How do you price your candle's?

[kc in wv]

Do you price by weight or size?

I have made some votive candles for the last few years and gave them away. This year I thought I would take some of them and tapers to a craft show our bee association is setting up at.

[bee crazy]

We do well at a $1.00 / ounce up to 12 ounces then $.75/ ounce. So a 1 ounce votive is $1.00 A 20 ounce pillar is $15.
Hope this helps

[Chef Isaac]

do u really sell enough candles to justafy the labor put in?

[Cyndi]

I look at what others are charging and try to stay somewhat competitive. Beeswax candles are the most expensive candle on the market. I don't give my candles away and the audience I cater to understands the work I put into them. Most of my customers don't like the hand rolled variety as they look cheap and unravel if left to sit for years in a craft store that's not doing very well.

I work hard making my candles. It takes alot of time to produce hand crafted beeswax candles. I look at it this way, I'd rather sell my candles and products to people who really appreciate my work and natural beeswax, rather than the ones trying to get it for the 'best' price and basically wanting them for nothing. Unfortunately, there's not many people who are willing to spend the money these days, so your audience is limited. Which is why I have my own network that I sell to.

[Chef Isaac]

Cyndi:

What molds do you find sell the best?

[Cyndi]

It really depends on the individual's taste. I have a guy that likes votives and I don't advertise these to sell...I make them only for him. Then I have a customer that likes this tall 2" x 6" candle that is very plain. Then I have another that likes my oval shaped one. It's really wierd and varies. I keep several on hand at all times though. Which means I am constantly in my kitchen either cooking or making candles. I'm seriously considering making a small candle shop on my property...because, my kitchen counters are coated with beeswax and every time I want to cook, I have to shuffle everything around. My kitchen is pretty big, just not big enough for this all the time too.

[Chef Isaac]

cyndi:

I know what you mean. My house has soooo many honey related items... buckets, contianers, lids... wax.... yikes!!!!

I woulnt mind getting into candles. How much do u charge and is it all your wax or do you have to buy wax?

Where do u get your molds?

Do you do anything fancy with the candles like some do like putting herbs or flowers in the candles?

[kc in wv]

Thanks for the replies. Cindi, what do you charge?

Last year I had an inquiry from a church thru a health food store.

[Cyndi]

cyndi:
I woulnt mind getting into candles. How much do u charge and is it all your wax or do you have to buy wax?

I charge ALOT. Because I work my butt off making them and when I checked last, I was right in line with other candle companies. Like for instance...retail, I charge $17 for all my 3" x 4" candles round, square and oval. The ovals are 3" x 3" because they average the same amount of wax and are more of a specialty size. I have a 2" x 6" tall that I charge $16. The small little bee skep which is really popular is $7. I buy wax, I barely get enough to do one candle, :D

I try to keep things really simple, which is why my company is called Simply Bees.

These candles are very hard work. It takes many hours in my day to dedicate to making them. It can be time consuming. The reason I can do it is because I am a homeschool teacher to a teenager, and I am at home alot...hahaha.

Where do u get your molds?

I buy from lots of places. Glorybee is one of my top suppliers, then Candlewic in Pennsylvania is the best for polyeurthane molds which are my absolute favorite to work with beeswax!!

Do you do anything fancy with the candles like some do like putting herbs or flowers in the candles?

No, I don't have time for that. I like SIMPLE. I have to have some kind of life ya know, :D

[Cyndi]

Thanks for the replies. Cindi, what do you charge?

Last year I had an inquiry from a curch thru a health food store.

Hey KC,

See my post above for some of my prices.

Churches love beeswax candles because they are sooo PURE.

[kc in wv]

I buy from lots of places. Glorybee is one of my top suppliers, then Candlewic in Pennsylvania is the best for polyeurthane molds which are my absolute favorite to work with beeswax!!


Thanks Cindi.
I noticed on ebay there is a seller of molds that claimed to have over 300 molds. I checked out a few of them in their store.

[Apuuli]

We price ours at between $1 and $2/oz. I have seen them in stores for $3 an oz.

[Cyndi]

It's really hard to price by the oz. especially if you are doing large candles. I sorda go by size of the candle and competition.

Chef, I'm sorry I didn't see your question earlier about "Do I sell enough candles to justify the labor putting in". You know what...Probably not. It's like anything else you do. In today's world none of us are NOT really getting compensated for our labor...but don't get me started on the reasons why our world is like that. Very few people appreciate a hand crafted item. The good news is that I live in an area that supports farmers and artisans like myself. We have lots of tourists that come from the city looking for these kinds of things.

I cater to a certain audience and unfortunately there's not many people who want these types of candles. Right now I could not make a living at it. I do it for fun. I also do it to make my friends, family and the small amount of customers I do have, happy. That's all that counts. If word gets out and my little company grows...so be it. If not, that's okay too.

[Chef Isaac]

do u have links or pictures of the molds thast you use?

[Cyndi]

Hey chef,

molds are not a big deal. Like I said, the polyeurthane ones are the best. just go to glorybee foods, betterbee or candlewic and you can see them there. I do have a website. It's simplybees.com I don't get into heavy advertising. I have a word of mouth thing going on and it works fine for me. My daughter did my website. Recently I wanted to add a shopping cart. I'm having trouble learning how to do it cause I don't have time. Anyway, I did the website mainly for fun and for people who ask if I have one or not, LOL!!

[deb_bee]

Mann Lake also has a great selection of molds; I've bought several from them and they are good quality. Candlewic.com was extremely helpful sending me wick samples last year. I still don't have a tealight wick that I like but when I start to work with this again soon, I'll get in touch with them again. I like the daisy floater mold from candlewic, but you end up with a lot of left-over wax with that one (the center burns out and you have all the petals left). It can be remelted, though.

Debbie