I Built This for Us – NPA Collective
The Marketplace Built for Natural Perfumers, By Natural Perfumers
Eight months ago, I soft-launched something called NPA Collective — a dedicated online marketplace for natural perfumers and botanical artisans. A quiet alternative to Etsy, built to support those working exclusively with naturals — whether you're crafting perfume, incense, skincare, or anything in between.
It’s not a platform I built for me.
It’s one I built because people asked for it.
Because I knew it could serve our community better than the mainstream options — and I had the skills and infrastructure to make it happen.
What Went Into It
This is a professional-level, independent website hosted in Oranmore Co. Galway, Ireland, and it is tailored to the needs of natural perfumers — built from the ground up, not just for usability, but for trust and longevity.
To get this live, I had to:
Research and license the right multi-vendor software — not just something that looked good, but something that could handle complex product types (like digital downloads, back-orders, and variable products and shipping)
Install, configure, and test the platform on a virtual private server I manage myself
Set up payment gateway compliance with Stripe, PayPal, and WooPayments-had conversations with higher level management for rigorous screening prior to approval
Build in automated tax and currency conversion, as well as geolocation-based logic for international customers and those shipping internationally
Configure custom shipping systems for herbal products, flammable goods, and various postal methods
Design both the front-end experience (what your customers see) and the back-end dashboard (what you use to manage your shop)
Test and tweak relentlessly — so far easily 200 hours work has gone into it, was it worth the investment? I believe so, I would love to know what you think.
How The Creators Vetting Works
I’ve seen too many platforms flooded with drop-shippers, greenwashers, and anonymous sellers.
That’s not what this is.
Every creator on NPA Collective is:
Manually vetted — not just for product quality, but for authenticity and transparency.
Required to provide their own personal or legal business name and address unless they are a NPA graduate or student.
Required to clearly mark natural-only products (no synthetics or vague ingredient lists)
Asked to state their brand story and sourcing philosophy — not because it’s trendy, but because it matters to our buyers
This is about creating a safe, credible space where artisans and customers can trust each other.
When someone buys from NPA Collective, they know:
Who they’re buying from
What’s in the product
That the platform has their back
What It’s For
This is not meant to replace your personal online shop.
If you already have a strong branded website, perfect — keep going.
But if you don’t have one yet… or if you’ve got extra creations, one-off batches, raw materials, PDFs, or digital guides… then this is your place.
NPA Collective now supports:
Multi-vendor shops (like Etsy, but with integrity, targeted specifically for perfumery)- I can help with importing.
Custom product listings
Digital downloads (eBooks, PDFs, rituals)
Back-order models
Only a 7% platform fee — with every cent reinvested into site maintenance, outreach, and platform development
And more than that — it supports a shared future.
Part of the funds go towards sustaining the Natural Perfume Academy, and also towards the Taputti Belatekallim Awards — a new NPA award to celebrate excellence in natural perfumery. That means marketing, logistics, trophies, and global recognition. All made possible, in part, by this community-powered shop.
Why Trust Me
I know I’m asking you to take a leap.
To trust a platform you haven’t used before.
To invest your time, energy, and creations.
So here’s why you can:
My name is Ruth Ruane, and I’ve been working in ethical business and botanical beauty for over 20 years.
I’m the co-founder of the CPD Certified Natural Perfume Academy, where hundreds of perfumers around the world have been taught and mentored since 2008.
I’m also the longtime collaborator and digital strategist for Dr. Dilis Clare, the leading authority on herbal medicine in Europe. I’ve designed her product labels, her websites, managed back-end systems, and been trusted with her brand’s infrastructure for over two decades. You can find her here: Dr Clare Apothecary
My reputation is earned trust, built over time, in a niche where ethics and quality matter more than marketing spin.
So when I say this platform is worth joining, I mean it — not because of what’s there now, but because of what we can build together.
What’s Next: Back-Orders, High-Quality Resins & a Personal Plug from My Own Creator Store
Okay — time for a tiny bit of self-promotion. What I’m about to share is not “the NPA Collective” doing a bulk order — this is happening through my own maker store on the platform: Perfume as Art. I’m using it as an example of what’s possible when you’re a creator on the Collective, and to be honest, I’m doing it so I can get my hands on a few precious things too.
So, what am I doing?
I’m launching a back-order system for rare, top-tier incense and perfumery materials — especially resins — sourced through one of the most ethical and high-quality suppliers I’ve ever worked with. This supplier is FDA-registered for food, and also holds BioCert, ISO, Kosher, AEO, GMP, and ISO 14001 certifications. In other words: the real deal. No dodgy brokers. No sketchy labelling. No exploitation.
These materials include:
Orris Root Bits (available now)
Laudanum, opoponax, frankincense tears, Sumatra benzoin, pink Damask rosebuds, Arabic gum, Peru balsam, and more — all of which I’ve personally used and loved.
Here’s how it works:
You pre-order a material from my shop
Once the total hits €300 (across all customers), I place the wholesale order
Shipping is included in the price you pay
I carefully handle customs and try to minimise extra costs (especially outside the EU)
I charge only a small handling and packing fee — you’re basically getting it at near-wholesale
💡 Yes, I’ll also share the supplier details privately if you want to order direct — this isn’t about gatekeeping.
And here’s the bigger point...
This is just one example of what you can do with your own store on the NPA Collective. If you live somewhere with a cluster of perfumers or crafters — say in the US or Canada — you could do something similar with your local suppliers: bottles, ingredients, labels, tools, you name it. Many of us face high minimums or awkward shipping fees, but collectively, those barriers come down.
Setting up a backorder product is literally just clicking a button in your product inventory setting.
This is the power of the platform: curated, ethical, maker-led — and designed to support creators with real autonomy and trust.
Ready to Join?
If you’ve ever sold on Etsy, Gumroad, or anywhere else, you can handle this. And if you’re brand new, I’ll walk you through it.
I’m asking you to consider taking a chance on a platform built for us, by someone who lives and breathes this space. I’m ready to take this on and I won’t let you down.
You’re not too small.
You’re not too late.
You’re just in time.
👉 Set up your NPA Collective shop here
With warmth and fire,
Ruth