FAQs
Here is a list of our frequently asked questions, if you have a query which isn't answered here please feel free to contact us, we are happy to help. You can email us or telephone on 01617646109.
1. Do you make your products yourselves?
Yes! We do, we make all of our soap, bath bombs and other bath products ourselves at our workshop in Lancashire. We hand make all of our products freshly to order. We do also supply a range of products that we don't make such as the packaging and ribbon that we sell, we have sought out what we feel are fantastic suppliers of these products.
2. Is there a minimum Order?
We do have a small minimum order in place as we are a wholesale website (B2B - business to business) and therefore all of our products are sold at trade prices and are subject to VAT, our minimum order is just £75 (plus VAT) so you can try a range of the products without having to spend hundreds of pounds. If you want to buy less than £75 then you can visit our retail website www.ramsbottomsoapco.co.uk If you are looking to buy the ingredients to make your own soaps and bath bombs then we do sell all of these via our website. If you don't meet the minimum order value then you can visit our sister site www.simplysoaping.co.uk where we have no minimum spend and offer all ingredients at trade price.
3. What delivery services do you offer or Can I collect my Order?
All UK mainland orders are sent either economy or express with APCor DPD delivery services. You are able to collect your order once it has been made from our workshop in Bury. You will need to bring along photo ID in the name of the person who paid for the order. We will call you once your order is being packaged to arrange a convenient time for delivery.
4. How long will it take for my order to arrive?
Our current turnaround time is 5 working days on soaps and bath bombs (this is an estimate only, we can not give guaranteed timescales as different products have different setting times etc and at busier times such as Christmas these times will be longer - please check our home page for the current turnaround times as these do vary at different times during the year), once prepared your order will be packaged and dispatched, however if you desperately need your order quickly such as if you have a special event coming up please contact us and we will always try and accommodate your needs, in busier times such as Christmas orders may take a little longer.
After your order is created for you (check home page for up to date turnaround times) then You have two courier options, a standard courier service which takes on average 3-5 working days (this is an estimate only) and an express delivery service which takes 1-2 working days. If you need your goods in a hurry we would urge you to opt to use the express delivery service. If a mobile number is provided when placing your order we can request that the courier texts you en route to inform you that your delivery is due. We would not recommend that you wait in for deliveries unless you receive an update that your delivery is en route with your driver from your courier company.
5. How do I store my soaps and bath bombs? What is the difference between cello wrapped and naked products?
We sell our bath bombs and soaps packed in two different ways - naked and cello bagged/wrapped your products will keep better wrapped in cello, they will also be delivered in better condition when wrapped in cello as it protects them in transit, the wrapping will help it retain it's fragrance and any moisture in your environment absorbing into the product. For longevity we would always recommend that you keep the products wrapped in cello. When taking the products naked they will not be as protected in transit and so if you are having your products delivered by courier pelase bear in mind this may affect their condition when they arrive. When taking your products naked you will receive a batch sheet for your products which will contain a copy of the label for every product that you are delivered. You must ensure that this information is provided to your customers when they are purchasing the products. Your customers need to have ingredient, allergen and manufacture information available to them. You cannot re label these products with your own information as this will affect the tracability of the product and is not legal to do so. If you are wanting to have products with your own label on please contact us and we can assist you with "white label" products where we ensure that you have all of the legal informaiton required for you to be the responsible person for this product or we can report it on your behalf. There is a charge for this service. (Please note we are not taking on new white label customers at this time).
Products delivered wrapped in cello are all individually wrapped and all have a label affixed to the product with all of the legal information upon it.
It is our advice to keep your products wrapped and stored in a cool, dry place, if you have ordered a soap to be delivered whole and unsliced, when you do choose to slice the soap yourself we would recommend that you wrap the same as soon as it has been sliced. You can read a copy of our soap and bathbomb storing and slicing guide here. If you leave a soap loaf unwrapped it will start to absorb moisture from the air around it and can get little droplets on the soap, we always recomend that you keep your soap wrapped. Bath bombs will absorb water from the environment which can cause them to become crumbly or soft, again a wrapped bath bomb will store much better.
6. How do I best slice the soap loaf?
We do offer a slicing and wrapping service on all of our soaps which is very nominally charged, when adding a loaf or soap bakery cake to your basket you will be asked if you wish to receive it sliced or unsliced. Should you wish to slice the soap yourself then we will supply the loaf/cake etc whole, we recommend that you allow the soap to reach ambient room temperature before slicing. We would recommend that you use a strong smooth non serrated knife. We can't accept any responsibility where soaps split when being sliced by the customer, we would always recommentd that you have us slice your soaps as we have the proper equipment to do so. In our experience a soap is far more likely to split with a kitchen knife than a soap slicer. Once the soap has been sliced it should be wrapped immediately. Find our soap and bathbomb slicing and storing guide here.
Slicing a Soap Loaf
When slicing a loaf slice it in accordance with the slice guide lines imprinted into the top of the loaf. Place your knife into the groove and push down firmly and smoothly cutting in one slice. We recommend that you keep your soap loaf wrapped until you are ready to slice it, once sliced wrap each individual slice as soon as possible. We recommend that the best way of wrapping your soap is to use our cello wrap as we do, you can now purchase our cello wrap in handy cut to size rolls here.
7. Can I sell your products online via my own website or social media?
We are happy for you to sell our products online whether that be via your own website or by other online means such as social media, we can supply you with images for this purpose, simply drop us a line when placing your order and we will make sure that they are all emailed back to you. We do not provide images until an order has been placed as we do not provide them to non-customers, unless by prior agreement to bloggers etc. If you are ordering a new product or if you have requested that we create a product in a new fragrance we will be able to provide you with an image prior to you receiving your goods, all new products are photographed for our website and we are always happy to provide copies to our customers for use on their websites, social media or in advertising etc. If you require images please email or complete our contact us page with the details of which images you require. We request that you do not share our images without our prior permission.
8. I am a party planner, can I buy your products?
The simple answer is yes, we offer our customers the opportunity to buy our products at Trade price which you can sell via soap parties, or to supplement your existing party business, We also supply to schools, charities etc where products can be purchased wholesale and re-sold giving an income to the fundraiser. If you would like any tips on pricing or selling contact us with your query and we will try and help.
9. I would like to try making my own products, do you sell the ingredients?
We now sell a range of products to allow you to make your own soaps and bath bombs, we sell a range of sizes for beginners, crafters through to other traders, you can choose from a kilo through to huge buckets of soap, if you require any tips or help, feel free to contact us and we will try and offer help with any queries we can help with. Remember if you are going to sell your products then you will need to ensure that you comply with all legal requirements to do so. If you do not meet our minimum order requirements then you can visit our sister site which doesn't have a minimum order amount and offers trade prices on all ingredients. The site is www.simplysoaping.co.uk
10. Do you supply retail stands and/or point of sale?
We do from time to time get asked by retailers about supplying shelving and display stands, after much consideration we don't currently provide them as we haven't found that there was high demand for the same. When customers use their existing shelving they can personalise their displays so much more. Examples of our products on retail display are shown below courtesy of our retailers. We can offer help and tips with displaying products, we are only ever a phone call or an email away if you have any specific questions. We are currently exploring additional packaging which we hope to be supplying soon, sign up for our newsletter to be kept up to date.
11. Why should I choose to buy from The Soap House?
My goodness where do we start... well with The Soap House you can firstly rest assured that you are buying from a Soap Company who has Safety Assessments in place on all of our products to ensure that you are buying products which are safe to sell to your customers! All of our products are made in the strictest hygiene conditions in accordance with our safety assessments and good manufacture practice guidelines. Our body products are all made by ourselves, they are handmade to a fantastic quality and are made using only cosmetic grade ingredients. All of that aside we are a friendly, family owned company who are always happy to help, if you have any queries or if we can offer any advice or tips we are always happy to help, don't ever hesitate to get in touch with us, if you are new to selling soaps it can be tricky working our pricing or displays and we are happy to help customers with working out their mark up.
12. Do you offer a bespoke/white label order service?
In addition to the items in our shop we also offer a bespoke order service, this means that should you require a fragrance or design which you can not find on our website, if you contact us we can generally source it for you, we will then put together a suitable design for you, deciding on colours that compliment your fragrance and then we will contact you to confirm a final design and confirm any amendments as to cost, if you are looking to order a new fragrance please contact us before proceeding with your order so that we can advise you as to how long it will take for us to source the fragrance if it is one that we don't already hold stock of and also if you require a different shaped soap we may possibly have to source a mould.... basically we can provide almost any fragrance you may wish to think of along with any colour combination. Once we have completed the order we will take photographs to be added to our website as in most cases we will continue stocking any fragrance that has been bought in, if you would like a copy of the image to add to your own website then we are always happy to provide images to our customers. We have all images on our site protected to stop non-customers from copying our images or content, but once you have placed an order we are always happy to email to you both images and product descriptions for you to include on your website or social media etc.
If you are looking to have a product made exclusively to you then you are looking for "white label" they are products made with your business name and they will be labelled with your informaiton. This is a lengthy process which requires discussions regarding who will be the responsible person for the product, tracability, ingredient sourcing, batch testing and design through to completion. on please contact us as this would be a special order of products made especially for you. To have your own company name on and tracability there will be an additional service required of registering the products to you, fresh safety assesments for new products and other paperwork. There is an administration cost for this service and an additional time element. Please note that we are not taking on any white label customers at present due to us still working to tight covid restrictions. This may change in the future and we will update our website once we are again taking bespoke orders, In the meantime you can order all of our off the shelf products.
13. How can I Pay for my order?
We currently take payments via card or paypal through our website, you may also choose to make payment by bank transfer, however please not that your order will not be processed until your payment has cleared. Once your payment has cleared then your order will be processed within 5 working days.
14. Do you sell seasonal/festive products such as Christmas and Valentines?
We have a Christmas section added to the shop on our website, you can find it here. We have a range of soap loaves and bathbombs for you to choose from. We add new Christmas fragrances each year.
15. Can I place my order in person and pay at your workshop?
You are more than welcome to come and shop in person in our cash and carry where you can take away products on the day. We are currently arranging visits to the cash and carry by appointment due to covid precautions this ensures that you have the shop area to yourself. To book please call and speak to one of our friendly team on 01617646109.
16. Samples - Do you sent out samples?
We are constantly contacted and asked for samples from people who have their own business or who are looking to start selling soaps and bath products, due to the number of requests we now recommend that you buy smaller amounts should you wish from our retail site where you can buy single products or make an appointment at our cash and carry to view products. Our retail site is www.ramsbottomsoapco.co.uk
17. I am confused what is SLS what is it?
In a nutshell SLS is considered to be slightly harsh upon the skin, in different quanities/strength to that in cosmetic cleaners SLS is used to clean heavily soiled items such as engines, in our soaps we use an SLS free base as it is believed to be gentler, we choose to use SLES as a replacement which is considered to be milder on the skin. SLS is known in it's full title as Sodium Laureth Sulphate, SLES you will see on our product labels and is called Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. SLES is considered to be milder.
18. Are any of your products tested on animals?
No is the quick answer to that question, the E.U. banned any cosmetic product being tested on animals back in 2009. When we launch a new soap or bathbomb we happily test it on our willing friends and family!
19. Is your soap base suitable for vegetarians and vegans?
Yes our soap bases are both suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Our SLS free translucent and opaque are both suitable for vegans/vegetarians, our bath bombs and other bath/body products are also suitable for vegans, we have two bath bombs the chocolate orange and the vanilla bath bombs which have sugar strand decorations which may contain a trace of milk, we do offer the option of having these without the decoration if you prefer the vegan friendly option.
20. Who is Ramsbottom Soap Co?
Ramsbottom Soap co is our trading name which we retail our products under, we have a website where we sell all of our goods to the public at retail cost rather than at the trade prices offered on this website. The reason that we use a different trading style is for your discretion as a stockist of your supplier's information. You can view our retail prices over on our retail website, visit www.ramsbottomsoapco.co.uk
21. Do you offer fragrances which are inspired by fine fragrances?
We do offer a range of fragrances which are similar to and inspired by fine fragrances, if you would like to know which fragrances smell like which scents please feel free to contact us or call our office. Our telephone number is 01617646109 or you can visit our facebook page for our fragrance list.
If you have any questions which have not been answered please feel free to contact us.