Looking to turn your candle-making hobby into a profitable business? Etsy is a great place to get started! Keep on reading to learn how to sell candles on Etsy with insider tips, what candles sell the most, how to make your listings attractive to buyers, and ways to stand out from your competition on Etsy.
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- How To Sell Candles On Etsy 2024 [And Quit Your 9-5 Job!]
- How To Get Started Selling Candles On Etsy
- How To Sell Candles On Etsy: FAQs
- What Do I Need To Know Before Selling Candles On Etsy?
- Can You Make Money Selling Candles On Esty?
- Is Candle Selling Profitable?
- How Much Money Can You Make Selling Candles on Etsy?
- What Kind Of Candle Sell The Most?
- What Size Candle Sells Best?
- What Makes A Candle Sell The Most?
- Is It Hard To Have A Successful Candle Business On Etsy?
- Wrapping Up: How To Sell Candles On Etsy 2024
How To Sell Candles On Etsy 2024 [And Quit Your 9-5 Job!]
Candles have become a staple to create a cozy home.
Whether they are wax, pillar, floating, or decorative candles, there is an option for everyone, and business owners are taking advantage of this fast-growing market to add new revenue streams.
Now you might be wondering… ‘Can I make a living solely from the sale of my candles on Etsy?’
The answer is totally yes!
Turn your candle-making hobby into a lucrative business with the following tips and tricks for selling candles on Etsy like a pro:
- Do Market Research
- Make Your Candles
- Open Your Etsy Shop
- Complete Your Business Profile
- Set Your Shop’s Policies
- Create Your First Listings
- Promote Your Products
How To Get Started Selling Candles On Etsy
Do Market Research
You might think your types of candles are the best candles in the world but, if no one is searching for them, you’ll get zero sales.
Before actually creating your listings on Etsy, do your market research and see what’s already selling.
What kind of candles are people searching for?
What fragrances and containers are killing it on Etsy?
What are some low-competition niches that you can tap into?
Follow these steps to do your market research on Etsy:
1. Open an Incognito tab in Google, go to Etsy, and enter your product in the search bar, for example, ‘anime candles’. If Etsy returns 1,000 and 2,000 results, great! It means it’s a low-competition niche.
2. Analyze what’s working and what’s not. What characters are used the most? What additional items are used to make the final product? How is the packaging?
4. See what listings have a great quantity of sales and analyze what can be improved to find a gap in the market. Check the products AND the reviews to get insights about the pain points of potential buyers.
5. You can also use the tool E-rank to find more niche ideas with low competition. Enter the keyword ‘Candles’ and let the tool populate with ideas. Analyze the ones with low competition (less than 2,000). ‘Spiral candles’, ‘Shabbat candles’, and ‘teacup candles’ are great options to explore! Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until you validate the best product ideas.
Make Your Candles
Now that you know what candles to sell on Etsy, it’s time to craft them!
Use whatever items are necessary to create the candles from the niches you discovered during your market research: soy wax, dye, essential oils, crystals…The list goes on and on.
Now, we are not here to tell you about the basics because you probably already know them (if you are a total beginner, you can check this video on how to make your first candles), but we cannot stress enough that safety comes first.
Here are some safety tips for making candles at home:
- Use safety gloves
- Wear appropriate clothes: cover your legs and feet
- Clear all flammable materials out of your working area
- Keep kids and pets away from your working area
- Use a fire extinguisher instead of water to put out a candle-making fire (hot wax is similar to hot oil!)
- Use a double boiler or an electric wax meter so the wax doesn’t get too hot
- Make sure ALL your materials are intended for candle-making
- DON’T leave the room while the wax melter is on.
Open Your Etsy Shop
This is a step that lots of candle makers procrastinate but it’s key to start getting traction and making money selling candles on Etsy!
Opening your Etsy shop is pretty simple as Etsy walks you through all the simple steps to complete your profile.
Register on Etsy and go to the profile icon ► Sell on Etsy ► Get Started ► Let’s do this; and reply to the questions to know more about you ► Start your shop.
Then, choose language, shop country, and shop currency, and name your shop.
Tips for naming your Etsy shop:
- Keep it short, memorable, and easy to say
- No need to make it SEO-friendly (your shop name is not part of Etsy’s algorithm)
- You can use your name + your product, like ‘JaysHomeMadeCandles’
- Avoid unoriginal or common names to avoid domain or legal issues
- Make it not more than 20 characters long, with no spaces or punctuation
- Use the tool Business Name Generator to get more ideas
- You can change your shop name up to five times, then you’ll have to contact Support if you want to make additional modifications
- These are some successful candle Etsy shops to get inspiration from: ‘LindsayLucasCandles’, ‘LeonKrafts’, ‘KindredFires’, ‘UniverseyCandleStore’, ‘SweetcandleART’
Create Your First Listings
After naming your shop, Etsy will ask you to create your first listing.
Here you’ll have to complete different sections that make up your listing details:
Photos of your candles
Here you want to use all your creativity to take the best photos possible.
No one wants to see low-resolution pictures with bad lighting.
Take crisp, eye-catching photos of your candles to entice potential customers.
First, place your candles over a simple background with props and common objects to show your product’s dimensions.
Then, take multiple pictures to show your candles from different angles using natural lighting.
You want to create a scene that makes the buyer feel the emotions that you want to convey through your products (coziness, warmth, calmness, etc.).
A video of your candles
Less than 28% of sellers include a video in their listings and they end up selling twice as much as listings that only include photos.
If you want to shoot a video of your candles, make sure to show your product in use and address common questions, like what type of wax is used, what the process of creation is, what the dimensions are, and how your candles look once you light them.
Listing details + product description
Here you want to fill in key details about your candles, which are Title, Category, Description, Tags, and Materials.
But you don’t want to write anything that comes to your mind.
Your writing here needs to be STRATEGIC.
To do this, you’ll need to use the highest amount of relevant keywords to increase the chances of getting found on Etsy.
However, avoid keyword stuffing. Don’t repeat keywords!
You can discover keywords by using the auto-complete feature in Etsy’s search bar, explore what other sellers are using, and utilize the E-rank for more insights.
Crafting titles is also an art!
Pricing
To price your candles on Etsy, you have to take into account four variables:
- Etsy’s fees
- Cost of production
- Average product pricing
- Perceived value
- Shipping fees
Etsy will keep part of your revenue, so it’s a good idea to take fees into consideration when pricing your candles.
These are some Etsy fees that you should consider:
– USD 0.20 per listing
– 6.5% of each sale
– Payment processing fees (these vary according to the location of your bank account)
Apart from Etsy’s fees, you should also consider the cost of the materials used to create your candles and the fees to ship the product to your buyer.
And, although the average candle on Etsy is priced between $10 and 20 USD, you can set a higher price if you use unique, rare, or high-quality materials, which increase the candle’s perceived value.
Variation and personalization
Here you can add different colors, scents, or purpose variations of your candles for clients to choose from during check-out.
If your candle is a customized product, you can also collect the necessary information in this section.
Shipping details
Most Etsy sellers choose offering free shipping to make their listings more attractive to shoppers as this option simplifies the buying process.
Returns & Exchanges
Here you can decide if you accept returns and exchanges or not.
This is totally up to you!
To finish your account details, you’ll have to establish how you’ll get paid, fill out your tax information, and set basic security methods to protect your account, like turning on the two-factor authentication.
Complete Your Etsy Shop’s Profile
Next, you’ll have to upload your shop’s logo and banner and write your shop announcement.
For your logo and banner, you can hire professional services, but if you are just starting out you can also make them for free in Canva and upgrade later.
Open your free Canva account and click on the button ‘Create a design’ ► Custom size ► Etsy Shop Icon.
You can take whatever free template is available and customize it as you like.
Same for your banner.
You have two options: mini banner (1200 x 160 pixels) or big banner (1200 x 300 pixels). You can choose not to have any banners too.
What about your shop announcement?
This is a welcome message for your buyers, in which you make a short introduction to your shop.
Don’t worry about the length; you can add more info in your About section and shop policies.
More useful tips to edit your shop’s appearance on this Etsy article.
Set Your Shop’s Policies
Drafting the shop’s policies is a must for any Etsy candle seller.
This is because all the rules that you set in this section will protect you from potential issues with your buyers.
Here you’ll set out:
- If you accept returns or exchanges.
- If you accept cancellations.
- Payment options available.
- Shipping details.
- Other details, like custom or import taxes and FAQs.
You can edit your shop policies at any time by clicking on Shop Manager ► pencil icon next to Sales Channels ► Shop Policies.
Promote Your Products
Completing all your shop’s info is just the beginning of your journey as an Etsy candle seller.
Did you think that pumping listings to your Etsy shop would be the last thing to let Etsy’s algorithm do its magic?
Think about it twice!
Honey, now it’s the best part!: promoting your candles.
Marketing your products is the most important part of being a seller.
To promote your candles, you can utilize hundreds of options, being the most popular ones Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and word-of-mouth (tell everybody about your creations!!, even the greengrocer 😂).
My favorite is Pinterest and, basically, you have to upload pins featuring your products and link them to your Etsy shop.
Again, include relevant keywords. You can find these by using the auto-complete feature on the Pinterest search bar and exploring the Related Searches.
On Instagram, you can share decoration tips to create a cozy home featuring your homemade candles.
Make sure to highlight your product’s benefits and explain how it can solve your target audience’s pain points (bringing more warmth to their homes, decorating on a budget, improving their well-being by doing aromatherapy with your candles, etc.).
On Facebook, you can participate in candle enthusiast groups in which you can share your creations and link to your Etsy shop unless and until this is allowed by the group administrators.
Another way of promoting your products is by using Etsy ads.
You can start advertising your best candles as low as $1 USD per day.
Etsy will charge you only when visitors click on your promoted listings.
This is the only promotion method that is paid but it’s worth giving it a try to analyze its performance. You can turn it off at any time.
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How To Sell Candles On Etsy: FAQs
What Do I Need To Know Before Selling Candles On Etsy?
These are some key things you should know before selling candles on Etsy:
- Love what you do: listen, girl, if you don’t love to make candles, your business is not going to be sustainable. You are going to work on your Etsy shop for HOURS and hours (even more than a person with a traditional job) so you’d better enjoy what you do!
- Stand out from your competitors: candles are an oversaturated market, but you can definitely be successful if you bring something different to it, be it with a unique customer experience, sleek packaging, high-quality materials, or a delicious combination of fragrances.
- Your income will fluctuate: your business, as with all markets, will experience highs and lows. Particularly, candles sell more during fall and winter, so it’s a good idea to think of other product lines to sell during the rest of the seasons.
- Your branding should be on point: work in a branding that is appealing to people. If your branding is on point, you increase your chances of appearing in major media publications, which can bring thousands if not millions of potential customers to your shop.
- Focus on customer experience: always strive for an excellent customer experience. This secures repeat customers and rave reviews in your Etsy shop. For example, if a customer has issues with their shipping and the package gets lost, just send a new product. Your clients will appreciate it and will come back for more.
- Get insurance: if you want to make money selling candles on Etsy, you’ll have to get insurance to protect your business. Basically, if a customer experiences property damage because they left a candle burning without supervision, the insurance pays for it if they sue you. Check more details in this video!
Can You Make Money Selling Candles On Esty?
Yes, you certainly can make money selling candles on Etsy!
As with any business, if you are willing to put in the work, time, and money and you come up with a unique product, you can make a living selling candles on Etsy.
In fact, there are entrepreneurs just like you who turned their hobbies into a 6-figure business, like Brooklyn Candle Studio, LindsayLucasCandles, and BKL Sunflower.
Is Candle Selling Profitable?
Yes, selling candles is highly profitable: the profit margin ranges between 40 and 60%, which depends on the materials you use, the time invested during the production process, the labor costs, the price point of the candles, your marketing efforts, Etsy fees, and shipping costs.
In order to save money while making your candles, keep a list of the ingredients you use to compare prices with different suppliers.
Once you identify the best cost-effective materials, buy them in bulk and take advantage of offers throughout the year.
You can also buy them in online auctions and at local retailers at huge discounts, but always keep an eye on the quality.
How Much Money Can You Make Selling Candles on Etsy?
You can make a couple hundred dollars per month selling candles on Etsy and scale your business to have 6-figure years.
Yes, making a full-time income and quitting your 9-5 job is possible if you learn how to sell candles on Etsy!
In the beginning, there will be months in which you will not make any sales.
Don’t worry: this is normal.
But, as you get traction with your marketing efforts, you’ll start seeing more and more customers coming your way and buying your products.
Soon, you’ll be making a decent income, and that’s all you need to start upgrading your equipment and delegating work to make even more sales.
Remember that motivation won’t get you anywhere.
The key is consistency and professionalism.
What Kind Of Candle Sell The Most?
The kind of candle that sells the most is scented container candles.
Scented container candles are versatile: they can be used as cozy decoration items throughout the house but also make wonderful gifts that smell incredible, being the favorite fragrances vanilla, lavender, citrus, rosemary, lemongrass, cinnamon, and linen.
The best containers for candles are heat-resistant, fireproof, cylindrical, and made of glass, ceramic, concrete, or metal.
What Size Candle Sells Best?
The candle size that sells best is 8 oz.
8 oz candles are popular because they burn up to 50 hours and are large enough to make beautiful decoration items and create a scent in the space they are in.
However, it’s smart to have other product lines and offer a variety of sizes to cater to the particular needs of your customers.
Other sizes that you should consider to sell in your Etsy store are 12 and 25 oz.
What Makes A Candle Sell The Most?
These are the factors that make a candle sell the most:
- Customer experience: this is the first item on the list because you can have an incredible product but, if your customer experience sucks, you’ll soon end up with zero sales. A poor customer experience leads to negative reviews, which wreaks havoc on your Etsy shop. Answer queries as soon as possible, replace lost packages, offer free shipping, and always stay professional, even when you receive rude comments. You can also offer free samples of other scented candles in your orders to increase sales.
- Materials: Poor quality materials turn customers off and end up harming your business’ reputation. If you want to make it big in the candle-making business, always prefer high-quality and eco-friendly materials.
- Scent and fragrance: customers consider fragrance one of the most important aspects of a candle. Stay up-to-date with trends and seasonal scents and offer unique combinations to surprise and retain customers. Lit City Candes, for example, sells travel-inspired candles, which feature scents that make you feel that you are in France, New York, Tokyo, London, etc.
- Durability: the most popular candles are those that burn for the longest time, at an affordable price. That’s why the 8 oz candles are the best sellers in the candle-making business, which last for around 50-60 hours.
- Packaging: coherent and strong branding helps customers remember your product and secures repeat purchases. Proper packaging also maintains the candles safe during shipping. Including a thank-you note plus product instructions additionally helps build an outstanding business reputation.
Is It Hard To Have A Successful Candle Business On Etsy?
As with any other market, having a successful candle business on Etsy requires a huge amount of work, dedication, effort, time, and… Yes, money.
Don’t believe in get-rich-quick schemes.
Nothing is free and easy in this world and you’ll have to work your butt off if you want to make a name for yourself in the candle-making business.
Your first sale on Etsy will be the hardest one. I’m not going to lie here.
But, as soon as you get your first sale on the platform, you get momentum to keep posting listings, refining your candles, improving your product photography, and updating your shop.
As you can see, consistency and optimization are what will make you turn this hobby into a full-blown candle-making business.
Wrapping Up: How To Sell Candles On Etsy 2024
So there you have it!
This post was all about how to sell candles on Etsy.
Did you like these tips to turn your craft into a lucrative career?
Now it’s time to apply what you’ve just learned.
Happy selling!!
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