sockmonkey

I think Sweetscents is wise to bring in additional name brand candle lines. Unless they are already well known in their area and have a substantial following it would be extremely difficult for most new store owners to expect to survive on an unknown product line, such as homemade candles. Be careful on overdoing the candles though, because a survey on a particular retailer's forum shows that candle sales at stores througout the country are down 40% over the past year.

Here's another long and drawn out explanation that might give further insight into the matter: http://www.candlecauldron.com/trademarks.html

I think a lot of people (myself included) use this for help: http://thesage.com/calcs/measures.html

I think it looks very nice. The only thing I would change is the picture you use for the pillars and votives. The color of the candles looks kind of drab to me. You did a great job!

F.Y.I., I just saw the Dollar Tree store has a 2-pack of "natural" malibu bottles with lids for $1. It's not the cheapest in the world, but if you find yourself short and don't want to pay shipping for just a few bottles, they might do in a pinch. The also have some glass perfume bottles with various colored lids.

Paying $3 and up is just too much to make profit off of your products in my opinion. I found a place that has them, but they require a minimum purchase of 2500 or 5000, but they were only $2-something a piece. You would think people who have been paying $4+ for them would like to take advantage of it and get twice as many for their money.

My point was, that you said "thanks" here. It's nice to hear about great service from any vendor, but I'm sure you would probably make someone's day at WSP if you told them that. A lot of people take the time to complain to a vendor, but few take the time to tell them when they do a good job. That was the only reason for my comment.

Did you send that message to WSP?

It just goes to show you how hot soapmaking is right now. I would think they would be more likely to sell m&p kits due to safety concerns, but maybe this type of thing appeals more to their demographics of suburban yuppy types. This is probably a trend that will wind up on the clearance shelves.

What kind of facilty do you have to make your products? Are they made in your home, or do you have a separate facility? This arrangement sounds fishy to me. A large company getting ready to lauch a perfume in the near future has contacted you to make a lotion candle. Huge companies generally have their own staff to handle their manufacturing deals, not a wholesaler. What do you know about this large company, or the wholesaler for that matter? I also find it odd that once their perfume is out they will send it to you and also supply you with a list of other ingredients they want in the candle. Who is making that determination? I would tend to believe they must already have made the candle, or else they are stealing someone else's forumula. It doesn't make any sense. It takes months if not years for legitimate companies to launch products, and now when they're getting ready to sell the perfume they suddently decide to add a candle to the line? Things usually don't work that way with big business. I would definitely do some research on the company and the wholesaler. I would want to find out what other companies this wholesaler has worked with and talk to them to see how their deal worked out.

You shouldn't expect to get a response from only sending 10 letters. Maybe if you sent 100 you might get a response. Don't feel bad that no one contacted you. Thirty-seven is not a lot of letters either. Did you have anyone review your letters before you mailed them? Not only is content important, but so is the format. (I see you didn't use spacing after puntuation in your post here.) Stores receive postcards, letters, catalogs, samples and more in the mail everyday from companies trying to get them to buy their products. So you need to do something that will make yours stand out from the rest. As a store owner, I hate for salespeople to show up unannounced--even if I already carry their lines. A letter from a company indicating they will place a follow-up call shortly is appreciated. I think you should have an introductory letter with a separate product list/price sheet attached that includes at least a couple of photos of your products. Based on what you wrote, you have many years of experience in the craft apparently, so I would mention that in your introductory letter. Another thing to point out in your letter is that your product is locally made, which many shop owners find is a very good selling point for their customers. People love to buy things made in their home state or town. Look at a map to find all of the street locations for the visits you would like to make. Then plug the address information into mapquest.com for turn by turn directions on how to get there. Plot all of the locations and divide them up according to direction (N,S, E or W). Then plan all of your traveling to a particular region on a certain day. Call to make appointments by telling shop owners that you will be in the area on whatever day and you would like to borrow 5 minutes of their time to leave a sample with them if you could. It's hard to turn down a free sample.

If they already placed the order without even questioning if there would be a discount, then I wouldn't consider giving them one.

You could be in for a nasty surprise if you use uncut FO's in a roll-on bottle. Not only could it cause skin irritation or burns, but it might also compromise the integrity of your bottle components if you use a plastic roller ball (which basically everyone sells). I found this place that sells displays, but I have no idea whether the dimensions will be suitable for your bottle size. I would contact them for verification. http://www.blueearthdesign.com/bottle%20displays.html

Sadly, because of lawsuits and the way things are today, manufacturers have to take into consideration the misuse, or potential misuse of their products when they design them. It's just like the caution labels on blowdryers--"Do not use while bathing." Who in their right mind would do that? Obviously, someone did and that's why you see that warning label on every blowdryer on the market today. The point is, that insurance is necessary if you think about selling to the public because if anything can go wrong, the consumer will look to you for compensation, even if it's due to their own foolishness. A money hungry lawyer, or a defiant insurance company will find ways to prove your materials or your process was faulty, or you didn't adequately warn the consumer against improper usage. Should people take responsibility for their own actions? Absolutely, but if there is a chance a buck can be made off of a tragedy, there will always be someone willing take advantage of the situation. I've got a friend in the construction business who does a lot of restoration work to homes that were damaged due to fire. In the majority of the burned homes he works on, they are due to grease fires. He told me it amazes him the number of people who leave pans of grease on the stove, and he wonders how many times people do it and it's actually arson, because they dream of remodeling or getting some quick insurance cash, but it always is reported as an accidental grease fire. Like he says, "there's no law against being stupid."

What if you made the sun swirl orange and the beams coming out of it yellow?

I agree w/PA. Simple designs usually work the best. I don't know that I would necessarily use the same font because to me it seems a little formal with the cute artwork in the center.

I'm sorry to say I was very disappointed by the samples I received from them. They were all super weak, because like you, I thought great--I found a cheap supplier! Wrong. I contacted them and they said they could make the same FO at a more stronger strength, and of course it would cost a different amount. I won't waste my time playing that game.

It's easy to say someone is stupid for leaving a candle burning while they sleep, or when they leave the house. But, like with many products, it is always a consideration that there were contributing factors, such as the candle maker using a wick that was not of the appropriate size which may cause a candle to burn too hot and glass to explode. It could be that fragrance oils were not properly mixed in the wax and a pocket of highly flammable oils ignited. Regarding the example of the pan of hot oil and french fries catching the house on fire, yes, the manufacturer of the pan could be sued if it could be determined the pan was not made of a material heavy enough for it to be used for its intended purpose; or if their was a defect in its manufacture that allowed hairline cracks to develop which allowed oil to drip into the fire, resulting in an inferno. The stove maker could be sued if the model in question allowed sudden extreme fluctuations in temperature that caused the oil to become super heated and boil over into flames. There forenesic experts who make their living determining those kinds of facts when things are not necessarily as they would appear to the untrained eye.

I've never had any runs or smears with the clear labels using a laser printer.

I always thought NG had reasonable shipping rates.

I wouldn't be so sure about my theory if I were you, David. An attorney will not know if the "defendant" has insurance or not until he sues them. If an attorney sees a potential client who lost her home, and was permanently disfigured by a fire, he might think a jury will be very sympathetic and could award a large judgement on her behalf, he might take the case. Just because you're a mom and pop operation will not keep a lawyer from seeing dollar signs. Even if you didn't purchase insurance, a lawyer will find out what other assets you DO have--cars, boats, vacation homes, rental property, jewelry, certificates of deposit, etc. He can also decide to go after your suppliers. Even though they say they are not responsible for what you create, it's meaningless if it can be determined they sold you items they knew where not suitable for making candles.

Shouldn't that be Mary'z Zentz -n- Zudz?

I've never heard of that before, but from a legal standpoint, if they are approving the label, then there is NO way they can't be held accountable in paying claims, should your product cause any harm. I imagine what they are looking for are certain phrases that will prevent you from being sued, such as "not liable for accident or injury due to improper use, blah blah blah." If they have to approve it, then they must already have standard verbage to be followed, so I would ask about it.

Hmmm...KB says it's natural stuff and it can be strained out. There's not a lot of it, but of course I'd rather not have it in there. Maybe I should look for another supplier.

Since you're not willing to do wholesale, are you prepared to start charging, collecting, and reporting sales tax, since will be a retail sale? You might want to look at it from their perspective. What's in it for them if you're not willing to sell at wholesale cost, yet require a minimum purchase, and maybe even establish time frames within which they have to order? Since you've encountered problems in the past you may want to establish ground rules to qualify for wholesale prices--if they don't meet those, then they pay full, or slightly discounted retail, depending on the quantity purchased. For example, say wholesale pricing is the typical 50% off retail. In order to qualify for wholesale pricing you must have a tax ID, and purchase must be $150 or more (or whatever amount you choose). You may also add additional requirements such as the quantity per scent or quantity per size that must be purchased. Yankee requires retailers to order in 6's of their large & med. jars--mix & match. (You couldn't just order 25 jars. It would have to be 24 jars or 30 jars.) Small jars must be ordered in sets of three of the same scent, with a minimum order of 12 small jars total. If any of those conditions are not met, they must pay retail prices. However, if a customer buys 10 or more candles, they will qualify for a 20% discount off of retail prices. If you are concerned with what they re-sell your candles for, print the MSRP on the order form. Legally, I'm not sure you can dictate to them how much they have to sell your candles for when they have already paid for them. Most companies do not care if a re-seller gets more money for selling the product, but they do when they sell BELOW the MSRP.