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selling test candles


ajna

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so i made about 12 candles to test my wicks, turns out the wicks are too small and need to be bigger. they burn great! but leave wax on the sides, not too much, but not enough to sell full price. my question is, should i sell them at a discounted price and let customers know they will leave wax behind because they were my test candles, or should i remelt them and repour? i dont wanna remelt and repour cause i might kill the scents.

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The whole idea of testing is working to achieve a candle that looks good, burns correctly and offers both great hot and cold throw. Selling off testers (even at a reduced price) that don't meet those expectations in my mind may confuse the customer. Will they actually understand that this is not how your regular stock burns, what if they give it away as a gift, what will that person think etc.

Personally I would not offer "testers" out to the public, use the wax for something else or remelt carefully and repour with the correct wicking. Test a couple of repours yourself to see how they hold up with the remelt.

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Remelt. You're not going to burn off the scent. Also, you don't need 12 candles to test one wick. I'm not trying to be ugly, but that just doesn't make sense, as I think you've learned. I've made candles for over 6 yrs & I still make 1 test candle for every size I sell & document every batch. Yep, it's a pain in the butt, but you can't assume that every fo & new box of wax will work like all the past tests.

You'll shoot yourself in the foot if you try to start selling at a discounted price for a flawed product. You'll set a low standard that people will expect. What happens if someone says your full price product burns the same as your discount product, & they push you to sell everything at the discount price? Then they badmouth you for jacking up your prices & tell everyone you admitted you were selling something that wasn't really 'right'. The old rule of sales is: a happy customer will tell 1 person about their good experience; an unhappy customer will tell 20 people about their bad experience. It's hard to get through the testing phase & evolve your products, but don't sell anything until it's fully tested & represents the very best of your craft.

Susan.

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