# How much do you charge for honey?



## Ryan Elder (May 23, 2011)

The title says it all. How much do you charge for honey ($/lb)?


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## BeeBrothersApiary (Oct 14, 2007)

$5.00 lb average. depends on container. does not depend on to whom.


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## mrqb (Jul 17, 2011)

depends who's buying it or where i'm selling it according to bee culture magazine june price for your region was 4.32 for half lb. 7.65 forpint 4.84 for 12 oz. plastic hope that helps those are all retail prices


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

$10 per lb


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## khaas15 (Feb 17, 2010)

$6/lb in a $0.75 container.


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## okbees (Nov 3, 2010)

$8 a pound in a classic style plastic container. https://picasaweb.google.com/111863...UCToHouseBroodFromACutout#5620132465944247538

And in order to keep our overhead down, that is the only size we sell. Rick


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

$10 per pound. Got 300# last year, & its all gone.


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## Kazzandra (Jul 7, 2010)

Around here, it goes for 8-10 a pound, and that's cheap. Some of the places that aim at tourists will give you a heart attack with prices. How about a pound of locust for 20.00? Don't even ask about that gallon jar of it!


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

Not enough...!!!!


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## Ryan Elder (May 23, 2011)

Thanks everybody for responding. I just wanted to get an idea of what I should charge. Your replies really helped me determine that.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

14$ per quart 8$ a pint- pretty much the going price in my area.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Ryan Elder said:


> The title says it all. How much do you charge for honey ($/lb)?


What does it cost you to make a pound of honey? That should be more of a detewrmining factor for your price than what others charge. 

If you could poll everyone in the World and found out that the average price charged for honey was less than what it costs you to produce honey, how would that help do decide what to charge?


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> What does it cost you to make a pound of honey? That should be more of a determining factor for your price than what others charge.


That's true, but it's more true at the beginning of a business process when you are planning. Once you have produced a product, and want/need to sell it then "what the market will bear" rears it's ugly head.

Also you would be hard pressed to find many non-commercial producers who even KNOW what they have invested in their product, and if they did you would still need to consider how they depreciate equipment costs to make any sense of it for yourself. 

Researching the actual market is a completely legitimate part of setting prices.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Yes, true. But, I would suggest that if one is wondering 'what the market will bear", one should survey closer to home, not hundreds or thousands of miles away. and this can be done thru ABJ and Bee Culture Regional Mkt Reports. Which i have never used or found all that helpful.

IMO, one should try to figure out what it costs them to make a pound of honey and decide how much they want to sell their honey for. And then, on top of that, sell at Retail Price. Act like you bought it, cause in a way you did, and mark it up accordingly.

One will never know what the market will bear until you reach the price at which the mkt won't bear it. And what have you lost?

Most of the people on this site, who sell Retail at Farm Mkts or wherever, have a limited amount of honey and aren't likely to buy honey to keep stock all year round. I imagine. So, if you set the price such that most people won't buy it, but, over the course of a years time you sell all of your stock, you will have profited much more greatly than someone who sold all of their stock earlier because of the lower price.

Why are you selling honey? Because you have it to get rid of? To make a profit to support your beekeeping? What's the goal? Maybe you nare well off enuf to sell your honey at a lose, thereby depressing the mkt. All these things and more should be taken into consideration, unless you don't care and can afford to.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

It costs me somewhere between $1.00 and $1.50 per pound to make a pound of honey. And you? (that's a generic "you", not specifically anyone)


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

I think the idea of needing to check the local markets is definitely on target. My mentor is selling his excellent honey for $3.33333 a pound...or, $5 per pint, $10 per quart...white or dark. It is some fine honey, too. I've tried to talk him in to upping his price but he sales to a lot of little ladies and doesn't want to impact them with a higher price. He's a gem.  He has mentioned that a friend of his has upped his prices to $6/$12 for a pint/quart but he's not budging right now.

Ed


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

sqkcrk - I actually agree completely, but I for one just produced my first real honey crop (104 quarts - my third year after starting with one package) so I'm just getting my first useful data about how much I can produce, and how much work it is - and for that matter, how good my product is, and how fast it sells at *any* price. So, a few weeks ago I was asking around at the local club about how much others are getting.

I do agree with you though. My Dad told me long ago - If you don't know how much you have in your product, you will go broke before you even know it's happening. Good advice which has served me well.

BTW, my bee keeping goal is to make some money while doing something that doesn't suck. It appears to be possible.


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