I think it's nice that she thought of you and contacted you. Look at the bright side...obviously word of mouth has ciruculated in the family that your cakes/cupcakes ROCK. 
She's going to go spend money on cupcakes regardless, and would rather give you the business. I take the whole "price matching" thing to mean she's got a budget in mind and doesn't want to get locked into anything that might end up costing her more than she wants to spend. I might pull the old "I'm booked" routine. Family, even though extended, is still family. Good luck with it.
Y'know I been thinking about this & I still would just say:
'No, sorry, I don't do that.'
That's about as nice as I could get for a stranger, related or not.
NOOO that's too nice,lets do indydebi style
I would ignore her emails until the day after her event. Then I would reply saying, "Ooh, sorry it took me so long to reply. I just found your email in my spam folder. My email program is set to automatically junk anything that includes the phrases, please forward to ten friends, Hi! I'm from Nigeria and need your help transferring this $10,000, or will you price match?
I would ignore her emails until the day after her event. Then I would reply saying, "Ooh, sorry it took me so long to reply. I just found your email in my spam folder. My email program is set to automatically junk anything that includes the phrases, please forward to ten friends, Hi! I'm from Nigeria and need your help transferring this $10,000, or will you price match?
Haha- now that's funny! 
..."price match", a creative way of trying to name her price.
Should tell her that you are not Cake Orbitz....you DO NOT get to name your own price!
Why don't you just say "I have given you the absolute best price I can. I won't be offended if you want to go with someone else but I just can't go any lower on the price." (If you will be offended, leave off the second sentence.)
This is exactly what I would say!
This makes me want to spit. But I am nothing if not diplomatic, so I thought about it...
Here's what I would seriously answer this person:
"Dear (cheapo relative I barely know),
I appreciate your wanting to order from me, but 'price matching' isn't something I can do, as I do not buy in giant bulk volume like many of the chain bakeries. My standard cake prices start at $XX.XX/sv. For family and close friends, if I'm available, I do offer a ___ discount, so I can provide your cupcakes for $(your rock bottom, still-make-some-money price--IF you want the order). Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Best Regards,
Stef (we ARE related, right?)"
OR: If I'm really annoyed and don't want to work with them, and since you said she's a relative you barely know...I'd just say everything above, down to the price of standard cc's, and say "unfortunately I'm already booked for that date, but thanks for the inquiry! Have a great week.-Stef"
I'd probably lean towards the "I'm booked" option. I ONLY discount to people *I* want to, and there haven't been many. Relatives who I *love*, I actually just gift the cake, but we have a HUGE family, so I could open a XZY Family Discount Chain store and stay busy with just that, if I started discounting! Plus, even when I've offered what is a discount (for me), it's still too much for them, and I've just wasted several emails and time back and forth for them to say, "Oh...uh...sorry. This isn't is our budget."
Price matching! What next!?
EmilyGrace:
I would say Dear ______,
I appreciate your interest in my services. As a policy I do not match my competitor's prices due to expenses. Thank you for your inquiry and if you would like any further information or price quotes, please contact me at (xxx)xxx-xxxx.
Sincerely,
Yournamehere
Ok, it's a trick question,right? 'Coz you said 'Politely" and I'm kinda weak on thank attribute!
"Dear cousin who I never see or hear from unless you want something .... I'm not a flea market. My prices are my prices based on my expenses. I do not even try to compete with big box bakery grocery stores who get their cakes shipped in frozen at a cost below what any custom cake designer can even THINK about getting. Thanks for thinking of me and have a great time planning your cake!"
I always love your responses!!!!
One of theses days I am actually going to use one of them!!!!
Sure you'll price match... you'll match Duff Goldman's starting rate @ Charm City...$1k
Hahaha thanks everyone! Your replies made me laugh!
I sent her an email basically just thanking her for her interest and telliing her that my prices are based on the cost of the ingredients and the time involved and unfortunately I cannot price match. I haven't heard anything back from her yet.
So I always see posts about what fools these cake civilians be, but here this unfortunate relative has asked about price matching, and everyone is jumping on her for being a conniving cake schemer. I don't know what size of community you are from, but around here, shop locally is a big deal and is promoted by our business community. So this unfortunate relative may well have been doing her best to support a local business, but being frugal asked about price matching. Obviously this is the first time inquiring about placing an order, so she may have ZERO knowledge about custom cake pricing. Maybe she always asks about price matching wherever she shops. Maybe she has strict budget limitations. Maybe she JUST DOESN'T KNOW! Am I the only person on this board who has ever asked about a price from something and it was WAY more than I thought it would be because I didn't know anything about it? Yikes.
So I always see posts about what fools these cake civilians be, but here this unfortunate relative has asked about price matching, and everyone is jumping on her for being a conniving cake schemer. I don't know what size of community you are from, but around here, shop locally is a big deal and is promoted by our business community. So this unfortunate relative may well have been doing her best to support a local business, but being frugal asked about price matching. Obviously this is the first time inquiring about placing an order, so she may have ZERO knowledge about custom cake pricing. Maybe she always asks about price matching wherever she shops. Maybe she has strict budget limitations. Maybe she JUST DOESN'T KNOW! Am I the only person on this board who has ever asked about a price from something and it was WAY more than I thought it would be because I didn't know anything about it? Yikes.
Margaret, we have a family friend who is from another country where they bargain for everything. He still tries to do this here in this country largely without success and he comes out as annoying and pesterful. He's been here long enough to know better and none of his family does this.
Bakeries in general do not price match. I've never heard of any US bakery that price matches. Circuit City used to price match if memory serves and they went out of business here.
So to me the relative is unfortunate by choice and showing poor behavior.
I mean is Macy's gonna price match with TJ Maxx? No that's stupid, right?
Does that make me righteous somehow to assume they do?
My husbands distant relative, whom I have never met, just sent me an email asking me If I would price match if she found cupcakes cheaper. She said she would rather give her business to someone she knows. How do I explain, politely, that I don't price match?
Tell her you'd rather reserve the date for someone you've never met who will pay more. It just makes good business sense.
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