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Thinking about turning your candle-making hobby into a business? Here’s what you actually need to know before you start selling.
You’ve made a few candles. People keep telling you to sell them. Your mum has already claimed three jars for herself and started telling all her friends.
So the question is: how do you actually turn your candle-making hobby into a real business?
The good news is that starting a candle business in Australia is very doable. You don’t need a fancy degree, a huge warehouse or $50,000 sitting in the bank.
What you do need is a good product, some basic business foundations and a willingness to test, learn and improve.
Here’s where to start.
There’s no need to make starting a candle business more complicated than it needs to be. But there are a few things worth sorting out before you start taking customers’ money.
If you’re operating your candle making as a business whether you plan to sell online, at markets or wholesale, an Australian Business Number (ABN) should be one of your first steps.
Applying for an ABN is free through the Australian Business Register and, for most small candle businesses, is relatively straightforward.
Tip: Get this organised early rather than waiting until orders start coming in.
Your candle may look beautiful, but safety information matters too.
Include clear candle care and burning instructions with the candles you sell, such as:
Never leave a burning candle unattended. Trim the wick before each burn. Keep away from children, pets, draughts and flammable materials.
A warning label on the base of the candle is an easy way to provide important safety information without interfering with the design of your main product label.
You also need to make sure the claims you make about your products are accurate.
If you describe a candle as “100% soy wax”, for example, the wax actually needs to be 100% soy.
Candles involve heat and an open flame, so insurance is one area where cutting corners simply isn’t worth it.
Look for a policy that includes appropriate product liability and public liability cover for your candle business.
This becomes particularly important if you’re selling at markets, supplying retailers or growing your business beyond friends and family.
This is one of the most important steps and one of the most commonly rushed.
You cannot reliably test a candle by pouring it, lighting it once and deciding that it looks good.
Every combination of:
can behave differently.
Your testing should look at things such as wick performance, flame behaviour, melt pool, scent throw and overall burn performance throughout the life of the candle.
Pour → Cure → Test → Adjust → Test again
Testing might feel slow when you’re excited to launch, but it is what turns a homemade candle into a properly developed product.
You really can start small.
Rather than launching with 15 fragrances, six jar styles and enough wax to fill the garage, begin with a small collection and learn what your customers actually want.
Here’s an example of what a small starter batch might look like:
| What you’ll need | Approximate starting cost |
|---|---|
| Wax – around 4kg | $25–$40 |
| Fragrance oils – a few 100mL bottles | $30–$60 |
| Wicks – 50–100 | $10–$20 |
| Jars – approximately 20 × 200mL | $40–$70 |
| Labels | $5–$10 |
| Basic equipment – pouring jug, thermometer, scales | $30–$60 |
| Approximate total | $150–$250 |
So, for roughly $150–$250, you can potentially produce your first small batch of approximately 15–20 candles and begin testing whether there’s a genuine market for your brand.
That is a much lower-risk approach than spending thousands before you’ve sold your first candle.
Once you know what sells, buying larger quantities can reduce your cost per candle considerably.
Wax, jars, fragrance oils, wicks and packaging are generally more economical when purchased in larger quantities.
But don’t confuse a cheaper unit price with a better business decision.
Buying 100 jars you know you’ll use is smart. Buying 500 jars because they were cheaper while you’re still deciding whether you even like them is not.
Start small. Test your market. Then scale the products that are actually selling.
There isn’t one “right” way to build a candle business.
Some successful brands begin at weekend markets. Others start on Instagram. Some go straight into e-commerce.
Here are four of the most common options.
Markets are an excellent place to start because you get something online selling can’t always give you:
immediate customer feedback.
You can see which fragrances people pick up, which candles they smell twice, what packaging catches their attention and what questions they ask.
You also get the opportunity to start building a local customer base.
An online store gives customers somewhere to purchase from you 24 hours a day.
Etsy can be useful when you’re starting because it already has an audience searching for handmade products.
Your own Shopify website gives you much more control over your branding, customer experience and marketing as your business grows.
Many makers eventually use both.
Candles are naturally visual products, which makes them well suited to social media.
Content ideas include:
You don’t need a television-production budget either.
Customers often enjoy seeing the actual person and process behind a small business.
Once your products are consistent and your branding and packaging are established, you can begin approaching:
Wholesale margins are different from selling directly to customers, so make sure your retail pricing gives you enough room to offer a wholesale price and still make money.
Starting small is completely fine.
Starting without doing your homework is where problems begin.
One of the biggest mistakes new makers make is calculating the wax, fragrance and jar cost and calling that the cost of the candle.
There’s much more involved.
Your pricing also needs to account for things such as:
If a candle costs you $8 in materials, selling it for $12 probably isn’t a sustainable business model.
Profit isn’t a dirty word. It’s what allows your business to keep operating.
Patience is not particularly exciting when you’ve just poured a beautiful batch of candles and desperately want to light one.
Unfortunately, candles don’t care.
Soy wax candles generally benefit from allowing adequate cure time before being assessed for fragrance performance.
As a starting point, allow at least a week and often closer to two weeks before making final judgements about scent throw.
A gorgeous candle that tunnels, produces excessive soot or constantly extinguishes itself isn’t going to create many repeat customers.
Wicking is influenced by far more than the diameter of the jar.
Wax, fragrance, fragrance load, colour and vessel design can all affect how a candle burns.
That’s why wick recommendations should always be treated as a starting point for testing, rather than a guarantee.
Fragrance is one of the defining features of a scented candle.
There is very little point saving a few cents per candle on fragrance if the finished candle has disappointing scent throw or inconsistent performance.
Instead, look for fragrance oils from a reputable candle-making supplier and test them properly in the wax you intend to use.
Your customers might not know why one candle smells better than another.
But they’ll certainly notice that it does.
Before launching, make sure you can tick these off:
☐ Organise your ABN
☐ Choose your wax and vessels
☐ Select your fragrances
☐ Choose appropriate starting wick sizes
☐ Conduct complete burn testing
☐ Finalise your candle labels
☐ Add appropriate warning information
☐ Organise business insurance
☐ Calculate your true cost per candle
☐ Set your retail pricing
☐ Decide where you’ll sell
☐ Photograph your products
☐ Launch!
One of the great things about candle making in Australia is the community around it.
There are Facebook groups, online communities and specialist suppliers full of people who have already dealt with the same questions you’re probably asking now.
And yes, that includes us.
At Aussie Candle Supplies, we’ve helped makers through everything from choosing their first wax and finding a starting wick size to developing products for established candle businesses.
If you’re just beginning, keep it simple.
Choose one wax. Choose one vessel. Pick one or two fragrances. Test them properly.
You don’t need to launch with an enormous collection.
Start small. Learn what works. Listen to your customers. Then build from there.
If you’re starting from scratch, a beginner candle making kit takes a lot of the guesswork out of buying everything separately.
Or, if you’re ready to choose your own supplies, start with:
The best candle businesses rarely started with a warehouse, hundreds of products and a perfect business plan.
They started with a few candles, plenty of testing and the decision to give it a go.
Your first candle doesn’t need to build an empire. It just needs to be good enough that someone wants to come back and buy another one.
If you are operating as a business, whether selling online, at markets or wholesale, an Australian Business Number should be one of your first steps. It is free to apply through the Australian Business Register and is straightforward for most small candle businesses. Get it organised early rather than waiting until orders start coming in.
You can start small. A basic starter batch covering wax, a few fragrance oils, wicks, jars, labels and basic equipment usually comes to around $150 to $250, enough to produce roughly 15 to 20 candles and begin testing the market. That is far lower risk than spending thousands before your first sale.
Candles involve heat and an open flame, so insurance is one area where cutting corners is not worth it. Look for a policy that includes appropriate product and public liability cover. This matters most once you are selling at markets, supplying retailers or growing beyond friends and family.
Include clear care and burning instructions, such as never leaving a burning candle unattended, trimming the wick before each burn, and keeping candles away from children, pets, draughts and flammable materials. A warning label on the base is a tidy way to add this without spoiling your main design. Any claims you make must be accurate, so a candle described as 100% soy must genuinely be 100% soy.
There is no single right way. Markets and pop-ups give you immediate customer feedback, an online store or Etsy lets people buy around the clock, and social media suits candles because they are naturally visual. Once your products and branding are consistent, wholesale to boutiques, florists and homewares stores becomes an option too.
