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Time to Check Your Pricing!


TallTayl

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With the supply price increases, shipping increases, FEE increases (hello Etsy ADS.....) it's a good time to check your pricing. I just spent a few hours on my holiday candles and realized how little I was profiting from all the hard work and TIME to make and package my holiday candles.

 

It's always a good idea to take a pulse of your products pricing.  Given all the issues over the last year and a half, now is as good a time as any to make sure we're not working for free.

 

I used this quickie calculator to double check my spreadsheets.

https://omniprofitcalculator.com/etsy-fee-calculator/

 

The calculator is missing the cost for Etsy Ads. I have to factor in an additional 12% now to absorb the new fees. I took note when checking the shop dashboard. Pretty much all September orders came from a google search. Not a bag thing, except many of those customers were repeat buyers from any years. Etsy got to take an additional 12% from me because they came back to buy through a google ad instead of logging in to their Etsy account to rebuy stuff they have bought from me for a decade. Not cool. Not cool at all Etsy.

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3 hours ago, NightLight said:

Oh yeah, I feel the pain. Increases in supplies, ads. 😱Shipping. Still amazes me that I see jar candles under 18 dollars with free shipping on Amazon. If you like giving products away hahaha…

No kidding!! Running the mental math makes pretty much all of them loss leaders 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

I need to stop being worried about losing a few sales to price increases. I can’t absorb increases forever. 😢. Increasing prices 10% might lose 10% of customers, leaving me at the same tip line but healthier bottom line with more actual profit for my time spent. 

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2 hours ago, NightLight said:

Back in the day before USPS went nuts, I would ship to Australia all the time. The shipping was very reasonable.

What’s annoying is this does not help USA compete with China.  China sellers basically pay almost zero for shipping.

This is good point!

 

shipping costs for parcels going outside of the US are insanely high. We are at a big disadvantage compared to many other countries.

 

I’ve shipped all over the world usps for years with no issues.  Customs this year has been a nightmare. Not only is it expensive, it has become unreliable. A customer in Australia had to track down their parcel with me through the third party delivery services in AUS. The address was perfectly fine. The delivery service just dumped it into a warehouse somewhere. This is a lot to ask of a customer. 😢
 

Think, too, about if something does not reach the recipient. Depending on the country we are on the hook for refunding item and shipping per the consumer laws in the country the item is shipping to. 
 

Recently went through Etsy listings and restricted sales to only US for the time being.  

 

 

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I stopped selling out of country because it’s a super hassle now, also customer don’t want to pay extra for tracking so there you go. Sorry to see the sales go, but business changes.

There was a time shipping was a decent price for seller and buyer but no longer. Do not agree with how the post office is being managed. We should have shipping like Asia and promote small business. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/2/2021 at 9:17 AM, NightLight said:

Back in the day before USPS went nuts, I would ship to Australia all the time. The shipping was very reasonable.

What’s annoying is this does not help USA compete with China.  China sellers basically pay almost zero for shipping.

 

I have customer ask me all the time if I can ship outside the USA and then get offend when I have told them the prices (coupled with the exchange rate)    I just tell then a flat out no now.  Crazy how I can order a $4 item from China and get free shipping though.  Just do not understand that. SMH

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45 minutes ago, MilosCandles said:

 

I have customer ask me all the time if I can ship outside the USA and then get offend when I have told them the prices (coupled with the exchange rate)    I just tell then a flat out no now.  Crazy how I can order a $4 item from China and get free shipping though.  Just do not understand that. SMH

No kidding! I can’t send a box across the street for $4. 😢

 

at least we have a built in excuse for no international shipments… usps has halted exports for the more popular countries. 

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2 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

I have customer ask me all the time if I can ship outside the USA and then get offend when I have told them the prices (coupled with the exchange rate)    I just tell then a flat out no now.  Crazy how I can order a $4 item from China and get free shipping though.  Just do not understand that. SMH

Don't even start me on international shipping! We always used to buy our oils from the States and have them shipped down here to Australia, Natures Garden mainly, (but also used Berts and Bitter Creek), however since the government brought in the 10% tax on imports under $1000 AUD which is up to the seller to collect and revert back to the government here, they no longer ship to AU. I used to get 11 1 16oz bottles shipped for about 70 USD (if I can recall, as it was some time ago)

 

It is extremely frustrating as they were our best sellers and a much much larger range than what we can get locally here.  I can still get them, however now need to use a freight forwarder, so I first have shipping from NG to the shipping forwarders warehouse, and then the cost of them shipping down here to Australia, which obviously increases the price substantially.

 

I think we are going to have to wear the increased cost if we want to restock our best scents, however as we have only just started back up after 7 year, we want to first see how what we make is received, and if all goes well, we will take the chance of the increased cost to get the specific scents that we want.

 

I just checked Bitter Creek and 1 x 16 oz bottle shipped to Australia is $210 USD for shipping!!!!!!!!

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Nightlight - Unfortunately the scents that we want and need are all from NG, and have proven over the years to be great sellers. Once we are established again, I will bite the bullet and pay the high shipping to get what we need here.  Ultimately it actually works out about the same as if we were buying locally anyway, just need to see how people in this new area we are in react to the Mid West Prim style which is really unknown here in Australia.

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9 hours ago, RichardLOZ said:

Nightlight - Unfortunately the scents that we want and need are all from NG, and have proven over the years to be great sellers. Once we are established again, I will bite the bullet and pay the high shipping to get what we need here.  Ultimately it actually works out about the same as if we were buying locally anyway, just need to see how people in this new area we are in react to the Mid West Prim style which is really unknown here in Australia.

Just be prepared for how much fragrances from formerly tried and true suppliers might have changed... 

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1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

Just be prepared for how much fragrances from formerly tried and true suppliers might have changed... 

Yes I fully expect that to be the case. Purchased tried and tested scents locally, tested all again to find that about 30% of them burn quite differently, which could be the oil or could be the wax.  For the most part however the fragrance itself smelt and threw the same.

 

We will never sell anything unless it has had prior testing, hence we are essentially starting from scratch once again.  Oh what a joyful time :)

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It has been a heartbreaking few years of change.
 

palm wax (I think I remember seeing you use glass glow) does not seem to have been hot as hard as the others.  
 

the three fragrance chemical labs that caught fire a few years back signaled the start of the big changes. 
 

then wicks went silly last year. Madness 

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I have been underselling my candles for the past 2 yrs even thou I have actually increased the price. I offer a discount for larger purchases which in effect ends up underselling. I swear I am chicken to sell them for the price I really need to sell them at.

 

For cosmetics its been easier. People expect many popular cosmetics like face creams, scrubs, eye serums, lotions, balms, to be pricey so my pricing has been spot on. Also, I keep my COG spreadsheet up to date as best as I can, as I buy supplies I update it. That way when I look up the cost of an item its easy enough to update the price.

 

In a way I guess I am lucky as most of my customers are local. I sell at local farmer's markets and craft shows so even my online customers tend to all be in Virginia or nearby states. I don't sell overseas and don't plan to. After I have read all the grief about the extra costs shipping overseas I don't think I ever will offer overseas shipping.

 

My biggest problems from the past couple years have been FO reformulations and the extra shipping costs that have skyrocketed. That's a good description, its like the price of sending something to the moon and back these days when you have supplies shipped to you. 

 

But for me having to look for FO replacements has actually been a bigger headache. I try to see it as an opportunity to try new scents but that way of thinking won't fool you long. LOL

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