I made these basketball cookies for my daughters team this weekend and several of the Moms asked how much they would be to make them for different types of sports balls........they are about 3" with textured fondant brushed with color and melted chocolate accents....... they took FOREVER to make so I am not going to do these for a buck or even $1.50. I told them I would have to figure it out but I am thinking $2.00 per bagged cookie with a 10 style minum....

Guess I feel sorta guilty but I am not going to do these time consuming cookies for free...would appreciate any input thanks.....

The general rule of thumb on here has been $1 per inch. So if they're a 3" cookie, they should be THREE dollars!

They look awesome! Great detail!

no way your cookies are awesome!!!!!!!!!

I agree.......I think that $2 is too low.

$3 sounds good to me...don't give it away. Go to all the cookie stores out there and you will see they will charge $2 just for a chocolate chip cookie with no decorations. Make that money honey, make that money.

I love your cookies, they look so perfect!! I agree with everybody here, don´t charge less than $3 each!!! Now, just 1 Q, what did you use for the texture?? I love it!

you are under charging at $2.00, they are definitely worth more. Don't sell yourself short!

I sell mine for $3 NOT BAGGED! If you only charge $2 EVERYONE will be ordering them and then you'll really be in a pickle.

Your cookies are wonderful! I say $2 is a steal!!!

I showed your cookies to my 23 year old college student she measured and exactly 3" round candy dish top and said the most she would pay would be $1.75. She said the cookies look good but the also look thin, she said if they were like 1/4-1/2 inch thick she would pay $3. But she then said that she's seen me make cookies and cakes for years so she knows it don't have to take forever to do. She said she's seen me take cakes out of the freezer after a month and sell them, and customers will say how good they were, very fresh (rolling eyes) . So she said she's not the best person to get an opionion from.

Just thought our conversation was amusing.

I charge $1 per inch with one dozen minimum order. My cookies are 1/4" thick after they are baked.
As for bagging them I add $1 per cookie.

I figure if I am doing them it is going to be worth my time. I understand if someone doesn't want to pay that price. As much as I want to sell them I am not going to drop my price because someone else doesn't think they are worth that price. They take a lot of time and I am going to make it worth my while.

People that don't bake or decorate don't understand all the time that is involved in making and decorating these cookies.

Stand your ground on your prices. I was checking out Cookies by Design last month and the cheapest decorated cookie they sell is $6 and it goes up.

Have you figured out how much it cost you to make a cookie? I think $2 is a steal! I usually charge $3 a cookie. I do offer a discount if they place their order far enough in advance and order a large quanity.

HTH

My belief is that the public needs to be "educated" or acclimated, slowly but surely, to how much decorated cookies or cakes or ANYTHING handcrafted should cost. (Remember when people would never THINK of paying more than $1.00 for a cup of coffee or thought premium ice cream -- Häagen-Dazs -- was ridiculous?)

Getting people to understand a new price point IS sometimes difficult -- believe me, I know -- but if you under charge,the cookie buying public will never catch up.

I think that your basketball cookies -- which are PERFECT, by the way, should absolutely not be less than $3.00 each. (And I charge 25 cents extra for a bag and ribbon. This stuff costs $ and the chore of bagging is time consuming -- as you know.)

So hang tough, hang proud of the work you do and if you have to, tell the public that you can't even get a generic piece of pie for under 3 bucks!!!

CakeDiva ~ Those cookies look GREAT! I really love how you added that texture to them! I agree with everyone else and say you should charge a $1 an inch. SOOOOO much time and effort is put into the process that it just wouldn't be worth it to charge less than what you think is an appropriate price.

Those are GREAT!!! I have the same problem but have learned that I am worth the $$ & you are too. Most of the time for family & friends I cut them a break but for those cookies I wouldn't go any lower than $2. Good luck!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the compliments and advice.....I think I am going to charge $2 per unwrapped cookie and an additional .25 if they want them bagged. I am not in a big city so I don't know if I can get $3 per cookie ~ everyone I asked, even the friend who lives next door to me and sees exactly how much time & energy goes into cake and cookie decorating said she doesn't think the people around here are going to pay $3 per cookie. So as much I totally agree that they are worth that much, I think I should do $2 for right now..... I will, however, charge more for the bigger cookies.

****Someone asked how I got the texture and I will let ya' in on a little secret....get those plastic "sheets" from the craft store ( I think it is the knitting or cross stitch dept.) and about 60 seconds after applying the fondant to the hot cookie, it will be warm and soft....place the sheet over and use a hand roller to apply the texture. It worked so great! Then you can brush powdered coloring or petal dust to enhance the details. Thanks again

I charge 3 for $5 or $2 each...and yours are much prettier than mine!....(mine are are individually wrapped)
.

those cookies are awesome......but I feel your pain.......I just charged 1 dollar each for the blue onesie cookies I did a little while ago!! I feel guilty charging more......even though I do spend over a day on the things!! ugh!

You know, I have the pricing battle with myself ALL the time. I was going to do and have done seasonal cookies for work and charged a buck because I didn't think people would buy them. Today I went to the grocery and there were these commercially produced sugar cookies with the hard RI and they were $1.49 to $1.79 - I thought what an idiot I have been...!

My Easter ones will certainly not be a buck - sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out... hehe.

I guess that's why I do these for myself, because I wouldn't spend the money but why shouldn't people who don't want to do them? It is certainly worth it ~ it's a shame it took me so long to figure it out.

Charge what you feel is appropriate ~ but not less than what the local stores are charging. Your product is better.

Your basketball cookies are amazing! You should absolutely charge 3 dollars a piece for them. If not, you aren't getting your money's worth. People dont realize that cookies just aren't flour and sugar, but alot of TIME. Charge for your labor. At a chain cookie shop, they would be 5 a piece! Perhaps you should also have a 7 cookie minimum per order. Happy baking!