The three parts of a candle’s cost
Most makers cost the first one and stop, which is why so many handmade candle businesses are busy without being profitable.
1. Materials
Wax, fragrance oil, wick, sticker, vessel, lid, label, box, tissue, warning sticker. Cost every one from the pack price, not from memory. Bought in packs and used in fractions, the small items look negligible individually and add up to a surprising share of the total.
2. Your labour
Melting, weighing, pouring, curing, trimming, labelling, packing, photographing, listing, answering messages. Time the whole batch once, divide by the number of candles, and put a real hourly rate against it. If the honest figure makes the candle unprofitable, that is information worth having — it means the price or the process needs to change, not that the labour should be ignored.
3. Overheads
The costs that arrive regardless of sales. Add up the monthly total and divide by realistic monthly output. Note the trap here: at low volume, overheads dominate. A £120 monthly overhead across 20 candles is £6 each; across 200 it is 60p. Do not use an optimistic volume figure to make the number look better than it is.
Getting materials costs right
- Include delivery. Shipping on a wax order is part of what the wax cost you. Spread it across the pack.
- Cost wastage. The wax left in the pot was still paid for. Either add a wastage line or use the batch calculator figures, which already include an allowance.
- Re-cost when prices move. Supplier prices drift. A cost worked out two years ago is fiction.
- Count the seconds. Wick stickers, warning labels and tissue paper are pennies each and several pounds across a batch.
What to do with the number
Cost is not price. Cost tells you the floor; price is a separate decision involving your margin, your platform’s fees and what the market will bear. Once you have a cost you trust, take it to the pricing calculator — the button above carries it across.