Pricing Candles

[lavender.dreams.candles]

I did the math and did price checks .... I made these candles and my cousin took pictures of them on her cell phone and started sharing the pics.... Well, many people have asked her what my price is for them....Here's a picture of the candles...

They are 8oz. of wax in each one so with the price of everything divided by 4 and then divided again by 2 ... I came up with a price of $7.00 and that wasn't even including my time and effort.... I am making about .87cent profit.
Anyway, when I told my cousin the price she said that she would never pay $7 for a candle....So, my question is....Is $7 to expensive for a candle like the one in the picture??

 

[Tabitha]

They are 8oz. of wax in each one so with the price of everything divided by 4 and then divided again by 2

I don't know what that means.

Take the price of your suppkies & multiply by 4 for your retail cost.

How much are you paying for the stemware?

 

[lavender.dreams.candles]

stemware was only .25 cents a glass.... got them at a rummage sale.
with the cost of everything X 4 the total came to =$12.26 .... So, then I divided that by two since I only made two candles so far and it came out to be $6.13.... So, I thought if I wanted a little profit I would charge $7.
which still only gives me a .87cent profit .

 

[Tabitha]

Anything over your 'cost' is profit. It looks like your cost is $3.06, so if you sell it for $7.00, your profit is $3.94.

To answer your question, $7.00 is not too much to pay for a quality candle. $14.00 is not too much to pay. It depends on your market.

 

[GrayWolf]

In this economy :?: ..............Would they actually sell for $14.00 a piece :?:

 

[dagmar88]

I'm not into that market; but even in bad economic times people want to pamper themself by buying products that make them feel good.
As Tabitha said; it depends on who you are aiming for.
And if it is a quality product comparable to the more wellknown brands; you'll be cheaper than most of them.

 

[beerfish]

I'm not sure where your cousin gets candles, but Yankee Candle sells their medium size jar candles for $21, and there's nothing all that fancy about them.

There's a difference between Glade or Yankee Candle, and Handcrafted Candles, and the price should reflect that. Some people are willing to pay for a high quality, handcrafted item, some aren't.

 

[Larissa]

Those candles are really cute! You could charge over $10 for them, easily, yes, even in this economy. As someone said, people still like to get themselves nice treats, and $10 or $12 is justifiable to people.

I won a candle recently in a raffle. Granted, it's MUCH bigger and has dried flowers hand-pressed and embedded into the sides so when the center burns down you're left with a hurricane you can then "refill" with votives. So it's a lot bigger and fancier, but I looked at the company's website, and that candle sells for $48. They have a bigger size for $78, too.

So yes, people will spend a lot more than $7 for a candle. It just depends on the candle and the customer. Customers who shop at the dollar store for candles aren't concerned with quality so much as just having candles. The customers who are looking for quality and artistry won't purchase cheap candles. You just need to find the customer for you, that's all.

And don't undersell yourself. I learned that the hard way.

 

[donniej]

Why does it cost you $6 to make a candle?
The wax I've looked at is ~$1.50 per pound, even beeswax is ~$6 per pound. Wicks are ~5 cents and fragrance, maybe 50 cents?

So if you've got 75 cents in wax, 25 cents in the stemware and lets say $1 for the wick and fragrance, that equals $2 each.


I just picked up a bunch of clearance mason jars and plan to make candles out of them with stearic acid I have laying around. Materials are somewhere in that ballpark.