Candle pricing calculator
Enter your wax and fragrance prices, how much goes in each candle and what the rest of the candle costs. You get the cost per candle, a suggested retail price, a wholesale check and how much wax and oil a batch needs.
Batch
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All prices are your own supplier prices; nothing here is a live or typical price. Fragrance load is calculated on wax weight, the way most wax suppliers state their maximum load. Weigh oil, don't measure it by volume. Fees for selling on Etsy or elsewhere are not included. As of October 2026.
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Fragrance load is a percentage of the wax
This is the mistake that throws off candle costs and scent throw. An 8% fragrance load means the oil weighs 8% of the wax, not 8% of the finished candle. For 8 oz of wax that is 0.64 oz of oil, and the candle weighs 8.64 oz in total. Oil makes up only 7.4% of that total, but the load is still 8%, because load is measured against the wax.
Oil (oz) = wax (oz) x fragrance load | Wax cost = wax oz / 16 x price per lb
If you know your vessel's total fill weight instead (say 8 oz of wax and oil together), divide by 1 plus the load to get the wax: 8 / 1.08 = 7.41 oz of wax and 0.59 oz of oil. Tick the fill-weight box above and the calculator does this for you. Check your wax supplier's sheet for the maximum load it holds; going over it can make oil sweat out of the wax.
A worked example
A candle with 8 oz of soy wax at $3.50 a pound uses $1.75 of wax. At 8% load it needs 0.64 oz of fragrance oil, which at $2.00 an ounce is $1.28. Add a $0.15 wick, a $2.50 jar, $0.60 for the label and lid, and $0.72 of packaging, and the materials come to $7.00. Fifteen minutes of labor at $20 an hour is $5.00, so the candle costs $12.00.
At 3x cost the retail price is $36.00. A shop buying at half of retail pays $18.00, which still leaves you $6.00 a candle, a 33.3% margin. A batch of 24 needs 12.00 lb of wax and 15.36 oz of oil, costs $288.00 and is worth $864.00 at retail.
Costs candle makers leave out
Test burns, the jars that crack, warning labels, the dust cover and the box all belong in the cost per candle. So does your time for pouring, curing, trimming wicks and labeling, not just the minutes the wax is in the pot. If you sell online, marketplace fees and the shipping you absorb come out of the retail price too, so check it with the Etsy fee calculator once you have a price.
Questions
How do I calculate how much fragrance oil to use?
Multiply the wax weight by the fragrance load. 8 oz of wax at an 8% load takes 0.64 oz of oil. Weigh both on a scale; fluid ounces of oil are not the same as ounces by weight.
Is fragrance load based on wax weight or total weight?
Wax weight, in the way most suppliers state it. If you only know the total fill weight, divide it by 1 plus the load to find the wax: an 8 oz fill at 8% is 7.41 oz of wax and 0.59 oz of oil.
How much should I charge for a candle?
Start from your full cost per candle, labor included, and multiply. A candle that costs $12.00 to make sells for $36.00 at 3x, which leaves room for a shop to buy it at $18.00. If you plan to wholesale a lot, 4x cost gives you a 50% wholesale margin.
How much wax do I need for 24 candles?
Multiply the wax per candle by 24 and divide by 16 for pounds. At 8 oz each, that is 12.00 lb of wax plus 15.36 oz of fragrance oil at an 8% load.