Other vendors copying your products

[Cutter]

Or you could realize this is just how business is done. Pick a market, any market. Look at the number of competitors doing the same thing with only the slightest of variation. Companies "borrow" from each other all the time.

There's a reason you can't secure rights to scents and colours. And what is anyone doing that isn't an innovation built on something someone else was doing before them? Most of you wouldn't even be making soap if you didn't start off by learning other recipes and techniques from other people. So calling other people crooks for doing what you've done is rather hypocritical. Like Ecclesiastes says, "There is nothing new under the sun." So either grow a thicker skin - because it happens and will keep happening, and in fact the more successful you get the more it'll happen - or find another line of work. Do you think those farmers get mad at each other because other people are selling the same product? Conversely, the easy thing to do would find a different circuit to work entirely. So you know if said person is going to be at ABC show, go work XYZ market instead. It's not like there aren't other options or choices.

 

[cmzaha]

I have to fully agree with Cutter on this one. I really do not worry about new soapers in my markets, it just makes me have a better product. Very seldom do I run into actual competition. I do have a craft fair I do twice a year that will have up to 5 soap sellers one being my direct competition since she is as well known as me in these craft fairs. We solved the problem by not having the same fragrances, and we will send customers to each other . We feel we should not both lose a sale if we know the other has what the customer wants. LOL, we do not send out to the other newbie sellers! It is a tough market and takes a lot of fortitude to stick it out. If you have no competition it is easy to become complacent

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I agree with some of what Cutter said. I think the way it was said is like using a baseball bat when someone asks you to scratch an itch, though!

There is a big difference, however, between people developing products based on existing ideas and out-and-out copying. All of the major car manufacturers, for example, have very similar cars in each class of car - but they aren't exactly the same. In the instance of the OP, a competitor saw her new product and then the next moment suddenly had a "new" product that was exactly the same.

That's not development, innovation or working on a theme - it's a direct copy from someone who a) didn't have the ability to think of it originally and b) didn't have the ability to develop it slightly for her own use.

I'm pretty certain that there are comparatively few combinations in soap making that have yet to be tried that will actually prove popular, so of course there is going to be overlap. But my very first soap was not copied from a recipe from this forum or anywhere else. But as it is a pretty basic 3 oil mix, I'm willing to put good money on the fact that someone, somewhere, has produced the same soap at some point in the past. The duplication happened, but was not a case of me spying out what a competitor was doing and then just making the same thing.

There is no place for that in ANY market and, as you can see with apple, google, samsung et al, there are many cases where 'duplication' is chased down and beaten till it whimpers.

 

[eyeroll]

So calling other people crooks for doing what you've done is rather hypocritical. Like Ecclesiastes says, "There is nothing new under the sun." So either grow a thicker skin - because it happens and will keep happening, and in fact the more successful you get the more it'll happen - or find another line of work.

EG: Eh, he's just providing a public service by forcing us all to grow a thicker skin!

 

[Miz Jenny]

Duplication is inevitable. How you "sell" your business is not. I love educating my customers about the benefits of using natural handmade soaps and body products. I rarely sit or stand behind a table and I talk to everyone who goes by. It's up to you to bring business to your table then your products should sell themselves. You must be better than competitors at selling yourself. I see new soapers starting because "it's fun to make soap." When they discover it's not always fun and is, in fact, hard work, they fall by the wayside. Be better than the other guys at selling yourself.

 

[Cococamila]

I recently took a sewing class and one of the other ladies does craft shows. She went on an on about her craft whichever it was, I never understood what it was, and after I told her about my hair bows she turned around and said. You know what I do. I go to craft shows when I'm not being a vendor and copy other peoples craft ideas. I buy cheap products and resell at a higher price then they do. All I have to do is make them and sell at a higher price to make a profit with less work or inventory. I almost sewed over my hand when she said that. No wait! she suggested I do the same. I replied my that work was original because if wasn't about the money but a passion.

 

[Miz Jenny]

That is so unethical and wrong on many levels. Given my propensity for being direct, I'd have told her so. My forever mantra is "Lord, deliver me from people who provoke me into telling them they're schmucks."

 

[navigator9]

You could put a sign on your table that says, "Often imitated....never duplicated!" I've found over the years that you can't control what anyone else does. All you can do is put out a great product and once people discover it, they will become repeat customers, and word of mouth is great for your business. I strongly dislike negativity. If I went to a vendor, and they were bad mouthing some other vendor's products, I would walk away. At craft fairs, if a customer asks me about my soap compared to another vendor's I just tell them that we all use different recipes and that they should read the ingredients to make sure that they're getting what they pay for. The predominant ingredient in my soap is olive oil, so if that gets them thinking that they'd rather pay a premium price for soap made with olive oil as opposed to canola....so be it.

Make soap you're proud of, package it beautifully, be professional, smile and be confident and customers will notice. Insecure, unimaginative, negative people will end up driving customers away. No worries.

 

[dixiedragon]

I have no experience with this, so I am wondering if other sellers have a thought on this. What if you brought her copying to the attention of the people who oversee the market? Has anyone ever done this?

 

[navigator9]

Second thoughts on this. I would imagine that most of us, starting out as soap makers, used a tried and true recipe that we found in a book or on line somewhere to make our first batch. If we found that making soap was a true passion for us, I can't imagine that early on in our exploration of the craft, we didn't get to a point where we wanted to try a recipe of our own. A soap that no one else had made before. Maybe it was great....maybe not so great, so we tinkered with it, a little more of this, or less of that, until we ended up with a great bar of soap, that was uniquely ours. It's a lot of work to get to this point, but it's a labor of love. For me, it's hard to imagine that someone who doesn't have this kind of passion for what they do, can be successful in business for long. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule, but I think there can't be many. I try to imagine doing a craft fair without having a true passion for what I make, knowing how hard it is both to make enough product, wrap, label, etc. and then schlep it all to the craft fair, unload, set up, break down, reload, all for what is usually not a ton of money. We may do well at some fairs, and dismally at others. You just never know. I've made over a thousand dollars at one fair and close to nothing at another. Ya gotta love it, or you're not gonna make it. And if you don't love it enough to come up with your own recipe....you don't love it enough!

Or am I just being too idealistic. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Susie]

You know, it is this very issue keeping me from trying to sell my soap. I have not created anything original. I am using OPR(other people's recipes) to tweak and make soap. This is still THEIR recipe! I could not, in any good conscience, sell a product that is not my original recipe. Period. I just can't fathom anyone doing it on purpose.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You know, it is this very issue keeping me from trying to sell my soap. I have not created anything original. I am using OPR(other people's recipes) to tweak and make soap. This is still THEIR recipe! I could not, in any good conscience, sell a product that is not my original recipe. Period. I just can't fathom anyone doing it on purpose.

For me it would depend on how much you have tweaked it. I don't think that there are many recipes that are new and never before done in some form or another - taking EOs/FOs out of the equation.

If someone is selling a soap where they have no idea about why it is good or not and what could improve the recipe and what could make and worse and why that is the case - if they are in effect using another recipe that they would never be able to recreate because they just don't know soap at all, that is wrong.

 

[cmzaha]

You know, it is this very issue keeping me from trying to sell my soap. I have not created anything original. I am using OPR(other people's recipes) to tweak and make soap. This is still THEIR recipe! I could not, in any good conscience, sell a product that is not my original recipe. Period. I just can't fathom anyone doing it on purpose.

Unfortunetly you are never going to make a soap that someone else makes. Lets face it soap is lye, fats, liquid. It is what we do after that that makes it unique or not unique. I have some soap recipes that I know no one could perfectly duplicate, but it does not mean they could not or do not make the basic bar, it is my essential oil that makes it unique and is listed as proprietary. Unless you invent a "New" way to make soap it will always basically be what others make. In my main market the management have been bringing in additional soapmakers and these people are telling them theirs are different from mine. Yeah right... Fortunetly for 5 years I have outlasted all the new soapmakers that come in my markets. Only one market I have asked them to keep out newbies because it is one I have not attended long enough to establish myself and can barely make my booth. I do this market because the owner of this market is hurting and I go to support him, but darn don't bring another. He is the owner of most of my markets

 

[navigator9]

For me it would depend on how much you have tweaked it. I don't think that there are many recipes that are new and never before done in some form or another - taking EOs/FOs out of the equation.

I agree, there are only so many ingredients that can be variables in any recipe. I think the real issue is that any soap maker worth their weight in soap, has worked on a recipe of their own. They've made a batch, tried it out, thought to themselves, "Hmmm....I wonder what would happen if I upped the castor oil just a bit." So they tried it, and if that turned out well, they wondered what could make it even better. Then they tried that, and on and on through much trial and error, until they were happy with what they had done. The final result may be very similar to someone else's recipe, but they arrived at it on their own. They didn't just rely on a recipe they found in a book, or stole from someone else.

It took me about two years to arrive at the basic recipe I use now. It's a very simple one. But I made batch after batch before I decided on a keeper. During that process, I studied the properties of the oils and butters I was using, spent hours tweaking Soap Calc til I couldn't see straight any more, tried out many ingredients and techniques that I'll never use again, filled a notebook with trial recipes......and learned more than I ever could by reading alone. Anyone can read a book on how to make soap, and make themselves a batch. In the beginning, we all copy recipes that we find, because we're not yet skilled enough to come up with one on our own, but eventually, if you have a real passion for soap making, it leads you to want to create a recipe that's your own. A real soap maker does the work. They don't need to imitate or steal.

 

[Khanjari]

I plan on remaining professional. I am trying to stay positive. I was thinking about making a sign about our products saying something along these lines, "We have perfected our soap recipes over three years and hundreds of batches." My husband wants me to promote the fact that I am member of the Soap Guild.

In the future, I am not going to announce new soaps on our FB until they are packaged and ready to take to the market.

That will be a great idea! !!!! If I were you, I would do it!!!!!!

I agree with the other posts that remain professional and SMILE! (I was in a similar problem at a craft fair and the 'pro (s)' advised me to do that! Very difficult but do-able....

Good luck dear!

 

[freesia792]

My first recipe truly was my own . It didn't turn out, but not because the recipe wasn't good, it's because I didn't know what to expect - never mind I watched video's, and read blogs for almost 3 years before attempting my own. Once I learned about the soap calculators, I was off to the races. I messed with that for over 5 months before trying to actually make soap the first time. My first attempt was lye heavy. That the oils turned to a solid product at all was a miracle to me. I was SO HAPPY, even though I was afraid of it. I ended up grating it up and using it in a scrub cleanser product (that worked extra great). I had no idea that I shouldn't add more lye if I thought it didn't look right (I've only ever done HP, and what is look right anyway to a newbie? Besides, soap making isn't baking/cooking which is what I based) I kept at it, and I hit on a recipe that I just LOVE! I have learned though, what is perfect for my skin, isn't perfect for other people's skin - not even close relatives such as siblings or children. They request a recipe I consider to drying, but it works for them. It makes no sense to copy (steal) another recipe since different recipes work different for different people. I have not once copied or even used a recipe I didn't design myself. Others may have made it before me, but I do my homework based on my own education, experience and diligence. I still do not scent mine well though. That disturbs me.

 

[Khanjari]

Soapsydaisy, I had loved this post on a similar thread I had started. Thought I'd Share. It might help. ....

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=416302