bathaway

3 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

I don't agree with this. We have a member of this forum, that does VERY well off of etsy, and she is not extremely cheap, nor is she factory made, it's all handmade by her, in her home with her daughter. I also believe she makes a living off of her handmade items.  

is she the other?

"extremely branded. 

extreme niche or occasion. Stores based 100% on confetti, party favor bath bombs"

she has to be of the best (which is an extreme) at something

6 hours ago, TallTayl said:

When you are in business long enough, you know everything is cyclical. Bath bombs were huge several years ago, then almost over night turned to a stagnant product you could not give away. Loads of people were stuck with aging inventory and learned expensive, valuable lessons. 

 

Importing sounds good on the surface until you get burned. When you place your order you hope and pray it arrives exactly as described. You have zero leverage when it does not. Formulas change without notice. Products get held in customs, damaged, or otherwise changed. You’re stuck holding the expensive bag. 

 

The one constant is those who who jump around seem to embody the, “ fake it til you make it” label, and burn out pretty quickly.

 

I will be curious to see if you have what it takes to stick with anything for any length of time, or if you will lose interest and move to the next strike it rich idea. 

great post!

My passion is inventing so I defiantly might make another invention. Your assuming I am importing. I went the automation route. 

We'll I am less than 2 years in. It's going great so far.

Self promotion. Deleted video. 

7 hours ago, moonshine said:

Yes you definitely are posting as a "know it all" facts about what your saying 

 

I personally after reading your posts and your watching your video would never buy a thing from you - you are only looking at profit and profit only along with how many "views" you get  - you don't seem to give a crap about quality in your product and that is not what this all about here on this forum

of course we all want to be successful but having a quality, safe and exceptional product is and should be number 1

 

I wish you luck I really do but your blogs and videos are very unsettling - especially to the new people here that actually want to learn and know the truths in this business 

When I made my candles.

They were very special and unique. Duel wick separate burning. Of course I cared to make something so different. CNC molds, silicone molds, Centering the wick in that shape.

I am talking about the inconvenient truths which struck a cord here.

Importing, companies mainly marketing than caring about the product.

I leave it up to people to think for themselves. But the attitude here to tell me to put "opinion disclaimers"

4 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

You missed the whole,  entire point of the post. Shocker. 

care to explain? sarcasm that I missed your post's message. Why?

3 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

You make blanket statements with no caveat to it being an opinion, so yes, it does come off as fact and not opinion... If you want it to clearly come across as an opinion and not a statement of fact, than you should mention that and say it is just your opinion. Otherwise the tone of your message is read as you stating facts. 

 

I think the others have covered the other aspects of what this forum is about quite nicely so I won't pile on.  

It's not fact. Your interpretation of my opinion as fact is fine. 

Everyone here makes statements, no one follows them with "put an opinion disclaimer!"

But what is different about my statement is... It's not liked. So now, people here want me to put "opinion disclaimers"

Now I am accused for being wrong for other peoples interpretation of my opinions statements as fact.

At least you agree I was making opinion statements. I can't do anything about your interpretation.

7 hours ago, TallTayl said:

The most important thing to know about your business is your own lane. I often find your posts audacious, as if you really don’t understand the purpose of this forum. We are a collective of makers, not flippers. 

 

I, and many of my close friends, DO make a living solely from our hand made products. It is most definitely possible.

 

The thought of buying from some rando supplier for cheap overseas to flip to people who assume we are the makers is offensive, especially when you consider that the ingredients are potentially risky and will require testing to ensure safety. How many of us have our own analysis lab to ensure no lead, arsenic, or whatever is in our bath products? 

 

I wish you well, but please do not use this forum to peddle snake oil info. Know your lane. This type of thread is not it. 

unfortunately, importing and selling as handmade happens alot on Etsy. I didn't say do it but I spoke on how alot of people are doing it.

You thinking I am encouraging that is incorrect.

1 hour ago, Clear Black said:

The successful do 1 of the following

-import

-are actually social media companies selling generic products

-automate “

Your interpretation of my posting being a factual statement is incorrect. My post is not a fact. Facts need empirically evidence. I did not provide any empirical evidence

You can criticize my post. And now my video too.

"candle making is “easy” “you just stick a wick in a jar, add wax and you are done” Is this a fact or opinion?

You can disagree, but don't claim my statements are facts. 

thanks for your compliment. It's my most viewed video.

On 3/1/2018 at 12:35 PM, TallTayl said:

One more thought: Opportunity Cost.

 

What could we be doing instead of packing and shipping orders. What is that loss of opportunity worth to you?

 

We pay other people to work, why do we not pay ourselves?

I could be getting more sales.

packing and shipping doesn't grow the business much. As long as it's done properly in a timely manner.

I make 1 product. So I am obsessing on how to shave down seconds. seconds x 1000's = alot of time. 

Your injury made you more conscious of your time. It's something we all need. Maybe not an injury but your post helps!

I did not passed off my opinions as facts. I did not backed my opinion up with empirical evidence. 

I don't need to add "in my opinion" on everything I post. Without evidence, it's implied. Just like most post here.

If your telling me to not potentially do harm, for not explicitly saying "in my opinion".

Please do that for every post on this forum. That way you are consistent and fair.

9 minutes ago, Clear Black said:

potentially do more harm than good

that is your bias. It can also lead to more sales instead of R & Ding items that don't sell.

of course there is no fact about how NaughtyNancy should do it. I don't know what is even made. 

I don't know what you make but what ever it is, if you don't have much time or money. Sell something completely unique, high end, and expensive. Your branding is more important than your product. Sell 1 thing first. 

There is too much mediocrity out there. I learned the hard way when I tried soap, bath salt, bubble bars. 

Try the craft markets  but try social media first. It's free to learn how to grow facebook pages, instagram pages, youtube channels. Pick one.

If you are, I don't recommend selling cheap products, you will work for free or lose money.

The successful do 1 of the following

-import

-are actually social media companies selling generic products

-automate 

Also Other people can do this because they have a spouse taking care of them or they have a high paying career to fund their business.

We know how hard it is on etsy to even get a sale. 

before even trying etsy, i think other channels have to explored because the ROI on selling on etsy is bad.

95% of stores don't get a return on etsy.

Most common case study:

- see etsy ad - a person making careers off etsy (#1 seller of a category) They say something generic like "My key to success was getting quality ingredients"

-the dream is created

-buy supplies

-take lousy photos

-annnnnd 0 views.

-close store after 6 months.

The ROI on etsy is good when other channels are set up. Then simply list on etsy for some extra sales.

I do bath bombs. taking your example. 

$3 - $1.25 - $0.30 (listing fee) - 3% (transaction fee) - $0.20 (wholesale) - packing time - errors - customer service - printing shipping labels.

They make very very little or none on that. I am guessing it gives them impressive sales numbers, 5 star reviews, and a chance people buy more items per order.

I think what is more likely is buying 100 000 roll on parfum from china at $0.30 each. Seller knows how to import. They have a retail store, or other distribution channels, they wholesale to other stores. They list on etsy for some easy income.

The most highest volume stores are beads. They sell for $1 - $3. The beads cost $0.001-$0.03 from china.

17 minutes ago, NaughtyNancy said:

Either they mass produced simple items at very low prices

They dropship, or wholesale it from a "production partner" china factory. Etsy is losing money so they allow this stuff to stay afloat.

etsy is so competitive that only the extremes do well.
extremely cheap. cheaper than buying local. (factory made)

extremely branded. as you said, fantasy oriented and wayyy overpriced. 

extreme niche or occasion. Stores based 100% on confetti, party favor bath bombs

14 minutes ago, NaughtyNancy said:

successful competition

Look at craftcount.com. Even the "successful" top 1% can't make a living 100% off etsy. It's a sales channel while they have a main website.

Calculate their revenue with Number of sales x average item price. minus transaction fees,  listing fees. cost of goods. Divided by number of years open.

The top 3 stores in bath and body make $100k per year. Top 20 stores make 40k per year.

Given the level of competition, and time to be literally at the top on etsy. These numbers aren't good

I prepack my etsy orders. 95% of my sales come from 2 listings.

80% 1 listing. 15% another listing.

I prepack once a month. I ship once a week. I bulked my supplies, 500sq ft of shipping supplies.

same box, same weight. I don't measure. I just print the labels and stick them on.

For Canada Post, I pay $4 flat rate to pick up my parcels.

my shopify orders are custom so it's a pain packing them. I have 3 box sizes that fits 95% of my orders. That way it's easier to input the shipping dimensions.

The BIGGEST cost of an order is customer service. we all had those experiences..

I think the margins needs to be so high that these tiny costs, isn't important. These cost can x10 and the profit is still great. But i understand high margins is a rare luxury. 

I did poorly at events because I only sell 1 product.

I get 80% business from adwords to myshopify. 20% from etsy. I landed some of my biggest customers from etsy, then I transfer them to my shopify to give them custom orders.

I am similar to talltayl with etsy.

set up the etsy. Everything you need will be used for etsy too. Photos, product description. 

list on ebay, amazon, post it on facebook sale pages. local online classifieds, visit retail stores.

Why go slow? If you get too many orders, that is a great problem!

Try a bit of everything

make what you need to bring...am i missing something?

build inventory once you get some sale data.

I think you need to manage your own advertising campaigns first before outsourcing. Sure, pay for help. A DJ, face painter, craft shows, demostrations.

but your the one who knows your customer the best so do the planning side yourself.

Rough Guess:

x10 your booth fee is very good. Bring enough inventory to 10x your booth fee.

I am wonder what percentage of crafters here are able to make a living from it. Even on a $20 item, at least 5000 need to be made and sold every year. Just to make an average wage.

I heard of crafters that make their annual profit in just 3 big trade shows. After those 3 shows, they vacation the rest of the year. It sounds plausible. 

What selling channels do you use? Distributors, alot of retail accounts?, big shows? large youtube channel?

I made 15k last Christmas season but it dwindles down to 1-2k in spring and summer. So for me, it's barely.

I make bath bombs.

My selling channels

-main website

-etsy

-A few retail stores and spas supply

-little bit of ebay

What I learned so far..

Do things that are scaleable and on going.

-google adwords, SEO, get retail accounts, build social media

I stopped going to craft shows. 

- I haven't tried the big ones which based on reviews sound like big risk, big reward. 

-I  sometimes made back my table fee for small shows. I was never able to pay myself more than $15/hour. 

I use blank business card paper. Make great tags

omg you have 200 fragrance skews. Insane

good point.

The shipping cost are high.($30+ for 1lb) for Canadians. I looked into cross border services. I ship it to NY and the service will cross it to a warehouse in Toronto, Canada. 

1lb items only cost $1 to cross the border. From NY to Toronto.

wow thanks! that is 1/2 the price of buying from ebay

I am shopping around for dried flowers, lavender, red rose pedals. In Bulk. at least 1 lb.  Do you know any well priced places? Ebay, aliexpress is decent.