The ugly side to importing and selling 'artisan' soap

Edited to remove some of the pointless trolling, please stop with the personal attacks.
 
I think I may have a first hand account now to share with this thread. I sent a PIF of Razor MD cream and AS balm to a man in London and he had still not received it after one month. Is it possible it was confiscated at the border? Bear in mind this is from a moderate sized company which is FDA regulated and exceeds standards here in the United States. I know it reached England because I can track it that far. From then on I expect the royal mail has it. I would have used Fed Ex, but the shipping was exorbitant $53.
 
MarshalArtist said:
Bechet45 said:
Long live USPS!
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Forgive him, for he knows not what he says! [emoji1]
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So, as I understand it, USPS got your PIF to UK safe and sound, tracked all the way - and then Royal Mail and/or Customs have 'delayed' it. USPS did their job just fine? They've never let me down and long may that last.

I don't believe our Customs would confiscate your goods without informing the recipient but a month is a long time, even for our lot. Has the PIFee checked with his local Sorting Office?
 
Bechet the ones I know of are below. I haven't tried them all so I'm not in a position to review/recommend/compare them. All very small scale with Handmade and DrK probably the best known. I like Dr K but they only have 2 scents currently. Most are works in progress so I'm not sure what their current formutations are like. Handmade were heading in the right direction. They seem to fall down by aiming for all natural and vegan, which seems to be more difficult to perfect. When handmade introduced tallow their soaps improved. I also know of a few other artisans working in different areas who have been playing about with shave soaps and beard soaps/oils. (I blame the hipsters).

Handmade soap company.
Dr K
Sunrose Garden
Crobally
Burren perfumery
Airmid.
 
Dipesh said:
Do you guys think the market is there for the U.S. Artisan? Would the cost of approval be profitable?
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Judging from the soap yes. But it is that cost factor and how it affects the price. May be it will open things up to more UK suppliers selling them. It must be deemed by the Artisan makers worth spending the money on.

Perhaps this London based soap company that "reported" them did so knowing that the market was high enough. I cant see them taking action if the sales were considered to be low and not be knocking theirs.
 
Very interesting read. This came to my attention a while ago when I posted a question about Wickhams which unintentionally led to this sort of topic matter being discussed.

It's a difficult call, on one hand I spend most of my life ignoring stupid rules (whether its ridiculous edicts from my manager or health/safety bods at work, or traffic lights that are still switched on at 0300 with no traffic on road etc), and I don't need others to govern the minutiae of my live down to what soap I might use in my bathroom but if by ignoring the rules it jeopardises law abiding businesses?

This was alluded to earlier, but is it coincidental that Shaving Station stopped selling US artisan soaps at same time this thread started?
 
What baseless drivel! I have apologised to Boab for posting a thread that has prompted such contemptible nonsense.

By the looks of it, setting myself up for all of the flaming and slander has partly been in vain. It appears that Trading Standards had been investigating before I had started to research the subject. This is excellent news and vindication for those businesses that have ever felt put out for choosing to act fairly and lawfully in the face of unlawful (but loudly supported) competition. For the sake of members who care about ethical and/or lawful business, I am glad that I posted the thread. Their awareness has been raised and that was the core purpose.

That some US artisans may have decided to end direct sales to individuals over here is an unintended consequence. I presume that they took the decision because they were uncomfortable with the position - in which case I commend them. However, I doubt that it was my agency that brought it to their attention. Looking forward, I look forward to seeing new, compliant product ranges to be made available to a wide range of vendors.

Thanks for the supportive messages to those who got in touch. If any of you want a puck or three of Trumper's then I'm happy to share.
 
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