rascal418

Using a new supplier & trying a different type of wax to fill retail orders is a risk. Up to you what to tell customers. In your shoes, I'd say there's a delay, order my old wax & continue testing on the side. I might ask customers if they'd mind testing a new wax tart & get their feedback though. About the cracking, what wax are you using ? For ideas on how to eliminate cracking I'd suggest searching the boards by that wax type. hth

What do I expect at a show? Common decency, a table, chair(s) & some attention to like crafter location. At one busy show we were given lunch menus & had food brought to our tables. That little gesture meant a lot. Very considerate & appreciated. Polar Opposite> The ******* Hotel ::shudder:: The application didn't mention "No food" yet they enforced it at the craft show held in their banquet hall. Not kidding. The 4th hour into the show I packed up. I was getting mean. I was busted for celery & threatend that I wouldn't be asked back. The show ended hours early & some vendors met afterward at Applebees across the highway. I'm just thinking of this now, there was a restaurant at the hotel yet we all chose to go somewhere else. I guess we were aggravated, I know I was. I'm sure the hotel restaurant was adequate but it wasn't reasonable to ask vendors to leave $$$$ in product unattended to eat at the hotel restaurant. Maybe that was part of the aggravation. What advice can I offer you? Geez I dunno.. I guess you can tell the No food show didn't go very well for me LOL Make sure the application clearly states ALL the hotel rules with No surprises. No food is an unreasonable request, people have medical conditions & food is not illegal. Advertising should yield a nice turnout, a busy day & good money for the vendors. Offering hors d'oeuvres is a wonderful idea if it can be worked in. It can be difficult to leave your booth to snack during a busy show though. Someone walking around offering food & drink would work but I don't know how you're going to get around the No food rule? No food is a deal breaker for me. edited to remove the hotel name

What mystical said Not sure I can put this out here (shhh I'm taking a risk ) but when I'm out of packing supplies I use parrothead88 on eBay. Also if you ask store owners to save you boxes & packing they will. Saves them a trip to the dumpster + its being recycled. The store owners don't seem to mind & I don't have to spend as much money on packing supplies.

I chose my business name after doing a record search. You can do that online, phone or mail. If the name isn't tm'd or sm'd try godaddy.com for a free search on available site names. You'll get site name options or you can choose to be put on a waiting list. hth pssst... I like Daisy D'Lite too. I can picture the logo

What I like about paypal> Customer info is already there. What I like about click-n-chip> I have the option to pay for shipping online or at the post office. If it's close to a postage level, Mary Jane (wonderful postal clerk) weighs it & I could save a bit. What I like about both online> free DC btw I've had paypal shipping bug out right before the label loaded to print but I was still charged. 16 business days for a refund on that postage! I don't think I would have received a refund without following up on day 15. Still if I had to pick a carrier it would be fed ex. Most of my packages are heavy, fed ex is less, few days delivery & immediate tracking. Your milage & carrier preference may vary

Tess, I believe it, people try to pull that crap on me all the time ~ comparing apples to alligators. What I really hate is a show where someone is selling at a loss & making outrageous claims. One vendor claimed to have all 'natural' homemade triple scented 16 oz candles with healing powers for $5. A whole pound of healing for $5. Sheesh. If I have the misfortune of being at another show with this fool I swear l'm taping their mouth shut with all natural duct tape with healing powers

I also do a tri-fold brochure. I really like the glossy tri-fold paper but had problems with smearing so I use the lesser expensive flat tri-fold paper. I have windows ME, my brochure can be found under Microsoft Works brochure task. It's pretty easy to set up, I re-did my brochure a few times now. If you're anything like me, you'll be playing until it feels right. I have my name & contact info on the cover & back center of the brochure along with photos. I also use the back cover for customer compliments. The remaining 4 pages I separate by product. Photo(s), product detail, info, highlights, benefits, variety, specialties, gift ideas, pricing you get the idea. Best tip I can give on brochures> Keep it friendly, like you, small bio, highlight your best points, list product info & details. LOTS of photos. Google Picasa2 if you need a free photo editor download. hth

I was on the jarstore.com site last night & they were running a special on the lidless 12 oz metro. Might be worth checking out

Absolutely ~ and thank you ! I'm always up for ideas

barncat, you made me get up LOL I was given a walmart candle over the holidays as a gag gift. (yeah, yeah very funny) Anyway your comment prompted me to go check whats on that thing. OK, the top label is all about wallyworld. It's blue-grey their 'mainstays home' brand + references weight & candle scent. The bottom warning label includes the weight, barcode#, actual manufacturer name (candle-lite) their address & zip. made in usa + walmart.com. This bottom label closely resembles my bottom label when I do private labeling.

That's the rub, I offered this client private labeling twice now & they chose my label. Even last night after the hacking, they didn't want private labeling. It's not like it isn't an option. I spent this afternoon revisiting my minimum wholesale orders, costs, terms of sale & product placement too. Hey, I'm not the only one making money wholesale, the shops do too. I'm curious about some of the replies though. Is it possible to sell wholesale without any labeling?

Thanks for the quick help! Did I ever say how grateful I am to have found this site? I know, I know, wholesale I'm stuck but (I think) even first sale doctrine has standard limitations for resale. I would hope that would extend to required labeling information. I offer private labeling, even offered it again last night. Even with private labels theres certain things I can't get around. ok it bugs me that she hacked the labels without consulting me or without any thought to mutilating the products appearance. No way in bleep are my candles going to sell in her shop the way they look now. They look damaged, second hand. She shot herself in the foot! If we can't come to an agreement on private labeling I'm going to let this shop drop off my radar citing the reasons above. Thanks again for letting me vent & for the advice. I am so glad to have found this place!

Speaking of labeling, what would y'all do if the owner of a store cut off the part of your label with your business name, address & website? My beautiful candles were sitting on the shelves all hacked up. I asked the store owner what happened & she said 1 customer told her they could buy the candles from me so she removed my information. I don't have an exclusive agreement with this shop, I have other clients & I sell candles. She knew all that upfront. I offered to take the candles back & do a private label but she doesn't want that. I never thought I'd want to lose a client but between the attitude & the hack job I'm ready for whatever happens. And I have to protect myself, the last 24 hours my mind is racing with insurance, product & liability issues. Advice welcome tia

I did my first school show this past November & was surprised how many parents & grandparents came out to support the event. In <4 hours I made 11x my table cost & after the show I received several orders via email for candles & corporate gift baskets. If you can, work your items into the school theme (or colors) & take 2-3 times as much inventory as you think you'll need. Be sure to take 3x as many brochures & business cards too. HTH Good luck

Veronica, your candles are beautiful! If it makes you feel any better my last 2 shows were slow. The next one should be better, I sold really well there before (late November) & I've already emailed my buyers about the show & offered a 10% discount. I hope they come out & bring friends, lots of friends.

Hi Tony, I've tried rotating my candles between the cooler (w/ice packs) and the display every hour. The rotation got tiring & made a long day seem twice as long. If someone comes along with a better idea I'm all for it. I just wanted to add 2 Craft Show Tips Before you unload, check your spot & the closest door. Walk over, see if similar crafters are nearby. If within spitting distance (like that? DH coined that term LOL) ask if another spot is available. Always introduce yourself to the other crafters regardless of what they're selling, you just never know who they know. I've made some good contacts that way! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're checking out a new show or a vendor gives you a flyer about one ~ ask questions before committing. How many shows have been held there? Buyer Traffic last show Outdoors, Indoors, Electric, ($ difference) Whats included in the price? Table, electric, chair, lunch Parking, Load & Unload, Steps Rain Dates Does your permit or tax id need to be displayed? Where is the show advertised or promoted? What usually sells well there, ask what they sell & how well they did. I found crafters to be a very honest bunch

I'll dish. Lately, I've been having some fun with this, I tell them the truth > "I've been thinking about offering candle business consulting services. You know, offering up my years of experience & research for a price. Might even expand, take on a partner & franchise. How much time & money do you have ?" I get weird looks, I guess they don't think of this as a business. btw the 'partner' thing caught 2 of my competition off guard, they started talking business, to me, the person they were just trying to steal secrets from! Partnering with a lazy wannabe thief, I don't think so! Last year I had a woman come up to my booth, asking ? after ? almost distracting me from customers. On a break I walked around the festival & sure enough she had a candle booth. Guess what I'm saying is sometimes questions aren't innocent. Don't let your guard down.

I better re-think the sign, I'm starting to have flashbacks ! Y'all made me remember a vacation we planned around visiting 1 collectible store. The store was a pain to get to - located on a far island = ferry ride with our 2 toddlers. Still we were looking forward to visiting that shop, they advertised hard to find unique items that DH collected. After a 40 minute ferry ride & much walking we got to the shop & there was a sign on the door "No one admitted under 14 years of age". We had lunch & took the ferry back without entering the store. Funny how you forget things like that. That was @8 years ago. My kids aren't babies anymore but they're supervised when we're out. If they lose or break something I pay for it, my kids, my responsibility. I'm finding that mindset very rare nowadays. Maybe I'm a dinosaur or raised wrong. I dunno. btw Thanks for the positive tips in dealing with the more 'enthusiastic' patrons. Great ideas :0)

Thanks Robin, appreciate the move Meg, thanks for the tips! Good idea, wrapped candy - keep those little hands busy. Hey, the sugar boost might give them enough energy to find their parents & bring them back to spend $ LOL Opinions: Is it offensive to put a "you break it you bought it" sign up in the booth? I had 2 honey pot jars crack during my last show & both culprits ran off. I haven't put up a sign like that yet but breakage costs me time & money. Thoughts ?

Wonderful tips & advice, thanks for sharing. Tam, last summer I tried a cooler with ice paks. I alternated the candles, table, cooler every hour. It was hectic, very hot & didn't go as well as I hoped. I'm sure someone has a better solution. I hate to start posting here with a ? but I need advice > I am a child magnet. The little unsupervised darlings zoom in, grab a jar & whoopee it's open. I get tense when little hands or (even an adult) bull in a china shop start in on my table. I offer to open the jars, (sometimes take it out of their hands) but they pick up another one. I don't want to discourage a sale but... there's a difference between people gently handling the jars & folks that treat glass like it won't break. How do y'all manage children/bull in the china shop without losing a sale? Does anyone post a breakage policy at their booth? Like a you break it you bought it? Ideas, advice most welcome & appreciated. p.s. and to think I got into candlemaking to relax LOL