What does your soap cost to make?

[dagmar88]

That's about what a bar of soap costs me, including shipping my FO's and molds from the US to Europe and shipping oils and butters in bulk from Germany to the Netherlands...

You mean that it costs $1.50, or that it costs between 50 and 75 cents?


I'm just wondering how people keep their costs so low.. Columbus Foods is relatively close to me (I live in MN) so I don't know how I would get anything with cheaper shipping.

Just wondering if anyone has tips for me! Maybe I need to make smaller soap bars or consider charging more...

1.50... I couldn't possibly make a bar of (scented and colored) soap with only 50 to 75 cents :?

 

[Deda]

I think the key, at least to soapers living in the US, is to buy your oils in large enough bulk. Along with a lower initial price, you reduce your shipping costs.
That goes for EO/FO, too.

Here's a break down of 1 batch of soap, Shea Butter with Lavender. All costs include shipping raw product to my house.

12.75 Cost of oils, including 10% shea (3600g total)
1.50 Lye, purchased in bags of 50#
8.50 Lavender EO, purchased by Kilo (150g)
.40 TKB color, this one I only purchase in the 4oz bags
3.20 Wrappers, printed and sent with free shipping.

26.35 - Cost for Batch of 38, plus 2 ends I use for samples.

That's .69 per bar. The cost goes way down if I'm using a FO.

 

[dubnica]

My cost per bar is around $1.50 as well, because I do not buy in bulk like Deda, I buy 1 gallon of each oil at a time plus FO by 4-8 oz each. I give my soap to my family and sell few bars to my co-workers and friends so I don't really want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy huge quantities of oils. Maybe next year I will do that if enough people are interested to buy my product. At this point soap making is really only expensive addictive hobby to me.

 

[soapsmurf]

Not including packaging, my different formulas are all under $1 per bar (even one that uses both shea and cocoa butter), but I'm trying to buy more in bulk to drive down costs.

 

[Bayougirl]

I priced about the last 10 batches of soap out yesterday. The cheapest I got was .68/bar, that was a Bastille bar with goat's milk scented with Chamomile and Lavender. The next was .81/bar for Castille with goat's milk, no fragrance or color added. My most expensive bar is around 1.50/bar and that Ela's Luxury recipe with some nicer oils in it (for me only!). All my other recipes (around 7 different ones) fall somewhere in between. I do get my oils in bulk (50 lb of coconut and palm) from Soaperchoice.

 

[Sunny]

I think the key, at least to soapers living in the US, is to buy your oils in large enough bulk. Along with a lower initial price, you reduce your shipping costs.

This is kind of what I was thinking last night, Deda... I don't just have to buy in bulk, I have to buy in major bulk. I gotcha. Your price per bar is the one I was originally going off of, too, so that helps.

So my price may not be going down for a while because I'm (obviously?) not ready to be buying as much oil as you who sell regularly, but at least this solves the mystery for me and is something to think about for the future.

You coulld aslo find 1, 2, 3, or more other soapers to buy in bulk w/ and split your costs that way. Co-op!

 

[cwarren]

I made a small spreadsheet to figure my cost all per oz.. I add cost of shipping to f/o s divide cost by oz purchased.. it works for me.. my cost 80c per 4 oz bar... and my oils i buy are at most gallon size.. lookin forward to buying larger...

 

[xraygrl]

I don't sell, don't buy in bulk, so nope no way I'm gonna try and figure out my costs.....my wallet might cry.....oh right, it already does every time I take it out when I am ordering online......

 

[Hazel]

I don't sell, don't buy in bulk, so nope no way I'm gonna try and figure out my costs.....my wallet might cry.....oh right, it already does every time I take it out when I am ordering online......

My wallet doesn't cry, it nags and says "do you really need more veggie oils and EOs?" This nagging continues through the browsing, adding to cart and then checkout. Then it becomes scolding as in "well, I hope you're satisfied! You've just blown the budget for the month."

 

[BakingNana]

Hazel, your sig cracks me up!!!! Thanks for the laugh!

I took advice of others and broke down and bought SoapMaker3. OMG; why didn't I do this sooner? It's incredible. Looking forward to finishing entering all my info to see how far off I've been!

 

[Hazel]

Hazel, your sig cracks me up!!!! Thanks for the laugh!

I took advice of others and broke down and bought SoapMaker3. OMG; why didn't I do this sooner? It's incredible. Looking forward to finishing entering all my info to see how far off I've been!

I'm glad it made you laugh. I wasn't sure about it because I thought it might give people the impression that I was...umm...what's the word? Oh yeah...psychotic!

....I'm not...but I am :twisted:

 

[paillo]

WOW! Soaperchoice's prices are fantastic!!! Thank you thank you, these are the best prices I've seen anywhere! Even buying in the 7-lb quantities looks like it would make my price per bar go way down. What a helpful thread this is, thanks to all

 

[BakingNana]

FYI-Got most of my records entered into SoapMaker, and my basic veggie soap made with an expensive FO and colorant came out at $1.12/4 oz. bar. Every oil except olive is from Soaper's Choice.

 

[madpiano]

Don't forget to shop in supermarkets!! P&P can add loads to oils and I am not sure what your VAT / Sales Tax rules are, but if you buy oil at Soapers Choice it wont be classified as food. Sometimes oil prices in supermarkets seem to be more expensive, but by the time you calculate p&p in, you might be surprised. I buy RBO, Coconut, Olive Oil, Palm and Canola at the supermarket. I was lucky to be able to do a co-op on buying coconut oil in bulk, but there would be no point for me to buy a pallet of oils otherwise for now. Bulk is half price from the supermarket, but normally I buy about 10kg of Coconut at a time and then the supermarket works out much cheaper than ordering online. (don't forget to check the final price at checkout against the supermarket price, some sellers sneakily add a handling charge, VAT and other things)

 

[BakingNana]

Deda, I would love to get the 50# bag of lye, but I'm afraid it would absorb too much moisture by the time I got it either divided into other containers or used it. Do you have a way you handle it that keeps it dry? Obviously, you'd handle it on a low humidity day, but what else do you do? Right now I'm getting 64 lbs. at a time in 32 oz. containers. Unfortunately, I've been recycling the containers instead of saving them.

Advice appreciated!

 

[doubletake]

My costs...

I figured the price out by what went into the soap (total cost) divided by the bars and I figured it cost me about $0.75 a bar (4 oz bar). My main ingredients are olive oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil....sometimes I use beef tallow (which is free, as I have stock from our cow), cocoa butter, goat milk (free again from our goat that we are already milking). And of course fragrance oil or essential oil, which is minimal cost. For colorant, I have not used a whole lot and have stuck mostly with the natural (ie. cinnamon, cocoa, turmeric, beta carotene, rose hips).

 

[paillo]

Re: My costs...

where you get your EOs / FOs for them to be minimal cost? i'd love to find less expensive suppliers than those i'm using, as i think they're the most expensive ingredients in my soaps.

 

[Deda]

BakingNana, I just store it in a bucket topped off with a gamma seal. A bag lasts about a month, so sealed it's fine.

I'd be interested in 64# at time in 2# containers, how easy would that be

 

[dcornett]

I last figured my soap to cost from $1.00 -$1.25 a bar to make, depending on the type, and that's just raw ingredients. Wrappers, labor and other supplies makes it more than that. But my bars are about 5 oz (dry) also...and I've began purchasing most of my oils from soapers choice since I last calculated so I'm hoping the actual cost is a little less than that now. (I keep telling myself it is )

 

[BakingNana]

BakingNana, I just store it in a bucket topped off with a gamma seal. A bag lasts about a month, so sealed it's fine.

I'd be interested in 64# at time in 2# containers, how easy would that be

It IS easy, for sure. Get mine from AAA Chem. I use about 4 or 5 at a time making up 50% solution. Can't help but think bulk would be cheaper, but maybe not enough to matter to me in the grand scheme of things. I have a bucket of wheat with a gamma lid; when it's empty I'll check into bulk. Finally got most of my info into SoapMaker. $1.12 was the expensive bar; the rest range from .68 to just under a buck. That was good news to me.