# Prices much too low.



## anani (Apr 5, 2014)

Am I the only one who gets frustrated by the vendors on Etsy etc. selling their products for ridiculously low prices? It seems as though many don't actually sit down and work out what it's actually costing them per unit. I swear, I see some vendors that can't be making any actual profit at all. 

Like 9 ounce ( that's nearing 300 grams) bath bombs with Shea & Cocoa butters and other nice things....plus colour fragrance etc, for $4.00!? Or beautiful high end artisan soaps 4-5 ounces for $3-4. I've seen people selling bottles of lotion for $3 $4 when I know that they've paid over a dollar for the bottle alone.


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## Lnzy1 (Apr 5, 2014)

They might not have a 100% markup on their products, maybe somewhere around the 30-40% range. Or they could be buying raw materials in bulk. It costs me less than $1 to make a 3 oz bar of CP soap with colorants, strong fragrance, and labor. Packaging is not calculated only because I have not finalized my packaging yet and do not have a final cost, but it won't be much, around $0.15 or less per label. Lotions, for my recipe, cost around $0.82 per 4 oz. With the bottle and cap it's around $1.66. 

When I first started soaping, my costs per bar was around $4 because I bought everything from Hobby Lobby and Michael's and other retail stores. The closest you can come to wholesale prices, the better. 

It's all about bulk. Soaperschoice.com is my go-to supplier for soaping oils and butters. Wholesalesuppliesplus.com is where I get packaging and fragrance oils. They have free shipping for all order over $40 which REALLY help your bottom line. Shipping rates will kill your budget.

I make soap in 9 lb batches and whenever I can lower the cost per batch, it REALLY lowers the cost per bar.


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## green soap (Apr 5, 2014)

It seems that many people forget to factor in their time, or they pay themselves way too little....so after paying for extra costs in utilities and transportation, the soaps just pay for the ingredients and operating costs, and no profit is made.   If this is just a hobby it can pay for the supplies, but it will not help pay for any of your other bills.   So in other word one works for nothing.  Unfortunate, but such is the nature of this business.


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## godschild (Apr 5, 2014)

I've been wondering something about prices as well.  I haven't set up an Etsy account yet because I haven't actually started selling my soap yet.  I have been on Etsy to look for colorants etc and while I was on there I looked at soap prices to get an idea about what people sell theirs for.  Do people buy soap that is over just say $8 a bar?  I can't imagine anyone in my little town paying that much for one bar of soap no matter what was used to make it.  I would love to sell my soap for the prices that are on there but around here, I will do good to get someone to pay $5 a bar because they can buy a soap that is going around here from an "Amish Soap" company from up North somewhere with like 4 bars in the bag for $6 or $7 :roll:  I've had women that make soap locally tell me that it has hurt their business.  It says that it's made with lard, coconut oil, olive oil, oatmeal, etc.  I am wondering how they are making soap with oatmeal in it that you can't see anywhere in the soap.  Not one speck!  I've ground my oatmeal for a long time to get it a nice powder and it still can be seen as little specks in my soap.  How are they doing that?  I am unhappy that I may not be able to sell my soap now that it's going around being sold so cheap.  They also have buckets of laundry soap on the shelf that I couldn't sell so cheaply because just the buckets cost about what they are selling the laundry soap for.  I hope one day I can sell my soap for the $18 a bar that I saw one going for on Etsy!  I will be RICH in no time lol.  If you do sell your soap for those prices, do you ever get any orders?  Not trying to get in your business, I'm just wondering because I can't imagine anyone buying soap anywhere around here for those prices.  Would be great though!


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## bjannr (Apr 5, 2014)

If I were to sell at this point, I would only be interested in funding my hobby. A prifit would not be necessary. Maybe this is why some sell their products cheaper. Right now my soap only goes to family and friends as a freebie.


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## coffeetime (Apr 5, 2014)

Prices aren't usually just set for what the highest price on Etsy is, I'd say most professional soapmakers have their costs to the penny and use a % markup over cost. Our minimum wage here is almost 10$ per hour, so my labour rate is set for $15 in my calculation. Each bar including packaging, labour and materials is just under $3.  I use EOs not FOs and some luxury oils.


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## judymoody (Apr 6, 2014)

I am a hobbyist primarily, and my materials cost per bar is around $1 or a bit more depending on specialty ingredients.  I have a friend who derives most of her income from soap.  I imagine her cost per bar is less than $1 although she uses only essential oils and good quality (but not "exotic"  soaping oils).  She sells at $5 per chunky 4-5 oz bar or 5 bars for $20 and lives off the proceeds, although she is not wealthy by any means and has no husband or kids to support.  She is the only CP soaper in her small community so that probably helps.


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## amandaeiben (Apr 7, 2014)

That always confused me to. I go on etsy to see what people are selling stuff similar to mine for and I feel like I will never make a profit trying to compete with a product that has more in it yet sells for less. How the heck are people selling 4-8oz bottles of bug spray for 3$?! it makes no sense. The bottle alone is around 1.50$ not to mention the emulsifier, the preservative, and the oils I put in mine arent exactly cheap (catnip for example). People will only pay so much for something and if they think they will get the same thing cheaper then it leaves me with no business. Thankfully the farmers market here is a good venue for me but im seriously doubting if I will ever open an etsy shop due to the pricing styles people have. Kind of pulls everyone down on prices when people sell for cheap.


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## CraftyRedhead (May 17, 2014)

I'm still fairly new to this, but I've recently calculated how much it's costing me to make each bar, and I'm sitting around .77 cents per ounce of finished soap. I must be doing something wrong? I've been ordering from brambleberry mostly, and I don't use colorants at all.. yet. I'd love to get some money saving tips!


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## Lnzy1 (May 20, 2014)

CraftyRedhead said:


> I'm still fairly new to this, but I've recently calculated how much it's costing me to make each bar, and I'm sitting around .77 cents per ounce of finished soap. I must be doing something wrong? I've been ordering from brambleberry mostly, and I don't use colorants at all.. yet. I'd love to get some money saving tips!




One word: Bulk. 

Brambleberry is a great site and I love their products, but they aren't my first choice in bulk supplies. Soaperschoice and wholesalesuppliesplus are my go to places for most supplies. Soaperschoice is a fantastic place for bulk oils. I bought 50 lbs of coconut oil and with shipping it cost me around $82. That's $0.10 an ounce. Per one of my bars, that comes to roughly $0.25. But I am not made of money so I had to save and buy. Buying from the grocery store or amazon (retail), it would cost me around $10 for 8 oz. A difference of $0.70 scents. Working with bulk batches, that ranges upwards of $30. For one oil.  Smarter to go with SC. 

Now a lot of folks here don't much care for wholesalesuppliesplus because their prices are a smidge high. They have free shipping over $40. So many of their items are a little over what competitors charge. But overall, you save the more you buy. $100 will get me 5 to 6 16 oz fragrance canisters. Those same fragrances at another store may only come to $90, but shipping could be $30 or more easily. So in the long run, it's a better way to go for me anyway. Plus, I like knowing how much something is in total so I can figure out cost per batch of soap. They're a great supplier of lotion bottles too.


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## CraftyRedhead (May 20, 2014)

Thanks! I'll start shopping around more for sure!


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## Miha Engblom (May 21, 2014)

My husband has been selling at his workplace liquid castille that is more then 2 thirds water for 5 Euro 250 ml bottle. the bottles price was like 1eur.  He scented his liquid castille with lavender. 
 In Europe everybody is using liquid soap and very little hard bars.
In our little town there is nobody making soap, but some shops are importing from Sweden and they cost something like 9 euros for 120g bar... 
Liquid soap is ready to use in one week, does not require much EO, it is mostly water, and very cheap  to make... no need for fancy butters and FO s...  But on the other hand... hard soap is so much more fun... but here around nobody really wants it... so sad !:-x


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## CorinaDragonfly (May 21, 2014)

*Cost of supplies*

Newbie question:
How do you figure out your cost per bar?  I don't have any soaping software packages, yet, so not sure how to calculate without it.  Are there simple and free ways to calculate?


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## CraftyRedhead (May 21, 2014)

I plugged all my numbers into an excel spreadsheet. I make a new spreadsheet for each recipe. If you're familiar with how to use programs like excel then it's super easy


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## shunt2011 (May 21, 2014)

I purchase a lot of my stuff from Soaper's Choice as well.  However, I am also able to purchase CO & Caster locally from a oil supplier for Restaurants and they also carry some soapers oils.   I don't purchase much in the way of FO from WSP as even though they claim they have free shipping it really isn't.  Their shipping is figured in to every one of their products.  I do get some items from there but not a lot.  Brambleberry is so expensive with shipping that I only order once every 6 months to a year as I use a couple fragrances from them too.  

You just need to shop around to see what will work best for you and buy in bulk if you are able to. 

My soap costs me approx 1.25 per bar for my most expensive recipe and I sell for 5.50 each or 4 for 20.00 and do well at that price point.  Your mileage may vary depending on where you live and any direct competition in your markets.

I also purchase lye in bulk which cuts down on cost too.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (May 21, 2014)

CorinaDragonfly said:


> Newbie question:
> How do you figure out your cost per bar? I don't have any soaping software packages, yet, so not sure how to calculate without it. Are there simple and free ways to calculate?


 
It is simple - 

Work out how much of each ingredient you put in to a batch.  Work out how much that costs.  Add these together, plus the time that you spend making it, divide it by the number of bars per batch.

For example - 

1kilo CO costs $5.  You use 0.5kilols per batch, so each batch has $2.50 of CO.  1 kilo olive oil costs $3, you use 1.5kilos per batch, so each batch has $4.50 Olive oil.  Total oil costs per batch, $7.00.  Each batch has 20 bars, so 7 divided by 20 is 0.35 - so it is $0.35 oils per bar.

Just do the above, but include lye, scent, colours, additives, time and so on.  No real need for a program.


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## seven (May 21, 2014)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> No real need for a program.



yup. actually, this is what i do, i print my recipe from soapcalc, and just do the calculations on the right hand side with a pencil. i also list my additives, anything needed to make that batch of soap... and voila!

after a few buys, you're gonna know the prices for everything by memory


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## shunt2011 (May 21, 2014)

I do use soapmaker 3 and love it as it also tracks costs for products I make.


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