How many of us have had people haggle with the price quoted for a cake? Surprisingly enough, in the year that I've been decorating, this is the first time it's happened. And it's over $5.25!!!!! I quoted someone $45.25 today for a gift box cake, including delivery, and she lives approximately 25 minutes from me. She's a repeat customer for me (repeat as in a cake a month for the last three months). She lives in the most expensive area of town, she and her husband drive Mercedes SUVs, blah, blah. When I quoted the price she said she wanted to keep it around $40 so she could buy a nice gift too. We're talking about $5.25 here?!

Tell her the cake is $40, but delivery is $5.25.

Is there some sort of detail that you could leave off in order to make it a $40 cake? It is likely that she will decide to go ahead with the full price to get what she wants. If she is going to be a repeat customer I'm sure you would hate for that to become a habit with her.

Stand your ground. She wouldn't haggle at the grocery store over a cake.

If she is soo concerned about $5.25, then tell her you'll do it for $40 but she is going to have to pick it up herself - absolutely NO DELIVERY for that price. Just imagine how much money you'll save on gas - lol.

For $40, she would have to pick it up herself. Gas prices in my area now is an average of $3.21/gallon. A 25 minute drive round trip would cost her more than that.

Give her the option of picking it up. If not, then walk away, unless you really need the $40. To give you an idea, I charge a minimum of $90 to $100 for any "shaped" cake.

She's paying the $45.25. . . she quickly agreed when I told her I couldn't do it for less. I knew she would, I was just irritated she would even ask to lower the price!

good for you, stick to your guns!

Same thing happened to me on a $35 cake, and the gal pulled up in a PORSCHE SUV!!!! Give me a break!

The highest paying cake I've made is a "mad hatter" cake. The woman did not let me know until less than a week before AND never mailed her deposit to me. When I told her I'd do it for $3 a serving (after calling local bakeries who would have charged $6-$7 a serving), she tried to haggle me down to $2 a serving, saying "it didn't really look that hard."

Yeah, I got a good laugh out of THAT. And to top it all off, when I insisted she bring me her deposit before I could start on the cake, she drove up to meet me in a silver Mercedes...rolled her window down, handed me a wad of cash, and drove off. I felt like I was involved in a bad drug deal, or something. Sheesh!

indydebi

That's when you tell them, "Aisle 8 at Walmart .... help yourself!"

(for the uninitiated, Aisle 8 is the cake mix and icing aisle.)


that's funny to me because walmart is my second home and i knew what aisle you were talking about

I have seen some topics the last few nights. About rude people, rude kids, and just rude behavior in general.

Man It's getting me rilled up....

I am so glad you stuck to your price.
If this is a repeat customer she was just acting like a little kid testing the boudaries, so next time she can do it again. Just because she's a repeat customer does not give her the right to haggle!
You did a great job of "acting like a parent and saying no, this is the price and that's that."

MAN!! I dislike rude people so much and childish misbehavior from adults.

Good for you ksimp6577 , and it was over $5.25 At least now she knows you'll stick to your cake, just wait for her next order. You might have to be a "Strick Mommy again and say N.O. NO again!!"

Like I wrote in another post, we are parent, teachers and guardians for our children, we love, teach and keep them safe. It's hard work but the rewards are endless
Too bad, we have to do this to adults too!

Good Luck next month!

tell her to go to Walmart....and don't waste your time on her anymore. Better yet, tell here to try and make one. People that don't do anything are the first to complain.

So she is going to buy this person a gift for $5.25???

I'm glad you stuck to your price too! Maybe she was "testing" the waters to see if she could negotiate it lower. Now she knows you're firm on your quotes. Man, $5.25 for delivery!! She wouldn't like my delivery fee...I charge $35 for the first 10 miles and $1.00 per mile after that based on oneway mileage.

Jacqui

The only haggling I really deal with is if a cake goes over someone's budget we might try to adjust the serving number or simplify the design to make it the price they want.

However we don't haggle over a specific cake....they either get the cake for the price, or they choose a simpler or smaller design for less.

I use to think, why do rich people try to swindle down someone who works hard for their money. Then it dawned on me, that could be why they have all that money, they never pay full price for anything and they usually don't have good taste. (oops, did I let that slip?) My husband does art finishes for a very wealthy lady and she haggles everybody down on everything. My husband usually tells her if she can do it cheaper, then go ahead. She is paying him for his talent, one of a kind, not mass producing.