Sorry, but I think that when people take the cost of ingredients and multiply it by 4, then you are doing the market, not only yourself, a big disservice. Why should buying in bulk make your labor not as worthwhile?
I know the cost of ingredients per bar. I know my monthly expenses. I also know how much I want to be paid per hour and how many hours goes into making and wrapping soap. Plus, I need 10% so that I can be profitable. Then I multiply that by 2 for retail price. With this equation, I know that I need to make x amount of bars per batch, and I need to sell x amount of bars per month to make ends meet.
Eta- by costs, I mean the whole costs! I always mean whole costs. Ingredients and time taken, including clean up.
That is the standard practice for manufacturing to retail. It takes in to account eventualities that may not have been planned for to ensure robust business. It is aimed at a business, not someone doing it as a side line where 3 months of no sales is disappointing but doesn't result in closing down.
People who make their living from selling need to use this formula. Their business advisors would be horrified if they didn't. So if you come along a sell at a 10% profit because that is all you need, you bugger up the market for everyone, simply because you don't need to have a stable business and so charge what you think is a fairer price.
Then you make it big and you get an advisor, maybe from the bank or the tax office or a freelancer. They will tell you the very same thing. So you have to change your prices - but what has changed in the soap? Nothing. Except now you're charging the market rates which is not going to go over well with your customers who are used to paying lower prices for your products.
If using this formula makes you much more expensive than other people selling soap as a business, then your costs are simply too high. You need to reduce them.
But in any form, undercutting the market unfairly is a terrible thing to do. If using the formula makes you cheaper than the going rate - perfect! You have a very good edge. But it is also worth looking in to why they are more expensive - is there something you have over looked?
I do not care at all if this and previous posts on the subject come over as harsh because this is not something to be played with. This is business, not a hobby. When you sell, it stops being a hobby.
You might think differently, but when people would be losing their livelihoods because of your practices I think my response is proportional.
