Ad: Appalachian Valley Natural Products (Anatolian Treasures) Wholesale

[Guest guest]

Howdy y'all,

 

Until Chris gets this pirate Joshua Gulick's butt in hot water for stealing

posts from this list .. we gotta just grit our teeth and take it .. but at

the same time .. we can possibly gain some benefit via free advertising that

folks will see on his blog. So .... here is a lonnnnnnnnnng one. ;-)

 

I told y'all in the last post how to gain entry to my Wholesale link .. you

just gotta write me and tell me you are a seller .. and if you live in MD ..

I need to record your Tax ID or Business License number.

 

On the Wholesale link .. Minimums are indicated by the sizes at that

link. Kilogram prices are not shown but if you want kilos, please advise

which oils you would be interested in and I'll quote exact quotes.

 

Other folks can purchase from my Retail link at

http://www.av-at.com/prices.html

 

All information on my company is obtained via email and my web site. I do

not produce hard copy catalogues because:

 

1. My offerings change too often.

2. I have customers in 50 U.S. States and 87 other countries.

3. I can't keep customers updated by using Snail Mail.

4. Why cut more trees for more useless paper and garbage?

 

MY COMPANY: My Trademark Brand is " Anatolian Treasures, " sold from

Appalachian Valley Natural Products, in Friendsville, Maryland, USA.

 

WHO AM I? I'm a retired U.S. Army Military Police Officer who (from 1995

to1999) dealt only in bulk export of EO and other products from Turkey.

Minimum order (except for Rose Otto) was 100 kilos, but many people wanted

to purchase my oils in smaller sizes so in the summer of 1999, I opened a

Wholesale/Retail warehouse and store in Downtown Friendsville, Maryland ..

population 597. For 26y + years (19 +) this last trip, I lived in Turkey

and often traveled back and forth to Maryland. In July 2007, I moved from

Ankara, Turkey to Paris, Tennessee. All products are still shipped from my

company in Maryland.

 

WHO ARE OUR CUSTOMERS? We currently have customers in 50 US states and 87

other countries .. and the number is steadily increasing.

 

QUALITY: Because I cater primarily to the Aromatherapy and Perfumery

industries, I offer what I consider to be ONLY top of the line Essential

Oils. I don't use terms like " Therapeutic Grade " .. which is marketing hype

because ALL pure, unadulterated EO will be therapeutic to some degree ..

even those that might not be of the finest quality.

 

But purity and quality are two different things. There are many pure but

mediocre oils out and about .. for lack of a better term, I consider them to

be Commercial Grade. These oils can be pure but the chemical profile can be

way off from what has been determined to be the norm .. this is often caused

by improper harvesting (method and time of the year) and though its rare ..

it can be due to an error in the distillation. Then we have oils that are

pure but not high in quality because they are not grown in an area that is

noted for producing quality in that particular oil .. just like an onion

grown in Utah is not going to be the same quality as a Vidalia onion grown

in Georgia. So .. top of the line also means that the oil is from an

Origin that is known to produce the ultimate quality for that particular

oil. In my opinion, some examples are as listed below .. the first being

the finest quality and the highest price .. the second being also a pure oil

but (in my opinion) a lower quality oil and certainly a MUCH LOWER price

oil.

 

Eucalyptus globulus from Australia vs China

Pelargonium graveolens from Reunion vs China

Hyssopus officinalis from Bulgaria vs France

Origanum marjorana from Egypt vs Hungary

Vetiveria zizanoides from Haiti vs China

Rosa damascena from Turkey vs India or Russia

Commiphora myrrha from Ethiopia vs Somalia

Helichrysum italicum from Corsica vs all others

Mentha piperita from the UK and USA vs India

Ylang Ylang (any grade) from Madagascar vs China

Nepeta cataria from Canada vs USA

Pogostemon cablin from Indonesia or India vs China

Vanilla planifolia from Madagascar vs all others

 

 

I can go on and on with any and all Essential Oils. Purity is one issue

and one that is easy to discern .. quality is a different thing and its

usually based on Origin.

 

MY CLAIMS: Except for Rose Otto and Oreganos, I would never claim to have

the best of ALL oils in the world .. no seller should make such a claim and

if they do .. don't believe them! I do have the best that I can find from

what I consider to be the best sources in the world. As for Rose

Otto, there is no question that a pure, high quality Bulgarian Rose Otto is

also worth buying .. but I have always leaned toward the Turkish because for

many years I lived in that country .. it is the largest producer of Rosa

damascena .. and I knew all of the producers.

 

TESTING: ALL of my Essential Oils are tested via GC or GC/MS. I will

provide (free of charge) a copy of that analysis to anyone who orders those

oils .. if they request it. I will not provide a laundry list of analyses

to anyone who requests but does not purchase. Many years ago I did that

but it became an admin nightmare .. some folks who requested analysis

reports but did not purchase were doing so in order to build " generic " GC or

GC/MS files for their own sales .. and they never returned.

 

SAMPLES: I provide 5 free samples with each order .. sometimes more for

large orders. I limited it to 5 because some folks were ordering $10 or so

from my Retail site and requesting 5 free samples .. it was a loss for

me. I also will provide 5 free samples without an order .. buyer pays

actual shipping for the samples. I will also provide more than 5 samples

without an order but samples 6 and onward are 60 cents each. The samples

are large enough to allow the buyer to gain an olfactory appreciation of the

oil .. but if one wants a sample large enough to test themselves they should

consider purchasing the smallest size of that oil from my Retail site .. at

http://www.av-at.com/prices.html

 

Unfortunately, I am having some BIG TIME web site problems now .. the

Secure Server for Credit Cards AND the Shopping cart are both down for the

count. The original web site was custom created by back in 1999 but modern

technology has caused it to become obsolete .. it won't support the systems

now.

 

A new site will be on line soon. :-)

 

PRICES: The market for oils produced from 2007 crops has been volatile ..

both up and down. A few days ago I completed a cost analysis .. I

converted my kilo costs down to ounce and milliliter costs .. which resulted

in a reduction in price of approximately 70% of the Wholesale oils I offer.

These major changes sort of affected the format of the wholesale link and

... the link has a lot of information on the oils missing right now, but

there is a link referenced there that will take you to the Retail link at

http://www.av-at.com/prices.html and there one can see all of the

particulars of the various oils. When the new site comes on line the

information shown on the Retail link will also be shown on the Wholesale

link.

 

WHY did I adjust my prices? In this industry it is correct that there are

no free lunches and a drop in prices might cause some folks to become

suspicious .. but worry not. Of course there are no free lunches but there

should be no overpriced lunches.

 

The Essential Oils market is just another International Commodities

Market. It matters not who one knows, there are no bargains on Wheat,

Corn, Soybeans, Portland Cement, Urea and such .. and there are no bargains

on pure, quality Essential Oils. Bulk prices are fixed and like all other

commodities, they are driven by supply and demand. Though there will be

fluctuations, demand will usually remain fixed to a degree that producers

can forecast future needs .. but supply (and price) can be affected by a

number of variables .. some of which can't be forecast or controlled ..

climate change and other natural phenomena are in this category. Floods,

draught, wild fires and typhoons have caused many problems this crop year.

Increased transportation costs, devaluation of the US Dollar and the general

impact of climate change have all had a negative impact on some aromatic and

food crops during the 2007 crop year.

 

I try to stay on top of the international market trends .. it is a very

necessary and a very time consuming task.

 

In 2007, Rose Otto went up around 90% due to a 35% reduction in crop

yield in both Turkey and Bulgaria and there is NONE to be purchased in

Turkey now as it was all sold to the highest bidders .. mostly to European

perfumeries. Corsican Helichrysum italicum is up around 90%, .. Mysore

Sandalwood around 50%. Haitian Vetiver is at a record high .. Indonesian

Patchouli prices have gone crazy, up over 62% and the market is still

volatile due to (my opinion) farmers holding back product .. similar to

American farmers stashing corn or wheat in a silo rather than selling it on

the market when the market is flush. The supply of Patch is small now but

the demand remains the same and prices are still fluctuating. Cookson

company says that, " Patchouli: The price has now met the official

criteria having " gone through the roof " ! *Haitian Vetlver:* This oil has

moved past the roof and into the stratosphere. " Lavenders from France and

Bulgaria went up around 15% .. even US Clary Sage increased around 10%.

 

As stated above, the good news is that though prices for some EO have

increased .. some have declined .. world wide.

 

Some more good news is that the cost of Vanilla Absolute from Madagascar has

stabilized. Around three years ago I stopped offering Vanilla Bourbon

Absolute (Vanilla planifolia) .. both my Retail and Wholesale links have

indicated Temporarily Out of Stock .. even though I suppose 3 years is a bit

more than Temporary. ;-)

 

The reason .. for many years the price of Vanilla Beans was stable .. then

due to a series of typhoons, climate change and political instability, there

was a shortage and prices suddenly increased as much as 650%. In 2004 they

hit over $500 per kilo. These price increases caused many farmers to turn

to Vanilla Beans in lieu of other crops .. and in 2005 they found that there

was an oversupply .. prices dropped to around $45 per kilo. Because

farmers in Madagascar (and some other places) were gambling on continuing

high prices .. they borrowed a lot of money to grow more product .. and when

the prices fell many of them went broke .. they lost homes and cars and even

farms. I accept that farming can be like playing the stock market or

sitting down at a Poker Table .. if one wants to get rich there will be a

certain amount of risk. However, when the bottom fell out of the market

... the producers of Vanilla Absolute did NOT lower their prices. The cost

of Vanilla Absolute remained as high as it had ever been. I refused to buy

Vanilla Absolute then because it was price gouging at the expense of little

people who were without any form of representation .. or relief. So .. I

offered no Vanilla Absolute in crop years 2005 and 2006.

 

I have some Vanilla Bourbon Absolute now .. and the wholesale prices are

posted to my site .. but the retail prices are not .. the Retail prices are:

 

Retail:

03 ml - $ 36.98

05 ml - $ 56.98

10 ml - $ 96.98

20 ml - $164.98

 

So .. that explains the rationale for my price adjustments. When I changed

from Bulk Exports only in 1995, to Wholesale and Retail in 1999, my goal

was to continue to offer proven quality Essential Oils and keep my profit

margins low and my volume of sales high .. I have not ventured from that

goal.

 

Joshua Gulick .. you have my permission to pirate this post .. so make sure

it gets on your blog so all your folks can see it. But you do NOT have my

permission to pirate any other post I write .. they are all Copyright and

are the property of Butch Owen or my company .. Appalachian Valley Natural

Products (Anatolian Treasures).

 

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com