How are Just the Goods products priced?

Just the Goods aims to make natural skin care as affordable as possible because I’m uncomfortable with the excessive profit margins associated with so-called luxury lifestyle products, and I want people to know they really do have a choice for healthier skin care.

When I say I price Just the Goods at the absolute lowest price I can manage, what does this mean? To begin making this more tangible, I can explain that of any price you see on this website, 50% is automatically the cost of ingredients and packaging required for the item to exist.

The range of costs extracted from the other 50% of the price include:

• shipping ingredients and packaging to the lab (+ brokerage fees and import duty, where applicable) + time/labour procuring ingredients and packaging (whether assessing inventory and buying online, or going to stores to buy materials, which also involves transportation … mostly in the form of bus tickets since I don’t drive, ha!)
• research and development time/labour + the costs of ingredients that must be discarded when experimental batches fail
• production time/labour + set up and clean up time/labour associated with each batch
• capital and consumable equipment required for production ranging from mixers and graduated cylinders, to bottle filling syringes, to face masks and gloves, etc.
• order packing and shipping processing time/labour + shipping materials (paper bags, envelopes and boxes, tape, printer paper and toner)
• marketing costs (developing and maintaining a website and email account, business cards, advertising where applicable, the materials/labour of product donated as in-kind sponsorships/free samples where applicable + the time/labour in social media networking)
• physical space costs in the form of rent and all other applicable utilities required for the lab to be a functional workspace, plus the cost of modifying the space as it arises (more shelving and/or order baskets, etc., to improve efficiency as required)
• financial costs (service charges to send and receive electronic payments, general banking fees + costs associated with bookkeeping and accounting)
• customer service time/labour (responding to inquiries, preparing for and attending events)
• wages and benefits for a full-time assistant
• business tax

Just the Goods functions on the basis of need not greed, so I pay myself what is left over, keeping in mind that I regularly re-invest in Just the Goods by making larger ingredient/material/equipment purchases on speculation to reduce import costs, or to take advantage of manufacturer discounts.

Having explained all of this, I fully realize I could charge a great deal more for my products — people are certainly happy to purchase at retail rates in bricks and mortar shops, and I’m so grateful for that! — but I have set prices at this website with accessibility in mind. This matters to me more than making the maximum possible profit from every item I make and sell =-).

Thanks so much for reading this! I hope it helps to clarify my motivations and methods.

- Milena