Do I Have To Put My Address On My Candle?


As a candle maker, you may be now looking to sell and distribute your candles. It is important to know what contact details need to be provided on the product labels. In this article, we will discuss if you do need to include your street address on the label or not.

According to the Fair Packaging Labeling Act, you must state the name and place of the manufacturer, packer or distributor on the candles. You do not need to include your street address on the label as long as the state, country and other contact details are provided on a publicly available resource, such as a website or online directory.

Many candle makers have a home-based business and do not want to share their private home addresses with the public. Let’s see what exact details are required when stating your company location on your candle labels, as well as why you may not want to include your street address on your candles if you are a home-based candle business.

Must-Know Candle Address Requirements

If you own a large candle business or are a home-based candle maker, know that it is not required that you include your street address on your primary labels. The full address is not required on the candle labels, just the state, and country as long as other business contact details are available for the public to contact you.

If you do want to include your full address with the street address, city, state, country, and zip code on your candle labels, you definitely can. However, some businesses may prefer to keep that information private.

The Fair Packaging Labeling Act states that “The place of business shall include the street address, city, state and zip code; however, the street address may be omitted if it is listed in a readily accessible, widely published, and publicly available resource, including but not limited to a printed directory, electronic database, or website.”

“If a person manufactures, packs, or distributes a consumer commodity at a place other than his principal place of business, the label may state the principal place of business in lieu of the actual place where such consumer commodity was manufactured or packed or is to be distributed unless such a statement would be misleading.”

Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-E/part-500#500.5

This gives candle makers and candle businesses an option to state a street address that they are happy to have on the candle labels if they want their principal place of business, such as a home address, to be kept private. This new regulation was only changed in 2017, most likely due to the surge in home-based businesses.

Privacy For Home-Based Candle Businesses

In today’s society, there are many business owners working from home and operating a home-based business. They can collaborate with stores and other businesses to stock their products as well as courier items from their home.

If you have a candle store, office building, or PO Box, you might be fine with listing your full address. However, home-based candle makers who have a small business may not want their location listed publicly on their candles. Here are three reasons why:

3. Customers Turning Up To Their Household Unannounced

If you are a candle maker that works from your own home, it is likely that you do not want customers showing up. You may have wanted a solely online business where customers place orders online and you make the candles and ship them from home.

Having a home-based candle business can offer you perhaps the lifestyle you were after compared to operating a brick-and-mortar storefront where you would have to travel to and deal with customers face to face, as well as hire staff.

Therefore, if your street address was listed on the candle labels, you may have customers thinking that they are welcome to show up and shop for candles. The customers may also not realize that you are a home-based business and only conduct sales online.

It can also be for safety reasons for your family, as you may have small children that you don’t want around people that you do not know. Everyone wants their home to be a safe place to be and not have unwelcome guests turn up unannounced, whether they are at home or have gone out.

From this, we can see that sometimes excluding the street address can not only offer you the privacy you want but also be transparent with the customers and not provide confusion with how you operate.

If someone does not have the internet or is from an older generation and cannot search your business online and see that you are only an online shop, it would be a given that the customer would only assume that you have a physical store.

2. Do Not Have The Supplies And Equipment Needed

Some home-based candle businesses may be happy to have customers come to their home to purchase their candles. They may have a separate building for their shop so customers do not have to access their private household.

Some home-based businesses may have EFTPOS machines, cash, receipt machines, bags and, more like you would in a brick-and-mortar store, which would enable the business to provide sales and receive payment. However, many home-based businesses do not have the equipment to do so.

Home-based businesses that solely have an online store would not need the equipment therefore, if a customer turned up to purchase a candle, they wouldn’t be able to. This would be disappointing for the customer and perhaps would go somewhere else to buy their candles next time.

3. Valuable Stock And Equipment At Location

Home-based candle businesses might be a target for criminal activity if it was publicly known that the household had expensive candle equipment and candles that could be sold. They could be at risk for a break-in or burglary due to the valuable items it contains, compared to a standard house.

From these three key reasons, we can see why there needed to be a regulation that made it possible to not make the full address required on the candle labels for the wellbeing of the business owner and their home.

The Rise Of eCommerce Stores And Sales

The graph on this website shows the rise of sales with non-store retailers vs department stores from 2010 to 2016. We can see that there is a significant increase in the sales done by online stores, which in turn shows how the label regulations are keeping up with home-based and online businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Other Information Is Required On The Primary Label Of My Candle?

In addition to the company name and the address, the primary label on your candle also needs to identify what the product is and the net weight.

What Information Needs To Be On The Safety Label Of My Candle?

On the safety label, you need to state the signal word WARNING, what the principal hazard is, as well as cautionary material and instructions on how to use the product safely.

Final Words

It is not required to have your street address on your candle labels if you have your business contact details widely available to the public. You do need to have at least the state and country listed on the label, but the street address is up to personal preference.

Recent Posts