PSA: Little things we've learned by doing what we do.

Do you get those random advertisements in your Facebook feed for clothes 👗, makeup 💄, household items 🏺, or discount shopping apps 📱?

Of course you do.

We all do.

Well, in case you haven't already figured this out - the reason these places can sell things to you so cheap are because they can get them even cheaper. So that FLASH SALE! for 75% off means that whoever you're buying from is still making a profit and you have no idea what sort of quality you're going to get.

In addition some (not all) of these companies buy what they sell you for peanuts, change the packaging, and charge a 500% mark-up or more! I stopped playing that game a decade ago and never looked back.

On occasion, we check out places like these just to see where the products are coming from, what quality they provide, and what the better deals are. We are in the business of finding the best prices for our clients, so we've got to check the competition, right? So, we ordered makeup from a company that offers FREE makeup, a dress from a company that constantly offers 50% off sales, and a waist cincher from another company at a "HUGE DISCOUNT".

And then we went to work.

When we received the shipping notifications, all of the products were being shipped from overseas, not from inside the US like their websites seem to be. Some of them had no shipping estimate, and the tracking numbers didn't register. - Uncool. I've dealt with this a number of times, because I use overseas suppliers as well. It's always annoying, but at least we respond to emails and offer some sort of guarantee...

Anyway -

Most of these places ask you to pay shipping for "free" items, and the shipping costs are outrageous. That's because they don't have the shipping costs we have in the US, so they're actually charging you for the product - not the shipping. Paying $12.50 in shipping for a "Free" tube of lipstick suddenly doesn't sound as tempting.

So I went to OUR suppliers and looked for comparable products. For the same or better quality products, we spent less than 1/3 as much and shipping to us was free. Returning the products we'd received from these other companies was almost impossible, and one actually wanted us to pay to return the products - which would have cost more than the refunded amount (so they *still* made money, and you're still out a product).

One of the reasons we do this is because we're tired of seeing people ripped off like that. They're in it to rip consumers off - we're in it because we love what we do. Everything we find for our clients, we inspect first, and if it isn't up to the quality you expected, we don't charge you for it. Period. No hassle. No returns. And you decide whether we continue the search for you.

The Future of the Squirrel

First of all, I want to thank all of you for bearing with us and for supporting us over the past couple of years. I know we seem, well...squirrely, but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes and we're finally out of the woods. So what's up?

This year we're planning to open up subscription boxes for both Accidental Squirrel and Accidental Kink. The umbrella of Accidental Promotions has been opened and is settled for working in and around western NY. Our clients are AMAZING and so much fun to work with. I can't tell you how much I love these guys and how much they have helped us through the transitions.

For the moment, please email us Orders [at] Accidental Squirrel [dot] Com for information about the boxes. We are currently looking in to multiple venues to sell through and haggling our pricing, but they *are* ready to go.

Again, thank you all from the bottom of our fuzzy little hearts for sticking with us. Our clients mean the world to us, and we know we wouldn't still be here without you.

Alright folks...this time we mean it!

After a two year hiatus and some downtime to regroup, the Squirrel is back up and running again. This time things are a little bit different. We're still going to be working with our geeky little minions, but Accidental Squirrel is going to become our "umbrella", if you will.

Since the company has been just Vai and her minions for quite some time now, and because there are so many different fields that she works under anyway, we'll be putting up sections here for our three little nests:

• Accidental Comics: Vai and Mike K. have been collaborating for a decade now, and I'll bet you didn't know we have comics to sell! This branch will stay here on the Squirrel page and will contain comics, prints, our art book, and a few other nifty things.

• Firebug Arts: Vai's One Stop Shop. Here, you'll find mostly contact information, and for now this will still be run through Vai's facebook. Custom character art, invitations, announcements, business logos, music promotions, photography...whatever you need for business or personal.  She also offers personal shopping (read: bargain hunting) services for birthdays and holidays that can save you a ton. (Trust me...we haven't paid retail in years).

• And lastly - Introducing Accidental Kink! We'll let your imagination take care of that one. It has it's own separate site, mascot, twitter, tumblr and instagram, but some of our cosplay items will be sold through that store and vice versa.

 If any of you have any questions, please feel free to email us at Questions [at] AccidentalSquirrel [dot] com and we'll get back to you ASAP with price quotes, inventory or just general Q&A.

Thanks to everyone who has been supporting us over the years and to our family and fans who are still out there buying our stuff! We love our Minions! ❤️ And it's good to be back!!