Let me tell you about Fast Buys...

Every few months I send out a newsletter and post a Fast Buy to the web site, so I thought I would explain a little more about them here.

More and more I get asked to make up something special for a customer. I LOVE this challenge. Sometimes it is simple: please just make me something that has been discontinued. Sometimes it is more difficult: please make me something using these 10 ingredients, only organic, and by next week.
I do my very best to make a product that I think the customer will love, and one that is something I can stand behind. I won't make things using ingredients in proportions I do not think are safe for the skin or that will turn out to be an inferior product. If I cannot develop a product that is good enough for me to sell in my regular lineup of products, then I won't sell it to just one customer either.

Once I work through the research and development with the initial customer, I put the product out to a wider audience as a "Fast Buy". This helps me in a few ways. 1) I can gauge interest in a product and that may mean I will make it again in the future 2) I can make a larger batch: like cooking it is often difficult to scale down my batches and 3) I can reduce the cost by buying ingredients in larger quantities.

One of my most recent examples is the Fast Buy for "Love" soap. This fragrance was discontinued back in 2008 but has a small, loyal following. Typically once each year I get an order for either soaps or lotion bars in this scent. Here is how it works:

1) The initial customer asks me to make the product and I quote a price, and a minimum order. In the case of soaps, it is 10 bars.

2) I offer the product as a fast buy. Other interested customers place orders for the item, prepaying, knowing the ultimate ship date of the product. The initial customer and these pre-orders typically receive price breaks based on quantity ordered.

3) I tally the orders and return to the initial customer in order to verify the final order. If I have gotten enough interest, often the minimum order is reduced. For example if I have another person who wants 5 bars of the Fast Buy soap, then the initial customer will only need to purchase 5 bars themselves. If they still want all 10 bars, fantastic, I will make enough for everyone. But if they only want 5 now, that is fine too, I just can't make less than 10 of one type of soap.

4) After the order is made and shipped, any leftovers are placed on the web site under specialty soaps.  If they last a year, then they are put onto clearance.

So there you have it! This is how my Fast Buy system works. Keep an eye out on the newsletter and on the Facebook/Twitter feeds in order to see what is coming up next. Right now I have three items in the works that are supers specialty items and will be limited quantities, very exciting stuff!