Bath bomb battles - wholesale$ and shipping

[kidsngarden]

I make 2+ oz bath bombs. They sell well at my farmers market for $2.00 each or 4/$7. They are nothing out of the ordinary - baking soda, citric, cornstarch, FO/EO's, sunflower and castor oils, color. I've had the wholesale price at $1 each with a minimum of 24. I filled my first wholesale order for them today and boy did it take awhile! Not only making them but then packaging them so they wouldn't break in transit was a challenge. Egg cartons had too small of space to close lid. I ended up rolling them in saran wrap, twisting in between, and then putting the tube in bubble wrap and putting those tubes in a box with packing peanuts that will go in the box with other items.

So I'm thinking about charging more for wholesale maybe $1.50? There's a gal who also sells Bombs at the market who is selling her 4 oz bombs for $7 retail. she puts cocoa butter in hers and uses all essential oils. They are not colored or anything - not pretty to look at. Mine are marbled and cool looking. She wants me to raise my price. And really they are a pain in the hiney to make!

So what if I raised my retail to $3.00 and wholesale to $1.50? Am I off my rocker?

Bethany

[Everito Bandito]

Roll the dice and see how it goes. Just from the sound of it, you don't have a whole lot to lose. If after making and packing the wholesale order, you feel like you're getting the short end of the stick, you probably are.

Best Wishes..:smiley2:

[Bunny]

Is your packaging cost included in your wholesale prices?

[RobinInOR]

Bombs are such a pain to make I'd always sell them for more that just a usual x2 or x4. I think $3/$1.50 is totally reasonable. I think when I was doing bubble balls they were even $4/$2, packaged.

And of course she wants you to raise your prices - she's probably finding it hard to compete with you on price You can probably go up but still stay below her.

[BLSoaps]

I guess the main reason I've always hated the 2x / 4x ingredient cost for determining price is because it completely cuts out the labor factor. Bath Bombs is a prime example of WHY pricing shouldn't be calculated without factoring labor into the equation. It doesn't cost a lot ingredients wise to make bath bombs, but they're very labor intensive.

I never price out a single product without following this pricing guide. It pulls in everything, labor, overhead, packaging costs, etc. Then uses percentages to figure out your wholesale profit, and then your retail profit from that price. I spent quite a bit of time on this formula when I first got started, and it's saved me many times over. It's definitely more involved than x2,x3,x4, but you KNOW exactly what you're making on each product. And if one of your wholesale accounts comes and asks for a discount with a larger order, you can go through and easily calculate what you can offer (this just happened for me on some of my soaps. Went from ordering 50 bars or so of a single type of soap, to wanting 400 and 800)

The biggest thing to keep in mind with this formula is your batch sizes. It may not apply too much with bath bombs, but with some other products, especially soap, it typically takes the same amount of labor to pour 3 lbs of soap as it does to pour 30 lbs. You cut your labor costs significantly by making in larger batches. And when you cut your labor costs, you're able to offer better prices.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

http://www.soapersworkshop.com/store/index.php?page=Product%20Pricing%20Formula

[kidsngarden]

No, packaging was not included in the price, except labels. I sell them naked in a jar at shows, when they are purchased I tuck them in a glassine bag with a label. Still haven't figured out the best way to package for online selling. This last order was for a gal who makes custom gift baskets and she wanted hang tags for each bomb, but no bag.

Thanks so much for the link to the calculator. I had been doing that except of course the time thing was getting me. What is funny about what I do now is that I am a very practical person. I don't love baths. I want to clean and get out. So for me to purchase a bath bomb for $3 for a one shot use is crazy! But people pay for it, I have to remember that.

I am going to raise my price to $3/$1.50.

I'm even thinking of raising my bar soap price from $5. or 3/$12 to $5 or 3/$14.

Thanks again!

Bethany