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Archive for October, 2005

Not my recipe for lye soap…..

October 28, 2005 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Product Information, Recipes

One of the things I never thought about when I started selling soap over the internet, was that anyone would take our pictures and use the to sell other things.

Just today I found out that a seller on eBay, is using our old Basic Lye Soap photo (with our label I might add) to sell lye soap recipes! It’s the photo I used on this blog to show the difference in the new packaging…… It’s not MoSoap recipes and I want no part of it. People think they can just lift pictures and no one will know. When I checked to see if our Froogle feed had gone, there was our soap in the photo with Basic Lye Soap in the text. I thought - Great - second page of froogle, life is good. Then I realized we changed photos…..then I realized it was a hyperlink to eBay!

I just don’t want anyone to think I am selling our recipes on eBay - what if it’s a bad recipe? I don’t want the MoSoap name to be associated with it! There are several other body care makers that have recently had their photos used on eBay and other auction sites, so MoSoap is certainly not alone in photo or text theft. Just seems a simple thing to have taken a photo of and use your own.

For eBay’s part…..well, I followed the directions and their “form” never worked. I sent the “contact us” email and it never asked for the problem so when someone reviews the complaint…..they won’t know what to look for - nice system eBay!

So, just another day in soap world……..

UPDATE Nov 17th - the seller removed the picture and replaced with another soapmakers’……eBay was useless as it took them over a week to even respond to my request - by then I had taken action. So, unless you are a major corporation, don’t expect eBay to help with copyright infrigment.

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“Now that I bought a log of soap, what do I do with it?”

October 27, 2005 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Product Information

“It was a deal so I bought it.”

That’s a quote from an email today from regarding our 3 lb soap logs. Not a worry, as I am always happy to answer any of your questions.

With the 3 lb logs, for all but the Basic Lye Soap (strong lye), you can cut them with either a large kitchen knife or putty knife. Some people use guitar wire or a cheese cutter to make nice smooth bars - it’s really up to you.

Now the Basic Lye Soap is a different story!! Don’t even think you are going to be able to cut that log into nice straight bars with a simple knife….it’s going to shatter in whatever direction it pleases. We have a business that buys our soap then cuts it with a bansaw or one gentleman puts it in his miter box and saws it. This soap hardens up within 12 hours of making it and breaks the wires I use to cut it with all the time. If you really want the nice even bars, buy them in bulk.

Do you have to use the soap right away?
No, you can cut it up into the sizes you want and then leave it alone. Place the bars into a paper bag so they can still dry out, soap loses about 11% of it’s weight over time. That’s one of the reasons you receive 3+ lb logs from us at MoSoap - the bars will lose some weight and I want to make sure you get what you pay for - soap not water!

Is there a shelf life to the soap? With the unscented white lye soaps, no. With the pine tars that are scented with essential oils, they tend to start to lose their scent in 3 to 4 months. If you scratch the outside of the soap to reveal the inside, you will still be able to smell the cedar, eucalyptus or lavender. Just a hint - a patchouli pine tar is on it’s way!

Why don’t you have a Black Pine Tar or Pine Tar Shampoo log? Sorry but I can’t make them fast enough to even put them on the web! People email with a request and I try to fill special orders the best I can. If you REALLY like our Pine Tar Soaps, I can be talked into making them how you like them if you buy 8 logs at a time - and people do!

Ask away if you have any questions - I can’t think of any thing clever to say about the logs any more. I think people really like them better than the bigger 6 lb slabs. I can fit 5 logs into a flat rate box now so people are tending to try 3 different types of our soaps. I hope everyone is happy with the change! Check them out at Bulk Soap & Supplies

Debra
P.S. Stephanie will be back starting Monday the 31st! I am SO relieved to have her back - I think I will try to sneak some photos in.

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“What did you do to my soap???”

October 25, 2005 at 10:19 pm · Filed under General News, Product Information

There are some shocked people out there opening MoSoap boxes these days, that’s for sure. I thought I had sent a newsletter and posted on the News page at MoSoap.com about the change but it’s never the same until you see the actual product.

From this…….

To this…..

The bar sizes for our lye and pine tar soaps have change to a more uniform 4.5 ounce size. They are flatter and easier to flip in your hand. The size is 3″ x 2″ x 1″.

The price per ounce is the same as always and on many soaps the prices actually went DOWN! Plus, you can now purchase in multiple quantities of 10 at a time and save or try out our new 3 pound logs.

All of these changes came about for several reasons; higher shipping prices, customer’s requests for easier to handle bars, stores asking for more uniform sizes to stock on their shelves and to save my sanity (the most important!). MoSoap’s volume has increased - thanks to our customers that love to talk about us - and I am having a hard time finding staff. So I had to come up with a way to make more soap with less stress. Bigger molds and cutting tools were the answer.

With the new flatter style bars, we can fit more soaps in a box and use the USPS Flat Rate Shipping boxes to save you money on shipping too. Three logs fit in a $7.70 box and up to 4 bars fit in a Flat Rate Envelope for just $3.85 .

I will ramble more on the subject and always open to your suggestions - but I wanted everyone to know that, yes the lye soap bars are smaller but they are the same cost per ounce as always and you can save in bulk even more.

Debra

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It’s started….

October 24, 2005 at 10:20 pm · Filed under General News

Well, after a few good pushes from MoSoap customers, I have finally broken down and started a blog. My hope is that MoSoapS.com will help to answer questions and keep all of you better updated on what’s going on.

In the next few days or evenings, I’ll be posting about the different changes happening at MoSoap.com; everything from the new bar sizes to new scents coming.

Better go back to making soap - Basic Lye is today……. 125 more lbs to go by 6 pm!

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MoSoap.com’s Blog

Archive for October, 2005

Not my recipe for lye soap…..

“Now that I bought a log of soap, what do I do with it?”

“What did you do to my soap???”

It’s started….

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