soapmom25

ok, I gotta ask .... what do you do with these things??? LOL Seriously ~ I've never seen these anywhere and hadn't ever even heard of them until the post a few weeks ago on the banana ones.

Do they drop in like a bath bomb? Do they fix, or melt??

and my real pondering .... aren't you afraid a child would eat one?? I only ask because of personal experience ... was making cupcake shaped soaps a few weeks ago and my 1 year old reached right up, helped himself and took a big bite!!!

It kinda reminded me of the cradle crust that babies get. I'm just hoping that it's because he's not really scrubbing when he washes his hair- I'm gonna inspect everyday now and keep an eye on it.

My oldest son gets this exactly, but just in one spot on his head ~ about the size of a quarter or half dollar. When he first opened it and it was sore I put Emu oil on it (straight). Then after it healed when it flares up (he sees flakes, but knows now not to dig at it), I use Scalpicin and within a few days he's good as new.

Have yet to figure out a rhyme or reason as to why it happens, just "one of those things" .....

so sorry to hear of your disappointment, but don't let it get you down!! This has happened to me in my biz several times and I just chug right along. Sometimes I drop the idea, and still others I stay with it just on the off chance that the "other" biz with drop their version.

I could totally see your scenario happening to me because I can count on one hand how many times I've been to mall in the last 5 years!! Whenever anybody talks about BBW, VS, etc. I'm clueless as to what they carry because I literally never shop there!

Can you elaborate as to what you were planning so maybe we can chime in on some optional ideas??

very cute! gives me a new idea with what to do with the boxes of crates I have taking up space LOL

question though ... doesn't the cedar overpower the soap scent?? I would think the soap would also absorb the cedar smell. Not such a bad thing if you LOVE cedar, but I'm thinking I wouldn't want to wash with it and then smell like cedar.

thanks guys! I think we'll stay with our current system since DH is getting pretty good & quick at it anyway! Sometimes extra cost is worth the savings in time though, so I'll try crunching some numbers and see where we come out

Funky Monkey ... our shrink tubing comes in a huge roll similar to trash bags, food saver film, etc. ~ you just pull out a big length of it, cut it a little larger than what you want to shrink and go from there. Sometimes we've used it just like that, other times have used the sealer to seal the edges and make the "bag" smaller so it shrinks tighter. It is very versatile We get ours from PackCo. ~ $20.00 and less for a roll of 1000 feet + depending on the width you buy.

regarding the heating of it .... we use a heat gun. We started with a hair dryer and decided to go ahead and dig out the heat gun when we moved production out of the house and into our shop and we wished we would have done it sooner! The shrink tightens up SOOOO much prettier with the heat gun ~ apples & oranges, no comparison that the heat gun is far superior. DH uses and "ove glove" so he can hold the soap while he's heating/shrinking.

so are the open ends intended to stay open (i.e. not "completely" cover the whole soap)? I'm still having a hard time visualizing how they would look on the finished product ...

isn't it funny how people/methods differ?! I can never use the freezer method without getting horrible sweat! The soaps don't always sweat right away, but they do the next day. Could be my base or "the air" (region/climate), but whatever it is, none of my soaps can tolerate being chilled or frozen ~ I get sweat every time.

I think I know the exact mold you're talking about, but I think I sold mine otherwise I'd send it to you so you'd have a "back-up"! It's a rectangle bar with the writing at an angle? A milky way mold or similar?

If so, what I do for those kind is make sure to let the soap completely cool (an hour or so at minimum) then when I'm ready to pop them out, I tug sideways first to loosen the sides and create an air gap. Once that "seal" is broken, you can turn the mold over and barely push on it with your thumb and it will drop right out onto the table.

I've seen a couple references to these, but when I looked on MMS there's no picture (could be my browser, but I didn't even see a link for a picture) ~ so I was hoping somebody here might have some around that they could show me what they are. We currently buy shrink wrap by the roll and DH cuts & seals it to make special sized packaging for a few of our soaps. Would LOVE to find something that could be assembled quicker

for orange I much prefer WSP's "citrus orange" liquid dye. I love BC dyes, but orange & pink never do good for me.

that is too darn cute!! I used to think I made neat soaps till I joined here ~ you guys run circles around me

Can't say for sure this will help since I don't use this particular base, but you might try *not* melting it all the way ~ zap it in the micro for 30 sec. at a time, take out and stir, and when you've got quarter sized chunks, stop heating and just stir until the chunks dissolve.

holy cow ~ this is only a few hours from me!! too cool

I've worked both sides for years and have never required my vendors to sign an agreement nor have I been required to sign one in order to carry other products on my sites.

Make sure you COMPLETELY understand drop shipping though ~ it's highly advantageous to the person who's selling your products, but not always such a good deal for you if you're the one doing the work and shipping the products.

I don't have any drop shippers anymore because I'm too much of a control freak and couldn't stand not being able to control "when" something shipped and being 100% certain of the quality and packaging. I never had a problem, but it just bugged me long enough that I quit.

I still drop ship for a few sites, but will be quitting that VERY soon. I used to drop ship for about 12 different sites, but I have voluntarily given up the accounts because it's just too much of a PITA.

I have a website and my customers expect me have the correct USPS rates & #'s per piece. I try very hard to keep it updated accurately. I want to keep my customers!

I just calculated shipping for different No of gallons of Head to Toe Lotion from WSP. 1 gal/12.84, 2 gal/16.84, 3 gal/30.97, 4 gal/26.43, 8 gal/52.86, 12 gal/79.29. I'm sorry, but this is crazy. There is very little savings (if any) buying in bulk. Where did the 30.97 for 3 gal come from. I agree that the 26.43 for 4 gal looks a little better, but shipping 4 gal from BCN is only 18.46. BCN is a good deal further from me than WSP. This is shipping to zip 76691 in Texas. It appears to me that someone has doctored the rates!!!!!!! :cry2: :cry2:

it doesn't make sense sometimes, that's for sure! As I stated above, what keeps me buying is the fact that my overall price (with shipping) is lots less for the same quantity of product when compared to other suppliers. For what I buy BCN isn't even in the ballpark and it's not solely due to shipping ~ I'm in Indiana, which isn't far from WI, but their product price is off the chart ..... what I do love about BCN is that they will discount from what's on the shopping cart calculator if you have a commercial address, so I still order other stuff from them, just not soap. WSP claims it "doesn't matter" which I know isn't true since I ship UPS daily outgoing and see first hand the savings of commercial vs. residential.

I tried a lot of combinations of product, even only 1 gallon, and it was still ridiculous shipping. I am in Texas. I order most of my supplies from BCN in Wisconsin and their shipping is less than 1/2 of WSPs. Thks for the responses and suggestions. Carole

If at all possible, try the reverse ... order MORE. That's where the "value" comes in for me ~ I buy in bulk, or at the very least by multiples of whatever it is that I'm ordering. Shipping on just 1 gallon would definitely not be "worth it" unless you want it just for personal use I guess.

If it's a good seller, try pricing 5 gallons or 10 gallons ~ the shipping divided between that many gallons should (I say should LOL) come out more reasonable.

There doesn't seem to be 1 supplier with the best product price AND the best shipping cost, at least not on what I buy. I put up with WSP's shipping because as I said before ~ the product itself is nice to work with and overall actually costs less than to buy it from somewhere else.

what was the weight of your package? If you ordered multiple gallons, it could either (A) be kind of heavy or ( be getting shipped in multiple packages. I shipped 2 large boxes yesterday from IN to UT and they were over $20.00 each (43 something for the 2 of them together) and this morning sent a box to CA that was nearly $17.00 ~ and I have a 'discounted' daily pick-up rate!

If you know the weight, or can calculate it very close, go to UPS website and punch in the numbers ~ round up on the weight, and be sure to account for whether you are a commercial or residential address, and just see what the quote comes up. You may be surprised just how high it actually is.

All that said ~ I'm not "defending" WSP to you, because I do think they're unfair in the way they charge. I'm in IN and I can order soap from them and it's about $100.00 for shipping, and I can order the same quantity from IL and it's around $76.00 for shipping (both being just 1 state away from me). Bottom line is that WSP "total" is less though because their product price is better!

I use cinnamon all the time and I get nice brown soap.

Does that replace FO? If not, how does if effect the scent? Any problems with it staining (tub or skin), or irritating skin?

You wouldn't happen to have a picture would ya? I have 2 shades of brown, and this would be so much cheaper than the concoction I have to whip of right now LOL, even if it only achieves 1 of the shades, that would be great!

I've never found a brown dye that made anything more than a nice tan. Best bet is to mix colors ~ that's what I do, and I can make a chocolate brown!

Hadn't even thought of using cocoa powder ~ will try that next time though, especially since I sent mine with ICS choc. kisses

Please call and ask why you are not seller protected.....if you are not clear, you can ask to speak to a sup we are here for another hour tonight

After asking 5 or 6 times (literally, I'm not exaggerating), I finally got an answer that the reason the payment was reversed was because I violated the SPP by not responding with their requested info (that list from the other thread) within 10 days. Withholding information violates whatever protection I would have had ~ as so it should. Problem was ~ I *did* respond, and rather timely I thought. A whopping 5 hours and 12 minutes after they emailed their request. Well within 10 days, and had the "sent" email to prove it.

Again, multiple emails later, and once again having to go through the web form to prompt a reply, I finally got an email saying the transaction was "re" reviewed and it was decided the reversal was placed on my account in error .... oops. Funds were going to be reinstated to my account.

So after many, many hours of stressful "fighting" and standing up for myself I know now even more so than I ever already did that keeping good records and doing everything "by the book" is essential. Thankfully that was a skill I already possessed. I honestly didn't do anything wrong in this case, and it took me MANY hours to prove that, but I did

Still wondering what even started the whole thing though, and final emails from PayPal said they couldn't divulge information without a court order. Obviously I'm not going to get a lawyer, but after feeling raked over the coals for the last 3 weeks it sure would be nice to know "why" and what's become of it now (the 'buyer' and the products) .....

Be patient....let them get back to you then update us....They are pretty good in responding within 24-48 hours but sometimes if they are backed up it can take the 72 hours.

Got an interesting response yesterday ... (I've been asking for something ~ documentation, etc. ~ to explain their "decision") The email said they couldn't release any information regarding the transaction when another member's account was involved. So I read this to mean either the buyer paid from a Pay Pal account, or else she's making claim on another PayPal member other than just me. How do you interpret it???

Consumers can use their cc companies to do a chgbk up to 180 days after the initial purchase...PayPal does not make the final decision, the cc do.

this is the kind of info I've been searching for, but couldn't find any official source saying just exactly how long a consumer has to make a claim. Funny they have so long when Pay Pal and UPS are much shorter ~ hence giving me no recourse of again.

If what you say it true about the decision being the CC company, then that must be why PP has their Seller's Protection Policy. **BUT** therein lies the next quandry .... if I did everything right and within the policy, why are the funds being taken from my account and not "covered" within their $5,000.00 a year limit??? They haven't answered that one yet either ....

Just a thought but it may not be that the customer waited until now to submit the chargeback, it's possible that you just found out about it now because the CC company just now decided in her favor...

hmmm ~ not sure. Since Pay Pal won't divulge any information I don't have much to go on. First email was on 6/22 and said the transaction was being investigated (exact words) and I should withhold shipping until the investigation was complete. Too bad I had already shipped over 3 months prior!

Next 'decision' related email was on 7/10 when I was informed that they (Pay Pal) had decided to reverse the payment. Simple as that, no explanation as to "why" or "what" I did or didn't do. When I questioned their reasoning they referred me to the Seller's Protection Policy. When I questioned which part of the policy I didn't follow they quit responding. That's when I called (which was just today), and the girl on the phone couldn't "explain" either. She said she'd re-submit my proof of delivery info and have someone from the pending reversal department contact me. I won't hold my breath .....

So see, I can't really 'tell' if this was a CC issue passed on to PP or not. Seems like it has to be a "chargeback", but the fact that they (PP) said they were doing the investigation makes in seems like an in-house thing ... too confusing!

WSP is in OH. I buy from them quite often and are quite fond of their M&P bases. I use the ProBase Big Blocks mostly.

oh, this was a chargeback.....PayPal does not make the decision on these, the buyers cc does. PayPal takes a loss for handling the chargeback as well. Sorry that this happened to you.

But if you shipped within 7 days and responded to the chgbk within 10 days with valid tracking you should be covered under seller protection if you shipped to a confirmed address.

Like I said, call to get an explanation as to why you weren't covered.

Pay Pal is the one who emailed me, and they won't release the method of payment because they say it's covered within their privacy policy! I did ship within 7 days (5 calendar, 3 business), and responded to the chargeback immediately. I did call today after 2 days of useless emails where they completely avoided my direct questions. Girl on the phone had no answer either. She even confirmed that I followed every step of the Seller Protection Policy, and their own receipt says the buyer was "confirmed", so the billing/shipping must have matched.

She just "re-did" the proof stuff (tracking number, carrier, etc.) and sent it over to another department who's supposed to call or email me tomorrow. We'll see ......

But then you can go after UPS and file a claim with them if that is the case

Actually ... I can't do that because UPS has strick time limits and this is WAY past. Customer received the items in March, and chargeback occured in June.

Still hunting for info online for general time limitations, there just has to be a limit somewhere. Seems ridiculous that a claim can be made this far after the fact.