# Question on selling



## DaniR1968 (Jun 6, 2012)

So, I was reading a soaping forum, not this one, and way back in the archives and a new soaper asked about selling soap and was shut down fast. S/he was told s/he needed to soap for a while and give away soap to friends and family to test until s/he had perfected his/her soaps. Some said they soaped for a year or more before they sold their soaps.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Tell me/us about your adventure into soaping and selling your product.


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## DaniR1968 (Jun 6, 2012)

Sorry, I went back and checked and it wasn't way back in the archives. I've spent hours reading the board so thought it was a ways back.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I certainly didn't sell my first batch of soap. I started making goat milk soap and made very small batches. As they got to looking better I planned on soap to be ready at the end of school to give to everyone that had worked with my department. I made some cigar bands and slapped them on and made little bags with soaps. Gave a bunch of soap away that spring. Later in the summer I started getting calls from people I had gifted wanting to buy soap. So it sort of took off from there. It takes a good while to perfect the "perfect" formula. At least it did for me. I experimented with many oils until I hit on the formula I use now. Or the three formulas I use. I saved soap from my beginning and boy can I tell the difference in then and now. 
Selling is a very individual thing.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

If you are comfortable with your soap going out into the world then I say sell it. I don't remember how long I made soap before I started selling. It started out as a fun hobby and then I had bills that needed to be paid and we were short on money. I signed up to sell at a small farmers market. A lot of people are way to anal about this whole subject. Of course the soap I make now looks a lot better than soaps I made when I first started making soap. I think that is the case with most soapers. You only get better if you are churning out lots of soap and quite frankly you can only afford to give away so much.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2012)

Because they don't want you to sell your soap, I would not sell my first batch for sure but I would test it on family and friends and like as above, if you are confident in your product then sell it.. But a year... NO...not even close.. I was so addicted to soaping I must have made 200 batches of soap my first year... 
ON alot of those forums they are downright mean about it.. Like they never started new at it.. Ignore them..


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## DaniR1968 (Jun 6, 2012)

Thanks guys for the replies. I do realize you don't want to sell the first batches. I'm a baby soaper. I've got my first 3 batches sitting under my bed curing. I will use some myself and give away the rest. I'm sure I will also try some different recipes from the Walmart recipe, which is soooo easy btw. I may not ever want to sell, just make it as a hobby and to give as gifts. I was kind of surprised and put off at the advice given to the new soaper and did wonder if that was the usual advice given. 

One person advised she have Product Liability Insurance before selling. Do you guys carry it to sell?


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Yes, I have liability insurance and had it before selling.

This is a friendly soaping forum- nice peeps!


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I think the other soaping forums are fine to get ideas from. And you can get some tips and tricks along the way.

No way did I wait a year. It might have been four months, maybe. I gave my first batches away. I still have a tweaked WM formula in my line of soaps. My other recipes are based similarly on the characteristics that the WM recipe gives, ie. hardness, lather, etc.

Always helpful to give your soap to a seasoned soaper. I gave one of my bars to Barb and she had me tweak it the tiniest bit and it is a much better bar now! Thanks, Barb!


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

I do have liability insurance now but I did start selling before i had it. I think you should start selling whenever you are ready.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I was so discouraged by a yahoo group who gave this advice, I unsubbed. They even told soapers not to sell soap that had ash. 


I agree with all of the above. We did give soap as Christmas presents one year and it morphed from there. 

We do have insurance now but did not when we were giving it away.

Women tend to be pious and bossy. Soapers can be afraid that you will begin selling and give you competition.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I waited quite awhile, not because I intended on it, just because I gave a lot of soap away and didn't really see people buying it from me.  I sell a fair bit now, but am still in the growing stage. I waited to sell until my soap was all the same size and shape and I felt like I knew what I was doing, although I've ruined many a batch of soap...well, no soap is ever ruined as long as there are clothes that need washing, but I've not even went into stores yet because I don't know if my packaging, which I like now, is something I could do on a large scale.


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## DaniR1968 (Jun 6, 2012)

You guys are the nicest and most helpful group of the boards/groups I have found on soaping. You don't sugar coat but don't scare folks off either. 

I have been lurking here for a while reading several of the forums but hadn't read any other boards on soaping until I was ready to take the plunge. I'm glad I had been here first or it might have turned me off.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

When you read some of those forums, especially if you soap yourself....you can tell some of them don't soap and few have your best interests at heart. I sold my first soaps because my milk customers asked for soap, when I learned how to scent and color from Sondra I sold that soap also. Guess nobody told me I shouldn't.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

I fall in the middle camp. I think that there are people out there who sell soap that is not ready to be sold. I know this because not only have I seen it, but I have had customers refuse to even try a free sample of my soap because they had purchased handmade soap (from other people) in the past that was terrible.

I also think that you can "shoot yourself in the foot" if you start marketing an inferior product because you are still learning.

I think that some people require more than a year and some people require significantly less. But I don't thinking that the timing is important, it's the product that is important.

Bottom line - make really good soap and then sell it. Don't worry about how long that takes you - worry about the quality and you'll be good to go!

PJ


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Well said!


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

:yeahthat to all the above. I have been asked to make soap and have started out with premade and now to my own recipes. I have just jumped in with both feet and just doing it. I will always be learning as soaping has so many variables to designs and recipes. It's fun to see what lies beneath that uncut log of soap! Just made a 2 pound test loaf!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

What I think now and what I did is likely similar to PJ....who did not wait a year to sell her soap either  Vicki


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