What I learned shilling candles

“Hey, my brother’s soap business is hopping and the wife’s barely keeping up with demand for her photography prints. How’s your wife’s candle business? Must be doing great with the holidays coming.”

I’m not sure the exact words, but I imagine this is sort of how the conversation went down. There’s this assumption, I guess, that if one craft is selling, they must all be. Or maybe that everyone else is as good at life as your friends and family. Whichever the case, no, no one’s buying candles.

Here’s why:

• I’m not really selling candles anymore. I’m not actively making or marketing, and I’m basically waiting for the hosted WordPress site to expire because when I bought it, I was trying to be reasonable and assume a business needed a few years to become profitable. Reasonable, yes, but some growth isn’t sustainable, and some growth is too slow to wait out. Seriously, the website generated approximately two sales, or maybe it was four sales via two customers, over two years. Any sales you can count on one hand after two years is a losing venture unless you’re selling multi-million-dollar concept art you constructed out of dog feces left behind by your neighbor.
• Candles are expensive to ship. No matter what combination of packaging materials, recycled and reclaimed and purchased, or how many candles I could safely cram into flat-rate USPS boxes, the weight meant unless a buyer was willing to pretty much place an order to hold them over for a few months, the shipping was as much or more than the product. Raising the price of the product to cover lower-priced shipping made the candle pricing seem out of whack with the handmade pricing average and what the market would bear.
• Candle containers are expensive to buy. Trust me, I did a ton of research. I ordered samples, I set up a spreadsheet comparing the cost of bulk purchase vs storage and the cost of having revenue tied up in supplies that may or may not move. I tested dozens of containers for the best options for the price based on how well and how completely the wax melted, safety (whether glass would crack under normal use), and aesthetics. The bottom line is that unless sales are at a volume to justify warehouse space for supplies and discounted shipping, it’s a losing venture.
• Part of that has to do with what the market will pay. Yes, everyone knows (or “knows”) of that person who spends $25 a pop on small, specialty candles handcrafted by some hipster artisan with gorgeous pastel rainbow hair and a sales pitch about being inspired by backpacking through Southeast Asia with her bestie after grad school. But with profit margins as low as they are on low-volume sales, a handful of $25 candles full of locally-sourced potpourri and positive thoughts, poured under a full moon during a cleansing ritual won’t pay all the bills necessary to keep such an operation afloat.
• Money makes money and a lot of crafters are bad at math. This is kind of a duel problem in the industry that has the same effect for different reasons. One, privileged crafters with loan-free degrees, rich and supportive spouses, trust funds, a free place to stay in their parents’ guest cottage, or Rolodexes full of well-heeled contacts from summer internships, past law partnerships and marketing careers, and sororities can build whole empires out of Etsy. The combination of not having to rely on their craft income and having friends with enough disposable income to indulge their whims, talk them up to others, and even write them up in publications they control is an advantage. It doesn’t mean they haven’t done the work, but it definitely means their starting the race a few blocks ahead everyone else. And they’re more than a few blocks ahead of the other group.
• Seriously, I can’t compete with people who are bad at math and willing to lose money. It’s one thing to compete with Walmart prices from Walmart. You buy something in a big chain, you know what you’re getting and you know there’s a better-than-80% chance it came from China or another country better known for its stickers than the Instagram pics posted by backpacking future life coaches. If Aunt Edna or Susie Millennial is selling you goods at the same price or lower than Walmart, she’s either buying it from the same factories Walmart is or she’s losing her ass one handicraft at a time.
• Candles are heavy. This was a big part of the shipping problem, but even selling them locally, a whole bin full of product was heavy and awkward. Most shows, I’d have made more money if I’d have put up a CrossFit sign and charged lululemon® wearers to schlep all the products to and from my car. Great workout for them, profit for me. Hmm… what are the liability costs involved in having strangers carry large boxes of glass? Nevermind.
• Candles are bulky to store and, without lids, they lose their scent pretty quickly. Part of the cost of containers is lids, especially the fancier jars. Not only does it add cost and weight, it’s another thing to order and store. And a show’s worth of candles takes up a good portion of a room. Consider, the best show might lead to sales of 25–30% of candles made, that’s a lot of leftover to house until the next show. Which means lids are a must or the scents would be gone by then.
• People have some weird ideas about what makes a candle “safe.” From the lady who only used tea lights for her cat’s safety to the woman who believed all non-wood wicks had lead in them, I heard some interesting theories. For the record, lead-based wicks aren’t even supposed to be imported into the country, so while you may still find a few candles with metal-lined wicks (most of those are zinc and located in dollar stores), most non-wood wicks are blends of cotton, polyester, and braided paper designed for use with different wax types and blends.
• Essential oils are trendy and their use sometimes makes about as much sense as “gluten free” avocados. I cannot tell you the number of people who would only buy candles made from essential oils, something that’s fine on the surface, but involves a whole other level of research and experimentation as well as cost. Essential oils come in a variety of grades and strengths, and prices can vary wildly based on those factors. Furthermore, some essential oils are stable at higher heats than others. Some work well in candles and others would burn off at the temperature required to sustain melted wax. To the person who wanted a Buttercream Cake candle made with essential oils, as soon as you find me a buttercream cake tree, I’m all over it. Not to mention the fact that, unless you’re burning large numbers of candles in confined spaces for many hours, the level of chemical and particulate matter released into the air isn’t likely to affect anyone but the most medically sensitive. Please note that if you are buying essential-oil candles because you want to rub them all over yourself (yes, that’s apparently a thing), ask about other dyes, wax stabilizers, and wick glue used before you break out in hives.
• Differentiation is harder than it seems, and doesn’t always yield expected results. I spent a good amount of time researching various scents from various companies for both chemical properties and recommended safe levels of use, as well as strongest scents, most true-to-life scents, and best-burning scents (oils added to the wax affects how it melts). Beyond that, I developed a list of scents exclusive to my company that were a blend of other scents. Some were favorites of a few buyers, but for the most part, people wanted the same scent they could get a Walgreens. Differentiation sounds like the best way to stand out and sell a “craft” item, but it’s hard to smell online and no matter how many variables I tracked at local events, there was no pattern to preferences across shows and seasons.

I’m not saying I’ll never make or sell another candle. I’m also not saying I won’t continue to make art or handcraft things in the future. If I do, though, candles will be a side item, an afterthought, an impulse buy option.