When did WSP FO's get so expensive?

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It seemed like I had noticed the prices going up. Out of curiousity, I just went through the "A's" on the alphabetical listing (30+ of them) Every one of the was either $27 or $36 for a lb, those now seem to be the standardized prices. Don't yell at me if you find variations in the FO's starting with other letters, though :)

Also, far more were listed at $36 than $27.

This is a lot to me, I am willing to spend it on a favoritey-favorite, but for anything else I would find an alternative.
 
Ah I was so frustrated last night trying to make my order! They are SO expensive! A couple of my favorites that I can't go without are close to $40 per lb. and it's not a true 16oz by weight, which makes it even more annoying. The only thing to do is to try and find scents comparable from other sellers. Which is hard to do without wasting even more cash in samples. #soapmakerProblems
 
I have a feeling that it started when they began offering free UPS shipping for all orders over $40.00. With the gargantuan increase on the price of the FOs, it seems to me that their 'free shipping over $40' is nothing more than a 'slight of hand' maneuver on their part.


IrishLass :)
 
I have a feeling that it started when they began offering free UPS shipping for all orders over $40.00. With the gargantuan increase on the price of the FOs, it seems to me that their 'free shipping over $40' is nothing more than a 'slight of hand' maneuver on their part.


IrishLass :)


So true. Free shipping is never free. The way I justify it (because it needs justifying right?) is the rebate program. I usually get a good amount back each order and if I divide the savings between my FO's, it sorta brings them down to a normal price.. Sorta, almost.
 
IMO, this is a mistake. I like to use WSP for one-stop shopping purposes, so if I have an FO I want I often add other things. But at those prices, I will be stopping by - and making those additional purchases - much less often. Also, why is their lye so much more expensive than anyone else's? $18.00 for 2 lbs?

I kind of think they are now switching focus to marketing to newer soapmakers who want to buy everything in one place from a reputable supplier b/c it is so much less confusing. The learning curve on pricing v. quality (and managing it so that you get different things from different suppliers) does take a while, but it is a costly one in this case.
 
I've noticed this too, and it is strange to me since there are so many quality options out there. I find myself using WSP less often since I find it difficult to justify their costs. I can remember when their EO was much more reasonable, and when they offered an 8 oz option for fragrance and EO. They said that they couldn't find 8 oz bottles....really???
The 8oz size was the best buy other than the larger 16oz. It seems that they are going for the consumer that uses smaller amounts, and is willing to pay for the 2oz size.
 
So true. Free shipping is never free. The way I justify it (because it needs justifying right?) is the rebate program. I usually get a good amount back each order and if I divide the savings between my FO's, it sorta brings them down to a normal price.. Sorta, almost.

Viv, I guess subconsciously I have been weaning myself from them for a while, I noticed that I dropped from silver to bronze level this year, so the rebates are less as well. But I am a hobbyist, I don't think I would ever spend enough to get enough of an offset to make their prices worth it in most instances.

I will probably never be able to wean myself from their Nag Champa, but I am sucking it up on that one.
 
I can remember when their EO was much more reasonable, and when they offered an 8 oz option for fragrance and EO. They said that they couldn't find 8 oz bottles....really???

Shut the front door! Really? Wow, just wow. I gotta say that the ridiculousness of that excuse does not endear them to me much. :Kitten Love:

The 8oz size was the best buy other than the larger 16oz. It seems that they are going for the consumer that uses smaller amounts, and is willing to pay for the 2oz size.

not_ally said:
I kind of think they are now switching focus to marketing to newer soapmakers who want to buy everything in one place from a reputable supplier b/c it is so much less confusing.

I do believe you gals are on to something there.

I just looked at the prices of the small handful of FOs I use most from them, and they are all in the most expensive bracket. :twisted:


IrishLass :)
 
I feel the same way about Brambleberry. They suck a newbie in with the soap recipes and tutorials and create a one stop shop for supplies. And now I just can't quit them .. That Black Amber Lavender is just so goooood isn't it?

When I do a side by side comparison of the two companies, WSP still comes out cheaper by a little for what I order. Definitely don't order lye from either company.
 
OO and IL, it is patently ridiculous to say that they could not find 8 oz bottles. That comes close to being offensive/offending the intelligence of their customers. They should fire the PR/CS person who came up with that one.


I guess they are trying to minimize shipping losses in conjunction with maximizing product profits. Which is fair enough, they are in business to make money. But like most people, I think, I really do not like being gouged on shipping. Whether it is evident or disguised in the cost of products. And I am no math genius, so if I can tell that is happening, I assume most people can!


Viv, I love Black Amber Lavendar, too. One of the reasons for my Brambleberry pit-stops, although I don’t use them for one-stop shopping anymore either.
 
There is very little I purchase from WSP fragrance wise. Things I so purchase I purchase all at once and usually wait for a sale.

I remember when they jacked up their prices. I find it crazy as I've also noticed that when a fragrance is a good seller they raise the price on it.

As for Brambleberry the only thing I got from them was energy and I'm phasing it out as Lemongrass out sells it lately.

I pretty much get the rest of my stuff from NG, Elements, symphony scents, and others.
 
I am a hobbyist, so I don't purchase anything in huge quantities. I usually wait until I need several things and order from one supplier, because the shipping costs for me are more reasonable that way. I should add that I am in MN, so nothing is especially close to me. If I want a particular EO/FO, or something that only one supplier carries, I'll order whatever else I need at the time. But I've been wondering about what if I need just one thing. So I used coconut oil as an example and checked Brambleberry, WSP, and NG. Brambleberry sells 7 lbs CO for 16.80 + shipping to me is 12.35 - for a total of 29.15 or $4.16/lb. NB sells 8 lbs CO for 18.75 + shipping to me is 10.24 for a total of 28.99 or $3.62/lb. WSP sells 8 lbs CO for 23.95 + flat rate shipping of 7.95 for a total of 31.90 or 3.98/lb. So the difference between the highest (BB) and the lowest (NG) is .54, or $4.32 for 8 lbs of coconut oil. So, for me I think one stop shopping still makes sense.
 
I also noticed prices were higher, but I have checked and after adding in shipping from other companies they are still cheaper for me, and I can add other things without the shipping price going up. Maybe it's where I live, New England.
 
I was mostly talking about the FO's, that is where I have seen the prices going up steeply over the last few years. The other stuff is more hit or miss. Dibbles, if you have Amazon Prime, I like to get coconut oil from there, I get this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A2A88ZW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It works out to about $2.50/lb, shipping included. I mostly use lard, CO, OO, and castor, the lard and OO I buy locally (lard, $27 for 50 lbs at Smart and Final - yay! - and OO from Costco). Castor is expensive locally, so I do just wait on that and buy a bunch of bottles at once when I am ordering from one of the on-line 1 stop places. The price on that is usually pretty close w/all of them.
 
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You should check out Soaper's Choice for base oils. Right now 7lbs of CO is 12.18

http://www.soaperschoice.com/

Thank you for the suggestion. I have checked it out before, and when I decide to order larger (50 lb) quantities, I'll probably go there. But for my coconut oil example, with shipping I'd still be paying $3.68/lb. And since I usually have other items to include with an order, that usually ends up being the less expensive way to go. It would be completely different if I was a seller, working with larger amounts of supplies. It helps that I don't really have to worry about a bottom line, although I still always figure out the best price for what I happen to need at the time.
 
I was mostly talking about the FO's, that is where I have seen the prices going up steeply over the last few years. The other stuff is more hit or miss. Dibbles, if you have Amazon Prime, I like to get coconut oil from there, I get this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A2A88ZW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It works out to about $2.50/lb, shipping included. I mostly use lard, CO, OO, and castor, the lard and OO I buy locally (lard, $27 for 50 lbs at Smart and Final - yay! - and OO from Costco). Castor is expensive locally, so I do just wait on that and buy a bunch of bottles at once when I am ordering from one of the on-line 1 stop places. The price on that is usually pretty close w/all of them.

Thanks not_ally. I do order from Amazon, and it's always nice to have something I need to add to the cart to meet the free shipping minimum (the dog is often a very lucky boy). I am using lard and just pick that up at the grocery store - I think I paid $1.99/lb yesterday, which is the cheapest I've found locally. I haven't been able to find castor at a reasonable price either, so I order that, sodium lactate, any butters, etc.

I know your original thread was about the FO price hike. Sorry if I derailed it. I just wondered how the pricing worked out with the shipping, cost of product, etc. from the 'one stop' places commonly used and picked coconut oil as an easy example.
 
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No derailing issues! I am the queen of the de-railers, if that was an issue the mods would have booted me within my first 10 posts or so :)

I shop w/Amazon a lot, and they have some amazing algorythm in place which seems to make the Prime price the same as the cheapest if you got it from anywhere else (usually cheaper) when you include shipping for the others, plus it gets to your door in 2 days, and if you have issues you can print out a label and send it back for free. Plus a lot of free movies and TV. As you can tell, I am a Prime fan. As well as a champion de-railer.
 
Man does this thread hit a nerve today. I went "shopping" on-line today and thought I'd try Sweet Cakes and nearly fell out of my chair at the prices. I tend to buy a lot from WSP and BB honestly because often BB gets here in a few days and I admit I'm a sucker for the free shipping with WSP when the fo's are not far off from BB.

I am totally down for some new options but checking out SC today I was not feeling hopeful...
 
It's hard to imagine how much time I've spent shopping around on line, looking for decent FO prices, and buying samples, testing them out, changing suppliers, only to have them raise their prices to the point where I have to start all over again! To say that I'm frustrated is putting it mildly. I hate that WSP has many of my standard FOs, and that their prices have gone up so much. So I will certainly be looking elsewhere to see what I can replace.

I can't remember, do they have a place on the checkout page where you can leave a note? If so, maybe we need to let them know that sadly, it has become necessary for us to start looking elsewhere due to their increase in prices. Not that it would make a difference, but if enough people stop buying from them, maybe they'll eventually get the message that the way to keep loyal customers is to treat them really well. It's hard to imagine that such a jump in prices won't make a lot of their customers start looking elsewhere. Seems to me that this all started back when they began charging for their ezine that had previously been free. New management maybe?
 
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