justajesuschick

This is why I did not buy when she opened again. Closed abruptly the first time and left a lot of my online vendor friends in a bind. I do buy oils in the quantities that she offers but I am not risking it. 

She may have messaged you on Facebook. That is what she said/meant by her comment. If someone is not your friend on Facebook and they send you a message, it goes to your Message Requests or Filtered Messages folder on FB. Not in your regular message folder. They are where your regular messages would come in, but a different tab or drop down choice depending on your device. Worth checking (although now not for her message!) as others may be messaging you through there, too!  

I have nothing else to do but give up when I have tried the same scent from 12 suppliers and none work in my wax, so yes! If a supplier comes out with a new one of my "given up" scents I will try it but sometimes all reasonable options are eliminated.

For me-all blueberry scents smell fake in my wax blend. I also cannot find a blackberry (not blackberry sage or other) that has longevity in my wax blend and all coffee scents small skunky in my wax blend. To spare my making myself more obsessed and crazed, I have shelved the idea of these 3.

I carry over 100 scents year round so there is still plenty for my customers to choose without these!

10 minutes ago, WaxingPoetic said:

Wow...I never knew that she sold her oils. I think that she has some excellent tarts.

She sold oils a few years ago. Abruptly closed leaving a LOT of online vendors in quite a bind. No notice. 

Then she began selling oils again recently. I was not interested in testing any since I saw what my fellow online vendors went through the first time. Was not worth the risk for me. I do not just make and sell what scents I have on hand or what sounds good to me. I have a scent list which customers know and is ordered from over and over. It is not easy to just switch out a scent in a blend.

If she has closed the supplier side of her business again, I trust my instincts now more than ever.

30 minutes ago, WaxingPoetic said:

Is this the same Front Porch that sells tarts ? 

Yes.

It could. I guess it depends what you are testing. The oil blend, the wax, the wick, the jar, other. 

I am one for keeping all variables the same for testing. For instance, what if the refrigeration changed something about the oil binding, or the wax, the wick, jar adhesion or other. I would wonder (I am a super analytical thinker which can be a very bad thing) then if the next batch-not cured in the same way-would result in a different outcome. For me that would mean that I would be back testing how I always tested and it would then gain me nothing.

9 hours ago, katmeltswax said:

I agree with Trappuer about Maple Street purchasing TCS  I have purchased many samplers from Maple & most I have tried are exactly as TCS .I do recommend Maple street to anyone wanting some great fragrance oils. I am happy with the ones I have poured ,especially the Pumpkin pecan wafflers ,Iced lemon Danish ,sweet orange ,Jingle berry wreath ,Pumpkin spice, Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow, Peach magnolia Raspberry ,Vanilla bean noel along with many others. I do want to try WSP Vanilla noel. I purchased VBN during the sale in Nov & they refunded my paypal. . They said the scent was out of stock after I placed my order ,so disappointed .This oil is $38 a pound right now. I was going to get a pound in Nov at $28. May have to splurge for this one later along with their Jelly Donut ,amazing scent .I highly recommend their jelly donut . I purchased a 4 oz & definitely going back for a pound of this one

Definitely will avoid FP due to not being able to get  replacement oils if need be in the future.

 

It was asked if this was the company people THOUGHT bought TCS. The owner of Maple Street, in another post indicated that he did NOT buy TCS and in fact, indicated that his oils were better than TCS. He could have duped some of their oils although many here indicated that they did not find the quality the same.  He has offered the name of the manufacturer he uses and perhaps TCS bought form the same as while there are tons of suppliers, manufacturers in the US are few. Here is the response so that you can read what Maple Street's owner said when asked. 

Lid #3, no border label.

I got some of the baby jars like that once from Peak. With cool rustic lids.

You know what has happened to me (a non-candle maker) from being around all of these talented, long time candlemakers? Knowing NOTHING about candles, I saw the pic, liked the jars and then thought, MERCY! That looks like a lot of wick testing right there! HA!

I think you are going to need much more wax for all those jars!

Have fun!!

17 minutes ago, jbradshaw said:

She dipped an ice cream cone in wax, then scooped some scented and colored wax into it (like a scoop of ice cream) and somehow had a wick in there as well. Said she saw it on youtube....at least there were other group members telling her to be careful burning it. 

Yes. Apparently wax melts are something new to many there and typically people say, "good for you coming up with something new, do not let the negative people get you down!" when warned about something dangerous. OR when they ask if they really need to pay taxes or get insurance. 

18 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20 minutes ago, Ray said:

Lol...it can be nauseating reading those Facebook groups. 

Also dangerous! I do not post there since my own wax company's FB group and website is shown in my personal FB profile. Some days I would like to post there as they are sharing bad information with each other!

The Candle Makers group in which he self-promotes daily is 10,000 members strong. That is a lot of free, repeat exposure. DEFINITELY not seasoned, long term wax makers. They post that they are not having luck with hobby store fragrance oils and ask what they should do. He posts a link to his group and another customer is born! Seems his FB group and this same Candle Makers FB group have many of the same members. 

I used a double boiler for about a month. I hated it! Too hard to keep temperature up and I was always worried that I would get water in my wax. If you are pouring much volume at all, a double boiler takes so much time! I started with a stainless Presto which holds about 8 pounds and now have 2, 40 pound melters. I know some do it fine, but I just cannot imagine running even a part-time business without a melting pot of some sort!

I have not tried his oils. He gets his oils from Agilex so I imagined that most would be good. I already purchase from 12 oil suppliers and have committed to not adding more.

I will say he has been quite strategic in building up his company via Facebook. He is very present (answers each post asking who has the best FO's with simply a link to his own website, as example) in a large group (10,000+ members) of "Candle Makers" on Facebook. Many are asking about selling from the kit they just received as a gift, using crayons as dye and similar. The main admin of the group seems quite taken with him and advocates for his company as well. I might guess that his own FB group is made up of a number of people from that large general group where most seem to be starting out or seeking advice. 

LOVE them! My brand and packaging is also very clean and simple so I especially have an appreciation for them. VERY high-end looking!!

It is CRAZY on Instagram in particular. There is a MASSIVE Lush loving crowd there. The colors of the scrubs are CRAZY! 

Now nearly every wax maker in the indie FB and IG wax worlds has added Sugar Scrubs to their lineups. They are making boatloads of money.  It appears most are using a stock Foaming Bath Whip base and a bunch of sugar. Oh, and WAYYYYYY too much colorant. Special? Nope. Selling more than they can produce? Yes. Crazy.

In other news, If any of you make a non-base body butter with no colorant, please PM me. Not making it but would like to buy some for my own use from someone knowledgable and skilled! 

Those are SOOOOO cute!

Maybe this will get you started. Perhaps find a company from one of these listings who will sell wholesale outside of Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mason+shot+glass+jars&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amason+shot+glass+jars

THIS is what I meant when I said that companies are grateful for being alerted. This was posted in the crazy Candle Maker's FB group which is rampant with every kind of infringement and frankly dangerous practices which are sort of accepted as the norm. A person posted a pic of their Chanel, Louis Vuitton and other branded candles.  Guess someone shared the pic or the guy's website with Chanel and this was their response. One person chimed in that it was fine if you added a TM to what you made with a logo so that people would know it was not your brand. WHAT??!! Consider a Circle C copyright mark or a TM a stop sign!

Thought that I would share since I brought up that Licensors/Brands appreciate being informed when their intellectual property is being used for someone else's profit (aka theft).

It is because they are a manufacturer, not a supplier. Look at the cost of 10 pounds of an oil from CS and 10 pounds from AFI. BIG difference unless things have changed. AFI, Agilex and other sell to the suppliers many/most buy from. So, they either are the supplier for the suppliers shown or they duped oils customers asked for which they wanted to buy more wholesale than from a supplier. 

My wax smudges (many think it is soy due to the texture!) and it makes me crazy. I ship direct to consumer so I do not have to worry with shop wear. I think your idea sounds fun! Portion cups come in many sizes. 1 and 2 ounce are most popular. You could even do 4 ounce size and sell them individually.

I may not follow.

Yes, the Vendors openly advertise Samplers in properties they do not own.

Yes, Disney and others appreciate learning of their intellectual property being unlawfully used.

9 minutes ago, Moonstar said:

In the case of Etsy I think it's a matter of them making $$$$ 

 

As much as it is frustrating there's really nothing one can do.

 

I am happy to be out of Etsy so cannot speak to that.

The online Vendors (Facebook and Instagram wax community Vendors) are some of the biggest offenders. Since it is posted out in all the big general wax groups, it is very blatant and obvious for all of us who are competing for those customer's sales to see.

Many companies who's properties are often used with our permission have piracy email addresses and encourage sharing of information on theft of their intellectual property.

Yes. In the online vendor wax world, it is rampant. Disney Samplers, Hello Kitty, My Little Pony...on and on! It is wrong. As a fellow online wax world vendor, it is also agitating. 

Simply put, they are profiting off of something which does not belong to them. Setting themselves apart with something they do not have permission to use.

There is a saying, "Do not build your home on rented land". Sadly, many are misinformed and think if they paid for a Disney, Star Wars or other pan/mold, that they paid the royalties because after all, "the mold exists" or they can find pictures on their computer that they can use that for profit. Nope.

If any use a property owned by the very large corporation where I have been for now over 30 years, I will contact them directly and ask that they not use them. If they do not comply, my pals in our legal department will be my next stop.

I guess because I have been in the corporate world for 3 decades, I understand business and the law. Although I am convinced many do understand but think they are simply being clever.

Some customers were just appalled that a big company like Lush Cosmetics would send a cease and desist to an online vendor who used all their scent names. Like somehow a big company was "picking on" a small vendor. That would be like me saying I went to any of your personal Facebook pages and used pics of your kids, grandchildren or pets on my product labels or website! Somehow they see that is wrong but do not have the same understanding when it is a large company.

As you can tell, I a VERY passionate about this subject! It is theft.  

I do not know many online Vendors who use all soy wax. Are you certain those you see are all soy?