Damn Hackers

Toys to You says:  I am not a happy bunny right now.  Our site has been hacked by evil hackers and I can't anyone to actually take responsibility and help me to clean it up.
You may well be thinking - surely the site is your responsibility you should be cleaning it up?  But I can't find any malicious code on the site and I've had a company search through it and neither can they.  This company, http://www.wewatchyourwebsite.com/ can't find any malicious code on my site either but they have managed to find the malicious code on the server that hosts my website.
I'd already approached my host company and asked them if they'd had a serverwide hack and they replied that "no they definately hadn't".
And then I'm told by a very reputable company that it has been a serverwide hack.
So I went back to my host company (who I'm not naming so I don't get into trouble) and gave them all the information provided to me by http://www.wewatchyourwebsite.com/ and they've got back to me today telling me that it's not their fault that their servers are clean as they are virus checked regularly but perhaps I haven't got my file permissions set properly and picked up on a page that I've already changed the file permissions on.
So basically I can't find the code on my site but google is punishing my site for it and I can't get the host company to go look for the code on their servers.
And right now I'm losing business and sales and therefore money!!!
Whenever you go in to google and Toys to You comes up right underneath the listing it says "Warning this site may harm your computer", so obviously I'm not getting any customers cos you wouldn't click on a site that said that would you?  I know I wouldn't.
And all this at my busiest time - Santa grotto toy season!!
Hopefully I'll get it sorted soon...before I go bankrupt.
http://www.toys-to-you.co.uk/

Online sales have soared this summer with shoppers spending £4.2 billion online in July.

This is a huge increase of 15.7 per cent more than was spent in June.

The report, by IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index suggested that in the last six months consumers have been encouraged by new summer lines and heavy discounting and promotions.

Fashion was one of the driving factors in the rise and online sales of electrical items also rose 11 per cent from June, with twice as many men shopping online compared to women.

Cameron McLean, of online payment service PayPal, said: "Men love the quick and efficient nature of the internet, especially when it comes to buying technology and gadgets.
"Men are also spending more online than women. The average online spend over the last six months was £2,602 for men compared to £1,930 for women.

"Men, in fact, spent more than women in every category except groceries and clothing, suggesting that the female pound is still responsible for the growth in online sales of clothing, accessories and footwear year on year."

Toys to You says: Men love their gadgets and they hate trawling around the shops so the internet seems to have been made for them.

They can sit in front of their computer and order anything that takes their fancy without even stepping out of the office or their home.

Internet shopping was tailor made for men.

And we've found at Toys to You that quite a few dads, uncles and grandads are buying toys from us. They know they're getting good quality generational toys, some of them very similar to the toys they remember playing with and they're buying there and then.

So we're not complaining in the slightest.

A million pound inventor search is set to be launched in the UK.

Fast growing toy company, Wow Stuff, together with Aardman's Wallace & Gromit and the IPO (formerly known as the Patent Office) will launch an innovative nationwide competition in the autumn. And the competition could turn the winner into a millionaire.

Budding British inventors of all ages are being encouraged to put forward their best idea for a new invention, which could earn them a fortune.
The competition opens in September - and will be promoted in packs of the firm's Wallace & Gromit branded Inventors Kit.
The winning product will be chosen by a panel of experts and will be manufactured by Wow Stuff to sit alongside its W&G line.

Toys to You says:

What a great idea.

And what I would love to see inventors, especially young inventors, creating are green, eco-friendly, battery free and/or solar tech toys that will really push the boundaries of green technology.

Toys that will encourage our kids to understand the world we live and the future of that world. But toys that will also challenge them to think, strategise and be creative.

Is that asking too much?

Toy maker Mattel is set to pay a $£2.3 million penalty for selling toys that broke the lead paint limit.

The huge fine has been issued to world renowned toy maker Mattel for knowingly importing and selling up to the two million toys which violated a US federal lead paint limit.


The fine represents the US Consumer Products Safety Commission's highest ever toy-related penalty.


The Commission said as part of the settlement agreement, the companies deny the allegations.


The settlement stems from a string of Mattel and Fisher-Price product recalls in 2007 concerning up to 1.1 million noncompliant toys between July 2006 and August 2007.
The CPSC said that before those recalls, Mattel had imported up to 900,000 noncompliant toys between September 2006 and August 2007.


A spokesperson for Mattel said the settlement "resolves Mattel's outstanding issues with the agency related to certain matters that arose in 2007."


The company continued to say that it "promptly took a series of steps after discovering compliance issues with some of our toys at that time" and "continues to be vigilant and rigorous in ensuring the quality and safety of our toys."





Toys to You says: Finally Mattel has had to face the consequences of their quality control failures and greed.


I've got to admit that Mattel's mistake was very beneficial for us as parents chose to buy toys that are guaranteed natural and organic and painted with non-toxic paints and varnishes.


In summer of 2007 we saw our sales rise and rise as British parents chose us to buy their ethical toys from, toys that would not harm their babies or children.


And that pleased me.


But what didn't please me was that such a huge worldwide multimillion pound company could completely disregard the safety of our children in their need for more profit.


Toys to You cares about the environment, that's clear in the toys we sell, but we also care about children - their health and their development as well as the world they'll inherit. We make a profit but we'll never give up our ethics to make more money.


Why, oh why would a toy manufacturer do this?


I understand the need for profit as do all businesses, but profit at the expense of the health of children? That I will never understand.


I'm glad that Mattel have finally been fined for this I just wish there was more we could do to prevent this from ever happening again.


Toys to You

Santa Grotto Toys in June

Would you believe me if I told you that in this beautiful sunshine I'm sitting in the garden gift-wrapping thousands of Santa Grotto toys for Christmas?

It's true - honest.

As I said in an earlier blog I ordered thousands of wooden Santa grotto toys in April, some have already been wrapped by my hard working business partner/santa's little elf helper and the rest are being wrapped in my garden in the sunshine.

We haven't put on our Santa hats just yet or the Christmas music but I have a feeling that it won't be soon until we do.

At least the Santa hats will protect our heads from the sun!

I'm so pleased the weather men are predicting a long hot dry summer this year it makes it so much nicer to wrap the Santa grotto toys when I can sit in the garden doing it.

Any work done in the sunshine seems less like hard work I think.

So when you're stuck in the office this summer or sitting in your garden sunbathing think of me in the garden, baking the sun, wearing a lovely red Santa hat (with bell on) giftwrapping thousands of Santa grotto toys for this Christmas.

Toys to You

The Wooly Family

It's time for new toys at Toys to You and this month I'm pleased to announce the launch of The Wooly Family of Grannimals.
A whole family of hand knitted woolly Grannimals make up the Wooly Family of soft toys.
Grannimals are suitable from birth upwards and make perfect first friends for babies due to their natural manufacturing material - wool.
Each Grannimal has it's own personality and characteristics that will draw children to them and create an unbreakable bond between child and Grannimal forever.
Grannimals come packaged in a beautiful shoe box for easy storage when the Grannimal isn't in bed with your child.
You'll be able to choose from a huge selection of Grannimals at www.toys-to-you.co.uk including Josephine the Giraffe, Sacha the Cat, Mona the Cow, Lucien the Bunny and Mona the Cow to name just a few in the Wooly Family Grannimals range.

Toys to You says: Grannimals are the perfect eco soft toys for babies, toddlers and older. Made from wool these cuddly soft eco toys are hand knitted in nature's own material.

Grannimals are safe eco toys and they will become much loved members of your family because your child will love them so, so much.

And they're not expensive!
These are true generational toys, just like Toys to You likes them. Your child can love their Grannimal for years and then it can be handed down to brothers or sisters or kept safe and handed down to your own child's child. A Grannimal Wooly Family heirloom!

Grannimals will be available from Toys to You by May 30th.

Argos Profits Crash

Argos owner Home Retail has announced a 24% drop in full-year profit.

In it's latest results the group posted the annual profit downturn and warned weak consumer demand and a lower pound could lead to an even bigger fall this financial year.

Their profit before tax and one-off items fell 24 per cent to £328m in the year ending February 28th.

Home Retail also said it would raise prices, cut costs and curb investment in a bid to cope with higher import costs.

But the firm, which sources around 80 per cent of products abroad, said it was not seeking to change analysts' consensus forecast for the current financial year, which suggests profits could fall by a further 40 per cent.
"Our main worry is the impact sterling may have on product pricing and therefore the impact it may have on consumer demand," chief executive Terry Duddy said.

Toys to You says: If the recession is hitting Argos then we could all be in for trouble!

Argos is known for their low prices and big bargains, it is synonomous with the pile em high, sell em cheap philosophy.

But that could be no more if they take their dwindling profits warning seriously.

What will we do then?

We're earning less, we're losing jobs, we don't have as much disposable income as we've had in recent years, I can only imagine that lots of us will be looking for shops that offer the pile em high, sell em cheap bargains.

Will putting up prices in this most horrible of financial circumstances send Argos whirling down the pan? Who knows?

I love Argos for household things that I don't want to spend a fortune on. In fact, I'm planning on buying a bbq there this weekend. If Argos went where else would I be able to buy one at the cheap price I'm planning to get it at?

And if they put their prices up I might not shop there. And I can only imagine that quite a few shoppers will leave Argos in search of better bargains that they can afford in this credit crisis climate.

There's no shop loyalty in a recession only the constant hunt for the best bargains!

Although it is my hope that shoppers will consider quality and affordability when perusing for bargains. I know it's always feels like you've got a bargain when you get excellent quality and top value for money.

For value for money on eco toys and more...www.toys-to-you.co.uk