# Price breaks.... how do you all do it?



## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

now 5 gallon I would have to think about... but I give folks a 50 cent per quart break for buying more than 1 quart at a time.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Well to be honest, I am out of my honey. I have been for a while and I am buying honey from another local beekeeper that charges me $100 for 60 pounds (5 gallon bucket). 

So I am wondering what I should charge customers who want 5 gallons.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Hi Chef
If they want that much then my guess is they are a baker, or are repacking it.
If they are repacking it then they may be your competition. 
I would try to establish a relationshi with this person.
I would not try to make a lot of money, just be fair. 
At $5 a pound you are really doing well. 

If you are buying it for $100, I would sell it for $125 - 150.


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## carbide (Nov 21, 2004)

If I was buying my honey for $100 per 5 gallon comtainer I would charge $125 for the same container if I was just passing it on. Call it a handling fee for your time and effort. That is if you don't have to do anything with it. If however you need to bottle it in order to pass it on, then I would charge my regular pricing for the bottles.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Price breaks?

Do they do the same at their local grocery store or auto parts? I don't think so.

You may not be trying to make a living with your honey, but you have an idea of what it's worth, what it took to make that 5 lbs of honey. If it isn't worth that much to them, sell it to someone else.

You're sold out of your own honey? Maybe you priced it too low.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

sqkcrk:

I didnt harvest as much as last year. I try to keep my prices fair. I thought $5.00 was high until I found out what other local beekeepers in our club sell theirs for.... which was like $7 a pound.

I read an interesting artical that paralles (sp?) nicely to what sqkcrk is saying about no price breaks. The artical tells the seller to ask the potenial customer how HE would feel if his boss took of a dollar or two for every hour he worked. It made a lot of since. 

This morning, I sold a guy 60 pounds for $150. Not sure if I am happy about it or not. It is nice to have the extra $50 but I ask myself if I could have sold it retail and been better.

sometimes I get pissed. For example, this guy said he wanted to buy 60 pounds of honey. He normally gets it from another beekeeper who ahs a few hives on their property on the farm. So I get the honey and ask him what the other guy sold it to him and he said $100. I told him I would charge $150. He said he would buy it buy another guy, who is a sideliner said he would sell 60 pounds for $118.

Thats crazy!!!!

So my question is.... I guess I have noticed this year that I have ran up against sideliners undercutting pricing because they are sitting on more honey.

So the question.... how do you persuade people, customers and retail establishments that your product is better???


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

the chef ask:
So the question.... how do you persuade people, customers and retail establishments that your product is better??? 

tecumseh replies:
now I have a quy who sell honey directly across from me at the local farmer's market. his product is typically a buck to a buck and a half cheaper by the bottle than mine. his product is tallow honey collect somewhere around houston... the honey I sell is very local and originates within 10 miles of my resident. when I first started selling my honey at the farmer's market the other fellow was already established there and for about 6 months sold much more honey than I did. Now one year later on any given saturday I am quite likely to sell twice as many jars. if I were to isolate one factor in the change it would be that you need to sell yourself, as a beekeeper, to your future customer base. bee yourself ... bee personable.... and the outcome will be quite predictable.

the chef sezs:
This morning, I sold a guy 60 pounds for $150. Not sure if I am happy about it or not. It is nice to have the extra $50 but I ask myself if I could have sold it retail and been better.

tecumseh replies:
in the jargon of business school this idea is called opportunity cost. which is the difference between $300 (60# @ $5/lb) and the $150. So you had the opportunity to make $200 on the 5 gallons of honey but only make $50.

there will always be folks that will try to chisle you on your price. if you have done your homework, then you know what others in your area are selling for a similar product. sometime just to get a cusomer hooked you may need to give a little (but I would suggest not giving too much). confidence in the fairness of your own price is something that a price consious buyer will pick up on quite quickly.

if someone else is foolish enough to sell their honey for a price less than wholesale, they are competition that you will not have to deal with for very long.


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

If you do not have any honey left giving them a break on price is difficult.


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## ekrouse (Aug 26, 2004)

Just to add my 2cents...

Giving some discount, rather than full retail price still makes economic sense. Using Tecumseh's example: you sold the 60# for $150, but could have sold it for $300 in 1# quantities. Don't forget to factor in the cost of the packaging. A 60# bucket w/ lid is $5, whereas 60 1# jars are about $60 (I use $1 a bottle after factoring shipping, labels, etc.). So now your retail amount is cut down by $55 dollars to $95 difference ($150 - $55). Of course you have to sell all that honey, so if you are low on honey and have a retail location or farmer
's market then sell it retail. But, if you have to market 60 1# jars... that can be a lot of work for the extra $95.


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