Buying professional products in Canada: distributor accounts, licences and the real cost
Two questions come up in every new owner's first month. Will a distributor even sell to me? And will this product line make me money once it is on my trolley? In Canada the first answer depends on your province and your trade, and the second depends on arithmetic that a wholesale price list does not do for you.
Try Slotora for 14 daysWho a professional distributor will sell to
Professional-only distributors in Canada set their own rules, and the rules usually ask for proof that you work in the trade. SalonCentric's Canadian site, for example, describes itself as exclusively for licensed beauty professionals. Other distributors ask for different documents, and some brands sell only through educators or approved salons; ask each one what it needs before you apply.
What counts as a licence depends on where you work. Hairstyling is a regulated trade in some provinces: in Ontario it is a compulsory trade, so working as a hairstylist there needs a certificate of qualification, a provisional certificate or a registered apprenticeship, and Skilled Trades Ontario keeps a public register. Esthetics, nails and lashes are regulated differently from one province to the next, so check your own province, and where no licence applies to your work, ask each distributor which documents it will accept in its place.
If you are still a student, ask your school whether it has an arrangement with a distributor or a brand for students; buying through the school can be the simplest way to assemble a first kit.
Working out the real cost per treatment
A product line is a recurring cost, not a one-off purchase. Do this before committing to any brand.
01
Price per gram or millilitre
Divide the trade price of each item by its size. Two brands with the same bottle price can differ a lot once one bottle is half the size of the other.
02
Amount used per service
Weigh or measure what you actually use on a typical client for a week. Most owners guess low; the scale is more honest than memory.
03
Add the hidden costs
Brand training you must attend before you can buy, minimum order values, shipping to your town, shade ranges you have to stock to offer the full menu, and the stock that expires before you finish it.
04
Compare against the price you charge
Product cost per service against the price of that service. If one line costs several dollars more per client and you cannot charge for the difference, the brand name has to bring in new clients to pay for itself.
GST/HST on what you buy: input tax credits
If you are registered for GST/HST, the Canada Revenue Agency lets you claim input tax credits for the GST/HST you paid on goods and services used in your commercial activities — professional products, equipment and many business costs among them. If you are a small supplier who has not registered, you cannot claim them, so the GST/HST on your purchases is simply part of your cost.
The CRA asks for documents before you claim, and the detail it needs rises with the amount. For a purchase under C$100, the supplier's name, the invoice date and the total paid. From C$100 to C$499.99, also the supplier's GST/HST number and the GST/HST charged, or a statement that it is included. From C$500 up, also your own name, a description of what you bought and the payment terms. Ask every distributor for invoices that carry their GST/HST number.
Most registrants have four years to claim a credit, counted from the reporting period in which it first became available. That is no reason to leave receipts in a drawer: claim as you go.
Ordering from outside Canada
Lower prices on a foreign website are tempting, but a cosmetic sold in Canada has to meet Health Canada's rules: an ingredient list in INCI names, the product identity and warnings in English and French, and a notification to Health Canada by the manufacturer or importer within 10 days of first sale. A product bought abroad for your own salon may arrive with none of that, and if a client reacts, you will have no Canadian distributor to call.
Add the duties, the exchange rate and the shipping before you compare. The saving often shrinks once the box is at your door.
Where Slotora helps
Once you know a product's cost per application, you can price it. In Slotora an optional add-on — a bond treatment, a premium gel, a lash serum application — carries its own price and its own minutes, and the booking page adds both to the appointment the client chooses.
Notes on each client card record which product and how much you used, so reorder decisions come from what actually happened in the chair rather than from what a sales representative suggested.
What Slotora does not do here
So nothing on this page reads as a promise.
- No product shop in Canada
- Slotora runs a product shop for salons in some European markets. It is not available to Canadian salons, and we have no distributor partnership in Canada.
- It does not keep your tax records
- Keep your purchase invoices and input tax credit records in your bookkeeping software or with your accountant; Slotora does not prepare GST/HST returns.
- Licensing rules are yours to confirm
- The provincial examples above are a starting point. For your own trade and province, check with the regulator or your school.
Questions about professional products in Canada
Do I need a licence to buy professional hair colour?
It depends on the distributor and your province. Many professional-only distributors ask for proof you work in the trade, and in Ontario hairstyling is a compulsory trade with a public register. Ask each distributor what it accepts.
Can I claim back the GST/HST on products I buy?
Only if you are registered for GST/HST. Registrants can claim input tax credits for GST/HST paid on purchases used in their commercial activities, with documents that depend on the amount.
Is it legal to use products I ordered from the United States?
Cosmetics sold in Canada must meet Health Canada's labelling and notification rules. Check whether the product carries an INCI ingredient list and bilingual identity and warnings, and ask Health Canada if you are unsure whether you count as an importer.
Does Slotora sell products to Canadian salons?
No. Slotora's product shop is not available in Canada.
How do I compare two colour lines fairly?
Work out the cost per gram, measure what you use on a typical client, add training and minimum orders, and compare the result with the price of the service.
Sources
The distributor, trade and tax facts above come from these pages, read on the day shown.
- SalonCentric Canada — home page — https://www.saloncentric.ca/ · Read on “Exclusively for licensed beauty professionals.”
- Ontario: compulsory trades — https://www.ontario.ca/page/compulsory-trades-and-enforcement · Read on
- Skilled Trades Ontario — Hairstylist — https://www.skilledtradesontario.ca/trade-information/hairstylist/ · Read on
- CRA: input tax credits — https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/complete-file-input-tax-credit.html · Read on
- Health Canada — Labelling of cosmetics — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/cosmetics/labelling.html · Read on
- Health Canada — Guide for cosmetic notifications — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/cosmetics/notification-cosmetics/guide.html · Read on
Price the product into the service
Add-ons with their own price and time, notes on every client card, and a booking page that does the scheduling. Billed monthly in Canadian dollars after the trial, with nothing taken from bookings.