MilosCandles

What is IGI?

I was approached by a local chocolate shop to make some candles that smell like Chocolate. I got them them CW - Milk Chocolate which seemed OK. But they also want Orange Chocolate scent and something that smells like Sponge Candy (VERY BUFFALO THING, LOL) Any ideas what I should mix together for the Orange Chocolate? I would probably use the CW-Milk Chocolate plus something. For Sponge Candy they said chocolate plus butterscotch or molasses. Thanks

So I was accepted to Amazon Hand Made, and I put up a store. I did not list all of my products, I was able to export etsy and then import into amazon, with some work and data tweaking. They have some reports to see if I get much traffic. I only imported one picture per listing for right now. I am not going to do much more until I know the effort is worth it on there. I probably spent about 6 hours to get it to the point it is at right now. https://www.amazon.com/handmade/716-Candle-Co Would be amazing if I even get half of what I do on Etsy.

What are your fees on Ebay when you make a sale. Mine ended up being about 10% between ebays fees and paypal fees. The 15% amazon charges is for listings and selling and credit card processing. So yes it is a little more expensive but it is a flat 15%. Plus it is on Amazon. Part of the reason why I asked @Crafty1_AJ if his items came up in an normal Amazon search. My items might be priced a little bit more on Amazon to account for the additional cost. OR not offer discounts on there. Yes you set your own prices and shipping policy on "HandMade" https://services.amazon.com/handmade/handmade.html FAQ https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/handmade-faq-frequently-asked-questions/343913

Where do you find your "influencers" and what do you say to them?

Amazon Homemade just charges 15% of the sale, they waive the Amazon Pro Monthly Fee.

Do you get many sales on Amazon? Do you know if someone searches amazon you items show up? Or is Amazon Handmade it own site entirely?

@aptommoHave you used Amazon Handmade yet?

Besides Etsy or your own personal website does anyone else use another site similar to etsy to sell their items? I found a article that talks about some of them and just wondering if anyone has had any experience with them? Handmade Amazon ArtFire SuperMarket DaWanda Cargoh Zibbet iCraft Gifts Bonanza ShopHandmade https://www.marketplacevalet.com/single-post/2017/06/09/The-10-Best-Online-Marketplaces-for-Handmade-Goods

Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone have a shop on there? Anyone try it? https://services.amazon.com/handmade/handmade.html

@Quentin As with anything if you just want it to appear in a shiny new box all ready to go you will pay for it. If you put the time in yourself it will be cheaper. My suggestion to you. Start with a Facebook page (Free) Then Instagram site. (Free) Maybe Twitter or Pintrest (Free) The you have some options for selling 1 - Use Etsy as a way to sell stuff. You can direct people to your site. Listings are $.20 each for 3 months, and then there are some fees for selling. The biggest problem with etsy, you can give people a link to your site but it is very possible that those people can find someone else page easily. The advantage of Etsy is they get Millions of people to the site everyday, way more than you can get to your site. I would try Esty 1st as a low cost option. and then once you get into it more maybe the next option. 2 - Setup a shopify store front $29 a month (https://www.shopify.com/pricing) Pirateship integrates with both etsy and shopify for shipping so that is not a big deal.

@Quentin In regards to etsy, I have a more unique product than most. I know my tins and melts do not sell great on the site, so many people do basically the same thing. I did lots of reading to figure out Etsy SEO, and how increase sales. Short answer is I have over 150 items now listed and doing very well.

I saw another topic post get off topic about websites, so I thought I would post another about it. This is what I did for my website. I suggest you do your own research, it took me a while to say YES this is what I want. I signed up for a 3 year account at Blue Host $3-$4 a month for 3 years paid up front - https://goo.gl/1E7y9X (Wordpress site with Woo-commerce) I watched this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKBSrdKWb4Y&t=1961s Purchased the Flatsome theme. Signed up for MailChimp Over a 2 month period, few hours here and there I made my website. The most time consuming part was taking "proper" pictures for my website. Right sized, right product right look. I probably invested like $200 out of pocket, and lots of time. By the time I was "done", I had a good understand why it cost so much for someone to make the site for you. I put done in quotes cause I am really never done, always tweaking and updating. I watched many other youtube videos from "Darrel Wilson" on various different topics for word press and woo-commerce and good plugins and things to try. Some I tried and liked, otherwise I tried and did not like. I was looking to do this cheaply and look professional. Wordpress/woo-commerce combination has endless capabilities because if all the plugins available. I do not think I did any "TRUE" programming on my own. There is basically a plugin to do anything you want. The purchase of the Flastsome theme and being able to follow along with the video helped. I will say... One of the MAIN reason I choose woo commerce was related to shipping. It amazed me how much Stamps.com and Shipstation.com charge per month for shipping. It was hard to justify paying $10-$30 a month to be able to easily ship packages. This was one reason I was not rushing to do this. I discovered woocommerce has a built in way to ship USPS, but I ended up using PirateShip.com which integrates with woocommerce and it costs nothing (besides shipping)(BONUS). This was great cause I also have an ETSY store and PirateShip also integrated with Etsy and their rates were lower than etsy's. I could do all my shipping from 1 place. The really free part is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for me. Once I discovered that Instagram and post a pic and message to Facebook, and Twitter and Instagram from right within their app I was sold. So I basically do all my posting in Instagram and select to post it to Facebook, Twitter at the same time. This was another perfect solution for me also. I know there are website that do this also. So I suggest you setup a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram account and start using Instagram to post to all 3. Then I discovered a plugin for Woo-commerce that will list my shop items on Facebook, which then I can TAG my products I post about in Instagram. So when someone sees the post in Instagram they link right to my website store. I will never say this is an answer for everyone. I will say this was perfect for me. I like to feel I got good value for my money and time. For 2.5 years before this I had a "FREE" Wix website that I did domain forwarding.

There are rules and regulations for giveaways of any kind, including Facebook ones. I do not even want to meet people now to give them candles. Order online and pay for the shipping. When I wasn't as busy and just starting I was happy to meet someone or have them stop over. But you start to run into people that expect MORE. Now my time is more valuable cause I have less of it. The ultimate goal is a way to get people to Like, Follow and subscribe, so when I do post something I have an audience to connect with.

I like to think that my tent is usually pretty secure over night. My worst fear is that a tent near me isn't secure and blows into mine.

I may of my scents have a "Buffalo (NY)" theme to them. So the name really means nothing, for example one of them is called "BuffaLove" (this word/name is very popular in Buffalo). But at least people can ask for it, or know what it is called if they like it. Some of my gift shops have "custom named" scents also.

GB 444

I will have to try that. Thanks

Smiirl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_CdFHK87dk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX52GzzMwbQ

I used the Candle Science Tins orginally, but found these to be a bit cheaper - https://www.candlewic.com/store/product.aspx?q=c72,p808&title=-8-oz.-Tinplate-Candle-Tins They get them from here - http://allstatecan.com/seamless-tins I had problems with the Candle Science ones as well. The worst one I have is the CS Sex on the Beach Scent, and I use GW444.

Some of the scents I use eat away at the tins and cause them to rust. Does anyone have a solution for this? I have tried 2 different tins and happened to both of them. I know the easy solution is to just use Glass, which I do, but some of my sales are in tins. I will probably just stop selling those scents in tins, but thought before that I would ask.

I saw some people talking about Thermometers. This is what I use, Usually when I am making candles I make 4 pots worth at a time, and use a 1 in each pot. I love them. from the clip to the display. I wish I could set the temp for the alarm to go off that would make them amazing. The glass always worried me, and have something straight down the side seemed like I wouldn't get the temp in the middle. I also noticed the angle I looked at the thermometers could change the temp 2-4 degrees. https://www.amazon.com/Admetior-Digital-12-Inch-Candy-Thermometer/dp/B003JEKSLA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top

I am slowly starting to do more marketing. Whether it is signs, Logo, Facebook, Instagram, Website. I am interested in what others are doing and what is or is not working. Always looking for the best ROI for some of these items. I have used Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Etsy Advertising, along with regular posts on social media. You may have noticed some other posts I made recently with more defined question. I am always looking for new ideas, ways to spread the word. I think after the holidays I am going to explore some different ideas like "Sales Funnels" (If you are not sure what this is look up Click Funnels). I have a Mail Chimp list which is slowly growing, though I have not emailed anyone on it yet. I thought about having a facebook "like" counter at my booth at times - https://www.smiirl.com/ Seems interesting, but a little pricey. They have Apps I could also use for an ipad or something. Always on the look out for a new idea. I am happy to talk about some the things I have done.

One of my avenues of selling is on Etsy, when I was on there the other I saw them suggesting a company to mail postcards to my previous customers. I thought this might be a good idea, especially a way to advertise my NEW website. Anyone do this? Anyone have postcards made somewhere?

Anyone do any facebook give aways to increase shares and followers? How do you do it? Any 3rd party programs? I found these to help but seem expensive for me. https://woobox.com/ https://www.wishpond.com/