coco

I disagree that there is no right or wrong when it comes to calculating costs where a business is involved. When you itemize your costs on your taxes, they want to know exactly what money went where. I don't know about you, but when I do my own calculations I want the ACTUAL amount of money that the item cost me to make so that I know how much I have actually profitted at the end of the year. Aren't you paying yourself for your time with your profit? I find it hard to believe any accountant who is still employed would ever suggest you pay yourself an hourly rate of whatever you see fit for the evasion reasons I mentioned above. I am confused here... Perhaps I am misunderstanding how some of you do this, so I will clarify because it seems like we are talking about apples and apples here. Anything I sell I want to profit at least 100% for retail sales of what it cost me out of pocket. For large wholesale amounts let's just say 50%. Using his calculation minus the hourly rate, it costs $6.75 to produce the candle. In order to profit 50%, I would have to sell it for $10 (which is roughly $3.37 a candle- even if I can only pour 10 an hour that is $33.70 an hour I am earning) and the store then charges the customer $20 (as most stores will keystone). The 50% calculation is what I base my price on with my time included. Now are you telling me that you base your cost to the wholesaler on your cost plus an hourly rate (whatever you see fit) and THEN you add more to that? It is all considered YOUR earned income at the end of the year and you pay taxes on all of it, so what's the point? Again, isn't any amount you make over and beyond what it actually cost you in shipping and supplies payment for your time?

Valhalla- forgive me if you find my remark uncalled for, though Southern is a 16 year old kid. What works for him is selling anything and everything he can, whether it is tested safe or not. Insurance is not something he posseses, therefore I doubt he cuts himself a paycheck and issues himself a W2 at the end of the year. I would be shocked if he actually has a business license. When he is attacked by others here because of his teenage ignorance (which is quite often), I am usually the first to defend him because my opinion is "his problem, not mine". In this case, I just couldn't bite my tongue as it is NOT an accurate way to calculate cost of the product and those who do this will be in for a rude awakening if audited. I have owned a business for 12 years now and my PROFIT is what is considered my personal income. If you report all of your income and pay taxes on it annually, then you are paying into social security (as I can only assume that if he does in fact actually have a business license that he is operating as sole proprietor under his own social security number) . It works out to be the same dollar amount that goes into your pocket whether you call it "wages" paid to yourself or profit from your income. Yes, you can write off a salary paid to yourself at the end of the year to help minimize the amount of taxes that you owe, but you cannot include paying yourself as part of the "cost of goods sold". Cost of goods sold is deducted directly from your gross income, and if this were the case, people would pay themselves as much as they wanted to an hour to completely offset any tax liability making it appear that they were only profitting 25 cents. It's a form of tax evasion, learn it, live it, love it! The bottom line here is that it doesn't COST you $12.50 an hour (not to mention 30 minutes per candle is incredibly exaggerated and unrealistic). The only thing that should be calculated into the cost your final product is the materials (unless you are paying someone else to make them).

Yes it's expensive alright.. they must pay themselves triple what SS pays himself to make them Sorry, I couldn't resist... I just find this hilarious. Definitely not a business major.

I don't think the point in this post was that anyone was cheating anyone but rather how these people can afford to sell for so cheap. Though I will say that I never buy anything from the folks who have a low buyout but inflated shipping. This is one of my biggest pet peeves! I about lose my mind when I see something that costs $5 and the shipping is $25.. WTH?! I sold on Ebay for 9 years, I have a pretty good idea how much things cost to ship. I would rather pay more for the item and actual cost for shipping. The whole attempt at the jedi mind trick just doesn't work for me

Um.. you include your own time at $12.50 into the cost? ROFL

If they are charging $9.95 for shipping and sending in an envelope, it seems they are making around $7.00 in profit from the shipping alone. I bet "the box" is a free USPS box... there's another $2.00. Still, not making anywhere near where they should be for 100 tarts though my guess is they are "cutting" the wax with cheap paraffin, using bare minimum fragrance and are obviously tiny tarts. I still don't get it, though I think the same about alot of cheap things I see on Ebay.. I wouldn't even waste my time to make that kind of money.

LMAO

Hehe, I was thinking the same thing. That would be like making unscented tarts... hmmmm

I am thrilled to death when I achieve a full MP AND great hot throw. Sometimes you just gotta say "what mushroom"?

Several? I thought you've only sold one batch to one wholesaler..

Haha CS, See? We all have our quirks!

Oh boy! I've always just used emulsifying wax but now that I see this stuff.. omg I'm in big trouble.

It looks fabulous!

LOL! I would take it as a compliment, she thinks they are so pretty that she doesn't want them to get ruined. I feel the same way sometimes about burning gorgeous candles (although I don't dust the wax... okay well maybe sometimes when I've had too much coffee and I notice it) :smiley2:

Soy, you didn't say anything nasty at all. I'm pretty sure she's talking about the back and forth drama on page one that has since been deleted.

For what it's worth, I do the same although I do it in 30 sec bursts and have had no problems. When it gets close to the temp I am looking for I lower the time to 15 secs until it gets there. I'm not sure what the reason would be for a Pyrex measuring cup to explode with wax in it unless it was in there for WAY too long. If I can boil water in a glass cup in there, there is no reason why wax at or near the same temp should explode. Granted, this is without FO- I can't say that I would ever want wax with FO in my microwave (not only because of the lingering smell, but because I would be concerned about the scent burning off from the wax).

I wouldn't take it personally! I know it's hard not to, but different people have different tastes, and I am recently finding that a large number of people simply do not like the appearance of handmade soap. I was shocked when I overheard some friends talking about how they received handmade soap for a wedding gift and they absolutely could not wait until the "ugly" thing was used up and off of their sink. In my office yesterday I actually heard someone use the expression "It was as ugly as homemade soap"! I suppose we can try to look at it as if we bought someone a sweater for their birthday that we thought was adorable and they shoved it into the back of their closet- to each his own!

I never get sick of looking at Palm. The purple ones are

And my thought on this is : HIS PROBLEM, NOT OURS. He hasn't cared what anyone has said for a year now, so what's the point in arguing? I have to hand it to him if he is in fact a teenager, his responses to the attacks on his character are far more civil and mature than the adults that are replying. I don't know many teenagers who would react as calmly and politely as he does in the given situation. Again, I am by no means condoning what he is doing, I just don't get the major upset over it. It is HIS problem, ignore it and maybe it will go away.

Thanks Grandma for the classy, realistic post. Regardless of how I feel about what SS is doing, I have been particularly disturbed lately by how demeaning people can be here. How about simply not responding if something enrages you to the point where you need to insult someone? Just a thought...

That was good advice? I'm sorry, but that wasn't helpful, it was just plain rude and I see it time and time again. Are the condescending, holier than thou responses really necessary? I think a reasonable response on a "helpful" message board would be whether it works or it doesn't (or none at all). People get really excited about trying new things. Heck, she says she didn't even sleep because she was so excited and that's the response she got. Wow. :undecided

I just received an order of Glass Glow from Letitshine. Great service and quick shipping. Behaves and appears the same as CS Glass Glow.

I found the perfect mold for him. I feel some Christmas gifts coming on! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270183851835&category=20651&sspagename=rvi:1:1v_buy

LMAO! I love em! I thought of making boobie mechanics soaps when Comfortscents mentioned her poor hubby having to wash his hands with cupcakes with roses on em!