Freaking shipping... from US to Canada!!!

[dublon]

I just bought 50 bottles from Scent works, and the shipping is costing me $37.00!!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes2

The shipping is more expensive than the darn bottles!! (It is still cheaper though than any half decent bottles that I've found here in Canada.)

Does anyone here in Canada have a decent place to buy NICE bottles. Not the boston rounds, or the cosmos or cylinders, etc. Something nice and different.. at a decent price??? New Directions does have some, but the nicer ones are $2.50 and up per bottle... which doesn't include shipping!!!

[Darbla]

Shipping is sickening these days. I did up a $150 order from a supplier, and the shipping was $93 !!!! It was heavy wax, but that is still shipping sticker shock when it is that much of the total cost of the order.

[dublon]

My gosh... why don't you get your wax in Canada?? I don't know where you are situated but Canwax in Ontario has pretty well everything..

[RichardLOZ]

You want to see the shipping from the US to Australia!!! 13 lb of oils is $53.95 and our last order of rusty tin stuff from Factory Direct in Ohio was $150.00 just for the shipping.

The problem we have sounds similar to you guys in Canada, trying to find a decent supplier who carries a good range. Wax here is fine and we do use some oils sourced from local suppliers (although I imagine they still originate in the states). Oils, jars and accessories are the issue. OIls I can get from the US, and generally even when shipping is included it still works our cheaper for us then buying locally. Jars here are really boring. I have just managecd to source some of the Libby jars, however it will take 16 weeks to have them ordered in and they work out at around $4 AUD each with lid. Thats outrageous, but what can you do?

Ahhhhh such is life in the candle world. People in the states just dont know how lucky they are with the selection of products they have to choose from.

Cheers

Richard

[green-tangerine]

I know what you mean! I have started placing orders once a year from McKernan. They have a $500 minimum but by the time I get bottles , jars, aluminum bottles and pumps it adds up . They have all I need. Have you tried Richards packaging? I don't know if they have a division where you are? The person I talked to recently there said they own McKernan and can get their product but have a minimum too but not as high.

[dublon]

Cool... thank you so much!!! I'm about to have a look see, for their minimums, as they do have a branch in Montreal... 50 minute drive from here!!!

I'm looking for nice little lotion bottles now!!!

My gosh... 3 weeks ago I did a craft fair... took 6 bottles of lotion (I use a base) didn't sell one.

The show that I just finished this past weekend... I sold 5 bottles!! Go figure!! Now I need to find some more NICE bottles fast!!

[Jean]

shipping is a BIG rip off all over i think.. :rolleyes2

[Jean]

I meant to add, i sent 2 boxes to the same address to see which box got there faster. 1 i did the regular way, the other i put delivery confirmation on. the one with the DC got there faster, i called the PO and asked why, their reply was, no box is guaranteed, i said we are to have the boxes in 2 -3 days for priority mail. she said it's not guaranteed, i told her that's BS we pay for that, so now i do DC on my pkgs.. :rolleyes2

[Bernadette]

I shipped a small order to England last week...the shipping cost more than the candles! I was surprised the customer placed it. I also shipped a much larger order to England, and that was more reasonable, but I was embarassed. I use the USPS calculator(I'm in the US) so the shipping is always accurate, but it sure explains why Canadian and foreign orders are way down. It's disgusting! Even US customers that haven't had anything shipped in awhile complain about the cost.

[Trappeur]

Yes, shipping is outrageous I agree. I happen to be on a well known suppliers site couple of days ago. To ship a 1 pound 18.00 bottle of oil was 14.99.....Now get this...I readfurther down on the site and to ship this same 1 pound bottle NEXT DAY IS $67.76!!!! Now I think that is not right, it's totally unacceptable, and a total rip off. Now tell me they are not making money on shipping??? How in the world do they come up with that price is beyond me...There is no excuse that I could here from anyone to justify this as there is none...A 50 pound box of wax shipped next day is 72.00 and 67.76 for 1 pound of oil?

Its bad enough for us to pay all these up and up prices of supplies from these suppliers and then have to turn it around and try to market it? Getting worse and worse every day. It sickens me to see suppliers out there that stay in business because of the chandlers as WE KEEP THM IN BUSINESS!

And for the ones who just posted here who don't live in the US how in the world do you stay in business with shipping prices of what you pay? What do charge $32.00 for a jelley jar? Gesh, I feel bad for you guys!

Trappeur

[green-tangerine]

hope they can help you at Richards!

[dublon]

And for the ones who just posted here who don't live in the US how in the world do you stay in business with shipping prices of what you pay? What do charge $32.00 for a jelley jar? Gesh, I feel bad for you guys!

The only way to stay in business and get stuff in the US is by participating in co-ops, and checking the classies!!

And the heavier items, like wax I buy here in Canada.

It is the nice bottles that are hard to find around here at a reasonable price.

And as for Richards.... I think we need to buy full cases of bottles from them, and for the moment I just can't do it. I ended up buying 10 really cute bottles from ND. a little more expensive than I wanted to pay, but I think they'll do well for me (I'll be using them for my lotion (base) )in my next craft fairs.... 5 in a row...all two day shows.. phew!!

Too many co-ops going on that I need to pay shipping for...

Although the shipping isn't as bad than buying direct from US suppliers

[RichardLOZ]

And for the ones who just posted here who don't live in the US how in the world do you stay in business with shipping prices of what you pay? What do charge $32.00 for a jelley jar? Gesh, I feel bad for you guys!

Interestingly enough, for us here in Australia it is actually cheaper even with the shipping to bring our oils in. Locally a 1 lb bottle of oil ranges from about $24 through $32 AUD. Our last order from NG oils came in at aroung $20.50 AUD including the shipping.

I only wish that I could get jars chipped cheaply as the selection we have here is pretty ordinary.

The other thing we get shipped is all of the rusty tin stuff, jar toppers, stars, hears, wire, punched tin warmers as there is nowhere here in Aus to get it, so we dont have too much choice. I just work out the cost of each item including the shipping and add 100% for selling at markets.

BTW, we sell a 10oz jelly jar, palm for $16 at markets, 10oz apothecary, soy for $16 at markets and they both range between $10 - $13 wholesale depending on the customer, so we dont do too badly I guess.

Cheers

Richard

[Trappeur]

HI Richard!

If you don't mind me asking, what type jars do you order that you use? You say you have just plain jars nothing out of the ordinary?

What kinds would those be? Just curious....

Your creations are just stunning! I love when you put up pictures of them! You and your wife do just lovely work.

Trapp

[RichardLOZ]

Trapp

We can get the standard apothecary, melting pot, bulb, metro & honeypot jars and thats about the extent of it. We have gone out and sourced the jelly jars (which people here just dont get and think its jam (jelly to you guys)).

I can get the Libby jars, but there is a 16 week wait for them as they have to be shipped and they work out at around $4.00 AUD each jar. Genuine US mason jars are also available, but again work out to around $5.00 AUD each.

People just wont pay the price we would have to charge to order those jars in. Dont even go to things like the rusty lids with handles for the apothecary jars. We would love to get some of those, however it would mean increasing our prices by $4 - $6 AUD to cover the cost of the lid and the shipping.

It is so unbelieveably frustrating to see what you guys have available to you compared to what we are able to get. This is why we have started to bring our oils in direct. We have 2 suppliers here who have about 120 oils between them. NG has close to 600 odd, not consider BCS, BCN, Candlewic etc etc and we have access to literally 1000's of oils.

We want to be different to all of the other chandlers here and so far we appear to be actually quite successful in that regard. A market we did on Wednesday here went very well for us, despite fighting 32c heat (about 100 F I think). Out rusty tins sold really well, as did some of the rusty tin products we brought in from the states. Not too many other people here do the apothecary jars, probably because they are such a pain to wick and the others cant be bothered. No one else does the jelly jars, but I think we are going to have to push those somewhat as people dont know what they are. We take a lot of pride in the way both our product and out market stall looks. Most of the other people selling look to have made no effort at all in their presentation, and lets face it the first thing a customer sees is the look. Another woman was there on Wednesday selling some soy jars, clams and some B&B product. I dont think she sold too much based on the almost filthy look she gave Tracy as they passed each other on the way to the bathroom. Sorry I missed the look it would have been priceless. Her own fault I reckon for not going to the effort to make her product look great. For all we know it could be miles better than what we do, but based on presentation a customer may not think that way.

Thanks for you kind comments on the things we are making, however some of the stuff I have seen of yours, particularly over on the Bittter Creek board are a real inspiration. As I dont use any BC products (at the moment anyway, but am hanging to try some of their oils) I cant really post over there, just read.

How I would love to do the firestarters and some of the melts with embeds and stuff, but people here I dont think would pay the price. Most people really have no idea as to how much time and effort goes into producing some of these things.

We have gained so many idea from various people here on this board and I do thank everyone for that. Hopefully as our experience increases we will be also able to inspire and help other people as they start this very long and expensive journey down the wax melting path

All the best

Richard

[KoalaGirl]

Oh Richard, now your going to HAVE to post a pic of your stall.....

[RichardLOZ]

Koala

You know what? I would love to, however after we had setup on Wednesday we realised that we had not in fact brought the camera....LOL. We are doing markets both Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend, so will try to get some decent pics to post.

Sunday is just a small craft market and we will probably only get one table. To display all of our stuff generally uses 4 tables, so Sunday will definitely be a challenge.

Cheers

Richard

[green-tangerine]

yes , you have to buy a case from Richards. There is this place https://www.salbrobottle.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=57 I haven't bought from them but have called. The ones I look at aren't in stock though.

[KoalaGirl]

Ok Richard, your forgiven, but next time ok?

We are doing the ''Worlds biggest car boot sale'' at Newcastle on Sunday. Its an annual charity event for Hunter Life Education. Massive by all accounts. Your stall fee even gets you a four line add in the Newcastle morning herald supplement that lists all the stalls. Cant wait to get the paper tomorrow to see what competition Im up against! Still getting stuff organised.....thats why Im still up at 3am!!

[RichardLOZ]

Hey there Koala

We are actually thinking about doing the Christmas fair at Gosford showground on December 5th I think. Have to ring and find out some details about it, and of course it would be great to know just what the weather is going to be doing on that day.

Wednesday this week we did Penrith market and luckily managed to get an undercover spot. I think the temperature hit about 32, and some of the soy jars had just started to sweat. Not too much you can do about that I guess except hope for the best.

You should do Maitland market. No doubt you have been there and it is huge. We may consider that one next year after we have a break through Jan & Feb. No point even trying to take soy out through those two months. We leave home with solid wax and bring liquid back......LOL

All the best with your market this Sunday. I sure know about the last minute stuff, as I seem to do that all the time

[Dustpuuppy]

Richard,

You do realize that you may have found a niche that you could fill, in the import market? If you could buy a large enough shipment of a couple of jars to get your price and shipping down, you could sell off the excess to some folks over there.

You can't do it as a CoOp, through this board but there are other ways. Especially if you had someone who could pick up the jars and ship them to you. I'm betting they could get a better price than what some suppliers offer.

[KoalaGirl]

Hi Richard, yes we have been to Maitland a few times. Its actually on this Sunday but we havent figured out how to be in two places at once!

The predicted temp for Sunday is 29/30. I requested and was given a south facing stall. I have an instant up canopy but havent used it above about 25 degrees, so a bit nervous as to how things will hold up! Do you use one? if so, how hot does it have to get before you start to panic? I only use soy.

[RichardLOZ]

Richard,

You do realize that you may have found a niche that you could fill, in the import market? If you could buy a large enough shipment of a couple of jars to get your price and shipping down, you could sell off the excess to some folks over there.

You can't do it as a CoOp, through this board but there are other ways. Especially if you had someone who could pick up the jars and ship them to you. I'm betting they could get a better price than what some suppliers offer.

Dustpuppy

That is a great idea and one that I have considered and put on the back burner for the time being. The problem would be, would there be enough interest here to sell an entire pallet of jars. Unfortunately we do not have the population, hence the market that you guys have over there.

I may however consider bring in some oils to sell here, as the range that is available is pretty dismal.

Cheers

Richard

[RichardLOZ]

Hi Richard, yes we have been to Maitland a few times. Its actually on this Sunday but we havent figured out how to be in two places at once!

The predicted temp for Sunday is 29/30. I requested and was given a south facing stall. I have an instant up canopy but havent used it above about 25 degrees, so a bit nervous as to how things will hold up! Do you use one? if so, how hot does it have to get before you start to panic? I only use soy.

Yes I know that dilemma. We were not planning on anything this Saturday as I was working in the morning. Got a call Wednesday night about a cancellation locally for a craft show and knocked it back due to work.

In the city yesterday and work on Saturday is canceled. We are now going to do Fairfield market on Saturday and another craft market at Blackheath on Sunday.

We did Leura a few weeks back with our gazebo and it probably got to about 28 / 29 degrees. We survived as long as there is no direct sunlight on the soy. Also if I recall you use Ecosoya? We are using a 464 / palm blend which lowers the melt point so it does not hold up as well as the Ecosoya, but both the hot and cold throw are amazing and way stronger that I have experienced with the Ecosoya.

HTH

[Dustpuuppy]

I wouldn't have thought that shipping to Sydney would be quite so high as you indicate.

I'm wondering if your UPS type companies are very expensive ? I'm guessing it would cost a fortune to send things from Sydney to Coober Pedy, or some such place ?