southernscents

I am like you when someone says would you rather I come to your house. I'm like yes..it is much easier than me trying to bring it to them. As far as the tins are concerned....I personally love them. I did a show this weekend and it was too hot, I only sold one. If they don't sell I will use them or give them for a few events happening this fall that take donations and have auctions. Possibly doing another show this weekend 30 minutes outside of Lousiville, so I expect them to sell there. I do not use soy, but have several people ask for it. May decide to do that in the future. You said that WSP is not carrying them. I just received my order from them and I ordered 50 6oz tins from them. That is Wholesale Supplies Plus, right? Maybe you order a different size and type of tin than I do.

What size jar is this and type for 5.44 a box?

I am in Russellville (Logan County) area. Where are you? There is a festival in Elizabethtown this weekend. My stepdad's brother takes care of the park, the deadline was 8-01. He is going to try and get me in. If you know anything about this one, let me know. The weather says it is going to be in the mid 80's I can handle that.

I did a 1 day local craft fair, along with car show. It was so hot I thought I would die. My candles had a bad day. Thank god they were all in containers. Some kept melting to the point that I could have drank them . yuck.... I did make booth fee, plus some. I talked to the people running the show and they said the crowd was about 1/2 of the usual at past shows. The heat killed it. I would love to have done better, but oh well. There was one other man and woman there with candles and woodworks, but everyone else had Home Interior and Partylite. The other candle man decided to come and visit me. I thought he would never leave, he was an annoyance. He had to tell me what a high quality candle they have and what I need to be doing different. Your gonna love this. He picked one of my candles up and looked at the bottom and said "Oh I stopped putting caution labels on mine". I said you have to have those on there for liability reasons. Oh yeah, I understand why you do it, I just don't do that anymore. Then he tells me I need to be driving where his wife does (2 hours from here) to get my wax and oils, that it is cheaper than shipping. I said I doubt that with the gas prices, well ya your right he said. Then he proceeds to tell me that I need to be ordering my labels instead of making them myself, that it is cheaper to order them. He let me know that he was out of labels at this time. He then tells me he is going to let me in on a secret, but not to tell his wife he told me (at this point, I am thinking I hope I never see you people again). He told me that I need to pick a scent and light that candle and then somewhere that the customers can't see it, have an electric warmer with that same oil and it will smell up the whole area and people will love it. I had a candle lit yesterday and you could smell it. Everyone walked in and talked about how great it smelled. So evidently his candles are not that high of quality if he has to hide oil and make people think it is the candle. He also let me know that wax melts were not worth my time because you can't make anything on them. I had been over to their booth before the show and snooped and only 2 of their candles had a label on the front with their name and then a small one on top with the scent handwritten. He then goes on to tell me that one show they do they take no less than 30 cases. They only brought maybe 2-3 yesterday, hello...whatever. At this point it was time to start closing, so I just worked around him. I could not wait for him to leave. I guess there is one of these at every show...huh. I thought everyone would get a laugh out of this guy. Made me feel good about my product, being as I decided he didn't have a clue about the business.

I looked on the jackel website yesterday. I ordered a catalog. Can you not look at their prices online?

Okay, I may have read this in other posts and just not caught on...sorry. If you put them in mason jars and let them pick, do you just bag them all up in one bag or what? I like the mason jar idea.

I am new to clamshells, but am trying to work on my label. I do not have the clamshells yet, they will be here tomorrow. I am switching from individual melts to the clamshells. I prefer to use Print shop for my labels. I cannot figure out how everyone gets there label to run up and down. It will not let me rotate anything. I do not want the label to be side to side from the hang tag, I want it up and down like others I have seen. I may not be explaining this correctly, but this is the only way I know how . If someone knows of a way to do this with print shop please let me know. Or at least tell me how you do your own. Thanks Amy

I have been making about 40-45 scents (gonna have to cut back). We did a show this spring and the more you have the longer they will want to look. It looks good to have a full booth. Makes other curious and they will come over. Take all you have, even if you only have 1. There might be someone that asks for that one. If you don't have room for everything at least bring it and keep it under the table in case someone does ask for that 1 candle. Also if you sell out of a scent you can replace it with extra that you brought.

I would like to have some also. I have looked for reasonable priced tart burners and have come up with nothing very reasonable, or so I thought. From what I have found candle accessories at good prices are hard to find. I have had several requests for the tarts burners and shades at shows and hate that I don't have them to sell.

I ordered a Warm Vanilla Sugar from a company (won't post...not sure if I am supposed to). I am not real pleased with it. I have a customer that buys only that, no complaints so far, but I think it could be better. So I am curious to about Bear, as I too would like to try someone elses.

I have a wholesale account with a local realty company and I make 8oz jelly jars with their logo on the lid and a slogan and the realtors name and #. Then on a 16 oz jar there I use a white 2 x 4 label with a cottage style house and their info on that also. Then on the bottom I make my own caution label and it has my info on that. I have gotten a few customers from this. They give them out when someone buys or sells a home. Hope that is some help....

I appreciate all of the positive comments. I have not mentioned the $6.00 to SIL, but I think she does not want to buy from because shes afraid I will mention it. She is always complaining that they are broke. My husband says this is not true. He says she is tight, but anyway. I have a great product and I know it and my customers appreciate it. I have several faithful customers that only buy from me (or so they say ). I guess I just felt like my MIL should have bought from me. My mother will not ever buy a candle from anyone but me now. She gives them to anyone she needs a gift for. I usually make her a gift bag full of mixed candle items. I feel better now that I have read all of your posts. This site is great. I have no brothers or sisters, so I have to come here to get support and vent, lol. Thanks again.

I guess I have gotten to the point that I don't want my DH husband's family to buy from me because they are never satisfied with anything they get. You can ask them about something they have tried and its okay. Never great or I will never buy it again, everything is okay. My sister in law will sometimes ask how I did selling candles if she knows I made deliveries or a big sale and I always tell all. I like it when we do a show and I do real well and I make sure or DH does to tell how much we sold . My DH is very supportive he is not like them at all. They are also the Home Interiors buyers. That is a pretty popular name in this area. I do not mention the candles to them unless they ask. Although I do sell at the daycare where sister in law works and I am scheduled to go there today. She will not come to the car, she will act like shes too busy. I will agree with you ebcandles about other people willing to buy our products. Thanks.....Amy

My sister in law has bought a few candles from me in the past. Not anything to brag about. They are really picky. I have never heard them (my mother in law included) speak highly of any candle, until recently and it wasn't me. About 1-2 months ago my sister in law came to my home and picked out a candle and a few tarts. She told me she didn't have the money that day and would pay me later. Well, I never got paid. It was only $6.00, but still that's beside the point. Since then she has not even mentioned the candles or looked at them when she is at my house. Might be because she owes me and thinks I have forgotten, hmmm....don't think so.:rolleyes2 We were at a bday party yesterday at another family members home and when I walked in this other family member (cousin) made a point to show her sister the candle that my mother in law purchased for her at the local pharmacy (soy by the way). I do not make those. This family member (cousin) also had a different brand of candle burning. Is there a reason that my husband's family chooses not to buy from me. I started thinking maybe my candles aren't good enough. Maybe I should do something different, but then I remembered how many repeat customers I have, a fundraiser next month, and a $250.00 order from one person this month. So what is up with these people? Is it me or my candles, lol. I should probably not take this so personal as they are inlaws.

I just got some from Lone Star Candle Co. I have not yet tested, so can't comment. I could not find anyone but them, but did not do a lot of searching. I use it in candles, by the way. No body products for me yet. :rolleyes2

I placed and order last week with a company that I order pretty regular from and when I received my order, it was my invoice, but someone else's items. I was like, what the.... So I called them and they apologized so many times it was unreal and she sent out my items that day and sent UPS a slip to pick up the wrong package at no cost to me. That made me know that I could buy from them with confidence. That is very important in this business. Since I had an order promised today and without the correct items it would be late. I agree about talking to the owner. I am in KY and gas was 2.49 yesterday. No telling what it will be today. I can't afford to deliver my candle orders at this rate.

WOW!!! Those are good. I go blank when I try to rename them. How do you do that, lol. I will try the name rechange and then at the next craft show or later on this year I will maybe clearance what did not sell. Thanks a whole bunch.

All of the ideas are great. Thank you for all the responses. I do like the basket idea. Someone is always looking for a bargain. I am not good at renaming. Here are the scents that don't sell well and maybe you all can come up with some cool names. Lily of the Valley Watermelon Tropical Cooler Eucalyptus Spearmint Margaritaville Dreamsicle Coconut Hazelnut Having some of the oils left over is not a problem. Two of them I mix with other FO's. Hazelnut----I mix with Coffee Watermelon---I mix with cataloupe and honeydew and make sweet melon. If you have any ideas for the other oils I will take any and all suggestions. I am so tired of looking at these sitting on the shelf and not selling. Maybe just some are not good sellers, but when I started I thought they might be and have found out the hard way they are not.

I have some scents that are just not selling for me. I want to get rid of these and not make them anymore. Do most of you have a sale of some type or how do you get rid of them. I have about 5-10 that I do not sell enough of to mess with, but I need to move them. I am attending a craft show on the 20th. I would greatly appreciate any ideas or suggestions that any of you may have. Thanks, Amy

Where do you put the caution label, on the inside of the lid or what???

I am switching from individual was melts to the clamshells. They seem much easier. I would like to know though what most of you call them on the labeling melts or clamshells. Some people may not know what clamshells are, I didn't before I started making candles. I would also appreciate any pics that you could post of your clamshell packages, so that I can get some ideas for my label. I think I have it made already. It will be the same as I use on my other items. I would like to show my label, but I make it in print shop and am not sure how to add it to this post. TIA....Amy

I am thinking of switching from individual wax melts to the clamshells. Where can I find the packaging for those? I am not enjoying the wax melts. They seem more of a pain than the clamshells. Any comments or suggestions would be great. TIA....Amy