What Should I Charge ?

We often see posts on social media asking how much people should charge for their products and the answers vary wildly.

For items that you make (wax melts, candles, bath bombs, room spray, reed diffusers etc) you need to factor in all components that make up the product. For wax melts this would be wax, fragrance oil, dye/glitter/mica/botanicals. 

When buying your products compare the price per g/price per ml of smaller quantities vs larger quantities. Generally speaking you will save on larger quantities, giving you a higher margin or the option to lower your sale price. That up-front investment in larger quantities could be worth it.

For retail sales, multiply this cost by 4 and for wholesale, double your costs. For wholesale, this needs to be a significant order of each item. If you are offering wholesale, be clear on the minimum order quantity that qualifies for wholesale pricing.

Added to these costs are your packaging (clam shell or packing bag), labels, tissue, cushioning, postal box and postage. We suggest adding these at cost or adding a small margin. 

Also take into consideration your costs any transaction fees (credit card, paypal, ebay/etsy, clearpay etc). Sanity check your costings, taking into account all of the above. If you have costed your products accurately you should be making a profit.

Don't fall into the trap of comparing your costs to other suppliers and matching their pricing. Having a fairly priced product that people want will bring in the sales. Cheap items are usually cheap because the raw materials are cheap and less fragrance oil is used giving a poor product or the maker is working for very little or no profit and wont be in business for long. There is no sense in working hard for no return.

Some customers will be focussed on the cheapest price and will not consider a higher priced quality product. Focus on the customers who appreciate the quality and buy because they like what you have to offer.

For products made with fragrance oil we suggest using an average price per gram and applying this to all products in your range. This will mean that you make more on some items and less on others, balancing out the profit across your product range. If you use essential oils in some products, cost these items separately to your fragrance oil products as the price of essential oils is usually higher than the price of fragrance oils.

Bear in mind that making home fragrance products is not a 'get rich quick' scheme and it will take time to build up a good customer base and recoup your initial investment costs.