pinetreecandles

I have been using candle science for my wax and some scents for awhile now and always great customer service. Shipping is the cheapest I have found for my location.

Everyone has their own opinion on what programming language is safe and what isn't. Bottom line is ANY site can be hacked. osCommerce is fine to use, just don't store customers info on the site and make sure you get a secure Cert on it. I see you don't have one. There are contributions that will allow people to buy things from you without registering. Have your BF install it for you. Sites don't typically get hacked unless there is something in it for the hacker...IE it's risk vs reward. Unless it gets them noticed (peers will be impressed or it's in all the papers) or they get some financial gain directly or indirectly, they aren't going to bother with your site. Allow customers to checkout without registering, use a SSL Cert, and Encrypt any customer info that is kept and you will be fine. :smiley2:

I have been using a Soy/Paraffin blend, but just switched to a 60/40 mix of IGI 4627 (Comfort Blend) and IGI 4786 (Classic Blend). Burning my first test candle with it now (Blueberry Cobbler) and it has an outstanding cold and hot throw. I get my supplies from Candle Science and BCN. Good Luck!

You don't really need to have a spout, but if you want one, you might take a look at the link below. It's directions for making one, but uses different parts and a more common size bit. http://www.candlecauldron.com/prestopot.html Good luck!

I don't know about the local, but to be listed in the Business directory of yahoo, you must pay. When you do a search on yahoo using the web, your site shows up, when you do a search on yahoo using the directory, it does not. That is the difference. It shows on yahoo's other search results (from google, ODP, MSN, ect). It's not listed in yahoo's directory. Trust me if there was a way to get into yahoo's business directory without paying for it, I would. Even if you pay the 299.00 fee all that does is guarantee that they will review your site, not list it, and it's not refundable if they don't The local thing sounds good. I will need to look into that.

If your site is still under construction, then don't list it. If you read the fine print of most search engines they will tell you not to list it. You don't want an under construction page showing up in the search engines. You may get them listed, but the updated pages can take months to show up. Unless you want to pay you wont get listed in Yahoo if it's a business and no company will list you either unless they want to pay. It's also a yearly fee. Get listed in google via sitemap and once your in google, get listed in the The Open Directory Project (ODP), which is a volunteer run site index. People look at it and decide if you get listed. If you get into those, you will start showing in others later on. I wouldn't waste my money on a submission service. You can do the same thing for free if your willing to read up on how to do it. This site http://searchenginewatch.com/ will tell you everything you need to know. Good luck

Thanks for the info AngelaVA, it's much appreciated :highfive:

Now days if someone thinks they can make easy dollar off someone they will do it and there are always lawyers who are more than willing to help. No offense AngelaVA . No matter what you sell, your always liable for something. What you have to decide is how much risk your willing to take on someone not coming after you. I don't know the statistics of how many people have faced lawsuits over a defective candle, but I couldn't find any in my area. AngelaVA may be able to shed more light on that. Insurance though is a must no matter how you decide to go.

My Brother-in-law is a Corporate attorney. He said, unless your business is includes a brick and mortar store and you have a physical location in more than one state, there is no reason to incorporate. Get insurance The most you can afford), keep separate accounts, test your candles throughly, and make sure they all carry the warning labels. If someone tries to sue, the burden of proof lies with them. They must prove it was a defect in your candle that caused the problem. No easy task and very costly for them. HTH.

You can always create your own scents by mixing some that already exist.

You can't place it in your domain name, but you can place it in the page title that is surrounded by the rope. I'm not familiar with ASP, but placing the ' shouldn't be a problem. Might have to escape the ' like this \' in the line that it exists in. I agree with previous poster that your logo needs to be much bigger on your intro page. You may want to move it down a bit too (JMO) Looks pretty good though and nice graphics. Update: I agree with what Pamperme. You need more content on your intro page. Maybe place all the navigation links (except shopping cart) on the front page in a few rows on the bottom. Search engines will more likely to surf all your pages that way. Make sure you include the meta tag info, keywords and descriptions in the header. Once you think everything is done. Create a sitemap and submit it to google. Instructions are on the google site. You will find that your site gets indexed much faster that way. one more thing....It looks like your site uses frames. While this is fine, spiders dont like frames very much. It's often better to create the same menu on each page other than on one page and open all others in a frame. (JMO) Good luck

Try what you have. That is the fun of testing..lol

You doing all the work and her making all the profit....My answer would be no thank you!

I actually use a 60/40 para -soy blend that is the best mix I have found. I don't like straight para and I can't stand straight soy. I love the mix though. I don't state anywhere that my candles don't leave soot. I do say that most of mine leave no visible soot if burned properly which is true. I'm making up a fact sheet about para and soy and citing references. Hopefully I can educate some folks that one is not really better than the other. Mostly a matter of choice.

Well Said

I used to use 4786, but since have switched to a different blend. I have used the 51's with an 8 oz jelly before and it was fine. If you have any 51's I would try one and test it. Are you burning it for 4 hours at a time? I had one candle I'm testing now that didn't get the complete melt pool until about 3-1/2 hrs. It was in a 9oz hex jar. Good luck to you. Ps...If you have any soot problems using the 4786 and the Zinc wicks, try a 60/40 blend of 4786 and 4627. I switched to that for awhile and my candles came out far better, never had a soot problem after that, and wet spots were reduced almost to none.

Excellent post. Thank You

I use osCommerce. It's free and there are lots of additions for it which are also free. I will say that it is not for someone who is clueless about PHP. A good paid cart is cubecart.

Try here: http://www.creativecandlesupply.com/cart.php?catid=14

Very nice indeed. Very professional looking. You are certainly on the right track.

Be careful about use the name "Fisherman's Friend", it's a TM name for a cough drop.

I wasn't going to comment on this, but I just can't help myself :laugh2: I have never even heard of this candle maker before now so her marketing tactics must not be working very well. As far as her being open to lawsuits, that is correct. My brother-in-law is a corporate attorney and I asked him to check the website out and give me his opinion and he said, "I don't have to know anything about candles to know that her claims are a lawsuit in the making." He went on to say, there is a big difference in putting "spin" on something and passing information off as fact when it is only an opinion. She would never win a case and if anyone could prove they lost business because of her advertising, she could be liable for damages. The very least she would have to change what she says. Anyone need a good lawyer

I have been making and selling candles for awhile now and never had anyone complain about wet spots. I do everything I can to try and minimize them and that is all I can do. I did just switch to a Para-soy blend and get wet spots on maybe one out of every 5 candles I make. Don't worry about it.

I like the second one the best. As long as the label is clear and easy to read, it shouldn't matter what the font or color is. Not many people buy a candle based on what the label looks like (JMO). If you sell just in shows, then your phone number is best with maybe a business card with email addy on it. If your selling online, then your email address is better. I have two different labels I use based on where it's being sold.