Hello from the Netherlands

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NaturallyAmy's

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May 4, 2021
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Location
Netherlands
Hello Everyone! I am sort of new to the Netherlands. Been here just 7 months now.

I am trying to find the best place to get Essential Oils and Stuff for Making Cold Process Soaps. I am a bit lost! It was a whole lot easier in America.

I am trying to learn as much as I can before I start making my own soaps here.

Like where to get stuff from?
What are your social media strategies?
What is the market like for you?
What are they buying?
What is the age range?
 
Hello Amy, welcome to the Netherlands! I am from the eastern part of the Netherlands (Twente) myself, but cannot help you with all the answers, since I am just trying to start my own business and do not have experience with selling just yet. But I can give you the website I buy from, which is youwish.nl. They also sell stuff from nature soap and bramble berry, which is nice. There are some other dutch distributors but do not have any experience with them myself. They are www.online-zeepwinkel.nl and www.jojoli.nl. Youwish and online-zeepwinkel can also be translated into English, as far as I can see jojoli does not have that feature. I hope this helps :)
 
Hi Amy! Did you move to NL from the US? There are several soapers here from NL and other parts of the EU; hopefully one or more of them will chime in at some point.

In the meantime, welcome to the forum!
Yeah I have been in the Netherlands for about 7 months!

Hello Amy, welcome to the Netherlands! I am from the eastern part of the Netherlands (Twente) myself, but cannot help you with all the answers, since I am just trying to start my own business and do not have experience with selling just yet. But I can give you the website I buy from, which is youwish.nl. They also sell stuff from nature soap and bramble berry, which is nice. There are some other dutch distributors but do not have any experience with them myself. They are www.online-zeepwinkel.nl and www.jojoli.nl. Youwish and online-zeepwinkel can also be translated into English, as far as I can see jojoli does not have that feature. I hope this helps :)
thank you so much, its a place to start for sure!! I really appreciate the help!
 
I often use Manske who are based in Germany but deliver to other EU countries, which is important as I am in Austria! That said, many supplies (especially oils) can be found cheaper on a certain internationally known online trader, especially when shipping is factored in.
 
Hello Everyone! I am sort of new to the Netherlands. Been here just 7 months now.

I am trying to find the best place to get Essential Oils and Stuff for Making Cold Process Soaps. I am a bit lost! It was a whole lot easier in America.

I am trying to learn as much as I can before I start making my own soaps here.

Like where to get stuff from?
What are your social media strategies?
What is the market like for you?
What are they buying?
What is the age range?
Hi! :D I live in Groningen :)

I also buy from youwish.com and online-zeepwinkel.com. They have everything I need for soap making. I don't know if they are the absolute cheapest, but their prices seem good to me and the products are of good quality.

I do have one other thing which may not be so fun... There is EU-policy that makes it illegal to just sell hand made soap without testing it by a professional lab. Those tests are at least 500 euro's per recipe, which makes it almost impossible to just sell hand made soap as a hobby. Or very expensive at least.

I do sell my soaps to friends and family because they wouldn't report it to the authorities, but outside of that circle I'm a bit cautious. On this web page you can find more information: Manufacturing or selling cosmetic products

This was a big downer for me when I found out... I still have the dream of having my own busines in the future and being able to afford these tests, so if you got any ideas after reading that website let me know! :')

Hi, I've been here for 2 months now.. can you please guide me a little? :D
On what topics do you need guidance?
 
Hi Amy, I'm from Italy and I too make my soap and just like @Luriertjie I can confirm that any handcraft soap at least in Italy is equated to a cosmetic product therefore needs to be tested in lab and registered according to the Reg. UE n° 1223/2009 as Product information file registry. All the components of the soap (oils and EO and whatever other ingredient) need to have a safety report therefore be taken to a lab to be tested. It is discouraging to say the least, but EU puts security in front of everything while still allowing other ecological and environmental disasters to happen. So us home manufacturers are cut out of the market. Sorry for the rant, ignore it please. What I do if I have a big request of soaps is this: I go to the cosmetic lab with my oil (I am an olive oil producer, meaning I farm olive trees) with my recipe, they approve it, take care of all the administration duties and costs, and give me back soap bars with a production batch.
It's expensive and it has to be worth it.
My handmade soaps at home, I sell in local markets or to friends. And this makes me much happier.
I buy some of my oils on aromazone in France. Before that I bought them in England at the Pennine collection witch shut down keeping the money and not delivering some of our orders. I haven't found an equally assorted distributor in Europe yet. But will check the sites you metioned.
Good luck on your business.
 
It is discouraging to say the least, but EU puts security in front of everything while still allowing other ecological and environmental disasters to happen. So us home manufacturers are cut out of the market. Sorry for the rant, ignore it please.
Agree!!!

What I do if I have a big request of soaps is this: I go to the cosmetic lab with my oil (I am an olive oil producer, meaning I farm olive trees) with my recipe, they approve it, take care of all the administration duties and costs, and give me back soap bars with a production batch.
It's expensive and it has to be worth it.
Do you still make some profit when you do this? Or at least break even?

My handmade soaps at home, I sell in local markets or to friends. And this makes me much happier.
Do you feel "safe" on those local markets? I have thought about selling at local markets, but I'm still a bit worried...
 
Agree!!!


Do you still make some profit when you do this? Or at least break even?
I am about to discover that and I will tell you as soon as I can.
Do you feel "safe" on those local markets? I have thought about selling at local markets, but I'm still a bit worried...
Not really. I feel like I'm illegal, guilty and start blabbering 'I did it!' to everything that I read or see on the news.
 
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