How to Price Wax Melts: The Essential Guide for Handmade Sellers
Confident pricing, sustainable profit, and business growth for your wax melt or home fragrance brand.
Pricing wax melts is one of the biggest challenges for handmade sellers, craft businesses, and independent makers. Charge too little, and you risk burning out or losing money. Charge too much, and you may scare off buyers.
“Your time, talent, and creativity deserve real reward. Set your prices with confidence—and watch your handmade business thrive!”
Why Pricing Matters
- Protect your profits and passion – Underpricing can quickly lead to burnout and unsustainable business.
- Reflect your brand – Thoughtful pricing positions your product as luxury, artisan, or accessible—whatever you choose.
- Grow your business – Only fair, profitable pricing lets you invest in better materials, tools, and your future.
The 3 Foundations of Handmade Product Pricing
1. Know Your Costs
- Materials/ingredients: e.g. wax, oils, wicks, packaging
- Batch overheads: labels, packaging, your time, utilities, etc.
- Hidden/indirect costs: tool wear, studio rent, insurance, website, marketing
- Labour/time: pay yourself for your work!
2. Set a Fair Profit Margin
- Direct to customer/retail: 100–150% margin is common for artisanal goods.
- Wholesale: 40–60% margin, so shops can resell for profit.
- Luxury: Up to 200%+ for premium brands—if your market supports it.
3. Understand Your Market
- Research similar products on Etsy, NotOnTheHighStreet, local shops, and luxury stores.
- Consider your brand: Are you luxury, quirky, eco, or value-focused?
- Always price for profit, not just to compete.
Pricing Formula (Classic):
Or:
Total Cost (materials + overheads + time) × 2 to 2.5 = Retail Price
Or:
Wholesale Price = Total Cost × 2Retail Price = Wholesale Price × 2
Step-by-Step: Pricing a Wax Melt (Example)
- Wax: £2.00 (for portion used)
- Fragrance Oil: £1.00
- Dye/Botanicals: £0.50
- Labels/Packaging: £1.00
- Labour/Time: £3.00 (30 minutes at £6/hr)
- Total batch cost: £7.50
If you make 15 melts:
- Cost per melt: £7.50 / 15 = £0.50
For a retail price at 150% margin:
£0.50 × 2.5 = £1.25 per melt
Pro Tips for Confident Pricing
- Never compete just on price: Your story, ingredients, and quality set you apart.
- Review costs regularly: Ingredient prices, energy, and time can all change.
- Use tools and spreadsheets: Calculators (like the one on this site) make it easy to update and tweak your costs and prices.
- Test your pricing: Start with your formula, but watch how your market responds and adjust with confidence.
- Factor in offers and wholesale: Always price high enough that you can afford to run occasional promos or sell wholesale without losing money.
Remember:
Your time, talent, and creativity deserve real reward. Set your prices with confidence—and watch your handmade business thrive!
Your time, talent, and creativity deserve real reward. Set your prices with confidence—and watch your handmade business thrive!
