# Do you sell discounted soap? 2 questions



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Question 1
A guy in my area had some soap ends and underweight bars on sale for 1 pound for $12.50. does anyone else do this? If so how do you package it. He used a translucent bag with a wire thing on the top. It folded over and the wire thing kept it closed. He folded a half a page flyer over the top. No soap names were included on the description. I think he did include the ingredients.

question 2
I have some soaps that I made up from my regular recipe using samples. The soap is good but the scents were not appealing to me OR they are scented to lightly OR the scent morphed OR faded altogether. Do you ever sell soap like this? How would you price it and package it?


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I have a bargain bucket I put out when I get too many odd balls and end pieces laying around. I don't bother doing anything with them other than throwing them in the bucket. I do tie the end pieces together with some raffia-enough so they equal one normal bars worth. I throw just about anything in the bucket. I price it cheap enough that I'm not losing money but they go away. I throw in anything that is still good soap but lost it's scent or I don't like the scent or is just plain ugly. I throw in bars with damaged packaging that I don't feel like dealing with too.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Same here.....I have a bargain bowl. All the scents I test go in there along with any 'light weight' bars, bars that got dinged up some how, etc., discontinued soaps, etc. I price them $1 less than my regular soap and they sell very well. THe ones that aren't wrapped already I put into a cellophane bag. I have blank labels that I can handwrite a scent name on or if I'm printing labels I will print it out regular.


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

I use brown paper lunch sacks. I write the name of each soap on the outside of the bag and my husband sells them at his work. I actually make pretty good money off of it. People that ordinarily wouldn't buy my soap go ahead and do it because it is such a bargain and then everyone also gets to try a lot of different scents and will order the ones they like best later. I will also be offering them as I have them available at my festivals this year.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I think I might try the same thing but with wax paper bags. We will see how it goes this weekend.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I sell soap stacks. I stack 5 bars and shrink wrap them with a generic label - may contain......
I usually take enough stacks to make my rent and I usually sell all of them. Many folks buy a stack and then individual bars of special scents.


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## Huminbird (Jul 22, 2008)

I like all of these ideas, thanks for sharing.

At my market I have started setting up a "bargain table" and on this I place some unwrapped bars (I print individual labels for all of my different scents and don't want to make a whole new label for some of my mix and match extras), my older, not so well scented soaps, and my ugly bars. They don't sell all that fast but I do sell bars that otherwise nobody would buy.

I like the idea of shrinkwrapping four or five together and putting an awesome price on them to make them go very fast. That way I can throw in one of "those" bars that never ever sell for me. Why ever did I buy Passion Fruit Watermelon FO? That way people who care about the quality of the soaps but not the scent can get bars at a great price and I can get rid of the odds, ends and extras.

I think a sale of an ugly bar could turn a person into a good customer because at a discount they get to know how wonderful your soap actually is. My hubby loves to give away my soap. At first this really bothered me but then I started to get substantial orders from the college students and teachers that he gave the soap away to and I know some of them will be buying from me for years. Now I have a basket of soap he is allowed to raid in order to give small, misshapen bars to people that he knows.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Pretty basket.....ugly soap....$1 a bar  Vicki


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## Terri-Lynn (Nov 7, 2007)

I used to sell soap like this but found that quite a few people who would normally buy were waiting for my 2nds. I now slice all seconds into smaller pieces to give away at markets and include with purchases. The free samples have improved sales.
edited to add...soap that I'm not pleased with in scent etc and I don't feel is representative of what I do gets shredded for a confetti soap and re poured / re-scented


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

We do not sell discounted soap because we do not want our soap perceived that way. We either cut it up for samples (I do sell samples) or we donate it or give it away to people we know are hurting financially. We also tend to put it in free with orders from many of our good customers. I also have a section on my website for limited edition soaps (discontinued soaps) that are slightly cheaper than my other soaps for people looking for a bargain.

PJ


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

Perceived in what way? People who buy my soap stacks know they are getting good handmade soap but not necessarily the prettiest or the most scented etc. Some are the last of the litter so to speak and I won't be making that scent again. One lonely little bar does not usually find a home but packaged with 4 other bars they sell. The buyers are well aware that the soap is not perfect. Or it might just be soap I am tired of being a slow seller and want to move out to give me room for something else. And I give away soap samples also in a little ziplock with a business card with the scent written on it.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

I didn't mean it in a negative way. When we we first started, we sold seconds also. But now we want our soap being perceived as "best of the best" and I'd rather cut up bars that are not our best or donate them, than sell them at a discounted price. It's all about how you market it. For us, we don't want to market "seconds". That's all. Just putting out another way of doing it, not putting down anybody who chooses to sell seconds. 

I also have enough people selling our soaps that want to buy samples for their potential customers, that I don't have loads of them sitting around.

PJ


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

O.K. I understand what you are saying. I am totally different in my approach. I have been selling for 5 years now. I have steady customers that always buy a soap stack. They are the ones that would NEVER pay $5.00 for a bar of soap but they love handcrafted soap. Best of both worlds. They get to use a great soap and I get rid of soap that isn't selling well. I tend to like to try out new fragrances and new colors and it doesn't always work as well as I had hoped. Good soap but not what I wanted. Off to the soap stacks. I still turn a profit and can make more "good" soap for the rest of my customers. The soap stacks are often comprised of first quality last of the bars of a batch so they aren't always "seconds" either. Works great for my rural area. Something for everyone I say.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Sounds like it works great for you.  It's all about marketing! We all have unique approaches - that's what makes each of our businesses special and what makes them stand out to different people.

PJ


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