A friend of mine referred a good customer of hers to me because she is not available the weekend her customer needs the cupcakes.  Come to find out that there is a big difference in our cupcake pricing.  I charge $30 per dz and she charges $21 per dz.  I almost feel obligated to do it for that price but I will be cutting myself short... What would you do? 

Thank you.

AI would feel zero, zip, nada, none whatsoever, reason to discount.

Agree.

I don't know why you'd feel obligated. If she thinks $30 is too much, she's free to look elsewhere. If there's no time to look elsewhere, she's lucky you don't charge a last minute fee

If the situation was reversed, would you expect your friend to honor your low prices? And I might add, $1.75 isn't much for a cupcake. I'm assuming we're talking about simple vanilla type cupcakes?

If you feel obligated to do it, I would do it for 25 and explain to her that your prices are higher for future orders. If you don't want to take the loss, just tell her straight up that you cant do it for that price.

And tell your friend that if she refers someone else to you that she should let them know the price difference.

You're right, her friend should have let her know the price might be higher. With what she's charging that should be a forgone conclusion no matter who she refers to.

There won't be future orders unless she steals the customer from her friend.

True, $1.75 a cupcake is a steal and it seems like a last minute order, so she might buy them from chamoritta for her asking price just this once. But if her cupcakes are a higher quality than her friends, she might say that they are worth it and become a repeat customer.

Well chamoriita Girl, it wont be your fault, lolz  

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts... The lady wanted assorted flavors.  Assorted flavors mean lots of different ingredients and will cost more than doing one flavor...  So, I don't think it would even be worth my time.  If it was one flavor maybe I would consider giving her a discount but not for $1.75.

Thanks again!

Oh my goodness, that would be to much of a loss. You are right, it isn't worth it.

maintain your normal pricing. Be respectful of your own business decision to charge what you charge.

AWell said.

AToo many favors done in this business if you ask me. I want to see the decorators do themselves favors once in awhile. Get paid and recognized for that awesome talent, not haggled with and talked down to. Not comment on Facebook posts that they can do it cheaper, but instead be glad someone is properly priced and maybe take a note from their book for the next time a quote is needed. Not feel "guilty" about their pricing and discount for every friend of a friend of a friend and their second cousins. Anyways....like I always say, the better we all do, the better we ALL do.

AI wish I understood why this is even an issue. It must be our culture. I have customers who don't mind paying what I charge, but would have a better experience if I marked up the price so they could enjoy haggling it down to the real price. Of course those folks are not from here. How did we get so timid?

May I offer a thought on how lowering cake prices is an issue Howsweet.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the dentist, and found out that it's time to get a lot of 'sweet tooth' work done. Four of the employees took their turns speaking to me about the ISSUE of whether I'd be able to pay for the work or not.  They were 'tag teaming' me (so to speak) while I was upside down backwards  drooling with peoples hands in my mouth.

Prices have gone up, insurance coverage have gone down , and people are having to pay more out of their own pockets.

Point being not a damn one of them felt SORRY for me, offered to cut the price by giving me a 'friend' discount, or throw in one of the teeth fillings for FREE.

They did offer to recommend the services of a couple of Loan Offices that will lend me the money to pay for their HIGH PRICED PRODUCT.  Because they were all going to get their whole price $$$$$ or they are not going to do the work.

Are most cake sellers just moms, home bakers, or kids who don't respect their own work, skill set, or artistic talent (maybe because they didn't spend $100,000 on school for 6 years  of their lives ???)

Yes, but why don't we value ourselves or our work? Why are we uncomfortable asking for what we're worth?

Your dentist probably didn't start out that way, annoying his customers like that - he probably got sick of being stiffed. He's a little like us, he can't unfill a cavity. I almost feel for him. Almost.... When I was a little girl dentists and doctors used to live in houses like the one I live in now. I know because I grew up in the same neighborhood and lots of my friends' parents were doctors. Nowadays, dentists and doctors expect to be wealthy. It shouldn't be such a hardship to pay off their student loans. The problem is the first thing they do is set up office with a staff, buy a 500 hundred thousand dollar house and 50 foot sail boat - then it's hard to pay off the cost of their education. (And I know that because I used to own a RE/MAX office) I know several doctors who are always whining about how tough it is - their malpractice insurance, etc. That's a bunch of whining for nothing.

And our malpractice insurance when we owned the RE/MAX was over 30,000 a year, maybe more like 50,000 toward the end - don't remember for sure - it wasn't me who wrote that check and I hated thinking about it. But Realtors don't make nearly the kind of money doctors do, so boo hoo hoo, doctors ! lol