Buying Rare Candles on Ebay

Ebay can be a great source for adding rare candles to your collecton but buyer beware - so many sellers list their items as rare but are they really and whats worth paying for?

The simple answer is to do research and not rely on the sellers listing as on the whole i find a lot of sellers listing Candles as rare when they quite clearly are not! Some also list candles as retired when they are a re-release of a retired scent. Yes the original candle with the original label is retired, but the one re-released 5 years later that is a different colour wax is not!

It goes without saying that any candle that is actually Black Band is worth bidding on but if it seems too good to be true always message the seller to check - a lot of newbie sellers will just grab the first picture they find of the candle they are selling so its common to see a picture of a black band candle without it being mentioned in the title or description.

Here is a common example of candles being listed as rare some are and some are not. For this example i am using the scent Witches Brew

These particular jars of Witches Brew are listed as Rare and priced at £24.99 ~ they are indeed a rare collectors edition of this scent in a black opaque jar. It was released in the USA and in limited numbers. It is a little pricey and i would suggest that £15~£20 would be a more suitable price point

This jar of Witches Brew on the right is also listed as Rare, but also retired. Witches Brew is not retired it is a limited scent available for sale during Halloween. The confusion surrounding Witches Brew is that the scent is patchouli which is retired from Yankee Candles core range. This Medium Jar is listed at £14.99 and is the most common version of the jar currently available in the UK.





The jar to the left is Purr - Chouli another limited edition jar.







This jar is also Witches Brew but with the hologram label, this is less rare than the Black Opaque Jars and a worthwhile buy for the collector.

Update On my Collection!

Not huge by any means but my collection now stands at

106 Tarts inc 39 Old Label Tarts

30 Voltives

7 Medium Jars

2 Large Jars

12 Small Jars inc 5 BB Jars

5 Boxes of retired Tealights

Updates will come soon on exactly what i have been adding to my collection!

How Many Yankee Scents????

When i first started this blog, i pretty much wanted to document as many scents as possible - to be honest it's pretty hard going......

Trying to find the scents is one thing, trying to add the collections they belong to is another.....trying to find out what's retired and what year is seemingly impossible.....

There are so many scents that seem to come with differing labels, different wax colours and there are a few scents with the same name that come in different collections!

It is indeed a true labour of love, presently im up to 900.....and still finding ones that are not on the list....who knows where it will end.....if it ever does!!

How to tell the difference between UK & USA Yankee

A lot of you may already know this, but a few of you may not.

Is there a way to tell if your USA imported Candle, or a Candle Listed as USA only scent really from the US?

Well the good news is you can, and without having to actually handle the candle itself. This post is to educate everyone purchasing on-line the subtle differences that can make a huge impact on value.

There are a couple of different ways to tell with Large and Medium Jar candles ~ Yankee USA Candles have

America's Best Loved Candle 

Right underneath the Yankee Candle wording on label, whereas a UK jar says

A Passion For Fragrance

UK Root Beer

USA Root Beer

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two examples clearly show the difference. Root beer float is commonly thought to be USA only or exclusive, but a jar was made for the European market

Sometimes Jars are imported from the USA by Yankee UK, if this is the case then your jar will have two bottom labels. An original USA Label and a UK Label over the top. Your Jar will still have America's Best Loved Candle as the slogan.

At the present time i am still investigating how to spot small jars and will update this post with the information as soon as i have it! 

Unconfirmed.....

Small Jar USA candles have the wording with authentic Yankee Fragrance under the candle name ~ UK candles have the wording with pure natural extracts

Tarts can be a little more difficult to spot, the majority of the Old Style Round Labels will be USA made and imported by individuals into the UK. The majority of these tarts will have a USA South Deerfield MA Label on the backside.

The simplest way to tell a new edition Yankee Tart is by the front label. UK or European tarts have a translation in French just underneath the tart name, whereas its USA counterpart does not!. So ensure when buying on-line, there is a very clear picture of the front label of tart you are interested in!

You will also find this true with Votive candles although it can be a little harder to spot, as some sellers do not always take a picture of the label - if you are unsure i would advise to ask ~ if the seller has nothing to hide, they will answer your questions honestly!.

Research Research Research

Whew!

HollyBerry $1,259.99

Who knew candles could be so exhausting! I now have a total of 662 Scents on my list, and i managed to find the most expensive Yankee Candle online so far!

This Black Label Hollyberry is priced at a whopping $1,259.99!!

Black Label Hollyberry

There are a few subtle differences that make this candle worth more than standard black label jars. If you look carefully the candle wax is darker and the label pattern slightly different to normal black label jars. The placement of the text on the label of the jar is also slightly different.

This Hollyberry Jar is listed as pre 1989....so if you have one in your collection hang onto it!