Hiii. I live in northeastern Pennsylvania. I started making cookies in April for fun and people have started asking for orders. Initially I was asking around $20 a dozen. Since then I increased to $27 because of the time and money spent making them. People have been messaging me asking how much I charge. when I tell them they act annoyed by my prices and don’t order. I don’t think I’m charging a lot, am I? They take a lot of work and supplies are costly. Thank you.
by PoetInteresting2980
6 Comments
Okay so for comparison I live in Northern VA and my decorated cookies start at $60/dozen unless the design is VERY simple or they are for family or close friends. So no, I don’t think you’re overcharging–if anything you are very likely undercharging for your area.
I found friends and family show the most surprise at my pricing, and customers who find me by word of mouth or my socials tend not to bat an eye if they reach out. Advertising my pricing upfront also helps weed out people who simply aren’t my customers!
Pricing is SUPER stressful, it’s not just you! I would say you are definitely undercharging tho. And if there are people turning you down at a low price point, they were never going to be your customer to begin with. Charge what it takes to produce the order and the right group of clientele will find you 🙂
I have a video I made on this topic, hope it helps! https://youtu.be/NwKx2UN0Scg?si=mP5Ns2uM21npULgq
My prices are the same as above except I charge $50 dozen for friends and family and $60 for everyone else. I live in the South. If you don’t start charging more you are going to start resenting your clients and lose the love of decorating. It sounds like you need to find a different clientele.
I can’t find someone who sells these for less than $80-100/dozen in my area (VHCOL)
I do tiered pricing. I live in a very rural area in Kansas so I already charge much less than someone could in a more populated area. My cheapest sugar cookies are $34/dzn and that only includes two colors and two shapes-no writing, no airbrushing, no small details. Basically flood and maybe an outline on top of the flood.(Think pink and red hearts for Valentine’s, or peep type Easter bunnies with a tail). I’ve only sold a few sets like that.
My best advice would be to time yourself on your next set. Then figure the amount you’re giving yourself per hour to work on these cookies. Say you sell 2 dzn at 20/dzn. That’s $40. Pretend you spend $12 on ingredients and supplies(don’t forget your packaging!). Subtract that amount from the time you spent baking, cleaning up, decorating, packaging( I personally do not include drying times as I’m doing other things then). Let’s pretend you spent say 5 hours actively working on this set. You only got paid $5.60 per hour. Your time should be compensated much more than $5.60 per hour.
Everyone isn’t your client. And that’s okay. Do not sell yourself short. They are paying for your expertise. If they don’t want to pay that much, they simply aren’t your client.