hello all, ahhhh..just knowing I'm among my "cake friends" already has my blood pressure back to normal. This began a week 1/2 ago when one of my CLOSEST friends (our daughters are even close!) Invited us to her daughters bday. She and I were talking about the cake she'd like for her daughter. turns out she was thinking of a barbie doll cake she saw at local grocery. I told her I'd be happy to! I quoted her $50.00 for a (CARVED, torted,filled, stacked cake), and she would supply the Barbie. TODAY she left a msg on Ans. mach ...."I called (local grocery) and THEY said THEY would do it for $40.00. 
I had let her know in our first conversation that a friend I knew bought that cake (yrs ago, before my biz) for around $40.00 and it was mostly frosting(NASTY frosting, didn't say THAT part).
Anyway, I let her know again that I'd do it for $50. She knows EVERYTHING I offer is SCRATCH baked, all natural..even down to the "unbleached" blah blah flour I use. She is "natural and organic" about everything anyway, generally. So WHY then is she giving me such heartache over a $10 difference I wonder? It's not like I am able (yet..just beginning inspections, etc) to get my ingredients at some rock bottom >50 cent for a 50lb bag of flour price! Ingredients, TAKES MONEY!!!!! so do pans, cake boards, dowels, you all know! What the @@##!! is WRONG with people! I DO NOT HAVE A SUPPLY/INGREDIENT FAIRY THAT DELIVERS FREE!!!!!!!!!!! nor, do I have someone else stay up all night creating ideas for CUSTOM CAKES!!!!!! "well her favorite colors are blah blah blah" grocery stores don't care..they'd tell ya sorry,a b or c ma'm! To top it off, I OFFERED.... "well, i've not purchased her gift yet, so how about I'LL go ahead and purchase the doll, and it can be her bday gift from us 
(yes, very nice!) REPLY: "well, I'll talk to her about it, I'll LET YOU KNOW" "her" being THE SIX YEAR OLD!!!!! wouldn't this seriously bother any of you? ESPECIALLY when you are just getting your biz started? in the previous breathe "you just have the most DELLLLIIcios cakes I've ever had!" so which is it?? 
Will it be the FRESH, NATURAL moist custom flavored/filled & designed cake(that you'll easily get more servings out of anyway) ? or the previously frozen for 8 months nasty frosting covered un-original ,non flavorful, dried up version? I suppose I'll be waiting on her reply....."when I DRIVE OVER TO HER HOUSE to "deliver" a (long) menu of delicious cake flavors and filling CHOICES tomorrow" "sure" I told her....I'd be HAPPY to bring over a menu 
AAh, venting feels great when it's anonymous AND people care!! Thanks!
I wouldn't be offended. I would have offered it as her present from the onset. People always trying to get discounts. I did a cake for my nephew's 13th birthday saturday, just something simple, didn't even take a picture. First thing out of his mom's mouth is " do I get the family discount?" I said when am I going to get the family tip? She gave me $5 tip. She said you know I get all my cakes from you-yep, with a discount. Told her I know, so next one will be on me. But that is my decision.
maybe initially, but then I'd probably move on. She probably doesn't know what all goes into it and she may be working with budgetary concerns that you don't know.
If $50 is your price, stick with it. To people here, the cake is really the important part of a party. To non-cake people, it's not and that $10 might be earmarked for something they feel is more important.
Christy
I am finding that unless you are a cake decorator people have no idea of the amount of planning and hard work that goes into making a cake whether it is family, friends or acquaintances.
I have been told oh I make cakes at home it is no big deal. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa! they beat up a package cake and flop it in a pan take it out the pan and slop canned icing on it and that's there cake. No big deal. We carefully add ingredients to make our cakes taste delicious and we level and torte and many times stack them to make them into a beautiful canvas for our decorating. Then we decorate which takes a lot of time and effort, practice and patience. Oh how I wish we could make them do just one cake in our own kitchen under our watchful eyes and not let them leave until it is totally done and with out a rest period to boot! Maybe then they would appreciate what we do and understand why we charge what we charge.
I have been told your prices are too high 9x13 double layer for $40.00 she got one at Cosco for $30.00 she said he boy likes this one particular cake a lot so she changed her mind and saved $10.00. Oh well I won't come down on my prices no matter what excuse they give. My time is my time and I feel that if they want to eat greasy cake icing they sure can.
Just my opinion.
Kathy
You can't force people to order your product and if you start trying to make friends feel guilty or slam them for not ordering from you then your list of friends will surely shrink. 
I have lots of friends...and a handful order from me. I don't think twice when I go to the party and look at the cake. Just because we are friends doesn't mean I am the only place they can get a cake. Cake is not worth losing a friend over.
You guys are GREAT!!!!!!!!! greasy icing and choking down a cake with my beautiful gift in hand is what I'll apparently be doing this Sat. pray for me! Or, hopefully my other (fantasy) will work out......delivering the AWESOME cake Sat morning before party, and eating good-for-us cake later on! P.s......is $10 above a GROCERY store that out of line you think? For anyone else...carved, torted, etc I was even thinking $60-$65?????? (barbie stand-up cake)TIA
And .. the time too. I have a just for showing off website and i put this whole thing on there about how people ask "what would something like that cost??" and i go on to say how hard it is to recoop your $$ i mean comeon some of these cakes take 15 hours + just in the planning design details- that has nothing to do with ingredients that like you said are not free!! - maybe she does have $ constraints but.. so do you no matter how well off you are it is your time. If you offer to do it fine but...
someone else here suggested when you discount for family- bill straight up and then show discount on the "invoice" all though if you are like me and trying to get legal and saving $$ to get there- you really can't bill.
You have to decide what your time and talent are worth. If people don't want to pay your prices that is their choice.
Selling yourself short is not good business and will hurt you in the long run. It is not only the quality of what you offer that will get around. How you handle yourself on the business end will as well.
Do you not think that people will let it be known that your prices can be compromised?
I understand that lots of people do cakes for the fun of it and profit is not important to them but if you are running a business and are not charging enough to cover your costs and pay for your time you either need to change what you are doing or get out of that business.
I don't know many people who can afford to run a business that loses money constantly.
You can't force people to order your product and if you start trying to make friends feel guilty or slam them for not ordering from you then your list of friends will surely shrink.
I have lots of friends...and a handful order from me. I don't think twice when I go to the party and look at the cake. Just because we are friends doesn't mean I am the only place they can get a cake. Cake is not worth losing a friend over.
Just wanted to clarify, I am only "venting" to you guys because you don't have anything to lose/gain by responding and YOU ALL have had similar instances......this would NEVER break a friendship, or even come close, this same friend just had her son's bday and the same thing happened.....wanted me to do it......then backed out at last minute.....I still went to her sons party and ate nasty cake with a smile It just gets a little un-nerving at times, that's all. I am not offended in anyway by the postings 
, just wanted to clarify I'm not ending any friendships, just thought this would be a good place let out hurt feelings, I doubt she even realizes 
thanks again for the advice 
just wanted to clarify I'm not ending any friendships, just thought this would be a good place let out hurt feelings, I doubt she even realizes thanks again for the advice
Then I'm sure she won't mind when you let it slip how much vodka she consumes every week or the fact that she had to have her house fumigated for rats
Okay, when I go to a party with mutual friends, there is always a guest that asks out loud if I made the cake (before it is served) which makes me feel wonderful. Of course, if it's not mine, I just say no politely and leave it at that. I get alot of satisfaction when I notice their disappointment and I go home with a smile on my face knowing that people were wanting it to be my cake not some assembly line cake from the store.
just wanted to clarify I'm not ending any friendships, just thought this would be a good place let out hurt feelings, I doubt she even realizes thanks again for the advice
Then I'm sure she won't mind when you let it slip how much vodka she consumes every week or the fact that she had to have her house fumigated for rats
Wow, wow, I am just in aww how this turned from one friend saying she is hurt and frustrated about a friend backing out at the last minute for a cake to such a personal attack. 
I think all she was stating is if you didn't want her to make the cake, let her know ahead of time not at the last minute. the reson she was hurt was because you didn't give her the respect to do so.
you can't let yourself get upset because she wants to get the cake cheaper somewhere else. I have had people ask me about cakes, but when they say they can get X for $y somewhere else, I tell them good luck with it. Why would you let this bother you?
THe last couple times someone has asked me about the price of a cake, they thought it was a bit high and told me what they'd like to spend. So, I just told them a few ways to modify it to make it in their price range. For example, one lady wanted the present cake in my pics, so I added up how much it would cost me and doubled it, and quoted her a price for that cake. She told me she had $30 budgeted, so we did a single layer, no fondant except for the bow, etc. Maybe if she wants to spend just $40, you could offer her a modificiation to make it a little easier on you or a little smaller. Just a suggestion!
You can't force people to order your product and if you start trying to make friends feel guilty or slam them for not ordering from you then your list of friends will surely shrink.
I have lots of friends...and a handful order from me. I don't think twice when I go to the party and look at the cake. Just because we are friends doesn't mean I am the only place they can get a cake. Cake is not worth losing a friend over.
Just wanted to clarify, I am only "venting" to you guys because you don't have anything to lose/gain by responding and YOU ALL have had similar instances......this would NEVER break a friendship, or even come close, this same friend just had her son's bday and the same thing happened.....wanted me to do it......then backed out at last minute.....I still went to her sons party and ate nasty cake with a smile
It just gets a little un-nerving at times, that's all. I am not offended in anyway by the postings , just wanted to clarify I'm not ending any friendships, just thought this would be a good place let out hurt feelings, I doubt she even realizes thanks again for the advice
I wasn't trying to say that you were ending a friendship, just stating that it can happen if you let it hurt your feelings every time a friend orders their cake from someone else.
Back to the original question...
No, it wouldn't bother me if it was all about price. Everyone has to decide where the dividing line between cost and quality is. It varies for every budget.
Now, if she said, "I just think Costco makes better cakes than you do," or "Your cakes are really not up to par," or something hurtful like that...yeah - It would bother me. But, if it's just about money - you can't beat yourself up over how people choose to spend their dollars. Some people just don't CARE about quality in baked goods. If that weren't true, all those dismal grocery store bakeries wouldn't exist.
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