Why a 9 oz candle costs more than its wax, oil and jar
The supplies for one example candle come to $7.72: soy wax, fragrance oil, the amber jar, a gold lid, a wick and two labels. With a 10% markup that is $407.62 of the $829.77, just under half.
The other half is time and freight. The order takes 5.43 hours of hands-on work at $44, plus $75 of shipping, carton fill and an allowance for candles that do not make the cut. A price built from wax and jar alone misses all of it, which is how a candle can sell well and still pay almost nothing.
Pour minutes and batch setup: timing one scent run
Setup is the time that comes once per order, whatever the count. In the example it is 2.75 hours: melting, weighing and mixing four scent batches, fixing up the front label with the store, packing the cartons and the messages that go with any wholesale account.
The minutes per candle are the rest: cleaning jars, setting wicks, pouring, fixing tops with the heat gun, labels and lids, and packing cases of 12. The example comes to 3.35 minutes a candle. To time yours, run a stopwatch over one full scent run of 12, start to finish, and divide by 12.
A 24-candle reorder and the 144-candle case price
Stores reorder. On a reorder of 24 with the label already approved, take half an hour off setup. The order comes to $502.28, or $20.93 a candle. Smaller orders cost more per candle because the melting, mixing and packing time is spread over fewer jars.
The break table under the price shows the full spread on the original order: $31.37 a candle at 12, $21.98 at 24, $17.29 at 48 and $14.16 at 144. If a store wants the 144 price on a 24-candle order, the table shows exactly what you would be giving away. The candle pricing guide covers how to check these numbers against the store's own half.
What the quick candle estimate doesn't count
The $44 break-even rate is the example studio's. Yours comes from your rent or room, insurance, equipment and how many hours a week you really pour and pack: the free true hourly rate calculator works it out. The 10% on supplies is a markup, not a margin, and markup vs margin shows the difference.
The spreadsheet adds a cost per hour for the wax melter and heat gun, a small cushion, time for tops that need a second pass, burn testing when a store asks for a new scent or vessel, a price list of supplies, a customer quote and a job log. Its version of the same order comes to $17.73 a candle rather than $17.29.
The $150 minimum stays on either way. A trial order of six candles with full setup prices at $300.95 here, so a store testing your line still pays for the melt.