Tuesday, January 1, 2013

My Favorite Online Wax Vendors List: Part I

The Yankee Candle Sisters asked me in a comment which online vendors they should try. Instead of replying via comment, I figured I'd make it into a separate post, so everyone can see and others can add their thoughts on specific online vendors! Add away, and remember, these are only my takes and experiences on events! The breakdowns are for my top 3 favorite vendors at the moment (not in any particular order), but other awesome vendors are listed below as well!


Positive:
  1. They make really good, pretty strong smelling tarts, and a wide variety of scents as well.
  2. You can purchase ANY amount and get free shipping, even if it's only one single tart for $1.75! 
  3. Their turn around time (TAT) is pretty fast, I usually get my package within a week.
  4. They combine orders, so if you order twice within two days, they will probably ship them together. Note: this may increase TAT.
Negative
  1. They are increasing their prices for a 4-pack a little bit starting in 2013.
  2. The way they have their website set up to release stock: each day, the owners will send out an email telling users what stock is available for that day ONLY; then, it turns into a mad rush to get what you want before someone else does. If the item you want it in someone else's "cart," it will tell you the item is unavailable; the person with the item already in their cart then has 30 minutes to buy, and if they don't, it gets released back into general stock. This basically means you sometimes have to stalk the website to get what you want, and most people don't have the time or want to do that.
  3. Getting emails every single day about what stock they have can be annoying for some people (me, I don't mind, and this is not a negative to me, but I included it just in case you hate to clutter your inbox).
*Candles From The Keeping Room* (note: her shop is closed until mid-January 2013)

Positive:
  1. High quality, high scented products.
  2. Lots of different stock to choose from, and everything is broken down by what type of scent you want (IE: drinks, clean scents, caramels, noels...she's very specific).
  3. EXTREMELY fast shipping: this is due to her shop being ready-to-ship (RTS).
  4. The owner: Carol is ridiculously sweet. She is very efficient, works her butt off, communicates very easily and fast with people, and is just overall a nice person to do business with.
  5. Free samples: Carol gives insane amounts of sample. We've ordered just a few bags both times and gotten 8-10 samples, sometimes even bigger ones, too! You can even request what kinds of samples you want (I've never done all 8-10, but I have done 2 or 3, and she obliges completely if she has the sample!).
Negative:
  1. High shipping costs: sometimes, her packages can cost upwards of $15 for shipping. Depending on how much you buy, the cost obviously goes up. She makes up for this with a killer amount of freebies, so it sort of off-sets the shipping cost in my mind! If there is an overage, she refunds immediately.
  2. Website: the website can be overwhelming and confusing the first time you visit it. Your best bet is to look around while she's closed and see how the system works. From the main site, if you click on tarts, you will see a wiiiiiiide variety of sections, some of which include sub-sections. If you know where to look, you have a better chance of getting what you want. You can always use the search bar to type in what you want to try and find, too!
  3. Website, part II: Carol is also a RTS shop, so if something is there and you want it, but it's in someone else's cart, they have one hour to buy it, and if they don't, it gets released back into general stock. If it's not on the site but you know she makes it, chances are, it's a popular scent, so she'll remake it in no-time.
*Tiffany Candles* (note: her shop is closed until January 7th, 2013)

Positive:
  1. New wax blend: I've talked about this several times on my blog, but Tiffany Candles recently came up with a new wax blend. Their older one needed cure time, and this one does not, which means you can melt what you ordered the instant you get your package! YEAH!! 
  2. New wax blend, part II: The new wax blend is also stronger and has a better throw. Her scents were good before, but now they are AWESOME! You can really tell the difference!
  3. Blending possibilities: Because Tiffany hand-pours all of her candles, you sort of have endless possibilities when it comes to blending. I'm pretty sure the limit is 2 scents per candle (correct me if I'm wrong because I don't know for sure if there is a cap on the amount of scents you can blend), but you can request blends for your candles. ALSO, she has woodwick candles which are usually pretty dang expensive...but hers are really reasonably priced!
  4. Customer Service: Tiffany and her husband Gary are very nice people, and they make communication easy via email! They always answer promptly and are willing to go the extra mile for their customers, from giving samples to fixing broken items (in my experience, anyway).
Negative:
  1. TAT: This is not a strictly RTS shop, so if you buy candles, woodwicks, or freshly poured items, the TAT will be increased. In the past when I have ordered from this company, TAT has been between a weekish to up to 3 weeks, during sale/busy times.
  2. Some people may complain that the prices of her different shaped items cost more per ounce, IE: clamshells, heart tarts, etc. Really though, anything around $1 per ounce is alright with me. I don't mind their prices at all, I was just grasping to try and find another negative, LOL.
So, there you have it, my current top 3 favorite vendor positive and negative breakdown! I'm not fishing for compliments here from anyone, customer or vendor, these have just been my experiences. 

Please, share YOUR thoughts about YOUR favorite vendors! 
And, if I left anything out, let me know and I'll add it into my post! :)

12 comments:

  1. Front Porch - It does seem to be getting easier to order things but I still find it frustrating overall. Out of the whole (incomplete) scent list she keeps posted, and even though she asks for ideas on what to add each week, it still seems to only be the same handful of popular scents that ever get restocked.

    CFTKR - The one thing I don't like is that you can't order singles. True, she does give a billion samples, but if I'm shopping and want to try new scents, I might not want to commit to a full bag of it.

    My two biggest irks with ANY vendor are lack of singles, and long TAT.

    What are you thoughts on Sweet Fixations?

    ~Deb

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    1. Agreed about CFTKR, it would be nice to get singles instead of in samplers OR samples!

      I have just purchased a small order from Sweet Fixations, but apparently my package is stuck in Georgia???!?!! I have heard good things about them though, between good prices, good blends, and good scent throw!

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    2. I placed a huge order with Sweet Fixations last night. I ordered from there twice in summer 2012, but then was always trying everyone else and never got back around to SF again.

      ~Deb

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    3. What did you get in your SF order?? :D

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    4. Oh lordee. Well, I picked 35 single tarts, all in different scents, and I think I qualified for a free 4-pack so I told her to just surprise me with the scent. I will definitely be doing a big haul post when I get the order.

      Got the click-n-ship notice for my Front Porch order yesterday. I work Thur/Friday, so hopefully it's here for me to enjoy on Saturday. :)

      ~Deb

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    5. 35 SINGLES?! WOOT!!! You must do a haul post when you get the order! Don't you love living vicarioualy through other people's hauls? LOL!

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  2. Great list, very thorough. I was working on a similar post and my top 3 are Front Porch, CFTKR and Bathing Garden. Will probably post some time next week.

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  3. Thank you SO MUCH for this! I think I'm going to try Front Porch first...but I really want to try CFTKR! I'll try to convince my husband it would be a nice Valentine's Day gift ;)

    lol, my New Year's wax ban lasted a few days!

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  4. I just ordered from CFTKR! I can't wait to try them! :)

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    Replies
    1. YAY, I'm so glad!!! :D

      What did you get? :D

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    2. Lol...I can't even remember! I got a bunch of the fruity-drink scents like melonade and something called the Tropical Cowgirl (name alone sold me!). I also got a wheat bread and corn flapjack scent that I cannot wait to try!

      Have you tried any of these....I'm currently going through your blog to see if you've reviewed any! :)

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    3. I've always wanted to try Tropical Cowgirl, but haven't! I hope you enjoy everything you got, can't wait to see your haul!

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