# Soapmaker 3 Software. Should I buy it?



## dillsandwitch

Im possibly looking at getting Soapmaker3 so I can easily and accurately see how much each bar of soap costs to make. I am strongly thinking about moving into selling by the end of the year. Maybe. Not 100% sure yet. But anyways I mainly want to know the costing of my bars to know if I am indeed saving money buy making my own for my own use or if its a colossal back hole of wasted money. Either way I'm not going to stop making soaps. I enjoy it too much. The OCD part of me needs to know though.  I could do up a excel or access data base but dont really have the time to set it up and work out the kinks. 

So what do you think of the software if you use it?  Good? Bad? could do with improvements?  Its a shame there isn't any free trials for it 

TIA


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## shunt2011

I have it and like it a lot.  It's pretty time consuming to set up initially but as long as you keep it up once done it's a lifesaver.   I highly recommend it.


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## soapmage

I bought the lite version and absolutely love it and refuse to be without it for the cost breakdown and inventory alone! Even if you're not selling, it's awesome to see the recipe costs, not to mention how fab it is to have a nice place to create recipes, name them, save them, resize them to any mold you have without having to go online to the lye calculators. I plan on upgrading to the pro version soon so I can also keep track of my inventory use and invoicing as well. I say go for it! And like was stated earlier, it's time consuming at the beginning to plug in all of your supplies, but SO worth it! As soon as I get a shipment from my suppliers, I immediately go into sm3 and plug in my order so that I know what I have and how much it costs, which is the other advantage to having it. You can keep up with your suppliers and use the current prices which are calculated into your cost per bar in the recipes you make. Give it a try.


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## lsg

I have the Pro version and love it.


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## dillsandwitch

Awesomeness.  I think im going to get it. I mean setting it up cant be any worse than setting up MYOB and ive done that heaps of times. 

One other question does it have $AUD and grams and kilograms for measurements?


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## KristaY

I have the pro version and I love it. I'm still learning all the goodies it can do, but still it's great. When you set up your preferences, you decide what your standard measure will be. I'm in the states so I chose ounces but I also use grams so change the individual measurement to that when I need to. I have to choose from oz, lbs, pints, quarts, fl oz, gallons, grams, liters & kilograms. Hopefully this works for you! I also read on the site there isn't a program for any operating system other than windows and mac.


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## Mommy

I also decided to get it, even though I don't have a business yet. It was taking me WAAAY too long to calculate how much a of soap would cost with different fragrance oils, bought in different quantities, with different shipping margins, and with all of the money,weight, and volume conversions. 
This way when I sell one day, I'll be set up and I won't get too accustomed to recipes and packaging that are not cost effective.


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## dillsandwitch

Even better news.  I'm going to get it.  After payday this week. Just had to get DH new glasses and of course he wanted the expesive ones so $600 later I am now broke


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## navigator9

I think you will really enjoy it. I got it years ago, and when I got a new laptop recently, I upgraded to the newer version of SM Lite. I think everyone likes different features best. For me, a math phobe, I love being able to resize my batches, which I do often, without having to do the math. I'd buy it for that alone. But it stores all of your recipes, shows you a bar graph of their properties, helps you determine the volume of various molds, so many things. I'd hate to have to soap without it!


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## The Efficacious Gentleman

Hmmm, I just read that it also includes batch handling, which is required here in the EU (we need to know which batch each sale was, in case of issues)

It's starting to seem like making my own would be a lot of hard work when I could just spend the $100 for this instead.


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## Saponista

I'm getting my husband to make me my own custom version. He may not be handy at making me wooden moulds and other equipment but he has his uses!


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## ArtisanDesigns

Are there any other options out there for software like this that others like better? About to get my money in to really get the business up and going.


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## Lynusann

I've seen so many people comment on this software and how much they loved it, so I finally went and checked it out, but to my dismay, it is not supported on Apple.  

Is there anything comparable to this program that can be run on Apple?


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## lsg

ArtisanDesigns said:


> Are there any other options out there for software like this that others like better? About to get my money in to really get the business up and going.



A lot of time and research went into making that software.  I don't know of any other program that offers as much for the price.  I love my SoapMaker 3 Pro.


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## MoonStruck

The first thing I did when I started making soap again, a couple of weeks ago, was download Soapmaker 3 on my current laptop. A minor hassle since I know longer have access to the email I purchased it from years ago. But their customer service is great and I was able to download again.


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## Dorymae

dillsandwitch said:


> Even better news.  I'm going to get it.  After payday this week. Just had to get DH new glasses and of course he wanted the expesive ones so $600 later I am now broke



Holy Toledo batman! $600! You realize of course you now have free rein with your soaping supplies for the next year! Not a peep of a complaint should you endure.


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## soapmage

I finally upgraded to Pro before my market show and so glad I did! I love being able to do invoicing, sales and tax reports, keeping up with batches and how it takes out the inventory when you make a batch and tells you when to reorder or if something is out of date! SO many options and I've already been using it to keep up with my items sold at the events I'm doing. Love Love Love!


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## dillsandwitch

Dorymae said:


> Holy Toledo batman! $600! You realize of course you now have free rein with your soaping supplies for the next year! Not a peep of a complaint should you endure.




Yeah I'll say. The reason for the expense is that DH wanted Oakley frames and thats what cost a good chunk of the $600. But hes wearing them and they aren't stuffed in a drawer somewhere so I guess its good.  But yeah any mentions on any soap related purchases will defiantly get the 'Well remember the $600 glasses...."


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## ArtisanDesigns

Think I will buy it tomorrow ya'll have convinced me!


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## chloe

Lynusann said:


> I've seen so many people comment on this software and how much they loved it, so I finally went and checked it out, but to my dismay, it is not supported on Apple.
> 
> Is there anything comparable to this program that can be run on Apple?




I'm wondering if there's an apple program too.


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## ArtisanDesigns

So I have finally bought the program and love it. Trying to figure out how to put in products I made prior to getting the program. 
Would you guys suggest I Input my recipes and then "make them" Then add back in the amount of supplies? I am trying to keep everything straight


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## JayJay

Lynusann said:


> I've seen so many people comment on this software and how much they loved it, so I finally went and checked it out, but to my dismay, it is not supported on Apple.
> 
> Is there anything comparable to this program that can be run on Apple?



I am an all Apple person as well. If you figure out something, will you let us know?  Apple has tons of handy templates for record keeping, but I don't remember seeing any soap making tools.


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## rubalicious

I'm also an Apple person and haven't seen a program designed to work on Apple yet either


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## lsg

ArtisanDesigns said:


> So I have finally bought the program and love it. Trying to figure out how to put in products I made prior to getting the program.
> Would you guys suggest I Input my recipes and then "make them" Then add back in the amount of supplies? I am trying to keep everything straight


I didn't enter any batches I made prior to buying the software.  You can keep that separate on a date base sheet.  For me that was simpler.


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## tbeck3579

Woo hoo, this post is number 50 :wave: I don't sell soap like the pro's here, I'm making soap for the Church fall festival and they are selling it.  Because I have never priced out the cost of the soap I make and needed to estimate what the church should sell a bar of soap for I downloaded a free Excel sheet.  Apple users may have Excel?  Somebody already did the formulas which is the most time consuming part of crunching numbers in Excel.  It sure isn't the "pro" solution, but it works.  I got it from the Soap 101 "pricing soap" video here:  [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVNU9eN9DU"]Youtube video [/ame]

The Excel cost calculator link is here (it's old but works with Excel 2010):  Excel Spreadsheet


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## not_ally

Teresa, completely off-topic, but I really like your sign-off line.


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## Dahila

I know it is old thread, but I have question.  Can you put everything there, water, lye ,  additives and will it give you the percentage of it?  In Canada we need to fill Cosmetic Notification  form and everything must be in grams (metric) and in percentage,  Everything that goes into soap, when making one...


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## spenny92

Dahila said:


> I know it is old thread, but I have question.  Can you put everything there, water, lye ,  additives and will it give you the percentage of it?  In Canada we need to fill Cosmetic Notification  form and everything must be in grams (metric) and in percentage,  Everything that goes into soap, when making one...



Yes, it gives you the percentages of everything you enter into the recipe, and you can set it to grams.


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## Dahila

spenny thank you so much)


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## Dorymae

When setting up the program the first thing you do is put in all invoices you have for all ingredients, packing materials, etc. now the program knows what things cost. 

Next you adjust your inventory to what you have now. Next you add all your recipes, including your packaging. 

Now inventory all products you have and "make" those recipes without taking the products from your stock. ( there is a check box). Adjust your quantities  to what you have on hand. 

From this point forth, you simply enter all invoices, make all recipes (using inventory) and do a formal inventory once per year to adjust. 

This takes care of your inventory side of the program.


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## Numbers

I just purchased the program. After reading all the reviews I decided to try it. I’m excited to get started!


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## jcandleattic

Numbers said:


> I just purchased the program. After reading all the reviews I decided to try it. I’m excited to get started!


This is a 3 year old post, so if you have specific questions once you download it, you might want to start a new thread, as most people don't come to posts this old.


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