Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) I've had to significantly increase the cost of my candles this year. The ever increasing costs of shipping, wax, and fragrance oils gave me no choice. So I am curious what others are charging for their candles and figured others may find the answers from this poll interesting or even enlightening. For this poll a 16oz jar will be used as our jar pricing choice. Even if you don't use a 16oz jar you may still do the poll if you have an idea of what you would want to charge. I understand that customer base, demand, locality, and a plethora of other factors will impact how you price so this is simply a gage to get a ballpark feeling of current prices of handmade candles. I know that type of wax may also play an important role in pricing but this is just a general question. Edited January 29, 2019 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 You want the retail price or the wholesale price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) retail or what you charge, not the wholesale. Edited January 29, 2019 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldieMN Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Great poll, thanks! Are vote totals suppose to show up after voting? GoldieMN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebleo Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 I’m not sure if it counted my vote. After I hit submit it told me the other fields were required, meaning I had to vote in all three categories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) This is my first poll so please bear with me. So I edited it to one general question with 3 different answers for just a 16oz wax jar candle in general. Not wax specific. I am just trying to get a generalized gage of prices for that size jar. Hope it makes better sense. Thanks. Edited January 29, 2019 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 3 hours ago, GoldieMN said: Great poll, thanks! Are vote totals suppose to show up after voting? GoldieMN yes, but only if you vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 I just upped my pricing to $22 for my 16oz palm containers. Nobody batted an eye or questioned it, not even my repeat customers. 3 hours ago, GoldieMN said: Great poll, thanks! Are vote totals suppose to show up after voting? GoldieMN You have to hit the "submit vote" button after voting to see the vote totals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldieMN Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 6 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said: I just upped my pricing to $22 for my 16oz palm containers. Nobody batted an eye or questioned it, not even my repeat customers. You have to hit the "submit vote" button after voting to see the vote totals. Yes, first time I tried, it didn't work as I didn't vote in all three categories. Now it worked for me. I use 16 oz. jars but they only hold 12 oz. Are yours 16 oz. of wax? GoldieMN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 So I charge $12 for a 16oz Palm candle and $15 for a 16oz paraffin candle. Keep in mind though, my 16oz jars only hold about 12oz of wax. Also, my jars are very basic, my labels are super basic, and I don't maintain a website or online store. I would charge more like $20 - $25 if I was using (for example) a Status jar, with fancy Zazzle labels a la Trappeur, and I had more overhead to worry about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 This is not about how much wax it holds, but the price of the candle in a 16oz jar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 51 minutes ago, GoldieMN said: Yes, first time I tried, it didn't work as I didn't vote in all three categories. Now it worked for me. I use 16 oz. jars but they only hold 12 oz. Are yours 16 oz. of wax? GoldieMN Yes, I edited it down to just one question with 3 answers so it is very in general and not wax specific. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Candybee said: This is not about how much wax it holds, but the price of the candle in a 16oz jar. Oh yeah, I understood that Candybee! I was just pointing out that my pricing is based on actual weight of the candle and not necessarily the volume on the jar. I wasn't clear when I wrote that out, sorry! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Sarah S said: Oh yeah, I understood that Candybee! I was just pointing out that my pricing is based on actual weight of the candle and not necessarily the volume on the jar. I wasn't clear when I wrote that out, sorry! Gotcha! 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) On 1/29/2019 at 2:20 PM, GoldieMN said: Yes, first time I tried, it didn't work as I didn't vote in all three categories. Now it worked for me. I use 16 oz. jars but they only hold 12 oz. Are yours 16 oz. of wax? GoldieMN 16oz wax with 3-6% FO Edited January 31, 2019 by Jcandleattic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 On 1/29/2019 at 2:51 PM, Sarah S said: So I charge $12 for a 16oz Palm candle and $15 for a 16oz paraffin candle. Keep in mind though, my 16oz jars only hold about 12oz of wax. Also, my jars are very basic, my labels are super basic, and I don't maintain a website or online store. I would charge more like $20 - $25 if I was using (for example) a Status jar, with fancy Zazzle labels a la Trappeur, and I had more overhead to worry about. I use 16oz Apothecary jars - I switched to palm wax, and my jars will hold a full 16oz of wax mixed with anywhere from 3-6% FO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 On 1/29/2019 at 4:09 PM, Jcandleattic said: I just upped my pricing to $22 for my 16oz palm containers. Nobody batted an eye or questioned it, not even my repeat customers. This is good news. Currently I am making 12oz jars and have wanted to go back to making 16oz. I charge $15 for the 12oz. Looking at my COG spreadsheet I would have to charge in the range of $20 - $22 for the 16oz jars. So its good to know your customers are accepting. I may give it a try next fall and offer a few to test my market out. Folks around here have a lot of other chandlers to buy their candles from (mostly soy) and their candles tend to be in a smaller price range so I have my competition to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geodon99 Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 From what I have seen, $1 to $1.50 per ounce seems to be the acceptable retail price range. Depending on variables such as type of wax, fragrance, jar type, among other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 On 1/31/2019 at 11:47 AM, Candybee said: This is good news. Currently I am making 12oz jars and have wanted to go back to making 16oz. I charge $15 for the 12oz. Looking at my COG spreadsheet I would have to charge in the range of $20 - $22 for the 16oz jars. So its good to know your customers are accepting. I may give it a try next fall and offer a few to test my market out. Folks around here have a lot of other chandlers to buy their candles from (mostly soy) and their candles tend to be in a smaller price range so I have my competition to deal with. Candybee if you are talking about the style jar like what you sent me, I have a suggestion to save you tons of money. Then you may already know about it. I go to save a lot grocery store and if they are out of stock on the jars, Wallmart has them. I buy the "Harvest" canning jar 16oz from these stores. There is embossing on 3 sides but 1 side is free for your label. People lap up the fact they are the actual canning jar and love the embossing which I do too, authentic looking. Now wallmart also has a new style 16oz jar with NO EMBOSSING WHAT SO EVER. The jar is the "Ball " and "Ball is embossed way on the bottom. All you need are lids which I know you get from Fillmore or Aztec. I pay at Save a Lot 6.99 a case of 12. So there is no shipping cost what so ever. Just state sales tax. Now the Wallmart jars are 7.99 a case of 12. Trappeur 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireside Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 On 1/31/2019 at 11:47 AM, Candybee said: This is good news. Currently I am making 12oz jars and have wanted to go back to making 16oz. I charge $15 for the 12oz. Looking at my COG spreadsheet I would have to charge in the range of $20 - $22 for the 16oz jars. So its good to know your customers are accepting. I may give it a try next fall and offer a few to test my market out. Folks around here have a lot of other chandlers to buy their candles from (mostly soy) and their candles tend to be in a smaller price range so I have my competition to deal with. Same here, the "soy is best" hype is all around me and not to mention them selling 8 ounce jelly jars for $5, 16 ounce for $10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura C Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 If I were selling candles I would certainly try to sell a 16oz candle for $20+, probably more like $28 but I haven't ran the numbers. Off the top of my head, it seems like making at least a $10 profit on a candle would be good. My thoughts are, if you value your product and are proud of it then other people will value it too. This all sounds great but I don't have any experience selling products so I could be way off base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Another reason to look closely at your retail price is for potential future wholesale. Typically wholesale customers expect the cost of what they buy to be half of your retail. It’s super easy to short change yourself if pricing too low. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 I charge $18 for the 16 oz size jar, but I'm about to re-crunch numbers on my costs. Need to update to reflect current costs. Also I use soy, not palm ... and last time I checked, palm was pricier than soy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 On 2/15/2019 at 1:19 PM, Crafty1_AJ said: I charge $18 for the 16 oz size jar, but I'm about to re-crunch numbers on my costs. Need to update to reflect current costs. Also I use soy, not palm ... and last time I checked, palm was pricier than soy. Right now a case of palm runs me $99.99 plus shipping. I can buy it somewhat cheaper at other suppliers but add in the shipping and actually the $99.99 case is the best buy for me. Its nuts! Paraffin isn't much cheaper and in some cases depending on which paraffin you buy can run you as much as $128 or more a case. Soy may be a little cheaper but not much when you add shipping plus all your other costs. See you may have more expensive jars than mine or something else. I buy the cheap economy jars and lids just so I can make up for the cost of the expensive wax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.7e8ff401dde48f6d12a5cda71c99ffe6.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.