girlyracer

I get my LX wicks pre-tabbed and coated in natural wax for my soy candles from 4candles.com . They are based in East Yorks. They're reasonably priced and delivery is quite quick. You can check them out here http://www.4candles.co.uk/wick/candle_wick.html

Ruby

I've just opened my website today. Just had my first sale and the first I knew was a paypal notification of payment.

Yea!! :whoohoo:

Well done! How quick a sale was that.

Many congrats. They say the first sale is the hardest. Should be plain sailing from now on (fingers crossed)

Ruby

I couldn't agree with you more SherriLynn.

Consumers like variety just think about your own feelings when you walk into a shop or shopping mall. From a business point of view healthy competition will keep you on your toes. It makes sure that your products are always up to date and in keeping with today's consumer trends.

I feel that people who constantly moan and whine about fellow competitors lack self confidence in not only themselves and their abilities but also in their products. In business you can never afford to become complacent. Do that and it's only a matter of time before some new kid on the block comes along and knocks you off of your pedestal.

Just my two pennies worth.

Ruby

That's good. It means that whoever built your site did a good job on SEO.

Ruby

Hi Yvette.

Is yr site custom built or are you using a shopping cart like OSC or Zen Cart?

Ruby

Hi Nat

I've just read the specs on Primera's website. It's a pretty awesome machine but then it at nearly 1000 quid it has to be.

I could be wrong but it looks like you can't use just any old labels, they have to be specific. You can buy various sizes and prices range between £15-£20 per roll. depending on the label size you get 300 or 700 on each roll. Smaller sizes are about 1500 on a roll.

The ink cartridges, which is usually the killer, cost about £35. Not too bad a price. I pay £36 for my Samsung toner at Cartridge World. Not too sure on the coverage and how many labels you'll get from each cartridge.

The printer does however give you the professional finish you're after. It would definitely be worth considering it especially if your candles and b&b products are being sold in shops locally. So many times a good quality handmade product loses its value because of a cheap looking label. If anything it should increase your sales.

Nat, if your business is about to go huge big time can you afford not to get it, it's an asset after all.

Ruby

Ooh thy look scrummy. I could go for a couple of them right now with a cup of tea lol.

Ruby

ecosoya is for the pengiuns. Doesnt matter what you add, it wont throw far enough.

Hi George.

Unfortunately, this is the only brand of soy wax we can purchase here in the UK. We don't have the choice that you guys have, not fair .

Ruby

Hiya!

You probably did tell yr BIL, but typical man he probably didn't listen :rolleyes2. They all seem to have selective hearing.

What soy are you using? If it's ecosoya then you can go up to 9% on FO. They state that you can go up to 12% but I think that's a bit OTT.

Not too sure on the paraffin as I don't work with it. I'm sure someone will step in and help you out on that score.

Ruby

Hi Manda.

Yep definitely put them on the bottom of the candle and not the packaging. If you ever look at pillar candles sold in the Hight St shops you'll notice that the labels are always on the candle itself.

Mind you, it doesn't mean that people will read and take note of them.

Ruby

Hi chrisasst. I would sell them as 5oz candles. I'm in the UK and we don't have to state what weight candles are but I do believe that in the US, you have to by law state the weight of your products.

If I'm wrong then I'm sure there are plenty who'll step in and put the record straight.

Ruby

you do need one of the heavy duty STEP DOWN transformers - I tried one of those other ones, it blew up my presto pot and the convertor. Had to throw the presto pot out.

Thanks for reiterating that Natty. I knew you'd post your own personal experiences .

It seems that the Presto Pot transformer thread keeps coming up more frequently these days as more UK people join up.

Ruby

Oh wow! They are absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing that with us Sabrina.

Ruby

That's what my MIL does. She's 74 and she makes handmade cards to help stave off her arthritis (bless her). She goes in there for ideas but she'll only buy if they're having a sale. She gets her stuff from a local craft shop much cheaper and every once in a while I take her to The Range.

Ruby

Just found another transformer made by Newmarket in Devon for only 64 pounds with a case. Bit of a savings! The first ones listed are without the case for 57.50. They are step downs! (VAT not included)

www.newmarket-transformers.co.uk/autos.asp

Hi there. There not that much cheaper. Once you add VAT they come to £75 plus delivery. The other site charge £79.99 including VAT and they do FREE delivery. No matter which way you look at it us Brits pay through the nose for everything. Welcome to rip-off Britain.

Ruby

Yes, we do have crockpots and slow cookers but the ones on sale here don't have a precise temperature control. Ours just say low, medium or high. there is no thermometer type gauge on it at all. We don't have fry daddys or turk'n'surfs here either. We have deep fat fryers, but our ones start at a temperature of about 100C (212F). Too hot to melt any form of wax. Great for making chips though .

kandlcrazy, I'm not sure that those would work here. They look like travel adaptors, the kind you take when you go on holiday to foreign parts. I wouldn't think that they would cope with running a presto pot continuously for hours on end. Nattycat has in the past posted her first experiences with presto pots, and the heavy duty transformers are the ones, I believe, that she uses.

Ruby

Ok, I'm going to check that out because I bought one of those voltage thingies (several years back) and I think I paid $8.00 here!! Can't be more than $20.00 now. I'll let you know when I find out.

In order to use a Presto Pot this is the sort of thing we have to use here in the UK http://www.beststuff.co.uk/pbright_vc1500.htm

Ruby

Wanted to see what it would cost to ship a Presto Pot there and for regular snail mail it was like $41.00, plus the $24.00 for the pot...I guess it's too expensive to buy here and have shipped.

Actually at the current exchange rate it works out at about £33 which isn't a lot of money for us Brits here.

The killer for us is paying £80 ($160) for a transformer to change the voltage from your 110V to our 240V so we can use the blasted thing.

Ruby

Hobbycraft are mega-expensive. FO isn't even all that nice!

but' date=' did you say metal moulds mine hasn't got those[/quote']

They had a few, not many, they had one for doing hurricanes (I think). I didn't get the price though. If you're interested I can have a look for you and let you know the prices. I'll be in town again later on in the week so I'll check. Don't think they're going to be cheap though.

Our one has only just gotten candlemaking supplies in and they're all made by Yaley. I don't know how well they rate amongst other US suppliers.

Ruby

OK I always knew that Hobbycraft was a bit overpriced. Well, today I was in my local town centre and I had a bit of time to spare so I thought I'd pop into the store. They've just introduced a small (very, very small) section on candlemaking supplies. It's all imported stuff made by Yaley. OMG. £4.99 for 1oz of FO that's $10.00 to you US peeps.

Daylight robbery or what!!! I was gobsmacked. Where do they get off charging so much??!! I walked out in disgust I didn't even bother to check out the metal molds they had there. I can't see them selling much of that at those prices. It wouldn't surprise me if they ditched it in the New Year.

OK guys - vent over now.

Ruby

Hiya wick'n'wax. I use Publisher to produce leaflets, flyers and tri fold booklet things for my hubby's business. It really is quite simple to do.

What version of Publisher are you running?

If you need any tips PM me and I'll go over them in greater detail.

Ruby

Well done Natty. It looks awesome. You can't beat a simple, uncluttered, elegant look. Needless to say it's a look that never goes out of style.

All that hard work has paid off. Congrats again.

Ruby

Well, that's put the cat amongst the pigeons! Most interesting article. Wonder what people will argue about now.

Ruby

Hi Natty

Just picked up on this thread. You've been given some good advice by lots of people. I hear where you're coming from. In my last business I used to worry at first about items being out of stock. I thought customers would cancel their order if they had missing items but nobody ever did. If you back order their items they are more than happy to receive them at a later date.

People wouldn't dream of asking Tescos to especially get them to order something obscure like I dunno chilled monkey brains (sorry, watched Indy Jones the other day). Even if they did they wouldn't do it if they couldn't make a profit out of it.

The only way a business is going to get bad "feedback" is if they sell shoddy goods with bad customer service. You sell good quality goods with an exemplary customer service. I think your new rules are a very good idea and you should stick with them. If anything I think it'll strengthen your credibility as an astute business woman.

Ruby

Hi Anjie

I get all my oils from The candlesource. They are brill. As Victoriaj said shipping is very cheap $11 which at the moment works out at about £5.50. They normally take a week to get to me.

Ruby

ps They smell really good in soy