botanica

Yes, that's my policy. I expect all the business info, including their tax i.d. #. I still believe that I'm getting copycat candlemakers who want to maybe compare their own pricing/product line. I like wholesale a lot, and have had good luck with it. I want to continue doing this, but need to develop a strategy to deal with this situation.

Within the past year, I've gotten a few wholesale inquiries that I believe are fake--they're just fishing for my pricing. How do you handle this? I've gotten these requests for my wholesale catalogue from my website and over the phone. I don't want to turn down legitimate business, but I also don't want to give away info to copycats either.

That's awesome when you have nothing to pack up at the end of the day! Congrats! Did you give her a deal?

Same as you, Bunkie. My sales were down so much last winter that I decided to take a break after having my baby in January to concentrate on her. I have considered throwing in the towel, but have decided to hang on and try a couple of local shows this holiday season. I've also kept my one wholesale account, and probably will do my own open house for Christmas. Wish me luck!

Very true. It was a very small group of vendors...about 8. Everyone had their same spots everyday. Believe me, we got there mighty early the next day, not that I owe anyone an explanation. And you're right, there is no need to sound mean. This is supposed to be a light-hearted discussion.

No, as ridiculous as it was, it was a first-come first-serve spot each day. We had to set up and tear down each day--for five days straight. We don't do that show anymore, for really obvious reasons....

Yes! My husband and I both said that a couple of years ago when we had another "experience" at a week-long show where the only other candlemaker stole our spot (after day 3) and lots of other vendors came over to help us set up, give us free stuff like lighters to give away with our products, etc. out of sympathy. You can't make this stuff up! Pure crafty drama. It's fun to watch from a distance....

That's hilarious!!! I love it!!!! And yes, Grumpy Girl, I was thinking that my almost toxic hormonal level could be used as an excuse in the court of law if I needed to take further action. (:

Exactly! The show wasn't even open yet, we were still setting up, and she didn't think I was going to cover them so she did it herself. It's not my responsibility to make sure your display looks its' best!

Ok, I've been doing shows on and off for about 8ish years. I just got back from a show and had something happen that was a first. So, I got there a little late to set up...we were frantically trying to get everything together--picture it....3 tables, about 20 boxes everywhere, candles and stuff going where they need to go, but everything is chaos. In the middle of this, the lady next to me says, "Could you cover up the back of your display because it's not good for the effect of my display". I stopped short and just looked at her. Is she serious? What she was talking about was the back of my gershel risers, which if you have them, you know they have lettering on them and are open. This is something I would have done anyway, but first things first, right? I told her that I would try if I had time. So, when I finally got to the point where I could do this, I go to cover them, and when I wasn't looking, she had put three little cloths, with my candles on top of them to hold them in place, to cover up the back of my display. I couldn't believe that she would have the audacity to actually TOUCH my products and change my display. I confronted her and told her that she was very rude, and that she should never touch someone else's display without permission. She told me that she was doing it to "help me". I said, hey, lets keep it real, you were trying to help yourself. She said that she does a lot of shows and that she tries to make friends with her neighbors. I told her that a good place to start was not to ask your neighbor to change their display in the middle of frantic setup, and then change it yourself without permission. Mind you...if I wasn't 8 months pregnant, maybe I wouldn't have reacted to this the same way....I bet she won't touch someone else's display again, what do you think? Anyone else have a good craft show story?

Ah ha, maybe the html button is considered the "design" button? Thanks! I'll give it a try.

Please help! It's driving me nuts, and I'm hoping someone is brighter than I am regarding this....I've tried a couple of different things, and nothing has worked. I don't know if the code is being changed by frontpage or what, but it doesn't link to paypal...says something like, "thanks for submitting this form..." Are there verifiable alternatives to inserting code other than the insert, web component, advanced controls option?? My hosting company doesn't offer support with design features. They suggested that I go into the design view to insert html, but my version of frontpage doesn't seem to have a "design" view. Unless I'm not looking in the right page....

I'm doing so much I can't really think straight. Today I made pine needle & plumeria soy candles and foaming body scrub. I really need to make body wash, hand soap, smelly jellies and my new soap recipe that I'll be doing hp.

Thanks Meredith! I'll check out those oils in soapcalc and try it out. I don't want to spend more than I have to, but at the same time I have the oils already....I probably could use them for something else I guess. Maybe I'll try out both recipes and see which one I like better. It's all new to me. (:

Thanks again for all your input everyone! Those numbers can be confusing to a newbie. I will definately try olive too and see what happens with that...Any other suggestions will be taken and treated like gold.

Thank you so much for your replies! It has been interesting plugging in different numbers of my available oils... So, with the oils I have on hand, this is what I came up with... 40% almond(sweet) 30% coconut (is this too much coconut??) 10% macadamia 20% palm oil (I also have sunflower and canola but thought I should leave them out to avoid DOS? And I also have olive and veg. shortening-the generic kind). The qualities all seem on target, maybe?: hardness: 38 cleansing:20 conditioning: 55 bubbly lather: 20 creamy lather: 18 iodine: 61 INS: 157 So what do you experts think? Any help is much appreciated, seriously! I was thinking of doing this hp really soon because I'd like to use it asap (:

Hi there! I'm a soaping newbie, and have started to figure out a good recipe. I put my info into soapcalc.com, and am wondering if anyone has thoughts on these fatty acid percentages? Some are 0, and I don't know if I should adjust anything because of that? I don't know a whole lot about fatty acids, but my soap quality percentages were good. Thanks!!!! Lauric 14 Linoleic 10 Linolenic 0 Myristic 6 Oleic 45 Palmitic 15 Ricinoleic 0 Stearic 2

These things have been a little difficult for me to color. My jasmine turned the purple brownish. I can't get a red for my christmas scent--it turned out orange. I'd like any hints too. I have been using food coloring...

Thanks everyone for your responses and curiosity! This has been a learning process...now to actually order the codes!

By WF, do you mean Whole Foods?

For this account, they expressly asked me not to do that. They said that if you have one type of product, say a 16oz candle, then just get a barcode for that, and it will be used for all scent varieties. I have lots of scents, and it complicates it for them when putting the info into their system. Now, if there's some hard and fast legal rule about this, I'd sure want to know. I think it makes lots of sense to do one per scent, size, product, but I don't know if that's always necessary. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

First of all, congrats on this. You'll really enjoy making all that money without having to set up at a show--even with the price break. It could be a lot, so be ready! I did a fundraiser in the spring and some of the kids didn't sell anything at all, and some were over-achievers. Maybe 10 each might be a good average?? It's really hard to tell. But, you better get to work! Good luck (:

It's one per product. If you have the same product with different sizes, you would then need one per size. That's what they requested of me to make it easier to input them into their system.

I did it! I actually figured it out...I'm really bad with computers. Since I'm doing my site, it'll take me a 100 years with all my products. So, here's a pic. (:

I'm in the process of revamping it, so until it's done I'm too embarrassed to share. I'll try to attach a pic...if I can figure out how... Jodie