EnvyCandles Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 There are some local sellers who are driving me nuts!! One of them sells her clamshells for $1 each. Another sells hers - 3 packs for $5 including shipping! I cannot imagine their material costs are that low that they can be profiting.... and regardless it is not hard for me to justify my pricing, but, it is still annoying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldGlory Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I live in an area where new candlemakers undercut everyone's price. It's the downside of living within 30 miles of a major supplier. You can buy sq 8 oz mason jar candles at $4.00 a piece all day long where I live. I am familiar with the problem! The good news is that these people won't last long because they're not making any money. Someone will eventually show them why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Envycandles-- what OG said-- those chandlers will soon be OOB with that kind of practice. They either will catch on and review their prices based on their expense and correct or run themselves broke. The other side is they may be underselling one product but making it up in another. My advice, price what is best for you and make the best product you can. Eventually customers will get to know your products and pay your price for quality. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnvyCandles Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 I was talking with one of them, and she told me she was happy with making $1 per clam. So, in a friendly way, mentioned that $1 was not profit, just the sale price... she did not get it. Clearly she will not be successful the way she is running... It is just crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puma52 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 1 hour ago, EnvyCandles said: I was talking with one of them, and she told me she was happy with making $1 per clam. So, in a friendly way, mentioned that $1 was not profit, just the sale price... she did not get it. Clearly she will not be successful the way she is running... It is just crazy! I don't know how she is even limping along. She can't possibly be making any money at all....like the others have said....she will close her business when she does not have enough money to keep going...so sad really because it does not have to end up that way. She has not done herself or anyone else any favors by pricing so cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldGlory Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 I see it so often. They are almost smug about their low price, like it will insure that they get ALL the sales and you will get none. It's desperation. But sometimes a price that is too low is a red flag to a consumer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 I see it every year at our local summer festival- it's huge around here vendors from out of state come every year and it grows every year I contemplate getting a booth every year seeing as I am a local but too many soy vendors there selling way to cheap- and I won't go thru all that for a whole weekend explaining why I am more expensive and I won't work for free lowering my price -one vendor uses the same jar as me but labeling is on the jar - I label the lid and they must make money to be able to do this every year and they have a website but they sell them way cheaper than I could and maybe they buy supplies in mass bulk and that's why they can but I have bought their candles and I can't smell them.....but it's hard to tell buyers that and I don't sell enough to buy pallets of wax and jars and massive pounds of oils to be able to bring my price down and honestly I wouldn't want to- I want to make money 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Fields Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Reminds me of the two Aggies who graduated from Texas A&M with business degrees and decided to go into business. They bought a truck, drove to the valley and bought a truck-load of watermelons for $1 each. They drove home and set up by the side of the road with a sign that said "Watermelons - $1 each". In an hour they were sold out. After selling tlast watermelon one of the guys looked at his partner and said "you know what this means don't you?" The other said "yep, we gotta get a bigger truck". 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 lol @ David. So true. not many people have a good handle on how to calculate costs and pricing for long-term business health. Honestly, many people at shows here are just trying to recover a little of their hobby costs to keep hobby crafting. Nothing wrong with it. Tells me those shows were not my market. Saved me a ton of time sitting at those venues! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 On 3/15/2016 at 9:12 AM, David Fields said: Reminds me of the two Aggies who graduated from Texas A&M with business degrees and decided to go into business. They bought a truck, drove to the valley and bought a truck-load of watermelons for $1 each. They drove home and set up by the side of the road with a sign that said "Watermelons - $1 each". In an hour they were sold out. After selling tlast watermelon one of the guys looked at his partner and said "you know what this means don't you?" The other said "yep, we gotta get a bigger truck". Thanks for the laugh. That made my day!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelittleflame Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I feel that I may be guilty of what you are referring to, although at this point I am giving more candles away than selling them, as I am still in the trial and error stage. I wonder, how do you go about pricing your candles in an affordable manner that will give you some profit? Is there any kind of per ounce guideline or do you just figure your cost and add in some cushion? I would love to know your advice, or some examples of how you candles are priced, that is, if you don't mind sharing. Assuming that I get my 100% soy 8 ounce tins (really 5.75 oz of candle inside) throwing in an impressive manner, how would you price such an item? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I would lose $ at $1 a clamshell. LOL David, great story! The only time I discount retail is when I either underpour, overpour or are discontinuing a scent and even then it's at least 1.50 ea. Like everyone said, they won't be around long unless they adj their pricing. Do you think it's a gimmick to reel people in so they come back only to find higher prices the next time? I hate those tactics but some use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 50 minutes ago, thelittleflame said: I feel that I may be guilty of what you are referring to, although at this point I am giving more candles away than selling them, as I am still in the trial and error stage. I wonder, how do you go about pricing your candles in an affordable manner that will give you some profit? Is there any kind of per ounce guideline or do you just figure your cost and add in some cushion? I would love to know your advice, or some examples of how you candles are priced, that is, if you don't mind sharing. Assuming that I get my 100% soy 8 ounce tins (really 5.75 oz of candle inside) throwing in an impressive manner, how would you price such an item? If you plan to start selling you should invest some time in market research and pricing. Before you can price your candles you need to know how much it cost you to make them, your target customer, what price range they sell in your target market, etc. If you do your homework and know your market and product expenses it will be a lot easier to price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnvyCandles Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 47 minutes ago, thelittleflame said: IMO if you are still in trial and error, you are not ready to be selling your products. Starting out, we all have inferior products. There's no way around that. It will not be profitable in the beginning. That's a fact. I do not use any $$/ oz strategy for pricing. You need to examine ALL your costs. Wax. FO. Containers. Shipping. Dye. Labels. Insurance. Business expenses such as LLC/ business licensing. Website costs. Business tools- melters, pour pots, thermometers scales. EVERYTHINGS. you need to find out what your costs are and what your market is, and then price accordingly. This is all my opinion but I'm sure many members here will have some additional advice for you. I feel that I may be guilty of what you are referring to, although at this point I am giving more candles away than selling them, as I am still in the trial and error stage. I wonder, how do you go about pricing your candles in an affordable manner that will give you some profit? Is there any kind of per ounce guideline or do you just figure your cost and add in some cushion? I would love to know your advice, or some examples of how you candles are priced, that is, if you don't mind sharing. Assuming that I get my 100% soy 8 ounce tins (really 5.75 oz of candle inside) throwing in an impressive manner, how would you price such an item? 13 minutes ago, kandlekrazy said: I would lose $1/ clam too! I don't know if it's a gimmick, but it's still crazy! Even my clearance prices are more than that! It's hard to consider that competition... It's like comparing Mcdonalds to Ruth Chris... You get what you pay for. I would lose $ at $1 a clamshell. LOL David, great story! The only time I discount retail is when I either underpour, overpour or are discontinuing a scent and even then it's at least 1.50 ea. Like everyone said, they won't be around long unless they adj their pricing. Do you think it's a gimmick to reel people in so they come back only to find higher prices the next time? I hate those tactics but some use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Fields Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Our clamshells cost us 60 cents. We sell them retail for $2.95 and wholesale for $2.00. I believe that's in the range of most candlemakers' prices. We could sell them for $1.00 and make a profit. We sell around 24k clamshells a year, so a small profit margin is ok. But, why would we? We don't want to hurt local candlemakers trying to make a go of it, and why sell them for a lot less when our customers believe our prices are great. The way we price products is: we start with a retail price we think covers our costs with a reasonable profit and that leaves room for a wholesale price. Then after a month or so we look at sales. If the products are flying off the shelf, they are too cheap, and we raise the price until they move well but are not flying. If the products are not moving well, and we see customers pick up the item, look at the price and then set it down, we know we are too high, so, we lower the price until it sells well. If we are not profitable, we discount the products and move on to something else. Although, we have had products that moved very slowly but flew off the shelves when we raised the price. Go figure. Pricing to us is very, very important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldieMN Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 My prices reflect approximately $1/ounce of wax. So a pint jar which holds 11 ounces sells for $12.50. Tarts which are a bit over an ounce sell for $1. I only sell retail. GoldieMN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siren12 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 21 hours ago, thelittleflame said: I feel that I may be guilty of what you are referring to, although at this point I am giving more candles away than selling them, as I am still in the trial and error stage. I wonder, how do you go about pricing your candles in an affordable manner that will give you some profit? Is there any kind of per ounce guideline or do you just figure your cost and add in some cushion? I would love to know your advice, or some examples of how you candles are priced, that is, if you don't mind sharing. Assuming that I get my 100% soy 8 ounce tins (really 5.75 oz of candle inside) throwing in an impressive manner, how would you price such an item? Littleflame: i am in the same situation, I have yet to sell a candle yet because the prices for hand made soy candles are all over the place in my area and i am also still testing go to scents. i mostly have just been giving candles away to family and friends for their feed back right now and once i figure out what scents i want to be my go to ones i can calculate my cost better. GoldieMN's $12.50 11 oz is 1/2 the price that i could afford to do at this point, i was thinking i would need to list my 8 oz jars at $12.50 to make a good profit but similar 8 oz candles are selling for that in my area, i guess it really depends on the market. although i have seen them for less in my area. I plan on testing more and doing more homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 There are many good threads on here if you can find them about pricing if I remember right you figure out your costs with all shipping and you double it for wholesale and triple it for retail (just a general guideline) there is also a spreadsheet in here someone made that helps you calculate your costs I don't buy in mass quantity - I can't- so triple my cost turned out to be ridiculous for my size jar in comparison to the other ones selling in my area so I had to adjust some to where I wouldn't lose money but I still do make a profit and a lot of that is my fault in using many expensive oils and keeping scents that don't fly because I like them and only order 4-8 ounces of oil at a time as opposed to pounds at a time and I have no local place to get wax so shipping on a couple 50 lb boxes costs almost as much as the wax itself! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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