Craft Fairs and the cost of being in business

Many of you may remember when I had my bath products business; you have no idea how much I underpriced my products. Yet many of you thought they were too high, and I respected your opinions.

I used organic goods that were ethically sourced and purchased them from companies that paid their employees a living wage. I scoured the internet for items made and sourced in the USA, which was quite a process. I was never going to put cheap ingredients like tallow or tallowate (rendered beef fat) in my soaps or lotions; instead, I used coconut and olive oils in my soaps. A fellow soap maker once told me that she used lard (rendered pig fat) in her soaps because it was cheaper than olive oil, and I had to compose myself because my face would have shown my disgust.

I have never been one to go for the cheapest ingredients just to charge the highest price and boost my profit margins. Rather, I chose to make much less while producing a much better quality product.

I never had the buying power that large corporations have when buying in bulk. I was never going to buy a 50-gallon drum of anything. Jeez, how would I have ever gotten that down the stairs to my basement workshop? Hell, it would have probably crushed me.

While I miss making luxury soaps and cute holiday bath bombs, I’m not missing my old business, not at all.

I’m putting this out there: I’m never going to make soaps and lotions for sale again.

The markup on ingredients is so out of my comfort zone for cost-effectiveness. Then you have containers (which are all made in China now), insurance (which all business owners should carry yet many don’t), and that’s before paying myself; my costs would be through the roof if I even wanted to break even.

So where am I going with all this?

If you’re at a craft fair this holiday season, be respectful of the vendors. Ask questions, read ingredient labels, and don’t try to haggle a better price; it’s just rude.