Check out my new website!

[Absyrtus]

It's up and running!

www.holasoycandles.com

[Breanna]

I really liked looking @ your site. Very informative and when you look @ what scents you have I love the way you have those bottles up there and when you go over them you have info to the scent. GOOD JOB!!!:highfive:

[Vicky_CO]

Your site looks nice. I love the bottle for scents. Well that is the first time I have seen a chunck candle called a rustic.

Now the down side a lot of your soy facts are wrong or only partially right. You should never knock another wax to sell your own stuff. That is bad business.

Examples:Soy wax should never be promoted as water soluble. it can be cleaned up easier but you need to make sure your customer don't pour the excess wax down the drain. Saying is more water soluble encourages people to do just that.

Paraffin support our local oil and gas industry paraffin is a by product of oil refining so us using it up actually helps out environment because of the candle industry that wax is not being discarded in to our land fills.

Paraffin is biodegradable it just take long to degrade than soy.

Paraffin candle can and do burn as long as soy. Soy only burns longer than straight paraffin.

You need to step away from the heath issues there is not any scientific facts to support it.

Soy produces a white soot which is just a damaging to walls and other things in your home.

Paraffin is also nontoxic you give the impression soy is the only wax that is nontoxic.

Actually in the production of soy wax we are using up a lot of oil and gas. Which is very bad for our environment.

Sorry you where just lucky enough to be the first to spout that bunk after my interview yesterday where I had to correct a reporter on some basic fact of soy.

I am a soy candle maker that is tired of the unsupportable statements being made about soy.

[prairieannie]

Really nice site dude!!

Now get your facts straight..test those candles a little more, and you'll be ready to face the candle buying world!!

[debscent]

Need to spell check, found a few errors in there, and I think the bash of other candles is not a great idea either. And your rustics look like chunks to me. And--trademark and copyright are two different things, correct?

And I agree...test some more (you posted here a little while ago stating that you've only just started), and you'll be on your way.

[Michi]

I think your site looks really nice, I too like the way the scents are done and how you can get a description just by running the mouse over the bottle-very clever.

That being said, you have a typo on your intro. page the last sentence should have an "a" in there "the result is "a" candle inspired by nature, crafted by design"

I too agree with the others, that you may need to get some more experience under your belt (need to do TONS of testing etc.) and research soy AND paraffin candles a bit more, before selling.

You just want to make sure that what you're selling is as safe and the best it can be, and that you have ALL facts spelled out accurately.

[scents for me]

Need to read up a little more on soy. Where did you gets these facts? Vicky Co has it right.

You are misleading the consumer as most soy candles makers do.

Spell check indeed

[RobinInOR]

The basic look is nice, but it's totally a flash site. I disable flash routinely because they usually take so long to load, so as a consumer I'd leave your site before it ever loaded, since there isn't a flash bypass.

It would be nice to have a non flash way to get at the information also.

But, I enabled the flash. Looks nice, clean design. Some of the popup pages don't work well in firefox.

Also, many search engines aren't going to see flash at all. You'll never get any kind of ranking I don't think without some plain info out there.

[Absyrtus]

I don't believe I have any facts to get straight. Soy wax IS more soluble in water. Which is why I say MORE... it dosen't dissolve, no, but it is more soluble.

Everything I have listed on my website I truly believe. No scientific evidence? The EPA might disagree with you! The EPA report on indoor candles, which I have cited, while not completley conclusive, discusses the potential harmful effects of paraffin candles. I will leave it at that. This is a touchy subject, and there are just as many people on both side saying that the other is bunk. I don't believe that parafin candles are evil, and I also don't believe I am bashing anyone. I make claims, which I can support, and I am not afraid to make those claims.

Thanks for letting me know about the typo...

[daniedb]

In your scent descriptions, I am concerned for you that you are making claims that open you up to HUGE liability. You have in your description, "will lift feelings of lethargy and depression" - not only is that a drug claim, it's also highly dangerous ground on which to tread...I would hate for you to have an unsatisfied customer that blames you for not having her depression lifted after burning your candle, KWIM? Something many of us do who use EOs and other aromatherapeutic and herbal "healing" items is to say things like, "is reputed to..." "is reported to have..." "is believed to..."

That way, you avoid liability and being treated as a drug manufacturer, which you are considered if you claim to treat or cure illnesses.

Other observations:

Home page-

"armoatherapeutic effects" - aromatherapeutic

In your "Statement regarding natural-ness of our candles"

1. naturalness doesn't need a hyphen.

2. in "The scent", aromatherapeutic is missing the "e"

3. in "The dye", I don't think it's in your best interest to name Gelly Candles as marketing something that isn't what they said it was. It doesn't look professional, IMO, and it opens you up to a lawsuit or some other retribution by the Gelly Candle company.

In your "What color will my candle be?"

-candle colors are made according to scent, not sent.

-available not availible

As for the paraffin vs. soy thing, as a pure soy candle maker, I would also recommend taking out any reference to paraffin at all. I have found that I am able to communicate my opinion and other peoples' beliefs about the benefits of soy wax without naming paraffin at all. I simply state that it cleans up with soap and water, that it's a renewable resource and that it's 100% vegetable derived. All facts, no opinion.

And while I understand that the EPA is doing studies, there's just no conclusive evidence at this time that soy is any healthier than paraffin. Even the article you linked on your site doesn't say anything negative about paraffin. That's not an ideal article to use as proof, IMO, of any anti-paraffin claims.

Just my $.02.

I do really like the look of the site, it's very nicely done. Beautiful, calming colors and I LOVE the bottles that name your scents. Very unique and interesting!

[Absyrtus]

Arg, I must've missed those! I hate misspellings. You're right about the EO stuff... I thought of that, but didn't address it directly as of yet. As far as the EPA document, it does what I want it to do. It addresses issues that have been raised reguarding paraffin candles, and even beeswax candles. It sites other research, some of which IS conclusive, some of which isn't. Just because something isn't conclusive, doesn't mean that it should be ignored. I state specifically that the research is not conclusive.

[daniedb]

I saw that you did state it was inconclusive, and that's great, I think that's smart. I think what I mean to say is that there wasn't any substance in the document that I read through the link you provided. It was more of an outline, and a summary, that didn't provide any facts itself. Is there another document that you could possibly use that has more info, or did I miss some vital information?

[lvnmt]

"The dye: We tried. In the beginning, we found dyes sold by Gelly Candle, who claimed that their dyes were all natural. We were skeptical, and apparently we should’ve been. These dyes were not all natural at all."

This is from the your website regarding the dyes. I am not sure if you should be naming another company in your website, especially in not so good terms. That's not very professional. Maybe just skip all of that and say that you had a really hard time finding "natural dyes" and continue to do so. Just remember that you are representing only a segment of the candle market and it is not wise to bash others, especially in this sue happy world. If you wanted a more "natural" candle, you would skip the dyes altogether.

That being said, kudos for being honest on the whole dye thing. Don't get discouraged. I have been testing for over a year, and I still don't feel like I am anywhere near ready to sell. :undecided

[Sarah]

i think what everyone is saying very well is that pointing out the faults of others may not be the best way to go about selling your own product. this means the mention of the dye company and the soy/paraffin comparison. it may be inconclusive, but by putting that on your site, you are giving it as a reason to buy your product. in my opinion, it just does not pay to bring others down to get ahead. as a customer, when i see that, that makes up my mind right there, i won't buy from a company that does that. that could just be me, of course.

i do admire that you feel so strongly about this, but maybe open up a little bit to listening to what others on this board have to say about the soy vs. paraffin debate. i have learned a lot here, from reading vicky's posts in particular. i started with soy wax, i believed every word i read on the manufacturers' webpages, and then i found out that there are of course two sides to every story. now i use paraffin

your site does look nice, btw. much better than my first site.

[Absyrtus]

I'm not trying to bash anyone, and I'm surprised that anyone thinks that I am. I'm sorry it comes off that way. It's marketing, I'm displaying why my product is good. In order to do that, I must compare it to something. There is no "good" without "bad." I guess here it's such a touchy subject since many of you make a living off of paraffin candles, and therefore you take it personally when I "bash" them. Don't. I'm selling my product, you sell yours. On your sites, I doubt you list all the benefits of soy. On my site, I'm not listing the benefits of paraffin (and I'm not directly listing the demerits of it either). However, I am reworking some of the material on the site that reflects your comments. I am not trying to mislead or bash anyone. The Gelly Candle reference will be removed... sorry... i was pissed at them. I wasn't trying to bash them either, but was trying to tell my story, and admitingly, I did not do so in the MOST politically correct manner, which, unfortunately, is a prereq for good business.

[MooChelle]

I'm not trying to bash anyone, and I'm surprised that anyone thinks that I am. I'm sorry it comes off that way. It's marketing...

I am sorry..But what you say on your site, is bashing.... And I wouldn't buy anything from you because of the way you try to make others sound bad to make you look better...That is just screaming to me that your products have issues and you are trying to cover them up... JMO

[sudsnwicks]

I like the innovative design of your site. Are you planning on selling to friends and family mainly, or to strangers as well? If it's the latter, you might want to include some information about your business. You have plenty of information about your product, but nothing is mentioned of your business e.g. where are you located, what does your name mean, how much does shipping cost, etc. It is also helpful if you give the site visitor more sizing information instead of just small, medium and large. Either provide the dimensions or the weight, and also the approximate burn time. A small candle costs $12.75 but that does not tell me if it is expensive or not if I don't know how small is small and how long it lasts. Or is this information somewhere on your site and I just happened to miss it?

[Absyrtus]

Dimensions are on there, and the prices, small, medium, and large correstpond to the small, medium, and large selections at the bottom of the window.

[Sarah]

Well, this is the last I will say because I really don't mean to push this into a debate. On your soy info page, you do specifically say (in four of the six points that are listed there, not to mention in the paragraph below it) something negative about paraffin. You are directly listing the supposed demerits. If that's how you want to sell your product, that's your decision, obviously. You did ask for opinions, though.

I really don't think you need to compare your product to anything, daniedb gave you some great examples of how she words it.

Good luck with your site

[Absyrtus]

And this is all I will say, No I don't! I list things that are good about my product, and compare them, when necessary to paraffin. It is NOT a list of things that are bad about paraffin, it is a list of things that are good about soy. Companies do this all the time... have you not seen charts with qualities down the side, product A on the top along side product B... with checkboxes indicating which product includes what? Is that bashing the other product? I can't list the benefits of my product without putting it into context. The context is the norm, the norm is paraffin.

Think what you will...

[debscent]

If you did not want criticism of your site, don't offer it up. Your marketing direction is not what people on here find professional and there are plenty of professionals here. If you think that it will work for you--then go for it, but please don't offend the people here who were trying to be nice to you. You have issues with your site, either fix them or not, but that's your issue. I will be interested to see where you are in a year, after you have managed to irritate people in the community in which you sell. Maybe a business course is in order. A good product stands on its own, it doesn't need comparison.

[Indescent]

If you did not want criticism of your site, don't offer it up..... A good product stands on its own, it doesn't need comparison.

:highfive: Kudos to you

[Scented]

Totally agree with Debscent.

[joyofsoycandle]

Paraffin is also nontoxic you give the impression soy is the only wax that is nontoxic.

Is there any proof or facts supporting that paraffin is non toxic also? I am NOT stating that it is, just asking if there is proof that it isnt.

[lvnmt]

"I started making mostly natural candles, mostly for myself, but my family and friends are getting interested in them. Unfortuatnely, i'm still in the experimental stage. Some of my candles turn out gorgeous, and some turn out so ugly I'm afraid to let them out of the basement..."

You just posted this on the 24th of September. Maybe you should jump back into the experimentation stage--but I guess you could have made huge improvements in 2 weeks. You need to be 200% sure that your product is safe and reliable before you even think about selling to the general public. You should be able to reproduce something good 99% of the time. It doesn't matter what your website looks like, if you are still unsure of your product, then you have no business selling to others (public).

Please don't take offense, but there are very knowledgeable people on this site who do make their living doing this, (soy candles included) and have been for years and without the whole "paraffin bad" "soy good" mantra. It would be wise to take their advise, or just don't ask for it. Be thankful you did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!