Price per ounce of wax or ounce per jar?

[number2of7]

I've been reading alot of posts about people upping their candle prices due to wax increases, etc.

Some have said that they charge anywhere from $1.25 - $2.00 an ounce.

My question is this: is this price per ounce based on say the 6.5 ounces of wax that goes into a jelly jar, or is it based on the actual size of the jar (8oz) ?

[katshe]

I base my price on what goes into the jar .

I make a 10 oz jar candle but it will hold 12 ounces, but in order to keep candle at a price that my customers like I leave out that two ounces.

[artcwolf]

I price per the oz of the jar. My 8oz jars i put in 9oz, so i eat the 1 oz

[coconut]

I calculate my cost for the entire candle including the jar. Then I multiply that by 3 or 4 to get my price. So far, my peeps are willing to pay that. HTH

[Maggie]

Only the amount that goes in the jar.

I did a show on Saturday and have 3 jar styles at the moment. My jelly jar holds 7.5 ozs. and I calculated the cost using 7 ozs.

Another jar...the 10 oz. footed sq. jar holds about 9.5 ozs. and I calculated my cost at 9 oz. I had those on sale for $2.00 off regular price because I am phasing them out. I thought they would sell a lot better than my new jars...8 oz. Madisons but they did not. I pour 8 ozs. in the Madisons and after calculating my cost it was the same as the 10 oz. footed square jar before the sale price.

I thought for sure people would buy the 10 oz. on sale figuring they were getting more candle for less. But the Madisons outsold both other jar styles.

Maggie

[number2of7]

I base my price on what goes into the jar .

I make a 10 oz jar candle but it will hold 12 ounces, but in order to keep candle at a price that my customers like I leave out that two ounces.

This one confuses me....how do you put 12 ounces into a 10 oz jar? Hmmmm....

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

[Stella1952]

This one confuses me....how do you put 12 ounces into a 10 oz jar? Hmmmm....

It's a 12 oz. container poured with 10 oz. of wax.

[racolvin]

I fill my jars to a point where I like them. My 8oz apothecary will actually hold 10oz if I keep pouring up into the neck space but when I do my batch calculations, I figure those jars at 9oz. My label still says 8oz but that's just me being lazy

My pricing is done purely based on what the market will bear compared to my costs. I don't try to do any "cost per ounce" sort of calculation at all.

I price my 16oz apothecary jars at $18.99, exactly $1.00 less than a comparable 14.4oz jar from Yankee. My 8oz jars go for $12.99 and my little 3.5oz tureens go for $5.99.

If I tried to do some sort of 4x of costs, the 8oz ones would be disproportionately expensive and wouldn't sell.

[Stella1952]

This gets into the fine art of pricing...

Perceived and real value are important considerations in pricing. When candlemakers pay a lot for unique containers, guess what - the wax isn't where the money is in the manufacturing cost! It doesn't take any more labor or materials to pour 5 ounces of wax into a tin than it does into a canning jar than it does into a custom, one-of-a-kind, hand-blown container. The price has to be adjusted for the container price and style.

Style matters. A canning jar, even if it costs the manufacturer the same as another non-canning style container, will not be able to command the same price on the market as it is not perceived by the consumer as being as expensive as a more sylish container.

Presentation matters. If two Metro jars are poured with the same amount of wax, but one has a very classy label and comes with some inexpensive decoration attached to the jar and is packaged in a gift box, you could reasonably charge twice as much for it even though its manufacturing costs would have been only slightly more than the plainer, unembellished product.

Where you are selling and to whom matters. Deciding whether you are competing with the Chinese at WalMart or with the local church craft bazaar sellers or upscale salon marketers is important in pricing. If you have salon-grade items and sell them off the tailgate of your pickup truck at a local free craft bazaar, you will not be able to command the salon price for those items.

[Beverley]

This gets into the fine art of pricing...

Perceived and real value are important considerations in pricing. When candlemakers pay a lot for unique containers, guess what - the wax isn't where the money is in the manufacturing cost! It doesn't take any more labor or materials to pour 5 ounces of wax into a tin than it does into a canning jar than it does into a custom, one-of-a-kind, hand-blown container. The price has to be adjusted for the container price and style.

Style matters. A canning jar, even if it costs the manufacturer the same as another non-canning style container, will not be able to command the same price on the market as it is not perceived by the consumer as being as expensive as a more sylish container.

Presentation matters. If two Metro jars are poured with the same amount of wax, but one has a very classy label and comes with some inexpensive decoration attached to the jar and is packaged in a gift box, you could reasonably charge twice as much for it even though its manufacturing costs would have been only slightly more than the plainer, unembellished product.

Where you are selling and to whom matters. Deciding whether you are competing with the Chinese at WalMart or with the local church craft bazaar sellers or upscale salon marketers is important in pricing. If you have salon-grade items and sell them off the tailgate of your pickup truck at a local free craft bazaar, you will not be able to command the salon price for those items.

WELL SAID!