What does your soap cost to make?

[Deda]

Ok, I checked the price from AAA, it was nearly 4 times what I'm paying now, and I have no shipping. I'm sticking with the bucket.

 

[doubletake]

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.

Hmm, well all of my FO's I've gotten off of ETSY.
For a 1oz. bottle of blackberry mist fragrance, the cost was $2.25 plus 0.75 for shipping because I was purchasing something else. For a 2 oz. bottle of heavenly chocolate raspberry was $6.
Some fragrance I use only like a tsp. for a 2lb. batch because they are so strong and thus is goes a long way.
Does this seem expensive or a good price to pay?
I've just figured how many 2lb. batches I've made with the fragrance oils thus far, and it has come out to be pretty cheap I think.

 

[lily]

I am new here and this thread interests me a lot. I think I make too expensive soap... I order by kilos (example for shea : 5 to 10 kilos) cocoa butter : 2 kilos etc.

Some soaps cost me almost $2.00 each. (sometime more, but this is for my personal use). I would say that $1.50 is an average, but I very hardly see how it could be possible to make a soap bar for .69-80 cents... unless it is MP soap. Am I mistaken ?

Of course, the price of soap dramatically decreases with the use of F.O. instead of e.o. ...

I would hardly make a decent size bar of soap for less than $1.00. (excludint the packing). I wonder what is going bad with me...
I use a sheet for calculating my prices...
Somebody has an opinion ?

 

[Rich23s]

I'm a little baffled with the low cost that most people have, and am having trouble trying to figure out how to lower my per cost bar. Here's a general breakdown of my costs...

Olive oil (EVOO): $0.26/oz
Coconut oil: $0.14/oz
Palm oil: $0.10/oz
Cocoa Butter: $0.46/oz
Lye: $0.22/oz

FO/EO costs vary, but a good example would be $7.83 for the 5# batch.

without packaging, and with bars at 4.0oz, my cost per bar is $0.94 (20 bars) or $18.76 per loaf . I buy in bulk (25-50lbs for all oils). I know I could use pamace OO instead, that would cut the OO down to about $0.14/oz. Any other ideas where I can cut costs?

 

[VanessaP]

Rich, you don't have to use EVOO to soap with, the regular refined/grade a olive oil works perfectly. I buy mine at Sam's Club. 101 fluid oz is 10.98 right now. Since its lighter in color, my soap doesn't get a slightly green tint to it like it did with EVOO. In my area, pomace is $20/gallon, even if I buy it online, shipping fees get it up to the $20/gallon mark. The OO at Sam's Club is 11 cents an ounce.

 

[Genny]

This thread is a few years old as well, so if you're comparing your costs to what's talked about here keep that in mind.

 

[jcandleattic]

Along with what Vanessa said there is also the fact that the OP posted this in August of 2010 and most replies were around that same time. Costs have gone up significantly since then.

 

[Marilyna]

You could buy your lye in 50# bags from a local chemical company, if you can find one. Maybe $1.50 per pound or less.

 

[hlee]

I really don't think I want to know.

 

[CaliChan]

I'm not quite ready to sell but was considering (maaaybe, possibly) selling at my farmer's market next summer (a year from now). I'm trying to figure out how much each loaf, and each bar, costs to make.

Every time I add it up, the cost is just crazy. I just did all this math of what it would cost if I ordered all my oils/ingredients in bulk from Columbus Foods, and it's still costing over $1.50 per bar of soap (of course this is with fragrance oils, but a very average, no luxury oils soap).

(and this is not even including extra factors... like insurance...)

How much does your average bar of soap cost you?
I saw one person say their bars cost them between $0.50-0.75.
How do you lower your cost?

The cost of my batches are all different my "budget bars" cost 5.87 for a 2lb batch. So each 3.2 oz bar cost .53 cents
However the batch I made tonight cost 15.05 so each 3.2 oz bar will cost 1.50
Not including cost of labor or anything.

Oops didn't realize the OP was so long ago

 

[CaliChan]

Rich, you don't have to use EVOO to soap with, the regular refined/grade a olive oil works perfectly. I buy mine at Sam's Club. 101 fluid oz is 10.98 right now. Since its lighter in color, my soap doesn't get a slightly green tint to it like it did with EVOO. In my area, pomace is $20/gallon, even if I buy it online, shipping fees get it up to the $20/gallon mark. The OO at Sam's Club is 11 cents an ounce.

You live in Tennessee and you can get pomice locally?!?! I hope my husband gets the job over there!!!

 

[Marilyna]

I really don't think I want to know.

You must not sell? :-? I hope people who are selling know their costs.

 

[nebetmiw]

You live in Tennessee and you can get pomice locally?!?! I hope my husband gets the job over there!!!

Not sure what this has to do with topic but. TN is a farm state very rural in most areas. Unless you live in one of the big 7 cities some soap supplies will be hard to find. It is also a very low income state and jobs are not easy to come by here.

Now back on topic. Even if you are not selling you should know the cost of your soap. Mine is now going to be under a dollar a bar but that is do to one of my oils is made by us here. I have 5 gal of homemade lard.

 

[sperry]

I just found this thread and am interested in current costs. It looks like the 2010 costs were between $.75 and $1.50. Can anyone share current costs?

 

[Marilyna]

Depends on the size of the bar. I make 2 oz bars. CP costs me .53 and MP costs .42.

 

[HorseCreek]

Sharing my "findings" it would cost me the same to ship 7lbs each of avocado and palm and 10lbs of shea as it would cost to ship all of the above plus 7lbs of castor oil through Soaper's Choice. So.. same price to ship 24lbs of oils/butters as 31lbs of oils/butters. Moral of the story, always compare prices from different places and within the same site.

 

[sperry]

From what I've been able to dig up... it sounds like buying in fairly large quantity (200+ pounds in the oils) would offset the cost increases since most of the posts in this thread? Large volume buying of the inexpensive oils might get the price under $1/bar? Large volumes of higher priced oils would drive the price to between $1.25 and $1.50?? (I got the prices from Wholesale Supplies. Free shipping. Are they going to be close to the lowest cost?) Thanks again.

 

[Jaccart789]

I figured mine to be .50-.60 with fragrance but if I add yogurt .89 did not figure cost of packaging yet. I try to by my stuff with free shipping.

 

[Stakie]

I guess I am on the high end at the moment. My lye and castor oil put my costs up a bit, but will be falling dramatically because I got them both on sale. For now the cost is about 1.80 per bar or .90 depending on if I decide to cut my bar in half or not.

 

[Marilyna]

No, I wouldn't say WSP is the cheapest, but they may be on some things. Also look at your local stores. Columbus Foods is a good place to check, too.
Really, you'll need to price it all out according to your recipe.
A lot depends on where you get your FOs/EOs and how big the bottles are.
Remember to add any packaging and labels, and include the shipping you're paying for all your supplies.
I use some of the most inexpensive oils there are, so when I see someone with lower costs, I wonder if they've counted everything. Of course they may be buying in lg quantities.
Why are you asking? Are you researching before jumping in? Or are you already making soap?