CANDLE WORKSHOP · COSTING EXAMPLE

From one batch
to a price per jar.

A candle's material cost is only the beginning. Setup, pouring, cleanup, packaging and selling fees can all belong in its price. This walkthrough turns a ten-jar batch into the per-item inputs for our free pricing calculator.

The calculator starts with the same example below. Use your own costs; no account is required.

1. Cost the quantities you actually use

Divide each purchase price by its usable quantity, then multiply by the quantity consumed. A $12 bag containing 1,000 g of wax costs $0.012 per gram. Using 1,600 g costs $19.20, even if you bought two whole bags.

$45 ÷ 10 = $4.50 of materials per finished candle. These are costing figures, not a tested candle formulation or manufacturing instructions. Choose actual materials and safe quantities independently.

2. Include the whole working session

In this example, preparing, producing, finishing and cleaning up the batch takes 120 minutes of active work. At $20 per hour, that is $40 for the batch, or $4 per candle. Enter 12 minutes per item and an hourly rate of 20 in the calculator.

Include time you actually spend working. An unattended curing period is not automatically the same as paid working time. Keep any space or equipment allocation separate from labour so it is not counted twice.

3. Add packaging and the costs you allocate

Assume $0.80 of packaging and $0.70 of other allocated costs per candle. The resulting included cost is $4.50 + $4.00 + $0.80 + $0.70 = $10.00 per candle. The $0.70 is an illustration, not a suggested overhead rate. Replace it with your own allocation.

Use the number of saleable items when spreading a failed batch's consumed materials and working time. If the same $100 batch cost yields only nine saleable candles, the allocated cost is about $11.11 each. Do not also add an allowance for the exact same loss: that would count it twice.

4. Work backwards from margin, after selling fees

Suppose your effective selling fee is 8%, the fixed fee allocated to one candle is $0.30 and your chosen margin is 30%. These are example inputs, not the fees of any named marketplace.

($10.00 + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.08 − 0.30) = $16.6129…

Round up to $16.62. At that price, included selling fees are about $1.63 and about $4.99 remains after the included costs. That remainder is before unentered costs and tax; it is not a statement of accounting profit.

Applying a 30% markup to the $10 cost would produce a $13 price instead. With the same fees, only $1.66 remains: around 12.8% of the selling price. Markup and margin answer different questions.

5. Check what changes for a bundle or wholesale order

If a fixed $0.30 order fee covers three identical candles, allocate $0.10 to each candle for that order. Update packaging and any shipping you pay too. Do not enter the full fixed order fee against every item unless each item is sold in a separate order.

Wholesale needs its own calculation using the channel's costs and your chosen margin. Simply halving a retail price does not show whether that price covers production. The calculator models fees on the item price only; fees on tax or shipping need separate consideration.

Try the calculation, then check the decision

The result shows the price that meets your assumptions. It cannot establish demand, promise that buyers will pay that price, or replace the safety testing of your candles.

For the general method, see the handmade pricing guide. For saved material costs, recipes and production deductions, the offline toolkit is in preparation at a planned one-time price of CHF 19, including applicable sales tax; it is not yet available to buy.

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