How to sell candles online: where to sell and what it costs

Where to sell candles online

You can sell candles online in three kinds of places: marketplaces that bring their own shoppers, social apps with a shop built in, and your own store, where you bring the shoppers yourself. You can use more than one. A marketplace can find the first buyers, and an own store can take repeat orders at a lower fee per order, as the fee example below shows.

The table shows what each place charges to start and on each sale, from each platform's own pricing and fee pages.

Etsy and Amazon Handmade both set rules on what you can list. Etsy's creativity standards have a category for items made by a seller: physical items made by a seller by hand or using personal or computerized tools. A candle you pour yourself is the kind of item that category describes. Amazon Handmade asks for an application before you can sell. Its category list includes Home, and items from unlisted categories may not be sold in the Handmade store, so check the list before you apply.

An own store can also take in marketplace orders. On Shopify's Basic plan, marketplace order sync is free for up to 50 orders a month, then 1% up to $99 a month.

How to sell candles online, step by step

These steps assume you already make candles and have burn-tested them. If you are still at the start, the candle business guide covers costs, testing and setup.

1. Check the rules before you list

   If your wicks have a metal core, confirm they meet the federal lead limit. Plan a label with the net weight in ounces and grams, and decide which claims you will leave out. The rules section below lists each rule with the agency or body that wrote it.

2. Pick a marketplace, an own store or both

   Start where your buyers already shop. Etsy and Amazon Handmade are marketplaces for handmade goods, TikTok Shop sells inside a video app, and an own store on Shopify or Square Online gives repeat buyers one place to reorder.

3. Photograph and describe each scent

   Buyers cannot smell a candle through a screen, so the photos and the description do that work. Name the scent notes, the wax, the wick, the jar, the net weight and the burn time you measured in your own tests.

4. Price for fees and shipping

   Add up materials, the jar, the label, packaging, your time and the platform fee on one sale. Glass jars are heavy and can break, so weigh a packed candle and price shipping from that weight.

5. Write a shipping and returns policy

   State when orders ship. Under the FTC's mail order rule, if you give no shipping time you need a reasonable basis to ship within 30 days. If you cannot ship on time, you must seek the customer’s consent to the delayed shipment.

6. Set up sales tax and records

   Etsy says it automatically calculates, collects, and remits US sales tax on behalf of sellers when an order meets its conditions. On your own store, check your state's rules. Keep every payout report, because the IRS says that if you received payments for goods, services or property, you must report your income.

What each platform keeps from one $24 candle

Example: one $24 candle sold online, worked through with each platform's own published rates. In this example the marketplaces keep more per sale than the own stores, and with an own store you bring the buyers yourself.

Rules for selling candles online in the US

The product rules below apply to a candle wherever it is sold. Selling online adds the FTC's mail order rule, which applies to most goods a customer orders from the seller by mail, telephone, fax, or on the Internet. The FDA lists scented candles among products that another agency handles: scented candles are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The FTC's packaging rules in 16 CFR Part 500 cover consumer commodities, which Part 500 defines as retail products for personal or household use that are usually consumed or expended in the course of such consumption or use. The table lists the rules that reach a small candle seller, each from the agency that wrote it.

ASTM International, a standards body, publishes candle standards, including these two. ASTM F2058 covers requirements for fire safety information to be placed on candle units of sale. ASTM F2417 is intended to prescribe minimum safety requirements for candles and candle ensembles. Read both before you design a warning label or plan burn tests.

Insurance is a separate question from the rules. The SBA lists product liability insurance for businesses that make or sell a product, and says this coverage protects against financial loss as a result of a defective product that causes injury or bodily harm.

Rules vary by state and city, and they change. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. If you are unsure whether a rule covers your candles, ask the agency that wrote it or a lawyer in your state.

What to put in a candle listing

A candle listing has to answer the questions a buyer would ask at a market stall, without the smell. Each item below either helps the buyer choose or matches what the label rules above ask for.

• Scent notes, and whether you use fragrance oil, essential oils or both.
• Wax type, wick type and the jar or vessel, with its size and whether it has a lid.
• Net weight in both units, written the way the FTC example shows: “Net Wt 15 oz (425 g)”.
• Burn time from your own tests, labelled as your test result.
• Safety instructions that match the warning label on the candle.
• Your business name and location, matching the name and place of business on the package label.
• Shipping time, returns, and what happens if a jar arrives broken.

Leave out words that make a health or safety promise you cannot back. The rules table above shows how the FDA treats health claims and how the FTC treats non-toxic claims.

Example: how one candle maker could set up to sell online

Example, not a real store. A maker pours three scents in one jar size and sells each candle for $24. The example shows the decisions only. It has no sales figures because it is not a real business.

The maker lists on Etsy to reach shoppers on a handmade marketplace, and opens a store on Square Online's free plan for repeat buyers and for people who find the maker through social posts or local markets. On one candle, Etsy keeps $2.73 and Square Online keeps $1.09, so an order placed on the own store costs less in fees.

What a Nation store would do for a candle maker, and what it would not

Nation is an AI store builder. Nation says one description of what you make builds the store, then agents handle orders, customers and delivery and run ads, content and social posts, with you approving the work. For a candle maker, that description would be about the candles, scents and jars they make.

From what Nation has published, a Nation store would not come with marketplace shoppers the way Etsy or Amazon Handmade does, because no shopper marketplace has been announced. Pricing is not announced yet, so Nation is not in the fee example.

Nation's published description does not mention wicks, labels or claims. The rules on this page apply to any candle store, whoever builds it, so plan to handle them yourself.

Where Nation fits

Questions about selling candles online