# honey pricing



## kingbee (Jul 7, 2004)

whats a good rule of thumb for pricing my honey


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## BeeBear (Jan 20, 2004)

Do you mean for retail sale?

You should survey the price of honey in whatever channel you intend to use. If you intend to retail your honey in local grocery stores, check the price for their stock. If you plan to attend farmer's markets, find out how much people are selling honey for in these markets. At the same time you should notice what size containers are out there.

Given this knowledge, there are two schools of thought on how you should set your price.

Some people price their honey just below the major distributors because they feel that their target market selects which jar of honey to buy based primarily on price. This may indeed be true in certain markets.

Some people assign a premium price to their honey and promote it as a local high-quality product that is worth a premium price. In order to use this technique, two things are needed -- people who are willing to pay more for a local product, and an effective job by the seller of promoting the product. This may be more successful at a farmer's market where the seller is there and can give samples than when the jar is just sitting on a shelf.

Bottom line, you need to understand your target market and how you're going to sell before you can set the right price for your product.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

Anything less than $2.50/lb., and you'll be underselling Wal-marts cheapest price.


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

Get as much money as you can?


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## LaRae (Apr 29, 2005)

In our area a quart runs 6.25 to 8.00 each, and that's local honey, not the kind packaged for grocery stores.


LaRae


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## Lew Best (Jan 8, 2005)

A quart equals 3 pounds in honey (not 2 pounds like water) so that sounds cheap enough!

Lew


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## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

Retail

wildflower in 1 lb container...$.50
sourwood in 1 lb container...$6.50

Location...farm gate and local farmer's market.

BubbaBob


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

>wildflower in 1 lb container...$.50

Surely that's a mis-print? I get $5.00 per lb.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

Kingbee the best advise is to price your honey fair. Think about how you like to be treated as a customer. I won't go into my rant about comodities like honey and profiteers who drive customers out of the market, It's in enough other posts. Look at the wholesale honey price in your area, figure in the cost of the container, lid, and label and multiply by 3. From this then compare what others in your area are selling for and settle on a final fair price. Don't cut yourself short but don't try to gouge your customers for every last penny you can pry out of them. You will do much better developing your own fair price strategy, gaining loyal customers and ignoring what the profit mongers are doing. We have several thousand customers in NYC who would not dream of buying honey anwhere else. Many order by UPS in the off season at a very high premium. This is because they like our prouduct(anyone can make good honey), but also they like us and know our interest is in a good product at a fair price, not trying to gouge them for every penny each time the speculators who'll be in some other business next week drive the price up. The beekeepers who follow that strategy will lose out in the long run. Don't be one of them! I know it works because when the recent price onslaught hit over the past 2 years we held our ground and set our prices according to our own strategy. Many people asked why we didn't charge what the stores were charging. We explained our methodology and our business doubled in 1 yr. Yes we raised our prices but by our standards, not the market, it payed huge dividens. Not cheap, just fair. 

Bubba, me & Bullseye each want a 1000 lbs of that.50 sourwood!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If we are talking about selling directly, my theory is you have a variety of sizes and presentations. A large plain jar at a reasonable price and some small fancy jars at a high price. Some people are looking for a product that looks home grown and home made and they will be more likely to buy a canning jar of honey. Some are looking for the novelty and will be more likely to buy a small muth jar even at a premium price. The more variety you have on your table at a market, the more likely someone will stop and look and the more likely they will take an interst in something there. I would try to market to all types of people. Honey straws for the kids; pollen just for interest, but you may sell some; bulk jars for less per pound for those looking for a bargin; fancy jars and different colors/varietals of honey at a premium; comb honey for more variety and nostalgia, chunk honey for nice presentation. An observation hive is helpful to attract a crowd, too.


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## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

Ooooppsss!!!! Left a digit out...make that $4.50 per pound in one pound containers....Whew!!!

BubbaBob


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

Excellant point Michael, we credit much of our success to our observation hive. People stop to look, then they talk, you point out different interesting things like the queen, honey, pollen etc. and suddenly your farm stand is surrounded and your smiling and bagging up the next sale!. Once people try real honey, you can bet they'll be back and tell there friends.

I guess bubbabob is one of those profit mongers, yesterday his honey was .50/lb and today it's 4.50/lb.


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## LaRae (Apr 29, 2005)

Where I grew up, profit mongers were called 'carpet baggers' <G>


LaRae


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Once people try real honey, you can bet they'll be back and tell there friends.

That's another sales booster. Free samples.







Use pretzels or small cubes of fresh homemade bread with a toothpick in them.


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## indypartridge (Nov 18, 2004)

Before giving free samples, make sure you know about your local ordinances, and perhaps, how vigorously they are enforced. The instructor of the beekeeping class I took said he stopped giving free samples because selling packaged honey falls under one set of ordinances (must be packaged in a licensed kitchen) but giving samples basically requires a licensed kitchen at the site of the "food preparation." He related how Health Dept. officials were shutting down vendors at a local fair for not having approved kitchens at their booths!


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

Carpetbagger, we got our eyes on you bob. 

Another consideration is that when giving honey samples you may attract a foraging worker. If she gets a taste she brings back her friends, and they bring their friends and so on. There is always one person in the crowd who will run off screaming and waving their arms at the 1st sighting inciting others. We have experianced this but usually when there is a nectar dearth or in the early or late season (less nectar). dispensing from a bear helps prevent this.


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## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

Last year I brought my honey to work and sold it in unlabeled 1 lb queenline jars for $5 each. I sold out in about 15 minutes(only two cases though). This year I'm going to up it to $6. This is non-chem honey, would qualify as organic if I didn't live in the city or use plastic.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

Branman, what does plastic and living in the City have to do with organic standards? I'm curious as the store prices in your area (Alanta) vs direct from the producer(not that store honey compares as far as quality). Are you mad at the people you work with?


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## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

Unless I'm mistaken, organic standards require a description and map of forage area(if you're not in the middle of nowhere w/o farms or on an organic farm, you can't comply. If you're in/near a city, you're out of luck), plus you can't use any plastic foundation or plastic buckets during harvest.

Well, I live downtown in a huge city...good fresh honey is hard to come by. Plus my coworkers sorta humor me I think









price wise, I'm not really sure how much stuff costs, I'll give it a look this week and let you know


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## Sungold (May 11, 2003)

Branman,

Would this mean that if I raised organic tomatoes and placed them in plastic buckets during harvest that they would no longer be meet organic standards? Seems kinda silly, no?


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## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

hey I don't make the rules









yes it does seem silly, but the government is very strict as to what can be labeled organic.


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## eris (May 6, 2005)

Joel,
Is the observation hive on your farm or are you bringing something to a farmers market?


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## mark williams (Jan 19, 2003)

$2.75 1lb jar,,,$6.00 Quart jar.>>>>Mark


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## Tia (Nov 19, 2003)

This will be my third honey harvest. My girls' honey has earned a reputation around here and I have advance orders for 7 gallons. I find it sells best in "boutique" stores and the community market. I had some on the shelves at the local mom & pop grocery, but it sat there for the entire summer. Finally took it back, gave it to the community market to sell, and it was gone in two days. As for prices, I usually check the going rate as listed in ABJ and/or Bee Culture. Since I'm such a small apiary and operation costs are higher, I up the listed price by 50 cents or 1 buck, depending on size. No one's complained.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

eris, we often take our observation hive to our market. It is a great draw and gets people talking. The Saturday after 9/11 we got a call indicating then Mayor Juliannie ( is that right?) wanted all the farmers to come to the market to keep some normalacy in the chaos. We took the observation hive that day ( all the farmers were there despite a 2 hr trip through security). At about 2 in the afternoon people started gathering and looking at the display. In about a 1/2 hour about 400 "shellshocked" New Yorkers were standing aroung the hive and talking and laughing. To this day, 4 yrs later, people still look for the observation hive and talk about that day. No one was buying much but it was the best couple of hours I ever had at the market! We have use Lexan instead of glass, have cover panels and don't take it down in hot weather or when the bees are stressed by dearth or rain.


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## Kurt Bower (Aug 28, 2002)

While I think it is great that Joel was able to bring some comfort with his observation hive, as a general rule I would not recommend displaying bees and selling honey.
I was in the habit of doing that very thing and feared that if I did not have it I would not have the draw. I found that the bees attracted a constant flow of people (people who did not spend money.) In order to manage the people, one person had to be dedicated to talking about bees. The best thing I ever did for my sales was to eliminate the bees from my table. Sales never decreased and I have tripled my gross sales in the last two years. (mostly by diversification of hive products offered)


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## eris (May 6, 2005)

Joel,
It's awesome to hear that the farmers came. I'm sure it was very appreciated by everyone including many of us that weren't even there. My big question is how long can the bees last in a hive like this transported from their normal location? Also, what does the observation hive that you bring look like? Sorry I'm a newbie and know very little about observation hives but this seems like a great idea. Once we start selling we're really going to try our best to educate people as well as sell product and this would be a great conversation starter.

Let me know and thanks for posting the story.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

I agree with most of Kurts points. I never experianced the fears Kurt had because we have great confidence in our product and use our hive for more than just a sales tool. It is more work and you need to have 2 people at the stand. Someone always wants you to find the queen, where's the honey, what's that bee doing. Like Kurt we also don't find we sell more honey than without it. I totally disagree with the premise that you will sell more without it. Many people who stop to look at our bees buy honey. We bring it as a "public service" as NYC folks are really yearning for any "country experiance". The kids at that market love to watch it and learn a great deal. That to us is part of what being a farmer is about. We get many requests when it's not there. For us success is more than just sales, we feel the ultimate future success in marketing USA Farm products is helping people connect with the farmers who supply their food. Some farmers are not willing to take the extra time to do that and then wonder why people buy honey at Sams Club that came from Mexico. We would not confine the bees in the hive for more than 24 hours. They are supplied with feed while on the site to keep the field workers busy and on warm days they may spend some time in the dairy truck(refigerated) which is at our market. I will mention we have a 2,000,000 liability policy which would cover any accidents, which in 10 years we've never had. There are many ways to educate people at your stand, an observation hive is just one. We too experianced our biggest growth by developing additional products. Eris, We'll have a picture of our hive posted on our site in July.


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## eris (May 6, 2005)

Joel, I absolutely agree with you. Before getting into beekeeping I had no idea what was going on regarding honey or why I should buy local. My husband spent a lot of time looking for the cheapest honey he could find to make mead. Now we wouldn't think of buying super cheap non local honey. If we don't educate people about the importance of buying local honey they'll never know.


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## AlpineJean (Apr 3, 2005)

FYI: price information here in the Transpecos area of Texas (that's the Big Bend area) is $3.00/lb. liquid honey in a plain glass jar.


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## Kirby Kishbaugh (Dec 21, 2004)

Retail
12 oz. and 24 oz. Bears $4.00 per lb.
3 lb and 5 lb jugs 3.00 per lb.
gallons $27.00
60 lb pail $125.00

Three counties here in western Colorado.


Kirby Kishbaugh


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## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

All in clear plastic queenline style jars w/flip lids, at retail:

8 oz $2.75
1# $4.50
2# $7.75
3# $10.50
gallon $30.00
5 gallon $150.00

That's wildflower...sourwood is higher...and there are wholesale (caselot) prices as well.

BubbaBob


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## Kurt Bower (Aug 28, 2002)

I think Joel has made a good point.
Where I live, we have plenty of country around us. Maybe if you are located or sell in a big city, an observation hive would be an incredible draw!
Since I seperate my honey as I extract it, I have light, medium and dark honey as well as honey from the mountains and Virginia. 95% of the people that taste my honey, buy it!
Make sure you offer samples! The little spoons work the best.

Kurt


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## Mitch (Jul 7, 2003)

I to plan pn samples of honey this year and keep the honey seperate.Lite dark and med honey on the table makes people ask why and they sometimes buy more this way.I have a fellow beekeeper telling me i shoud rais my prices and a plan to abit.Alot is your maket area.Maybe a big price can be had at the right place or bigger city.Last year i saw local honey for $6 a quart and sold plenty for $9 So i dont think im to far off.All we can do is check around and see what the market will take a nd go from there.I would start higher you can allways have a sale.


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## EKW (Feb 2, 2005)

We are selling wildflower honey at a local farmer's market for $7/pint (approx.1.5 pounds), packed in glass canning jars. We do use an observation hive and it has definitely helped to increase sales. We sell at a small market, however, and one person can easily manage the gawkers and the buyers at one time. We also offer samples which we serve from a honey bear on a disposable plastic spoon- this helps a lot since in our area the most common honey is a light- colored, mild-flavored basswood/clover. We are currently selling Florida Wildflower which is a medium amber, has some orange blossom in it, and is much sweeter than the local honey. We will also have buckwheat honey later in the summer, which is much darker and stronger in taste- many people don't care for it, others think it is the best honey in the world. Since we are selling premium honey at premium prices we want every customer to be completely satisfied with their purchase- better to lose a potential sale up front then have someone get home and find out that they don't like what they have purchased, then bad-mouth our product to their friends.


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## EKW (Feb 2, 2005)

We are selling wildflower honey at a local farmer's market for $7/pint (approx.1.5 pounds), packed in glass canning jars. We do use an observation hive and it has definitely helped to increase sales. We sell at a small market, however, and one person can easily manage the gawkers and the buyers at one time. We also offer samples which we serve from a honey bear on a disposable plastic spoon- this helps a lot since in our area the most common honey is a light- colored, mild-flavored basswood/clover. We are currently selling Florida Wildflower which is a medium amber, has some orange blossom in it, and is much sweeter than the local honey. We will also have buckwheat honey later in the summer, which is much darker and stronger in taste- many people don't care for it, others think it is the best honey in the world. Since we are selling premium honey at premium prices we want every customer to be completely satisfied with their purchase- better to lose a potential sale up front then have someone get home and find out that they don't like what they have purchased, then bad-mouth our product to their friends.


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## EKW (Feb 2, 2005)

We are selling wildflower honey at a local farmer's market for $7/pint (approx.1.5 pounds), packed in glass canning jars. We do use an observation hive and it has definitely helped to increase sales. We sell at a small market, however, and one person can easily manage the gawkers and the buyers at one time. We also offer samples which we serve from a honey bear on a disposable plastic spoon- this helps a lot since in our area the most common honey is a light- colored, mild-flavored basswood/clover. We are currently selling Florida Wildflower which is a medium amber, has some orange blossom in it, and is much sweeter than the local honey. We will also have buckwheat honey later in the summer, which is much darker and stronger in taste- many people don't care for it, others think it is the best honey in the world. Since we are selling premium honey at premium prices we want every customer to be completely satisfied with their purchase- better to lose a potential sale up front then have someone get home and find out that they don't like what they have purchased, then bad-mouth our product to their friends.


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

I guest I'm not charging enough, I sell (wildflower- clover) half pints for $2.75 and pints for $4.50 and quarts for $8.00, but im not complaining , I thought that was a good price for this area.


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

Greetings . . .

I give away (free) most of my honey, but sell it when asked. I have no problem getting $4.00 for an 8 fl oz "Jelly jar" of "Pure Honey, Unfiltered, unheated, and hand-packed".


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## Big Ed (Jul 1, 2005)

Here are my prices for this year:

12oz. bear-$3.00
24oz. bear-$5.50
32oz. glass "classic" jar-$7.00

I am sure this is probably a little on the low side, but my wife and I sell mostly to coworkers, and I believe it to be a fair price. If my prices reflected what I have spent on this hobby, my honey would be more than caviar! I am just tickled to have other people pay for medications and future expansion.


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## Sourwood (Mar 20, 2005)

i been selling in the 1 # jars, both plastic and glass. I have no problem at all getting $4.00 per bottle. I sell it $4.50 to people I don't like or know.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

6oz $2.25
8oz $3.00
12oz $3.50
1# $4.00
2# $7.50
Qt. $9.75
5# $16.00
Gal $30.00
5gal $150.00

I'm gonna drop the 6oz and 12oz after this year!

Dan


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## izduz (Apr 28, 2005)

I work at a large facility with approx 400 employees coming and going at all hours. A coworker asked me if I had any honey bottled up for sale. I said I could manage some if he needed it. I gave him 4 half gallons, a dozen quarts, and 2 dozen pints. 2 hours later, he gave me a wad of cash and asked if I had any more. He charged 7 per pint, 14 per quart, and 25 per half gallon. I felt almost ashamed that he had gouged our coworkers. Apparently, I am out of the loop, cause I have been approached by a whole slug of them asking me to bring in more.


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## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

Like Dave W most of my honey is given away. What I do sell goes for, $4.00 a 1/2 pint $6.00 a pint $12.00 a quart. Unless it is someone that works w/my wife or a neighbor, they get a discount of between $1.00-$2.00.
American bee journal for the west a qt (3lbs) is going for $10.50, my honey is out the gate. With one regular buyer, he takes 6 half pint at a time, I give it to him for 6 1/2 pint for $20.00 he seems happy with the deal.

Profit Monger??? I don't call them "carpetbaggers" I call them Lawyers.


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## DCH (Aug 30, 2004)

For the past two years:

$4.50 for a 22oz canning jar.

That was .50 more than the SueBee stuff at the local Giant Eagle last year and $1.50 *less* than the $6.00 they're charging for the same stuff this year. What a surprise!


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## Tim Vaughan (Jun 23, 2002)

We're Christian homeschoolers, and lots of my clients are in the same boat. I could get more for my honey, since it's got a good rep around here, but I figure if I can make money and make people happy, it's all good.

1/2 pound 3.00
1 pound 4.00
3 pounds 10.00
5 pounds 15.00

All raw, and all current. I usually harvest just enough for a month or so, as many people get it for allergies. My buyers know it's pure, raw and what the bees have been working in our area over the last few months.


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