rachelb5499

Anyone else with more reviews? What about from BCS?

Try these: http://www.google.com/search?q=twilight+site%3Acraftserver.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Thanks for the replies so far!!! I'm looking forward to some more reviews. Anyone?

Well, the search for the "perfect soap" base/additives still continues. I discovered (for sure) that the low sweat SFIC bases cause an everlasting slight burning sensation to my knuckles so that's out. I went back to testing just the plain white/clear, but after days and days, my hands STILL feel too dry...even after adding some shea butter (moisture) and castor (lather) to the mix so back to the drawing board so to speak. I REALLY want to come up with something that feels as good as the cp I make. I'm getting a bit frustrated at this point though. LOL I gotta be honest! But forward I push anyway. I'd LOVE to make MP that feels like my CP so it's a personal goal for sure!

Have you tried any of these in bath and body? Have you tried any of these at all? If so, how have they done for you? How would you rate them scent-wise, etc? Almond Banana Cream Pie Surplus Citrus Cream Surplus Cool Mountain Air Surplus Dreamsicle Floral Fruity Surplus Fresh Outdoors Surplus Fresh Squeezed Oranges Harvest Moon Surplus Honey Coco Mango Honeysuckle Peach Surplus Huckleberry Leather Plumeria Tropical Guava Surplus Wild Watermelon Thanks for any and all input! I've never used their FO's except plumeria and omh so I'm really curious about them for bath and body.

Ummmm, they are in Illinois area and have low sweat. https://www.oakcourtcreations.com/ProductCart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=12&pageStyle=H

I KNOW this isn't your point. LOL But as a customer, (I don't know why) but I HATE using the phone to call. A suggestion (totally take it or leave it. lol), have you tried "forwarding" your response to these 3 people instead of "replying." I've noticed sometimes when I "forward" vs. "reply" my replies get "received" and don't go to spam/junk folders. Just a thought...though I get YOUR point and aggravation too.

I agree with AlwaysWondering, the weight of the bar would be helpful info., the price does seem a bit high. Have you thought about doing some even in just one uniform color that matches the scent? Also, for me personally, the scent names DO sound more like candles than soap. Does that make sense? I know for me, I'm more prone to burn WAY different scented candles, than I would use in my bath and body products generally speaking.

I don't know about the tax rate thing as far as Mal's is concerned but they DO have a forum which has been very helpful to me. Also, it's EASY to add all the scents you want to in your drop down menu with Mal's (even with the free cart.) Although looks like Ecco provided a workaround with paypal buttons too so now it just looks like you have to decide which route to go again. LOL Now to the tax rates, I understand what you mean about each district, town, etc. charging a different tax rate...because it's sales tax PLUS district tax, but (I'm not 100% sure), if YOU don't live in those other districts, etc. I don't think you're responsible to charge their taxes even if the customer lives in those areas. I kind of look at it like....if you were doing a farmer's market and a customer came to your booth and bought soap, you wouldn't ask them which district they were from and calculate their tax based on that. . .know what I mean. You'd simply charge the tax YOU are required to collect for YOUR district. I could be wrong though. Do you know for sure you have to charge different district tax rates? Here in CA there are SEVERAL tax rates depending on the location, BUT we as a retail establishment (that I manage...not bath and body) are not required to charge different CA residents different rates based on where they live in CA or where we might be shipping the order to. We are simply required to charge our state and district tax rate for our location/area on every retail sale.

Thanks, Laura. I'll look into the form in a day or two. Right now, Bert doesn't have any of the Redwood Cedar scent in stock anyway.

Thanks, Eric. I'll look at your proposal. Anyone else?

Okay, so I just really couldn't figure out which area I should post this in! In addition to making bath and body, I also manage a retail tourist gift shop in the redwoods. In years past, candles didn't really sell well for us, BUT I never bought candles with a "woodsy" theme per say....meaning the type of scent, etc. Anyway, I'm considering and need to get information on possibly carrying wax melts/tarts and votives in Bert's Redwood Cedar scent. In all honesty, I'd probably just do that one scent for right now...Why votives? Because we sell wildlife type votive candle holders, etc. already so to begin with, it would be nice to make them a matching scent, etc. IF you wholesale and IF you use this scent, please feel free to PM me more information and/or post your websites on this thread so I can check out your stuff. If this needs to be moved, I totally understand. Like I said, I just didn't know where to post it exactly.

I agree with Bug. It WOULD be a bummer to have a ton leftover if they didn't sell. (Unless you're making something you always make that will sell shortly for you anyway.) Then again, I love the "candy bar" fundraisers because I can just buy something from the person and move on...not fill out a form, pay, wait for the product, etc. but that's as far as a customer perspective not a distributor perspective.

Hey Prim, First off, Congratulations! Second, I don't do tarts/candles and haven't gotten into doing fundraising (but want to so much) so I hope others can give you sound, "tried and true" advice. I, think the tart sample baskets are a great idea! (&/or any other way you could have scent testers for the participants if you didn't want to give them the tarts themselves. In case, they got beat up looking, etc....but coming up with "something else" might be more trouble than it's worth.) If it were me, I'd give them your wholesale price...you could also always (if it makes you feel better, etc.) "sweeten the pot" for the participants by offering to donate a free gift basket/prize to the top seller or sellers. But in my experience, most fundraisers are LUCKY if they make a 50% markup which I'm assuming is what they would be making if they paid you your wholesale cost and charged your retail cost. That's just my perspective and un-experienced advice.

I don't know off hand, Michele, but in my opinion, that's something you'd ask your current insurer.

Well, I've gotten some more good feedback and more good information so I may BE looking into reselling fragrance oils at wholesale prices AND SFIC melt and pour bases. I'm still looking and thinking so definitely, definitely tell me what you'd like to see, what you'd like to buy, thoughts you have on this type of business, etc. Keep the information/advice, etc. flowin' my way! Thanks everyone!

Thanks, Candybee. I'll check those different additives out. It's really humid here, and I'm looking for natural "label appeal" so couldn't just use the basic white base from EBC, but I'm definitely still messing around with SFIC and may try out some other things with the EBC as well. The natural EBC base was just a nightmare with melting, pouring, etc. (None of SFIC or WSP bases that I tried behaved like the EBC one at all.)--sticky, gloppy, bubbled over in the microwave and made a huge mess, etc. I NEED to use a warmer in the long run but for testing/small amounts, I just wanted to use the micro, and I'll probably never do that with an EBC base again. LOL I use coconut oil in my CP soap...it DOES harden it quite a bit....definitely seems to have a drying effect as well. I was going to try some shea butter today. I'll add castor oil to my tests as well. You should SEE the natural EBC! It practically crumbles into bits when you try to cut it....it flakes and chips off, etc. which is what I meant by brittle.

That's cool. I tried ONE of the EBC natural bases, and I REALLY didn't like it so set the rest that I'd bought to try aside. LOL I'm liking the SFIC bases, but still a bit drying so I'm still testing and messing with them. I didn't like how "brittle" the EBC base was just when even cutting to melt...and then it was really bendable/rubbery after melted and poured. I'll have to remember that about the 1/2 tsp of stearic pp if I try her base again. For me, SFIC is even cheaper than EBC if I order directy from SFIC the 250 lbs, and I have several people interested in doing a co-op. I'm not ready just yet to that, but I'm thinking about ordering from them in bulk and then reselling their bases on my site and maybe on Ebay, etc. We'll see. For me, I want to find a base (even with a little tweaking of my own) that everyone..."just loves." But here in CA...people are "natural" freaks (LOL) so I'm always looking at the "natural" bases.

That's a good point, Carol. I'm not discouraged or anything either.....just being cautious and analyzing, etc. That COULD be quite the idea though! I'm just amazed at how little there is out here in CA specifically...although there are people like brambleberry, MMS, etc. out here on the West Coast.......just prices are better from NG, Berts, and Texas usually for me to buy as an "individual" and pay the shipping than to buy from some of those others out here on the West Coast and CA is so big.....hard to believe we don't have more to offer in that realm!

I'll keep looking and evaluating, but it doesn't look like there's enough interest and/or people have figured out great ways to save money/buy SFIC without going with one of the current resellers so I'll probably back off on that for now and just keep my eyes and ears open. I had also thought about getting into the FO business as you guys know but researching more, getting feedback from others, etc., I think I'll hold off on that as well. [i hadn't posted it here, but I was thinking of becoming a SFIC Melt and Pour base reseller AND looking into FO's, but there just wasn't enough positive feedback. (Which is fine. I wanted HONESTY. hee hee) As far as FO's and SFIC, I'll just keep thinking, evaluating, etc. Adamsboro, EccoLights, etc. mentioned Etsy, etc. so I DID look more at Etsy, Artfire, Ebay, etc. just to see "what was already out there" and wow. There IS a lot of competition! I was thinking of doing it more like Bert's and NG but probably kind of hard to do and get customers to start buying from me, trusting me as a reseller, etc. so I'm STILL Thinking....just hanging back a bit more to see if I learn something new, hear some great feedback/requests/reviews, etc. Thank you everyone so far who has responded!!!!

Hey Shannon, sorry you felt like Bruce was rude. I kind of know where you're coming from. Then again, I know where everyone else is coming from too. I have a hard time measuring/breaking things down myself. Like.....(here I'm going to make myself dumb) what technically when looking at a ruler is 1.8"? BUT to save myself that, I just plug that into my label program as a size....then, print and cut and see if it works. LOL Because I gather, what you're doing is looking somewhere like onlinelabels.com and trying to find a pre-cut label size that will fit...and they list their sizes like that sometimes which used to be hard for me to figure out too, and I didn't want to waste more money on labels like Ashee said. So I HAD to find a solution like I mentioned with my label program. I'm glad you found what you're looking for though. Good luck!

Bummer! I was just thinking maybe if you knew, you could buy 'em from a different source since you love them so much. Have you ever tried soaper's choice aka Columbus Foods' melt and pour base?

So how and where do you get reps that sell your candles, etc. to wholesale accounts? Do you advertise in local papers, craigslist, etc? Is it just word of mouth? Do you go to a site like "reps.com"? Any and all help/advice you're willing to offer on just finding reps who might be available for all of us would be most appreciated!

Hey Candybee, do you know who the manufacturer is of C&S bases? Or is it C&S themselves?

Yeah, it was cute. 8)