AA friend of mine contacted me about making a cake...when the price was not what he wanted to hear he suggested he'd buy the ingredients! As if that was like some sort of compromise. I see people experiencing that often, but I do not get the logic behind that!

Even if you buy the ingredients I still have to make everything and decorate the Cake. So in essence I'm gifting a cake. But people suggest this so often I'm thinking there must be some piece of this I'm missing...Maybe you guys can make sense of statement. I mean what does the other person think they are helping you with? They know you have a business...I have inventory.

I don't get it.

He's cheap, and doesn't value the cost of labor. 

Just tell him "sure, let me give you my labor only price".  And give him a price that will make him wish he hadn't offered to buy the ingredients.

In my past career, I made custom draperies - people who provide their own fabric (called COM - customers own material) pay a higher labor price than those who custom order the fabric from the workroom who is fabricating.  Same concept here.

Liz

AI did just that Liz. No response. I know how purple can be about the cost of cakes and maybe you don't want to pay and maybe you ask for a discount...but to insinuate that the cost of ingredients is somehow helpful....I don't like it and honestly didn't care for the tone.

I told him here is my hourly rate..that's what it costs to do the Cake. I will sponsor ingredients buy you will pay me for my time. Im definitely not taking the order. He wanted it fir Wednesday. Im going to new Orleans this weekend and frankly don't need the extra stress

Ahonestly i dont understand it either, i get that offer all the time, they think your hardship is buying a cake mix and oil and eggs. They dont realize what really goes into cake decorating. I tell people i make my stuff from scratch. And let me be clear im not knocking people who use box mix, but i only make mine from scratch. Not to mention these same people who want to buy your ingredients. (The cake mix) think they are doing you a favor and so since you know how to decorate then it shouldn't take you long to do one and then you are even. That is the craziest thing i have ever heard of from people who want to buy my ingredients for me. For that i say no thank you and good riddance. It really feels like a slap in the face when people offer that. Maybe im wrong but it does to me.

AIt so does. And I really try not to get offended because I really think people don't know but just wow.

AWhat is his occupation? Sure! I'll buy the shingles & you reroof my house.

Then again....ok. You buy me a 5 lb bag of monjary chocolate, 10 lb bag of flour, pay my electricity.....this could work!

I offered to make a friends wedding cake last year (I'm a hobby baker), I happily said it would be my gift (before knowing they needed 4 -5 tiers of rich fruit  )...the groom did offer to pay or actually go shopping for the ingredients......but I declined, as I know which makes/types of fruit/flour/chocolate etc I need.

I find it difficult enough getting my husband to come home with EXACTLY what I asked for; let alone some one who has never 'seen' me bake before.

AWow yea that would be a big no! I had a friend say they would bake the cookies if I could just decorate them..... No thanks they thought it would save me time and money but even said they prefer my cookies..... In the end they wanted a discount on the job.....

Because most "friends" know how much you LOVE decorating. So they figure they are doing you a favor by asking you to make their cake. They see the cost of ingredients as a magnanimous offer since your time spent doing something you love of course would be free. Because you love it. 

And if you asked this person (who let's say is a CPA) to do your taxes pro-bono, their excuse for not returning the assumption would be because their work isn't as fun. It's a real job. 

No, I'm not bitter. Not usually. I don't have friends who ask me to do this anymore, thank goodness. Probably because every time they ask me to do something with them I whine about being so busy with cakes and how I love it, but it's crazy what people want and at what price...

AWas he going to go out and shop for them or just pay for them? If it was just pay, I'd be sure to let him know that my customers always pay for the ingredients anyway - haha.

Here's my experience, fwiw: In my first year, I'd have people ask for discounts all the time and now I never do*. I honestly don't know exactly what was different, but something had to be. Maybe it was a combination of the type customers I was attracting with only 20 or so pics of cakes and my demeanor back then? The attitude that I now project is that I have enough inquiries that I will always fill all my spots. When I first started, I'd work harder with potential customers that today I'd recognize as not worth too much effort. I'm not always right about who is really serious, but there's not a trace of "I really [I]need[/I] your business" in the way I handle anyone. I don't mean to sound like I'm not respectful or anything like that, but it's different now. I'm sure my reaction to someone wanting a lower price is totally different now. I don't even entertain it for a second.

*Except people who come from bartering cultures like the middle east - I gave a lady a $10 discount on a $310 cake just last week. It became clear she just couldn't wrap her brain around paying my "asking price", so I gave in to make her happier about the transaction. This lady could buy and sell me many times over, but it was as if she was going to feel ashamed or something if I didn't give, so I did. A little. If I could see these types coming, I'd pad my price and offer them an enjoyable negotiating experience. This doesn't happen very often and most foreigners have acclimated to the way business is done here. But I think they miss the bartering - it's part of the fun for them. Some of them are amazingly good at it...it takes me a minute to even realize what's happening.