Hi I am just starting out and have made my own salt scrub product. Could someone advise me on what I need to do to be able to sell this to retailers. I know I need to get the product certified, could you share your experiences with me.

Thank you

Hi Krystyna,

A warm welcome to the forum.  The road to selling is quite a complex one.  I would advise you first get some experience of creating different products using a wide variety of ingredients (really get to know them) and read, read and read some more about them. The same would be true about the legal aspects (labelling etc...).  When you have established some recipes you fee happy with and feel ready to sell, you will need to get your product/s safety assessed.  I would recommend you have a look through some of the resources on the main site, here and on google to get an idea of the road ahead. 

The more you post here, the more boards will open up and you will probably see more relevant information of the legal aspects.

 

Thank you for your advice. I have to say that I am very happy with the product I have produced. I have also received some very positive feedback. So I guess I need to get SA asap.

 

Hi & welcome to the forum.
My advise would be similar to Helen's, read up all you can & don't rush into selling, I think a lot of people get excited by their creations and can't wait. Perhaps spend some time developing other products, it will be hard to launch just one product. You also need to know how products will behave in 6 or 12 months time, especially if you plan to sell them into shops.
There's lots of advise and tips on the forum here that'll help you out.

Hello Krystina,

I'm yet another person saying that it's a good idea to have developed a range of products before going for an SA (you can make a number of variations from one Assessment).

suffice to say that all steps are mapped out if you read thoroughly through the threads.

Hi Krystyna! You've come to the right place, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this forum (and i don't mean me!). There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get to market, but it's not insurmountable. EJ's commment is right, SAs are expensive and if you can develop a few more products you can often get them approved under one SA, rather than incurring more cost down the line. Check out the legals board for more information, but you will need SAs, PIFs, insurance, accurate labelling, registration with appropriate authorities, weights and measures information, you get the picture! Keep us posted on your progress.

Welcome to the forum! The SA route is a bit nerve wracking indeed but great when you receive it.  How would you be selling the product.. online or markets or something else? Have you looked into correct labelling etc for it?

Thank you all for your comments so far - I really do need to sit down and take time out to get this right. This is really only going tobe a side line for me. A hobby really. As I live in Brighton I am sure that I will find lot's of craft fairs and local shops to contact. I would be looking to initially sell to local shops.

I have one base product with 2 different essential oils added (so 2 products I suppose)

Does anyone recommend a particualar company to contact for the SA's.

Generally that would be assessed as one product with variations - but really, considering the cost of SA you'd be better thinking up a few more variations of the butters, oils, scrubby stuff and essential oils.

Also, make sure you've got your pricing right, have you factored in all your costs, including your time. Shops will generally be looking for a 100% mark up on what you sell it to them at. Have you got room for profit for you too?

Hi Krystyna, and welcome to the forum. I know how you feel, it happened to me too! The excitment of your first successful product, followed by the frustration of the legality to get it out there.

However, in the process of learning about how to get your product assessed for safety you'll be forced to learn a lot of important information about what is safe and what could be potentially harmful to people's skin.

So from "hey, ready to sell" mode, I've gone to "put down my pots and pick up my note book" mode, and still far from being ready for a SA!

Patience is a virtue, they say... so don't give up.

Hey Krystyna. Welcome to the forum!!  Don't be dishaertened. We're all speaking from experience here, and have been there, done that.  It is hard to swallow when told that it's a good idea to slow down. I know. But, it really will be worth it. (All added up, there's centuries of experience on this forum.  )

When you do get a safety assessment, please read it. Then, read it again, and again and again. I refer back to mine everytime I want to add something new to my products. It will tell you what you can and can't add, and colours ..... suffice to say, there's a lot of info. (Mine are 20 pages long!!)

Don't dispair - you can do this - there's just a few extra steps to take before actually selling your product. 

Krystina I've sent you a PM (personal message)