Sebleo

I buy from candlewarmers too. I have not found any where else that is comparable. 

I can not help you with the stearic, but definitely would not assume the customer will not burn it. 

16 hours ago, Trappeur said:

I just decided on a name and just ordered my labels.  I went with Pink Fairy Dust.

 

Thanks!

 

Trappeur

I like that name too!

If you are not looking to make a profit and just cover your costs I would look at ebay. No fees for up to 50 listing a month. And people really want a bargain there.  Etsy is another option.

If you have the time doing a craft market in your area would be good if you have those. 

Do a small brochure and pass them to friends, family, coworkers.

If yard sales are good in your area, do so many a year. Unload some unwanted things and sell the candles. I unload my tester wax melts that way. They sell fast. Priced to just cover my costs.

Try to get one small wholesale account in a local store. Hair and nail salons would be a good target for selling small amounts. 

Congrats!  I have the new big one too and husband put a spigot on for me.

1. Temp...I work with palm so I set the dial to 200. When it is melted the wax is usually around 215 so I turn it down to warm. For other waxes that you may only need to get to 185 you will just have to play with it. 

2. Members here use it with all types of wax.

3. Nope

4. I use a double boiler on the stove to keep them warm. Just enough to keep it warm then turn it up to boiling to clean the pot out afterwards. 

I agree with @TallTayl that there is no zero impact wax. 

Palm gets a lot of attention for deforestation but soy is in the same boat. It just doesn't get the coverage. If you want to do some reading...go to wwf.panda.org and under farming they have sections on soy and palm oil. There is a lot of info there. 

I have no information or links regarding coconut because it is not a wax I have considered working with. 

I think the best way to go about it is to figure out what is important to you and how you want to build your business model. Research and learn everything you can about your wax. When customers ask questions you are prepared for anything. 

No matter what wax you decide on you will alienate some buyers. The good news is there are enough paraffin lovers, soy lovers, and palm lovers to go around. Not to mention those that do not care what wax it is as long as it looks nice, smells nice, or has a nice price. 

Edit to add... I do think you are thinking too deep about whether the farmers are getting paid enough. I have never heard of that coming up in regards to candles. (Mainly chocolate, coffee, and jewelry ) Although some market their soy candles with soy farmed in the USA. But, that is more of a made in the USA marketing strategy than a fair market one.

Welcome! I'm in east Texas too...Marshall. Where are you?

Stalking this thread to see what you decide, lol!

I do not sell wholesale yet, but I do not plan to wholesale the shaped pieces. It is hard enough to get them shipped to someone and still look nice. I think with the bags being shipped, stocked, and man handled in the store they would look horrible by the time the purchaser got them home. 

This is the main reason I decided to do clams too. I will wholesale those. 

53 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

I put it on hold temporarily until I incorporated a different brand. A couple of months was about all. I have found that if unchallenged, the process for both incorporating and for trademarking are far less than the estimated times. If you’re totally original, and nobody challenges, things slide right through.

That is encouraging to hear, thank you!

I see your point @Barefootgirl. I would not put my business card in with a package someone bought from my site for the reasons you listed. However, I would put one in the packaging ordered off etsy because I want to redirect them to my site. 

At a show or event I love your idea about making a sign they could take a picture of. Even at the Dr or dentist I tell them not to make out an appointment card...I just put it in the calender on my phone. So, that would be a great option for consumers like us who do not want the card. But I would still have them for the people that do. And there are still a lot of people who would want them. 

By giving the customer the choice you are saving resources without missing out on potential sales. 

1 hour ago, Hopie said:

 

Ah, I see...this is recent and didn't apply when I sold there. However, when I did a search on the Handmade, there were 400 pages of handmade items, which leads me to believe it's still a viable option for selling there. Sorry about spoiling your happy dance. 

Yes, handmade is definitely an option. I am sure it gets less traffic than the regular listings. And I do want to start off slowly. Just did not want to have to wait 2 years (average) to be able to have regular listings. 

I order on Amazon weekly and have tons of subscribe and save and I just figured out last night how to find the handmade stuff!

57 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

Getting a trademark is not hard. Walk through the screen guides at legalzoom.com.  Mine cost $495 last year. It is a very good exercise to run through.

It was the waiting time to become active that I was concerned about. The uspto site says it takes 18 to 36 months on average to complete the process. How long did yours take? Or is it still pending?

Well, happy dance over. Just thought I'd post a link to an article I found last night for anyone else who may be interested in selling on amazon. 

Apparently in their move to clean things up they are now checking to see that the upc code is registered appropriately with gs1.

Spent some time on the seller central last night and between that and the article it looks like old sellers using 3rd party upc are not having problems unless they list new items but new sellers are being checked and denied. 

Getting selling privileges revoked from amazon is no joke. 

Seems the routes to go are handmade to circumvent all of that, or spend big bucks on gs1, or get trademark. It says you can apply for an exemption, but that seems to only apply if you are not the manufacturer.  If you are the manufacturer then you would have to register your brand which brings you back to either gs1 or trademark.

Article from Jan 2018:

https://www.webretailer.com/lean-commerce/amazons-new-upc-policy/#/

Peppermint Peak

Going with the mountain theme, although it's in CA.

3 minutes ago, Hopie said:

 

You are truly welcome   I can't tell you how many of these UPC codes I've purchased over the years, lol! I do remember when Amazon required them, so I researched just how to get them, and I found that site. Once attached to a certain product, you just keep changing your inventory levels as the items sell out. 

 

Again, I don't know about the trademark thing, I just know what I did when I sold there and how I personally did it.

Well, you only need your business trademark if you don't have upc codes. And I was under the impression you had to buy direct from GS1. And I definitely can not afford that! You have just shaken up my world!

Peppermint Dew

Peppermint Splash

Peppermint Springs 

Peppermint Punch

2 hours ago, Hopie said:

 I used to use these: https://cheap-upc-barcode.com/ 

In all my months of scouring over amazons seller central I have not seen anyone mention this site. There was much talk about buying them on ebay or doing the GS1 registration yourself. 

Thank you for the information! 

2 minutes ago, Hopie said:

 

As far as candles go, i was unaware of this, as I never sold candles on their site. Do you mean that the candle itself has to have a trademark? Or any business on their site? I don't know how to go about getting one, or if it's an expensive endeavor. However, there are 10,000 listings under their homemade section, so that may be a good start until one does have a trademark. Good post, @Sebleo! 

If you want to sell on Amazon now the items you sell have to have registered upc codes. (I may be getting that name wrong, but it's the federally registered bar code that is unique for every item sold.) Those are insanely expensive. 

Or you can get branded on Amazon, then you are exempt from needing those codes. But to get branded, your business has to be trademarked. That is the policy they changed last year. Somewhere around April 2017. I think anyone already selling before that time was grandfathered in. 

I had been researching it and had all the info for selling in 2016 and when I went back to double check everything last summer I saw the changes. Ugh! Missed the deadline. 

Getting a trademark can be easy and inexpensive up to needing a good attorney and lots of dough. It really depends on how many classes you would need to file and what you are trying to trademark. 

Regarding Amazon...they changed their policies last year. To sell on Amazon you have to be a trademarked business. Your trademark can not be pending. I guess that is why they added Homemade. From what I have read they have honed their policies because they had a lot of scam accounts. 

21 hours ago, Grungedoll said:

Thank you everyone for all of the responses! It's been really helpful.

I'm thinking this one maybe good... I'll be going to grab it sometime this week! You think it'd be a good choice @Sebleo @Candybee? It's a 3M model and has good reviews...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Medium-House-Hold-Multi-Purpose-Respirator-65021HA1-C/202080143

 

That is the exact one I got off Amazon. The p100. I've had it for almost a year and I still can't smell a thing when pouring wax. The price is the same too. I'm going to get the replacement cartridges on subscribe and save too save a few bucks.

This is a great question. I use the same type of respirator and I'll post a pic. I get it from amazon.

I noticed once I started making big batches that I would get a sinus/chest cold. And I also found out that if I sleep with a wax melter going anywhere in the house I wake up and my sinus passages and throat will be swollen. 

The respirator has been amazing! I also put a small fan in my kitchen window ledge and turn it on to help suck all the fumes out faster.

My only battle now is when to produce. My son has autism and 1) I don't really like producing while he is around and 2) He has developed a fear of the mask. 

For now I only do small batches when he is awake and wait til he goes to bed to really work. Or have my mom take him for a few hours during the week. 

Edit: that is just the cartridge, you buy the mask separately.

Very cool! Is that foam or felt?

I am a fan of amazon, but if you want to run down to the store...it's not like anyone knows who or what you are buying them for. Just buy with confidence!  

1 hour ago, kfintoni said:

I am late to the conversation but wanted to add my two scents. All my wholesale candles be it private label or not have my warning label on the bottom that includes my business name. I did have one account once ask me if I could leave that off and I said no that for insurance reasons I had to have it on the candle. I found out later that she whites out my name on the warning label on the bottom of the candle. 

 

Karen in MA

Did you do or say anything about it? Or just let it go? I would think that would be on her anyway if there was backlash because you did have the required information.