Okay for the past week I've been haggling with a customer over this birthday party cake...the photo is some homemade cake she wants me to copy and then she wants 4 dozen cupcakes. (Was 2 dozen but changed that yesterday). I charged $60 for a 20-25 serving cake with some 3D properties to it (sort of a train track scene) and then just over 1.50/cupcake iced with little train tracks piped on them, so $80 for 4 dozen.
She writes "How much is that per cupcake?" (Um figure it out!) No really...I told her just over 1.50/each and explained I don't make in bulk like the grocery stores and can't offer them dirt cheap. She writes back "Oh a grocery store! I'll just do that then. I'll just buy the $60 cake from you and not get the cupcakes, because $80 is too much for four dozen cupcakes."
I'm so irritated I don't even want to take her order. She already sent me a pkg with some Thomas stuff and $50 deposit...I have spent alot of time emailing her and haggling over her and quoting prices, all for this little birthday cake.
I started writing an email explaining the difference between the grocery store and custom bakers like me and explaining fresh baked versus prebaked and premade icing but stopped and decided to post here. Do you guys have policies for this? I want to tell her that 1.50/cupcake (serving) is a good price for custom made fresh baked cake. She has wasted so much of my time and now she wants to back out of half the order. GRRR!
i really do have a policy that states my cake can be the only cake served for quality control purposes. now i have that policy for weddings, but i think you should apply it here. let her know that you don't want anyone at the party to think that you made the cupcakes, or that the store made your cake. you can't make an exception to this rule, because then you'd have to make an exception for everyone. since she already sent you the money, i'd prolly go ahead and do this cake for her, but any future cakes i'd be "booked" for months.
I'm composing an email right now...trying to be nice but encouraging her to shop around some of the local bakeries instead. I'm leaving her the choice to still order the main (20 serving) cake from me but encouraging her to go with someone else.
Here is what I'm going to send:
Hi!
I understand that my prices may not fit everyone's budget. I am a made-to-order, fresh baker and decorator, and if you have checked out my website, especially the 3D page, you can get an idea of the kind of stuff I do as well as pricing. I'm pretty much here to provide people with cakes they would otherwise have a really hard time finding someone to do for them. People are usually very pleased with the quality of my work and what they paid for it.
If you like, maybe you could check out some of the local bakeries to do your entire order. You may save money and hassle that way. I'd be glad to send back your package and check (which I did receive today) so that you can shop around, that's no problem at all. I know for sure *******'s bakery in ******** does custom cakes, and its possible you could even get a regular grocery store to do the one you sent me as well.
I do think it would be better if you had one person/bakery do your entire order...that way you don't have part of your guests eating a nicer fresher cake and part of them eating bulk grocery cake....if you order them all together, the cake will all be the same type and the decorating will be the same style. That way also you aren't driving around to several places trying to collect all your cake.
Anyway let me know...I'd be happy to return your package tomorrow if you'd rather just shop around some of the local bakeries, it really might be better for what you are looking for.
Have a great day,
What do you think?
I think the e-mail is perfect and totally agree with you. The wording is perfect and conveys everything she needs to think about when ordering a cake. I'd go with it
i think it sounds like a good response. sorry she's such a headache!
guests eating a nicer fresher cake and part of them eating bulk grocery cake
I love this part. i do question telling her which grocery store to go to, kind of a do your own research thing, but its not a bad idea if you're trying to earn her business later.
I'm in a similar delima, a lady just ordered a wedding cake from me 3 tier after she orders she tells me she is serving SAM sheet cakes to cover the difference, I was kinda speechless and am trying to figure if I should tell her to get the whole cake there because I don't want people thinking my cake is the Sams cake. This lady is a friend of one of my friends at church so it's kinda posing a problem, Makes me angry every time I think about the nerve of people. They rant over your cake but don't want to pay for it. I've always heard you get what you pay for, seems to hold true in cakes too. If you want it to taste like air pay the air price.
guests eating a nicer fresher cake and part of them eating bulk grocery cake
I love this part. i do question telling her which grocery store to go to, kind of a do your own research thing, but its not a bad idea if you're trying to earn her business later.
Actually the place I suggested to her is not a grocery, its a really reputable small little bakery who makes the BEST donuts actually, haha, and I've been in there before and have seen they have a little portfolio of custom cakes they do. I'd much rather her just go there and use their services than me have to do her small order, KWIM? Besides...if they charge her as much or more than me, she'll know she should have just been happy with her original order. haha.
Not to mention that its just plain rude to ask you to do something then right in front of you .say "oh, yeah" the grocer is cheaper....you are dismissed...lol..
Especially AFTER she sends the deposit and the cupcake picks she wanted me to add... 
guests eating a nicer fresher cake and part of them eating bulk grocery cake
I love this part. i do question telling her which grocery store to go to, kind of a do your own research thing, but its not a bad idea if you're trying to earn her business later.
I say, kick her in the head 
I thought it was a gro. store too... but I still think it rude to as someone to do a job then openly say ...oh this place is cheaper...as if your quality didnt matter. Or implying that you were too expensive.
She writes "How much is that per cupcake?" (Um figure it out!) No really...I told her just over 1.50/each and explained I don't make in bulk like the grocery stores and can't offer them dirt cheap. She writes back "Oh a grocery store! I'll just do that then. I'll just buy the $60 cake from you and not get the cupcakes, because $80 is too much for four dozen cupcakes."
IMHO you made a fatal error jumping in to explain WHY your cupcakes cost what they do. She didn't question the price you were charging, apparently she forgot how to do division. I've learned over the years that saying less is more. I've actually let them stand there and rattle off other prices and just look at them. I pause a good, uncomfortable(for them) 30 seconds or better and then pretend I didn't hear the rant and ask them what time they want to pick it up. If they still insist on CHEAP I wish them well, smile and say buh bye!
(S)He who speaks first, looses.
She probably never thought of going grocery store until you mentioned it first. I'm not trying to come off as unsympathic to your situation, I've been there and it's only been though being totally screwed that I've learned.
You are offering quality. PERIOD. No excuses, no apologies needed. Personally I don't let people 'pick apart' orders anymore.
I'd return her stuff, and deposit (probably less the cost of shipping it back) Life is tooooo short to allow people to stress you like that.
She probably never thought of going grocery store until you mentioned it first. I'm not trying to come off as unsympathic to your situation, I've been there and it's only been though beind totally screwed that I've learned.
True...I thought of that...I guess I said it because I could sense a hesitation there, like she was already regretting the price. But you are right, I shouldn't have said anything more than "Just over 1.50 each". Of course knowing this one it would have meant three more emails back and forth discussing it. haha.
BTW how did you get my photo in your avatar? 
Ahh.. yes. The avatar! It was snapped when someone argued with me over my prices!! 
Grr I forgot she was a repeat customer from last year...she wrote back she still wants to order from me, she pointed out the second batch of cupcakes she wanted plain colored icing (which wasn't much different from the first batch which had a simple piped track and then her own toothpick thingy on it) and so I didn't quote her any lower of a price because it was still all the time and icing involved to make another two dozen, and the work involved wasn't much different. 1.50 is really as low as I wanna go for cupcakes because its a pain to ice them smooth and a pain to bake them, box them up, etc. She was hoping since she was a repeat customer that I'd give her a discount.
My niece ( by marriage) just ordered all her cupcakes for their daughter's graduation from Sam's Club.... She paid $ 11.92 for 30[/b] cupcakes..... that makes them about .38 cents each..... now how in the world can we compete with something like that !!??
They "looked" okay.... nothing fancy, just a little squiggle of the school colors on each one....... Now mind you.... her kids all have allergies and are sick ALL the time.....she is a real HEALTH nut about everything, but instead of having MY cupcakes, she goes cheapy, for her guests.... sighhhhhhh....
Okay I wrote her back explaining the pricing and basically just apologetically saying that hey, I have costs and time involved here, I don't do alot of cupcakes as a rule, and I quoted her the lowest I can quote. She will be feeding around 70 people all said and done, and the total price evens out to be around $2/serving which I informed her was pretty good for custom work. Hope she will understand. I was tempted to give her that discount but then I figured if I did that, I'd be known as one that can be bartered with, and that's the last thing I need.
My niece ( by marriage) just ordered all her cupcakes for their daughter's graduation from Sam's Club.... She paid $ 11.92 for 30[/b] cupcakes..... that makes them about .38 cents each..... now how in the world can we compete with something like that !!??
They "looked" okay.... nothing fancy, just a little squiggle of the school colors on each one....... Now mind you.... her kids all have allergies and are sick ALL the time.....she is a real HEALTH nut about everything, but instead of having MY cupcakes, she goes cheapy, for her guests.... sighhhhhhh....
I dunno, I think my buttercream icing probably costs more than .38 per cupcake to make!
Yeah for you!! Says something for keeping a level head and just explaining things.
But what kansaslaura said is true too - got that pounded into me during my Mary Kay days - she who speaks first loses. A good lesson for going forward....whether you're frosting cakes or faces 
I just read through this entire thread and as I was reading it I thought that she was probably expecting you to lower the price and didn't expect that 'suggestion' about the grocery store for cupcakes, so she probably just went with it still expecting you to back down on your prices.
Well, you stuck to your guns and she backed down. Shows you she probably did want you to really do the whole order all along. 
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