GrinningGoblin

I am in Southeast Texas. I have been trying to locate a restaurant vendor locally who will sell to me, but haven't had luck so far. Shipping totals is what is killing the cost for me, but I haven't found a vendor in range that can beat it. I plan on trying out a couple of test batches next week. If I like what I see and decide to move forward I want to have a source lined up to make it profitable. I appreciate the Soaper's Choice link. Some good prices on some of the things, but overall cost is pretty similar to other places I have found online.

Howdy folks, I'm new to the forum. Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but any search term that includes "oils" returns so many results I couldn't find it. I have been making soy candles for a while and have recently been looking at getting started with soaps. I have looked at both melt and pour and cold processed soaps, but cold process interests me the most from the control aspects of the recipes and the hobby / chemistry aspects of it. One issue I am encountering, though, is sourcing base oils. I assumed that a cold process batch would be much cheaper than melt and pour, but using the bulk cases of melt and pour base (at brambleberry) as a measuring stick I haven't found that to be the case. I am looking to begin with a basic olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil type base and the best value I have been able to locate has these oils going at about $.16 an ounce (including shipping). The funny thing is that ordering the 35 pound containers of these oils at brambleberry, even after hefty shipping, is still cheaper than what I can get olive oil at Walmart / Sam's club. After spread sheeting the costs for these items along with the lye and some castor oil I am coming up with a cost per bar of nearly double the melt and pour cost before factoring in any additional colorants or additives. I know people tend to add more stuff to melt and pour than CP soaps, but I am still struggling to wrap my brain around this. I guess what I am trying to say is I feel like I am doing something wrong and I haven't even started soaping yet. Where do you folks source your base oils?