There’s been some negative scuttlebutt around the work at home mom community about Sweet Cupcake, a new direct sales candle company that is being launched by a work at home mom.
I’m not ‘privvy’ to the ‘down low’ so I’ll not ‘go there’ on the things I’ve heard – but I’ve been visit the site every few days to see how progress is going.
I understand how a candle company blends well with bath and body products and vice versa. They fall into the same ‘family’ of products. After all, who doesn’t love a bubble bath by candlelight.
But the new products listed on the site, 3000+ items of home decor… leave me scratching my head.
Not only do home decor items not fall into the same family of products as candles and bath and body – they’re the same line of products being marketed by a few thousand other people on the web.
If there were a single WAHM marketing all of this stuff on her site with her great line of candles and bath and body products - I would advise her to drop the extra product line in a heart beat. That a direct sales company is doing it – just baffles me.
[tags]Sweet Cupcake, Direct Sales[/tags]
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It sounds a lot like World of Products, just a bit prettier, doesn’t it? Let’s just hope they teach their reps to focus and find their own highly-defined target market.
It looks like they offer everything from a Pearl Necklace to a Pirate Treasure trinket to an African Animal Chess set.
How can you say “I’m an expert” in anything when you’ve got such a mish-mash of products?
Of course, I always hope for the best for every work at home mom, but I just can’t see shopping for jewelry, bath supplies and an “American dagger” all in the same store?
I just don’t see the addition of the catalog products as being a good decision for a company that was reaching out to soy candle fans.
I’d like to hear from some of the moms who signed up to market Sweet Cupcake’s hand poured Soy Candles – and know what they think about the mass produced candles offered in the home decor line.
Doesn’t this confuse potential customers?
I have not signed up as a rep and never would. It seems to me she had a good product idea going with the candles and now just became one of the hundreds if not thousands of other drop-ship, everything under the sun, merchandisers.
I am privvied to the downlow, so I am hesitant to spew negativity here. However it’s interesting that only now are there all the home decor offerings. That was not part of the original plan.
The founder joined another similar new DS company only to duplicate the entire product line and business compensation structure. She was soon banned.
For obvious reasons, that was not received well at all. There was some serious backpeddling that ensued.
My guess is that the multiple additional offerings are in attempt to proclaim a unique company – setting itself apart from the other.
Oy! Well, if adding the line of 3000+ products that literally thousands of other people are selling in one way or another is an attempt at creating something original – it was a bad one.
Take any product description from their site and google it – you’ll turn up page after page of the same product being offered elsewhere.
How is a Direct Sales rep supposed to market that?
One of the things that makes a Direct Sales company work is the fact that they sell things that buyers can’t find elsewhere. They usually have original products marketed only through their program.
I know absolutely nothing about the downlow — but I appreciate the lesson Kelly is conveying. You can’t do everything, so it’s better to focus on one thing. It’s a lesson I’m still learning, as well as some of my clients.
There certainly is a lot of buzz about this company ~
The mixing of the products is giving people the impression that perhaps the candles are not “hand poured” as the web site states they are.
No one, that I have had contact with, have received their kits yet.
With over 3500 reps.. kudos to her ~ But take it from someone who DOES hand pour all her soy candles to order, I find it extremely hard to beleive that this gal is producing these kits herself, nor has the capacity to “hand pour” the orders that 3500 reps could conceivably rake in.
Another wahm site i frequent alluded to the fact these soy candle products are purchased wholesale along with the other however many thousands of products.. and even named names (which i wont do).
Another fact I found disturbing is that her candle back ground is solely with being a rep with another Direct Sales candle company ~ My question would be how do you go from being a rep for someone elses candles ~ to hand pouring them yourself in such a short period of time? Do you know how long it took me to test each glass, with each wick, with each scent???
This company is no competition of mine ~ I don’t recruit reps. I just feel for the wahm’s that may not be paying to join.. but are betting their bottom dollar on it. And didnt know the right questions to ask.
Melissa
Hi Everyone I am a former SCC consultant. This company was full of false promises. Camilla the owner only responds to people when her and her integrity are being attacked. IF you got http://www.ripoff.com you will read much on her.
Yes a few people have received kits it has taken over a month to get it!
Every deadline she promises never happens.
There is close to 5000 consultants with very little answers no training and no help.
There is a group that would die for the owner but are rude and malicious. I got sick of waiting on this company.
I Joined Sweet Cupcake to sell the candles and body stuff. When I got the email saying lets sell this other stuff to. I was confused. I signed up to only try the soy candles and body products.
They are giving us a choice tho to either sell one or the other or both. I only want to sell the soy products.
I don’t know why you would fault someone for trying to give their reps more options of things to sell. They are options – you don’t have to sell anything if you don’t want. It’s the holiday season and people love that type of stuff or there wouldn’t be room for thousands of others to sell it too! Plus it gives us products to sell if we choose while we are waiting for our hand poured candles.
The fact that the candles are hand poured is the very reason it tooks so long to make the kits in the first place. Demand overwhelmed supply and Camilla has hired employees and now has a 24 hour turn around. I make gel candles – all which I learned very quickly thanks to the internet. Even with testing and checking the scents flashpoints and learning the ins and outs it took me very little time. I was pregnant (like Camilla is currently) and could spend all day making candles – that allowed me to work out the bugs within days. Now I could pour them perfectly in my sleep! Just because it took Melissa longer to learn does not discredit what Camilla is doing. Everyone learns at different rates.
Camilla has taken that step and made a true business which is more than most people can say. Plus, I don’t see her badmouthing people she doesn’t know on RANDOM websites. As for people complaining about her not getting back to people – what would you rather her do spend hours answering the same questions over and over again OR actually getting the work done that everyone is complaining about? It’s things like this that make the internet great and bad at the same time. Anyone can talk about anything or anyone they want to. It takes gossip to a whole other level!
Candee Edwards – proud and supportive Sweet Cupcake Consultant
Why are things going really sour now? See near the bottom of this thread:
http://wahm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=246497&PN=1
Maybe by the time you look, the secret will be revealed.
Well I guess shit has hit the fan.
I guess there goes the “all candles are handpoured that’s why it’s taking so long” theory.
Laura ~
No one said it took me too long to learn ~ It took me long enough to TEST every single scent in every single glass I offer.. So that no matter what my customer ordered they would receive a suburb product. Please don’t confuse this with my learning curve ;-)
I would bet my business that this gal absolutley did not test each and every one of those over 100 (or 150 or 200 depending on where you read) scents before offering them to the public ~ nor before programming this people to spread the news about how wonderful they are. How the heck do you know if a product is wonderful if you havent even gotten the kit you ordered weeks earlier. She didnt have the time to do the testing necesaary. It’s mathmaticaly impossible.
I guess if I posted on Craig list in (what seemed like) every single city in every single state ~ looking for reps for a product I havent even tested the market with yet~ I could have over 3000 reps.
I’d much rather spend my time producing fabulous soy candles for the 5 reps I do have ~ and reap the rewards of that repeat business.
ooops meant Candee ~ not Laura SORRY!!! ;-)
I don’t think you all have to worry about Sweetcupcake Candles anymore. I signed up a couple days ago, got my website and figured GREAT. Wrong!! The next day I could no longer locate the site (page not available), I sent an e-mail to the support team only to have that returned today, unable to locate address. After doing a little more checking I found all those sights listed on Craig have been pulled. I looked forward to having a website and being able to sell candles and bath products….well so much for that dream!!
I am fascinated to read this thread with all of you! Very knowledgeable people you all are! I was wondering if anyone would be willing to critique our website. We have been pouring candles for over 5 years now, and just beginning to get out of our area. Any suggestions or comments, what you look for in a Direct Selling/Fundraising candle company would just be super!
Thanks!
jackie
I signed up, but luckily never purchased. I decided with all the chaos in the beginning and her not able to produce things on time, and all the backlog of people waiting on kits etc. it wasn’t for me. So i canceled my acct. sure glad I did now. It appears from what i’ve been reading she’s running from everyone now. I’m sorry for those that are going through this. I wish you the best of luck. And mental note to self, better check my credit report to make sure she isn’t doing anything with my info.