To sell candles wholesale, price them so a shop can double your price and you still keep more than half of yours, write a line sheet with case packs and terms, take it to shops whose customers already buy candles, and keep enough poured to ship every reorder on time. The opening order is the hard part; the reorders are the business. In the example below, a candle maker on Oʻahu opens ten shops in a year, from a Waikīkī hotel gift shop to a spa in Kona, and sells them $17,938 of candles, which leaves about $10,200 after the candles' cost. Four-fifths of it comes from reorders. Below is the pricing, the terms, finding shops, an opening order, the first year, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Wholesale is half the shelf price; the shop's half pays its rent and staff.
- Your cost should be well under half the wholesale price, or wholesale won't pay.
- Sell by the case, with an opening minimum, and say your terms on the line sheet.
- Take samples to shops whose customers already buy candles; email follows the visit.
- Keep your own retail price the same as the shops', online and at markets.
- Reorders are where the money is: keep the best sellers poured and ship on time.
- TaroStack takes each shop's order, picks it earliest lots first, and shows each shop's margin. More below.
Prices that work for both of you
Lehua Glow, a made-up soy candle maker on Oʻahu I use in these examples, sells to shops at half its retail price:
| Candle | Cost | Wholesale | Suggested retail | Case pack | Case price | Your margin | Shop's margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soy candle, 9 oz jar | $5.66 | $13.00 | $26.00 | 6 | $78.00 | 56.5% | 50% |
| Travel tin, 4 oz | $2.88 | $7.00 | $14.00 | 12 | $84.00 | 58.9% | 50% |
| Two-wick candle, 16 oz | $9.40 | $22.00 | $44.00 | 4 | $88.00 | 57.3% | 50% |
A jar sold wholesale leaves $7.34; the same jar sold at a market leaves $19.56. Wholesale earns less on each candle and more in total, because a shop sells candles six days a week without you standing there. If your cost is more than about 45% of your wholesale price, there isn't enough left after the shop's half; raise the retail price, or cut the cost, before you go to shops. How to build a wholesale price from the cost up is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Terms on the line sheet
Lehua Glow's line sheet says: a $150 opening order, $100 to reorder, the first order paid when it's placed and net 30 after that, shipping in five business days, paid by the shop. A shop that knows the minimum and the case packs can order without a phone call. Each new shop gets one open tester jar for each scent it stocks, which costs Lehua Glow about $6 a scent and sells more than any sign. The line sheet itself, with a template, is in line sheet template, and whether to offer net 30 at all in net 30 terms.
Finding shops
Start with shops whose customers already buy candles or gifts: gift shops, boutiques, home stores, florists, bookstores, hotel gift shops and spas. Visit with the line sheet, two candles to smell and a price list, at a quiet hour, and ask who does the buying. A shop that says "not now" often says yes after seeing the candles at a market, so give the market dates too. Follow up by email a week later, with the line sheet attached. A short application, with the shop's resale certificate and billing details, comes before the first order; one is in wholesale account application form.
Keep your own prices the same as the shops'. A shop that sells the jar at $26 won't reorder once it sees the same jar on your website for $20.
An opening order
A Waikīkī hotel gift shop's first order:
| Candle | Cases | Candles | Each | Total | Left after cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soy candle, 9 oz jar, four scents | 4 | 24 | $13.00 | $312.00 | $176.16 |
| Travel tin, 4 oz | 1 | 12 | $7.00 | $84.00 | $49.44 |
| Two-wick candle, 16 oz | 1 | 4 | $22.00 | $88.00 | $50.40 |
| The order | 6 | 40 | $484.00 | $276.00 |
It's over the $150 minimum, paid when placed, and leaves 57% after the candles' cost. Four scents, not fourteen: a shop's shelf has room for the best sellers, and a shop that sells out of four scents reorders sooner than one that sells a few of each of fourteen.
The first year
| Shop | Opening order | Reorders a year | Average reorder | The year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel gift shop, Waikīkī | $484 | 8 | $400 | $3,684 |
| Gift shop, Kailua | $408 | 6 | $300 | $2,208 |
| Surf boutique, Haleʻiwa | $312 | 5 | $240 | $1,512 |
| Home store, Kakaʻako | $484 | 6 | $350 | $2,584 |
| Florist, Kapolei | $234 | 6 | $160 | $1,194 |
| Bookstore, Mānoa | $234 | 4 | $150 | $834 |
| Boutique, Kaimukī | $408 | 6 | $280 | $2,088 |
| Gift shop, Maui, shipped | $408 | 4 | $300 | $1,608 |
| Shop in Hilo, shipped | $312 | 4 | $240 | $1,272 |
| Spa in Kona, shipped | $234 | 4 | $180 | $954 |
| Ten shops | $3,518 | $17,938 |
The opening orders are $3,518 of the year's $17,938; the reorders are $14,420. At 57% after the candles' cost, the year leaves about $10,200. The hotel shop alone is a fifth of it, because its customers are visitors buying gifts every day of the year. A shop that hasn't reordered in three months has often stopped selling the candles or forgotten them; a call or a visit with a new scent finds out which.
Shipping every reorder on time
Five business days is a promise, and a shop that waits three weeks for plumeria orders someone else's. Keep the best sellers poured ahead, two cases or more of each, and pour to the reorders, not the week's mood. Every candle carries its batch on the label, so a shop's complaint about a tunneling candle leads to the batch, the wax and the wicks. Shipping to the neighbor islands or the mainland in summer needs the packing in how to ship candles in hot weather.
Get the calculator
Download the candle wholesale calculator. Three sheets: prices, where each candle's cost, wholesale price, suggested retail and case pack give the case price and both margins; opening order, where a shop's cases give the units, total and what it leaves, checked against your minimum; and shops, one line for each shop with its opening order, reorders a year and average reorder, where the year's wholesale and what it leaves fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Ten shops, each reordering every six to eight weeks, fourteen scents in three sizes, a website and two markets drawing on the same shelf, and a five-day promise. A spreadsheet of shops can't say whether there are two cases of plumeria jars on the shelf for Kailua's reorder after Saturday's market, or which shops got the batch with the bad wicks.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack takes each shop's order, picks it earliest lots first, and shows each shop's margin.
Orders and picking. Each shop's order is a sales order that shows, as it's typed, whether there's enough on the shelf. The day's orders make one picking list, with the earliest dates first, and a delivery note for each shop. How a wholesale invoice is laid out is in wholesale invoice template.
Batches to labels. Each pour is a batch that takes its wax, fragrance, wicks and jars off stock and gets a lot of its own, and the lots each shop got are recorded as it ships, so one report shows which shops got the batch with the bad wicks.
Margins by shop. Margins are reported by customer, so the hotel shop and the bookstore each show what they leave. A scent below its reorder point raises an alert before a reorder finds the shelf empty.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Enough for Kailua's reorder? | Check the shelf | Shown as you take the order |
| Packing four shops' orders | Four lists | One picking list |
| Which shops got batch 14 | Search the invoices | Lots recorded as it ships |
| What each shop leaves | Not worked out | Margins by customer |
Sales orders, picking lists, lots and margin reports are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.