Quack Soap

you might just look into hiring a part-time helper ~ that way you can use your own recipes and be aware of all ingredients. Doesn't have to be a full time employee ~ just set a day that's "soap day" (or 2 days or whatever) to keep you stocked.

I've always had a hard time understanding how wholesale benefits you guys as the candle maker. If you sell a $10 candle, wholesale it for $5 and that retailer doubles the price or more (as in the $12.50 example above), the retailer that did nothing except buy it from you makes gobs more than you. Guess I'm too focused on money (as usual, and likely the reason I'm just small potatoes LOL ), but I just couldn't/wouldn't do it. Bottom line ~ I hope that all of you that are using the methods described here (COST times 2, 3, 4, whatever) are figuring your time, labor, etc. into that cost. Otherwise it would seem to me that you're cheating yourself.

sorry, but this just sounds like a load of crap to me. Unbelievable that they can just swoop in after all this time and declare they're going to collect these fees from you. I'm off to read what Pay Pal has to say, but I'm seriously just about done with all this crap. My website has never once been hacked, my info nor customer info has ever been tampered with, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay a fee to prove that I'm maintaining that when my own record proves that I handle info safely and securely. My guess is that Pay Pal will raise fees soon, and this will be their excuse. If I don't throw in the towel completely, I guess I could go back to just taking checks and money orders. I never had problems with those either, just stopped because it was easier to take CC's.

has anybody talked to Pay Pal about this? I can call them myself, but no need if somebody here already has and knows the answer. Will save me 30 minutes on hold!! Are they compliant already? If not, do they plan to be, and if so will the fees be passed on as another "increase". I'm already ready to throw in the towel because of paperwork and taxes. If CC fees skyrocket, I'm done for sure ~ too much headache. I'll just make my stuff for gifts only.

who is your merchant? In the other thread about this, I posted that I'd never heard of it. We've used Bank of America and Pay Pal both, and neither has said anything to us.

don't take offense ~ you asked for opinions .... I would steer away from the last 2 because at first glance it looks like pot leaves to me LOL. the ball shaped candle thing doesn't do much for me ~ I like the 1st one on the 2nd row, so #4 I guess it would be

so Candybee are you saying "somebody" (government, whatever, I'm still a little lost) is checking all of our sites to see if we're "compliant" or do they just intend to come after you if your customer's info gets hacked? Sorry, guess I'm slow, I still don't quite understand, even after reading online after posting my question here. My website has never been hacked ~ I'm such small potatoes compared to the zillions out there and half of my customers pay by Pay Pal. I don't recall seeing anything about this from my merchant service or from Pay Pal. Speaking of which ~ wouldn't Pay Pal be responsible for this "compliance", not me since they have the CC info, not me? If the fees you guys are throwing around on here is what's going to trickle down to the rest of us, then I'll even closer to throwing in the towel. I guess my first step will be to stop taking CC's through my merchant and just stick with Pay Pal only. This is precisely what I was referring to in the thread last week about the headaches of being in business for yourself ~ the paperwork, taxes, etc. are getting out of hand. Nobody wants to help encourage new, small business ~ they'd rather beat us to death with rules, regulations, taxes, fees, and fines. Really sad.

I don't think I've ever heard of this "PCI" until reading it here. What is it's purpose, and what makes you feel more secure having it? Is it chargeback protection or something? I'm just trying to figure out why there is such a big charge for it.

"distressed oils" and "recycled wax" (from another thread) ~ sounds like a really questionable supplier to me

pull apart silk flowers and hot glue the petals on and then add a few silk bees & butterflies maybe or pull apart a green plant (ivy, philadendron, etc.) and add little clay critters ~ turtle, frog, etc. beat it with hammer, bag of coins, scratch with a nail, fork, etc. to "age" it, then stain it, then string a web across a corner and dangle a spider hot glue glass beads hth

my experience was that it did lather like crazy, but was super soft ~ it would never set up hard enough to what I need for my molds. I could pull a finished piece out of the mold and still push a dent in it, it's that soft. It does lather like crazy though, so if you're just making bars and not molded stuff, you may love it. Word of warning though ~ soft, lathery soap will dissolve quicker too, so you'll need additives if you want it to last more than a few showers!

I've learned that I actually don't want to have my own business. I hate the paperwork, I hate the taxes, fees, etc., and I hate that I turned a craft that I loved doing into a job that I feel slave to. I love though that I can chalk it up as a life experience and lesson learned and will know in the future that I'm a better employee than owner/boss!! So many people wish they had their own business, at least I can say I did, and now I choose not to

I personally think no color is fine ~ I buy them for the scent, not the color. Some larger pillars I buy for color, but not votives. You'll just need to make note next to the scents that will discolor the uncolored votives, so that way if somebody sees a white/creamy picture online and gets an orangey/rusty color shipped to them because it was a dark oil they won't be mad at you.

the only thing I would add to that is purely money based. if you "cut back" and then later decide to get out of it by selling the business, your gross sales will be way down and you'll get even less than ever. if that doesn't bother you, and you'd only be concerned with selling your supplies and simply closing/taking down your website, then you're on the right path. Not trying to tell you what to do ~ only you know what you hope to get out of it ... extra income here and there or sell it for a bundle and happily walk away. filling smaller orders as they come won't make for any profit based on ordering smaller quantities from your suppliers, so keep that in mind too!

you have to do what you're at peace with! everybody is feeling the crunch nowadays. you won't be able to sell your business for a fraction of what it would have been worth just a year ago ~ nobody has the money to buy it, and with your sales down you don't have encouraging numbers to show what they can earn. if you really aren't feeling the drive to do it though, I would definitely suggest just selling the stuff here, on Ebay, Craigs list, anywhere to get as much cash on hand as you can and stop taking up space. if/when you're ready to do it again chances are that the suppliers you have now will have changed their prices or maybe also gone out of business, so you'd be "starting over" in your search for supplies anyway. you could always try making up e-books to sell information if you have a particular niche to keep a little money coming in. otherwise, I'd say put it off till the kids are older when you're ready/able to devote the time needed.