pinetreecandles

Just looked at your site again and I like the changes you have made. Flow is much better and there isn't much scrolling which is very nice at least at my screen resolution. Nice job!

As far as the polyeth bags sucking out the scent, my experience is they DO. I had about 6 baggies with tarts in them that sat in a box for about 6 months. They were tarts I have used to experiment with and forgot about them. One day I came across them and I could smell the scent on the baggies, but the tarts themselves had no scent. I wrap my tarts in polypro and had never had that problem. HTH

I use Oscommerce which Zen Cart is based off of. Once you play around with it some, it's not hard to modify and you won't find another shopping cart with more Contributions than it has. I currently have 75 installed in mine...lol It has the purchase without account your looking for available. I have been playing with Zen Cart for awhile now. It's learning curve is a bit higher (The templating system is what I'm talking about), but it's nice also..missing some functionality that I need. If you want an all in one package including the purchase without account, you can try OSC Max which can be found here It has many things already added to the package. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I like the site and the page load times are fast for me (I'm on cable). This may be just a matter of preference but I would limit the number of products that list down a page. I'm a somewhat familiar with Zen cart so I think you can set how many to show before a page break. In the footer of the site you have a link "Earn Free Candles!" clicking on that gives me the 404 error or No page found. I also noticed it's in your header, but in white so only a little shows up. It looks nice and clean though. You did a good job modifying the cart. That is not the easiest one to use. I'm currently playing with Zen Cart to see if I can modify it to meet my needs. I use Oscommerce right now. Well done!

I use J223 and start with a Low Smoke Zinc 21 or HTP 83

I just poured Rose Petals from Cajun Candles yesterday and had to open the bay door and windows to the shop! I couldn't go in until it aired out some. It's very strong, but smelled like rose. It did remind me of old lady perfume, but most flowery scents do...lol It actually sells fairly well and the number one buyers are old ladies...lol No offense to any elderly...Im well on my way to that!

You can thank the countless cheats and email for the constant rise in postage prices. The USPS loses millions every year to scammers and plan regular email. As far as regular postage goes, more people are emailing now since it's free so the Post Office has to make up the loss some how. Bottom line, as long as email is free, the cost of 1st class postage will continue to rise and as long as there are scammers, the cost of sending packages will continue to rise.

That is really too vague of a question. It depends on lots of factors, but for me it's how much I paid for the container, wax, labels, FO, wicks, and dye. After I total that up I typically multiply that by 3 for retail and 2 for wholesale. That is generally how I do it, but it can vary depending on other factors.

My wife says that she would prefer that I make a batch of candles in the house instead of in the shop when I'm going to cook dinner! This way my cooking doesn't smell so bad!

sorry to hear of that. I just checked on the names I use and I need to change 3 of them I guess Look on the bright side, if they are worried about you using those names then you must be doing something right! They are doing the same thing Epay (Ebay) does. They see a website that they feel could be successful, they get their multitude of lawyers involved and get them shutdown. If that doesn't work, they buy them (Paypal).

Thanks for the replies. Think I will order some from CS and Peak to see which one I like better.

Can anyone recommend an awesome peach scent for candles? TIA

I use them for some of my containers. It depends on the scent. All I can say is test , test, test! Of the scents I use there is only a few that I can use with the HTP and J223. I mostly use the Low Smoke Zincs. HTH

I currently use a modified table rate. I charge a flat fee of 5.00 and then .50 per pound. I use this for the lower 48. Alaska, Hawaii and Canada is via USPS real time. It's actually pretty accurate 98% of the time. As mentioned, Real Time calculators are only as good as the info you give them. The more accurate your info is the more accurate your shipping. I have found that customers have less tolerance for over paying when using the calculators. Using the tables I have never had one compliant. Just make sure you explain everything in your terms. As far as web hosting goes, I use http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/ I have never had a problem with them and the support is awesome. They have several different shopping carts to choose from, but I'm not sure about programs to help you design your own. I do my own websites. Good luck with whatever you choose! :smiley2:

It's one of the few I carry year round, but most sales come in the spring/summer.

Just did a show last weekend and had about 2 dozen tarts, 6-8 oz containers and, 2-16 oz containers. sold all the tarts, 4 of the 8 oz and one of the 16 oz. I think next year I will do only 4 oz and tarts in that scent. Go with the smaller sizes.

I just recently moved back to WV from Maine. My bother sells collectibles and had an extra table for a 2 day festival this past weekend and asked me If I wanted to take one of the tables for my candles. My display stands got broken during the move, I didn't have any real time to get a nice supply of candles ready, and selling next to someone who is selling collectibles doesn't sound like success, but I did it anyway. I saw two other chandlers at this show. One had up a large banner and all kinds of signs with 100% natural soy. The other one didn't have a banner, but was soy also and had a listing of benefits from using soy so all could see. I had no signs and I don't use soy. I had a plan table and just the candles sitting out on it. I could see the other two candle makers from my spot and they had a few lookers and very few buyers, I on the other hand had lots of lookers and lots of buyers. 500.00 for two days was much better than I thought I would get at this show and with the most basic setup. Bottom line: People are much smarter than you think and most don't care what is in it as long as it smells great and is what they want. I wouldn't bother with that lady. If you need signs and information to sell your products then there is a problem. They should sell themselves. ps. Actually selling next to my brother was a good thing...the women with kids bought candles while the kids bought collectibles. Even made a few sales to men who bought collectibles and then bought a candle for their wife so she wouldn't get mad for buying the collectibles in the first place.

If you don't have Microsoft Office, but would like to use some of the templates that are available, then try http://www.openoffice.org/. It is free and will open most MS Office things. If any of the templates use Macros then it may not work, but for most things it does.

Nothing that I have ever heard of. Probably got that info from an anit-paraffin activist. A candle that is melted via a warmer doesn't emmit anything other than the scent, unless someone can show me scientific edvidence that says otherwise.

If your looking for containers then try this place..http://www.jarstore.com/default.htm They ask for a company name at signup, but no Tax ID. If you don't have a company name, then make one up. I have found them to have the best prices for the containers that I use.

That wax will work fine wickless. I have made many wickless candles with it and the scent throw with that wax is awesome. I use Low smoke zinc with that wax also and it works great.

I'm currently building a site that I pay 8.95 a month for. It has plenty of space and bandwidth. If I find later that I need more, then I can change to a larger plan and it's still under 20.00 a month. I guess the only drawback is having to build my own site and shopping cart. The only reason I haven't gone live is the pictures. I can't take a picture to save my life..lol If you want the link to the hosting site, let me know.

Yeah I didn't know how long it would last, but something like this is important so I thought I would post it anyway.

Whatever became of this? I was just reading a post on another forum and looks like this same person is at it again. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/candlecauldron/vpost?id=1338303

I use Print Shop and have never had a problem...Knock on wood. My printer is HP Office Jet Multifunction. Had it for several years now and has always worked great.