New CRSW ceramic bowl

What do you mean by price per sample to cost per full product? Do you mean that it's prohibitively expensive in terms of cost/gram?

If so, that's a perfectly legitimate concern, but for some it's a worthwhile expenditure because if the product ends up being sub-par I am not out the price of a full puck.

I stared why and was still questioned.

Hector bolded my reasoning.  Plus the price per sample to cost per full product is no something I want to promote or send my money too.

That's all.

You said you don't like samples which I completely understand. I was only curious as to why you would like to "not" see non-authorized samples sold by merchants. And I am pretty sure I cleared up the "non-authorized" part. If you notice, Maggard doesn't offer samples of every brand they carry, thus I have to assume they offer only the ones that permit them to sell samples. A merchant could get in trouble probably for selling samples that are not authorized by the company making the product. But back to my question, why do you care if a merchant offers samples so that those of us who do like to try a product first have the option to. I think that is a fair question, considering it's an extreme position you took.

Don't think for a second that soap makers don't make money on samples. Just one example, WSP sells 1 oz samples foe $5/oz, yet their full product cost $2.95/oz. That profit is going somewhere and the samples themselves are very nicely done.

As to size, TTFFC containers are about the best I've seen for a sample, 1 oz, wide enough to load a Chubby 2.

As to resellers, I'm going to guess that "some", not all but some have an arrangement with the reseller. For example, click on B&M samples and it refers you to Maggards. However, not all samples are equal. Some are more equal than others, particularly from resellers, but that is on the reseller, not the soap maker.

If a company chooses to not use this business model, so be it, its their business, but it would seem to me the competition in the middle areas, the $15 - $25 soap area is very tough, lots of fine products out there. No sample? No sale. Your competitor is out doing  you and wants the business.

Actually, our samples were labor-intensive enough that we were DEFINITELY not making money on them (you're ignoring the labor cost in your price calculation), which is why we decided to start shipping them to Maggard.

Don't think for a second that soap makers don't make money on samples. Just one example, WSP sells 1 oz samples foe $5/oz, yet their full product cost $2.95/oz. That profit is going somewhere and the samples themselves are very nicely done.

As to size, TTFFC containers are about the best I've seen for a sample, 1 oz, wide enough to load a Chubby 2.

As to resellers, I'm going to guess that "some", not all but some have an arrangement with the reseller. For example, click on B&M samples and it refers you to Maggards. However, not all samples are equal. Some are more equal than others, particularly from resellers, but that is on the reseller, not the soap maker.

If a company chooses to not use this business model, so be it, its their business, but it would seem to me the competition in the middle areas, the $15 - $25 soap area is very tough, lots of fine products out there. No sample? No sale. Your competitor is out doing  you and wants the business.

Actually, our samples were labor-intensive enough that we were DEFINITELY not making money on them (you're ignoring the labor cost in your price calculation), which is why we decided to start shipping them to Maggard.

Makes all the sense in the world, at least to me.

Barrister_N_Mann, do you think you could be making money on Maggard's samples in a long term calculation? I know it's a personal example, but everyone I know who has tried and loved your brand has first purchased samples from Maggard's.

In other words, it's very possible to lose money (and time) on samples, but in the end if you have a great product you may hook people onto your brand.

Barrister_N_Mann, do you think you could be making money on Maggard's samples in a long term calculation? I know it's a personal example, but everyone I know who has tried and loved your brand has first purchased samples from Maggard's.

In other words, it's very possible to lose money (and time) on samples, but in the end if you have a great product you may hook people onto your brand.

Apologies; I didn't make myself clear. We DO make money on the samples Maggard makes for us because we've eliminated the major labor cost on our end. When we still did them ourselves (nearly two years ago now), it was a day's work to produce 20 sample packs, which was an absurd labor investment. Everything had to be cut, wrapped, bagged, labeled, then bagged again in a larger package, all by hand. It was terrible. Much more efficient to do it the way we do now.

That's what I was thinking lol, thanks for your reply. I can't imagine why samples would be bad for an artisan - especially when a vendor is doing the cutting labor - unless the artisan is not confident in his/her products. If it's a good product, the sample is likely to aid sales.

Shaving is no different from the fragrance or cosmetics worlds in this regard. Samples lead to sales. It's tough to convince people to buy products without smelling/using them.

Actually, our samples were labor-intensive enough that we were DEFINITELY not making money on them (you're ignoring the labor cost in your price calculation), which is why we decided to start shipping them to Maggard.

Fair enough. Maggards sells about 160 hand packed samples (I tried to count them). You've outsource the work to Maggards (effectively). Do you think Maggards is making money on this or is it a loss leader to get people to sample and then buy tubs from them?

Where'd the CRSW Bowl Thread go?

Say what? @"Bruce"