) combined with the knowledge he was able to gain this season by watching a few games. So, by watching a few Vanderbilt games and a few Baylor games this year, Jeff felt confident enough to take Vanderbilt to the “Sweet 16″ and Baylor to the finals. Those of you who have been keeping up on the first day’s results know that only one of those two teams are still alive in the tournament.

#3 – Tim’s Strategy: Numbers and Percentages. This strategy does take a little more time than the above mentioned strategies, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will pay off. This strategy takes a blended look comparing the teams overall record, their “Team Outlook Percentage” according to CBS Sports, and the overall consensus pick coming from the “experts”. Most would think Murray State would have no chance against Vanderbilt… But according to my research there was a good chance the 30-4 Murray State Racers could upset the much higher rated Vanderbilt team. Of course no strategy is foolproof, but with all of the data in front of you I believe it gives you the better chance to make the best “educated guesses”.

Feel free to share your bracket strategy… And check back here in a few weeks and we will see which strategy worked the best!