Hi Friends!
Welcome to the fourth Groundstrike Collectibles newsletter.

I completely missed sending out the February newsletter! Forgive me; we were very busy during February, particularly around Valentine's Day, of course. It was another record month for us, and we thank you all for that. I just don't know what eToys and all the other "dot commerce" companies did wrong to go out of business, but the tiny GroundStrike niche of the "e-com-ony" is just fine, thank you.

Our newsletter distribution continues to grow, too. We're up to about 1500 subscribers, and I thank you all for referring your Limoges collecting friends to our site. We're going to make our referral program even better - now, when you refer a friend and they sign up for the newsletter, BOTH of you will receive a $5.00 credit towards your next purchase. Just "reply" to this note, and add your friend's email address as another "To:" address. When your friend signs up at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/mailinglist.htm

we will credit you both $5.00. You can see the full details at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/maillistreferal.htm


NEW LOOK AT GROUNDSTRIKE
We've just completed rolling out a new look for our web store. What do you think? Check it out at:

http://www.groundstrike.com

and let me know if you think it's an improvement or not. Be honest! We want our store to be the best and the easiest to use. We depend on your feedback for that.


WE'RE IN THE BOOK!
The newest Limoges book is out! "Distinctive Limoges Porcelain" by Keith & Thomas Waterbrook-Clyde is a wonderful new book about Limoges porcelain, with almost half of the book devoted to Limoges boxes.  Fabulous pictures and their wonderful descriptions make this new book a must-have for the Limoges collector. Best of all, we're in there! Look at page 244 and you'll see "GroundStrike" listed as "a distributor of high-end Limoges boxes"! For more information about the book, look at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/limoges/books/1books.htm

As our way of celebrating, through March 31 we're going to give a 10% discount on any of the Limoges boxes that we carry that are pictured in the book. [code deleted; reserved for newsletter subscribers] Limoges Lovers will receive a 15% discount instead of their usual 10%.


PHOTO PERSONALIZED LIMOGES BOXES!
We have developed a new technique to personalize Limoges boxes with a full-color photograph! This is a wonderful way to make a special Limoges box even more unique! Photo-personalization can be applied to many of our Limoges boxes where there is sufficient "white space" inside the box to hold a small photo. See the details of this process at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/personalization.htm

The regular charge for this service is $30.00, but through March 31, the price for our newsletter subscribers will be only $15.00.


NEWEST LIMOGES BOXES EXCLUSIVE TO THE NEWSLETTER!
We've got new boxes coming in all the time, so be watching our web pages for new boxes every day. We now have a new web page exclusively for the newsletter readers! It will change each month, but it will be where we put our very newest additions to our line. This month's page is:

[secret path to newest Limoges boxes deleted; reserved for newsletter subscribers]

The newsletter readers will get "first crack" at these boxes, some of which we have in very limited quantities. After a few days, we will move these to the regular "new" page, at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/new.htm

where everyone can see them. The new boxes include a gorgeous "Birth of Venus" box, a cool Aladdin's Magic Lamp box, and a magnificent Chinese Temple box.  Pssst: there is a "secret" link to this page on our web site [location of secret link deleted; reserved for newsletter subscribers] that you can click to take you to the secret page.


DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!
Always deal with someone you trust. In January's newsletter, I talked about fake Limoges boxes being sold as genuine on the internet auctions. I received a number of comments in response that said they too had seen fakes being sold as genuine! Thank you, I love getting feedback!

This month's story will be about security on the internet - or, the lack thereof in some cases. First, a brief "primer" about security...

Everyone knows that it is not a good idea to send credit card numbers over the internet in "plain text", or "unencrypted" form. The number can be intercepted and used without your knowledge. To protect credit card numbers and other personal information, web and browser designers came up with SSL or "Secure Sockets Layer" technology. SSL scrambles any information you enter in your browser, and sends it to the web site where it is unscrambled. Therefore your information is quite safe during its journey from your computer to the web site. You are using SSL technology when the little lock or key on your browser becomes highlighted.

So, if you are on a web site and your lock or key is highlighted (meaning SSL security is on), are you safe filling out a form or sending an order?

Not necessarily! It depends on what happens to your data AFTER you fill in the form or send the order. In many cases (even with some larger companies) the data is simply emailed in "plain text" form to the person that processes the order. This means your data traveled 1/2 of the way protected and 1/2 of the way wide open. While nosing around some competitor Limoges web sites, I've found several that are wide open in just this manner.

Ask your dealer what they do to protect your personal information, keeping in mind that "SSL" security is not enough. It's a good idea to check their Privacy Policy to see how they handle your personal information. GroundStrike's Privacy Policy is at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/privacy.htm

and we welcome questions about our security.


YOU MADE IT TO HERE!
Congratulations if you're still reading this! You really deserve a gift. [instructions for $15.00 discount coupon deleted; reserved for newsletter subscribers].

I received a number of wonderful comments in response to the offer in the January newsletter. I will be putting many of them in our "Customer Testimonials" page, at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/testimonials.htm

That's all for now. Take care, and see you next month. I hope ;-)

Sam and Susan Juliano
GroundStrike Collectibles
http://www.groundstrike.com