i thought i had an order for 35 cupcakes and a fondant covered 2-layer 1/2 sheet cake but when i told the woman i thought i would charge 100.00 for it she said it was too much- i live in ct, and make my cakes with lindt or callabot chocolate. do you think that was too much to ask? how do you know how much to charge without feeling sad when they say its too much? thanks,colleen
I live in NC and everyone around here seems to charge a dollar a cupcake, so theres $35 already ,then a 2 layer fondant 1/2 sheet. I'd say that you were under pricing yourself!!! Those are the people you send to Wal-Mart!!! And I used to work there so I know who they are,he-he...
A phrase I learned early in my sales career to deal with those:''
"Who cares? Who's next!!"
I agree. You can't beat yourself up. I'd like to see them try and get something nice from Wal-mart. 
*Edited to say -
I think it's really hard to ride the middle line. It's hard to compete with the "BIG" local bakeries who are expected to charge X amount a serving. But provide better quality then Wal-mart. I think people think that just because you do this from home, they are going to get a "BIG" bakery cake for Wal-mart prices.
It's hard to do, but you have to take all the emotion out of the decision. "Feeling bad" when a customer decides not to purchase your product is a losing battle.
One simple answer is that you charge what it's worth to you do put in that much effort. If, for example, it costs you $30 in ingredients and supplies for that order (a number off the top of my head and possibly too low), you then have $70 in "profit". We're going to forget about the electric, gas, and water bills for this example, as well as little stuff like dish detergent, etc.
Figure out how much time it takes for you to shop, bake, clean, decorate and clean again. Even if all of that takes you only 5 hours total (and if so, you're pretty quick), that means you're making $14/hour for your efforts.
Worth it?
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