Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Products Of The Hive => Topic started by: Yankee11 on August 21, 2014, 04:43:04 pm
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How do you guys/gals price your beeswax and beeswax candles,
I have had some folks wanting to buy my wax. So I just through a number out 15.00 per pound. They didn't blink an eye. 4 maybe 5 lbs gone since last night, :)
I am also making candles. Should I weight the candles. and charge by how many ounces are in the candle. Some have 3oz, 4oz and 8oz of wax after coming out of the molds. I'm thinking 2.00 per ounce but I am just guessing at this point.
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Wha.... !?! Really Yankee!?! You Are Having Too Much Fun This Season, I've had just about enough of this! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Having the time of my life Jen.
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Oh Wow! Those are beautiful, I have to have one... that is if your selling them retail and into shipping to me again. Name your price ;)
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That's my issue. I'm trying to figure a fair price.
That skep is 8oz. The Honeybee is 4oz. I have a 3rd that is still cooling. It's a Honey Pot, pretty cool.
I am looking on line and found a skep that is 6oz. they asking13.95
I am thinking 1.50 or 1.75 an ounce on the candles.
Just looking for input at this point.
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Beeswax.. When I tried to look it up I saw prices from $4.00 a lb locally to $14.00 a lb.. the 14 a lb was for RAW beeswax on Amazon.. LOL, I wont be buying any there for sure!
Brushy Mt's price for raw settled beeswax;
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/1-lb-Raw-Settled-Beeswax/productinfo/450/
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Whatever you do Yankee, don't short yourself, especially with the holidays coming up. People pay the price for nice beeswax candles. Humble is not an option here ;) 8)
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Skeps = 1.8 ounces = $3
Pair of tapers = 3.7 ounces = $6
Beeswax bar = 1.1 once = $1.50
Emegency taper = 8.0 onces = $11
Prices (mine) vary according to market conditions. Only sell wax bulk if you have so much you don't know what to do with it. Prices here just went up to $20 a kilo from $15 last year.
Lots of people looking to buy wax to make candles and sell them, so why not do the value added stuff yourself? ;D
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I was stunned when I found out that bees wax sells for roughly the same as honey by weight. It takes me about 4 times the amount of work to produce a pound of clean cappings wax as one pound of honey. If you can get $15/pound you're doing great.
I used my wax to paint my plastic foundation. You brush it on with a foam brush so that the edges of each cell get a nice build up of wax. If you are not stingy, one pound does about 15 frames. This may seem like a lot, but the difference is quite amazing. The bees re-shape that wax to start the cells, making the first 1/3 of the cell wall with what's there. The frames take just a couple of days to get drawn instead of a week.
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I used my wax to paint my plastic foundation. You brush it on with a foam brush so that the edges of each cell get a nice build up of wax. If you are not stingy, one pound does about 15 frames. This may seem like a lot, but the difference is quite amazing. The bees re-shape that wax to start the cells, making the first 1/3 of the cell wall with what's there. The frames take just a couple of days to get drawn instead of a week.
I do the same, only with a small foam roller brush. I never have enough wax for making crafts with so I just reinvest it back into my hives.
When pricing candles, I don't think you want to price them according to how much wax you have in them. You also have to consider your time and additional materials. I would seek out other beekeepers in your area (local bee club or farmers market) and find out what they are charging for their products. It will give you an idea of what is fair.
Here's what Michael's craft stores sell beeswax for: http://www.michaels.com/artminds-candle-making-natural-beeswax/10173317.html#q=beeswax&start=2 (http://www.michaels.com/artminds-candle-making-natural-beeswax/10173317.html#q=beeswax&start=2)
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Dadant sells bees wax from 7:00 to 8:50 per pound depending on the grade of wax.
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For those interested, there is an article in the September 2014 issue of American Bee Journal. Starting A Beeswax Candle Business by Mary and Bill Weaver. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it's loaded with lots of pictures. Yankee11, It looks like the article covers setting prices.
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I should get a subscription to that magazine, it sounds like it has good stuff in it. I get "Hive Lights" because I belong to the CHC, but it is only quarterly, and has limited value IMHO.
Edit = WOWSERS!!! :o A 1 year subscription for Canadians is $43!!
Don't think I'll jump before thinking that one over.
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Here is the price from Bee Maid which is the largest honey cooperative in Canada.
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=156&txtProdID=410
I was talking to a friend that has candles made for him and sells lots of candles and the bulk price of beeswax is $5.00 a pound in large blocks buying a pallet full at a time.
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After posting about the article in American Bee Journal, I realized it might be impossible for some members of this forum to get their hands on a copy. Kim Ericksen's website, which she designed herself, is www.bandehoneybeeproducts.com (http://www.bandehoneybeeproducts.com).
A brief synopsis:
Kim decided less than one year ago to go into the candle making business.
She had existing computer skills and then received some help to set up her own web site.
She designed her own business cards, labels, and brochure on her own computer and prints them out herself.
She has set high standards for herself and the candles she makes.
Her most difficult mold to work with, a pine cone, is also her best seller. 1 out of 4 goes back into the melting pot.
In her planning, Kim has kept in mind expansion into other honey related items. Currently, there are only candles for sale.
Second hand shops, etc were used to find inexpensive equipment to work with.
Starting small and simple, with two molds that were given to her, she reinvested the money back into more equipment.
Through trial and error, Kim has learned which venues work best for sales. Fall and early winter seem to have the best sales.
To answer questions about beeswax blocks, she printed a brochure, which has her website address included, using a list of 101 uses for beeswax originally compiled by "Crafting Montana".
SETTING PRICES
1. She comparison shopped online to come up with an average price.
2. She then took into consideration her small Minnesota community. It would be easy to over price.
3. Further research with Mann Lake resulted in average burn times for the candles she makes. "I have also put some average burning times on the price cards for each candle style. It helps people understand the higher price of beeswax when they see how long it burns."
4. Kim restocks her inventory as needed. Instead of trying to figure out what is going to sell. She builds to par levels.
5. After trial and error, only cotton wicks are used. On the back of her business card, she has included information on proper burning and care of beeswax candles. (Clever girl 8))
The rest of the article goes into depth about the straining of wax, getting wicks straight, not over heating wax and so on. As this thread was about pricing, I will stop here. There are also many wonderful pictures of pouring wax, straining wax, her displays and so on.
Perry: a one year subscription to ABJ is also $43 for Canadians, $28 in the lower 48. It is a monthly publication. I know there is an electronic version of this as well, but I don't know the pricing.
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Heres what I have sold so far.
4 1lb blocks- 15.00 each
Honeybee candles 4oz- 6.00
Honey Pot 5-6oz-7.00
Skeps 8oz-11.00
Sold out of all of them and people waiting for more.
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I dont make anything but 1oz bars of wax and sell them for $3.00 each. And they sell well at that price.most sewing or craft people are tickled to get wax without having to ordet and pay shipping. As for bulk buyers of wax i stay away from that market. Your working for 30 cents an hour so the other guy can make the money off your product
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Great topic! Thanks for starting it!
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I dont make anything but 1oz bars of wax and sell them for $3.00 each. And they sell well at that price.most sewing or craft people are tickled to get wax without having to ordet and pay shipping. As for bulk buyers of wax i stay away from that market. Your working for 30 cents an hour so the other guy can make the money off your product
This is someting I am in agreement with. I constantly get emails from folks looking to buy beeswax. There seems to be a huge increase in the number of folks making and selling candles and creams etc., so much so that one of the largest producers/supplier of beeswax has raised thier prices and had to drop some of the high volume purchasers.
$20 a kilo is the going price now, but even that doesn't seem to be slowing down the seekers.
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This topic makes me feel better when i look at the 5 gallon buckets of cappings i have to melt down later. O:-) Jack
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Hello
I'm new to the world wide beekeeping website. I also have beeswax I'd like to sell. I agree it's a little tough to really put a price on the product. I melt beeswax for the local beekeepers so I will have more than I need to make my candles. Light cappings wax is $20/K plus shipping. If anyone is interested send me an email. I haven't started melting yet but hopefully I will be by Nov.
Cheers
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Please put your location in your profile. As the name implies, we are world wide. The shipping may be more than the price of the wax.
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Hi again. I forgot to put in my location. I'm located in Ridgedale, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Hey, hey, hey, another Canadian. :welcome:
Glad you found us. Your price of $20 a kilo falls in line with what is happening out here. We seem to have a shortage of the stuff as well.
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Dadant sells bees wax from 7:00 to 8:50 per pound depending on the grade of wax.
You can get different types of waxes for your art work that would be suitable for you from this sites. I know a Coupon sites where you can get it on a cheap price through Michaels Promo Codes (https://www.couponoutlet.org/deals/michaels.com).
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You can get different types of waxes for your art work that would be suitable for you from this sites. I know a Coupon sites where you can get it on a cheap price through Michaels Promo Codes (https://www.couponoutlet.org/deals/michaels.com).
Welcome to the forum, tazzcd.