Teach Soap

Soooo, I've spent the last 11 months building my product line, testing, testing, testing, and testing some more and I'm just about ready to sell.

Have any of you had luck selling at flea markets or are handmade soaps (4-5 oz at $5) too high of a price point for this venue? I'm in the Chicago area and there are a few markets around. I'm going out scouting the next couple weekends and I'm just trying to figure out where the good sales venues would be. Fall craft shows will be soon enough and farmers markets are heading into the end of the season here.

I can understand if you don't want to give up your sweet spot to potential competition, but if there are any I should avoid that would be awesome.

--Scott

I find flea markets customers to be cheap. They want a bar of soap for a dollar. Craft fairs, farmer's markets or renn fairs do much better. My bars go anywhere from $5 to $8 each and they sell.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I sell my 4-5 oz. bars for $6.00. I think that is reasonable for the amount of love and time put in. Besides, you can always give specials, like 3 for $15 and customers like that. I feel that you can always come down in price, once you start making money, but your customers wouldn't want you to go up in price..so I say start higher.

_________________
"Maintaining Balance Between People and Nature"

Thanks. That's what I'm afraid of (i.e. bargain hunters.) There's a large flea market here I might try out since it is only a $35 set up fee. Otherwise, I think I'm just going to hit up the craft shows and try and get into a fall festival.

I'm thinking to set individual bars at $6 with an offer of 3 for $15, or $5/bar for any amount 3 or more. Something like that. It just seemed too high for a normal flea market but I'm from a different world than the one I live in so I like to check with those in the know.

Sometimes it's best to go to that flea market as a customer first. That way you can see what type of merchandise is available. Is it mostly used? Does it look dirty or junky? How are the vendor's prices?
Is it organized well? Is it advertised for the vendor's benefits?

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

That's good advice. I think I have further narrowed down my search in the past couple days since I first posted this. I have a few busy weekends ahead of me. I'm excited about getting out of the soap laboratory / production facility (i.e. my kitchen) and get to selling. I skipped all my trapshooting tournaments this year to finance this venture. Time to make it or break it.

I started last year selling at the flea market. I'm in Philadelphia in an urban area, so there are not many regular craft fairs or Ren fairs I'd be interested in. Though the money is hit or miss, I've never made more than $150 in one day, and the fees are $25 to set up. The relationships forged were very valuable. I have alot of repeat customers, that even buy from me outside the flea market. I also sell in one retail outlet and I advertise that my soaps are there when I'm not at the flea market.

I still consider myself a hobby soaper but the flea market is a good option for the urban soaper.

I am going to sell my soap at a flea market also, I am in Wichita, KS. The flea Market I am going to sell at is only open on the weekends, and it is $50 for Fri, Sat, and Sun 9-5. Anyways I was also worried about bargain hunters so I wanted to come up with something for them too....who says you cannot make any money from them anyways? My idea was to make some mini bars for a cheaper price, then the people who didn't want to spend as much would have an option too, and I can still make money off of the sales to them. I think you might want to give the mini bars a try. I haven't set up at the flea market yet, so I can't say for sure how well it will work, but having more options I think is always a good idea.

I like that idea. If I was shopping I might even choose mini bars to get a number of different scents of soaps instead of just one or two!

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Indego, I started selling mini bars of soap as a way to use up soap bars that didn't come out just right. I can cut them down and still charge 3.00 for them and it lets folks try my soap who might not have spent $ otherwise. And at 3.00 Im still making good money for the soap. I use the same label on them as the big bars and they are cute. They all go into a basket with a little sign that says Mini soaps ,guest soaps, travel soaps

That is a great way to salvage your soap. I think trying several diffrent kinds of mini bars would be a great way to try out a product you have never used before. The costomer might find that they really like a couple of them and come back and buy more. I think the mini bars would be great to make up a sampler pack. I also thought about doing gift baskets, I think that would be great for holidays especially. I am also going to have Shampoo, Conditioner, Body wash/Shower gel, lotion, and bath milk to expand my product line. I am definately a begginer though so I am sticking to MP soap and pre-made bases for now. I figured that would be a good start until I learn how to make soap and other stuff from scratch. So far I love soap making, and eventually when I learn enough I wont be scared of lye anymore, lol.

I'm checking into selling soap at our local farmer's market. I probably won't have enough experience (or soap!) to sell this year, but maybe next year.

_________________
Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

It is always good to be prepared, but it depends on how big of a space you get. My booth at the flea market is a 10x10 space, so it wont take a million bars to fill. You should check into how much space you would get there, and think about what kind of display/storage set up you will have there. If you will have lots of shelves it might take more to fill them, but if you are just going to have tables, the you wont need as many to fill up the tables.