Ok, so posted a while back that I was doing an order for 50 cupcakes, and a 6 inch on top tothe cupcake stand.

Well the cust. wants farm animals on top of the cupcakes. So I gave her a price for the cupcakes, which was cheap, and charged her $1.00 for each fondant animal, which is also cheap. So here is what I am doingf for her
25 Fondant Farm Animals for cupcakes
2 fondant farm animals for the top of the cake
25 flat fondant flowers with the #2 on them

Well today she tells me instead of Animal - Flower - Animal - Flower forthe order of the cupcakes, she wants Animal - Animal - Flower. So this changes the total of Animals to 36 and flowers 16 (I already made 25 flowers).

So I just sent her an email that for the extra 9 animals, I would have to charge her $9.00. Well, she now has not emailed me back yet, and she always emails me back right away.

Was I wrong to charge her for the extra animals? I mean it will take more time to do them.

Grrr....

I dot think so she already knows that the animals are $1.00 each. I would also email her saying no more changes allowed.

I would probably charge her also for the extra flowers explaining to her that these have to be made in advance and now you have 25 of them, that if she wants to change for the original order thats fine with you, but you need compensation for the ingredients and time already put in.

I think if she changed her order, then you have the right to change your price.

Heck no, you're not wrong!!! Ditto was the other poster said. NO MORE CHANGES. Sheesh! Some people!

I definitely would've charged more for the change in animals! They take a tonne of work and can't be done with a simple cutter like a flower. If she is upset, oh well. More time = more money.
I had a similar thing happen on a cake i did not long ago. Customer said she wanted two identical cakes, hand molded blocks which spelled out the kids names on each..two weeks prior i start working on the blocks...major work..WELL..she calls me a few days later,
"um, i don't want the second cake anymore" I was pissed. All that work for nothing. Blocks that already have the kids names on them..ugh . I really don't think she had a clue what kinda time it takes to make such a thing and to her the cancellation was no biggy. Thankfully she called two days after that changing her mind yet again, "is it ok if i re-order that second cake?". I was so ready to blow up at her but instead i agreed. I figured i have to use those blocks on something anyway. So it all worked out in the end. Had she changed the whole design for the re-ordered cake i sure would've up'ed the price for my headache. My sister works in sales and said i should just suck it up, it customer service. You have to be flexible and give'em what they want or else they will not return. I had a hard time swallowing that pill. I still don't fully agree with that bit of advise. But if you do have time to make the extra animals and she is willing to pay, i'd do it. If you don't have time or it's gonna put you out, i'd charge more than your normal $1.00/animal and explain to her there is a charge for changing design so late in the game. Good luck.

Suz

I know what cake you are talking about , and you are right you undercharged on the animals to begin with. I would definitely charge her extra for the other animals.

I would have charged at least $2 each for those animals ! So she is already stealing the cake as it is. For future reference you may want to tell customers that there are no changes allowed after 2 weeks prior to delivery date.

I wouldn't have done that order for anything less than $200
She should be not only willing to pay the extra $9 she should throw you an extra $10 for changing the order.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck and post pics when you are done I would love to see it.
At least get your value out of the Ooos & awwws you will get from it.

I would have charged $4/cupcake for piped buttercream animals.... $5-$6/cupcake for fondant animals!!!

Definitely charge her what you need and if she can't afford it, then she can't afford you.