girltrapped-

When I deliver this cake, I am going to inform her that I lost money on it and that I won't be able to do something like it for that price again. Also, I'm going to call her and let her know that it will be her resposibility to get the tiara for the topper as for $35 I just can't include that!!

I so appreicate everyone's stories, opinions and encouragement!!

christeena,
I am assuming this is the first order from this customer - correct? If so, than to keep your reputation and self respect I would do something that was suggested on another thread.

I would not tell her you lost money on it. It sounds like poor business management. And you did agree on the price.

When your client comes to pick up her cake make sure you give her the bill will the full amount marked on it along with your discount percent and lowered final price. Let her know you are doing this as a onetime special for her since this was her first cake and the next time your cake will be full price.

You save face, the client saves face and both will feel better about the transaction and your client can not tell everyone she knows how she dickered you down on price!

Expensive lesson learned, but we have all been there. "I actually once had someone state, I heard you a quite the little baker." I should have run for the hills, because it ended up the cake I hated the most! Little baker - - - egad.

As I have stated on other threads, when someone comes to me for a cake, the first thing out of my mouth now is "I am very expensive." and usually they say and you are worth it.....

tiptop57 -

Love it!! I'll do that invoice like you suggested!! Thanks, for the advice!!

Christeena,

I feel for you. I always seem to under price my chakes. Especially for family. I have done cakes that could have been priced $500 + for free. Thinking this would be my present to them. I turned out to be huge pain. The bride even wanted me to make one of the tiers "diabetic" for one of the bridesmaids. I never even got a thank you.

I agree with tiptop57. I also would make her come to you and pick up the cake. You are already loosing $$ don't put more into it by using your own gas.

Good luck!
Julisa

My mom has a friend who makes cakes. She charges way too little and since I know how much it costs to make cakes, I know she is probably not even covering her expenses. When my mom asked her how much she was charging another friend of theirs to make her wedding cake she told my mom that she was doing for free as her gift to the bride. My mom told her "so if you were going to buy her a gift, you'd spend $400 to $500?" Of couse she said she wouldn't but I think it's making her think about it differently. Even if she goes by the cost to make it, I'm sure it would come in at around $100 in ingredients and supplies. And throw in all the time she will spend on making it instead of a paying customer. She's well into a few hundred dollars. Just offering food for thought.

It is SOOOOO refreshing to read this post. I, too, struggle with pricing issues. When I first got started a few months ago, I was bringing in cakes to my co-workers to sample and to spark interest. Then, when I felt confident enough to charge for my work, I ran a "special" -- 1/2 off any order (regardless of when needed) for a couple of months. Well, the couple of months will be over on October 31st, and the orders are pouring in to get the "discount." I feel stupid that I did this in the first place -- some people have ordered 4 or 5 cakes for the cheaper price -- and I'm afraid I've bought all of these supplies for these orders and once I go back to "regular" price, I won't have any more customers.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to struggle with this issue. Thanks for all the support everyone gives each other. I need to remember -- I'm an artist and produce very nice work -- and there's nothing wrong with charging what I want to charge.

I agree with the invoice idea. I recently did a cake WAY cheaper than I wanted to. It was one of dh's coworkers that he's pretty good friends with. She had asked him a while ago about wanting me to make a cake for her cousin and how much did I charge. I think my husband said something like $25 and I about killed him. I said "why would you quote a price without asking me first or even knowing anything about how many people or what kind of cake." She apparently wanted to get a cake from me because her family (extended) always gets grocery store cakes and she wanted to show them something better.

When she called what I found out was that the cake budget was 50 and they wanted a cake for 40 people and they wanted a cream type filling. I paused for a few seconds thinking GREAT it's a coworker hubby likes, but that's not much for a cake that size. I ended up telling her I would do it, but told her I normally charge much more for that size cake.

I have a feeling that she (or her family) didn't want to pay that much for a cake, but she felt obligated to use me since she'd asked dh. DH and I never heard from her what they thought of the cake. I know it was delicious, I had scraps left over. I did get a chance to play with fondant and the play-doh fun factory and the fondant letter cut-outs. I also told dh not to ever quote someone a price without asking me first! So, I consider it a learning experience. I so wanted to back out of doing the cake, but I feel that once I commit, then I need to stick with it. If I didn't want to do it, I should have just said no and felt okay about it!

tiptop57, that is SO savvy! When I undercut myself I always put the 'actual' price on the bill and then mark it as "discount", that way they know not to expect this every time. Sometimes when they see the real price they are shocked at how much of a discount they got.

Along the lines of 'gift' cakes... I did my MIL's cake for her wedding as a 'gift', even though they had requested no gifts. I felt it was the right thing to do, and everyone was so impressed! (In my pix titled "White Wedding"... several hundred dollars worth of free cake!!) When my SIL got engaged the first thing she asked was if I would do her cake (Followed by "Oh, and of course you'll be a bridesmaid!!" She was one of mine!) I happily agreed, and to avoid any confusion I added right away, "And of course you will get a discount because you are my SIL. I wouldn't dream of charging you FULL price!" That worked like a dream. I did it very inexpensively, but covered my basic costs, and she got a great deal so we were all happy! (In my pix, 3 tiered w/baseball theme groom's cake) Just had to share my experience with that. But don't get me started on undercharging when you shouldn't... I am the queen... the flannel cake for $40??? What the #$^%@!!!!???

Oh, Melvira, you didn't??? OMG, I know what a HUGE deal that flannel cake was for you and you only got $40!
I feel your pain! I know you did it for family but I would have felt so guilty if I had only handed you $40! I love that flannel cake and it would be a great cake for my FIL but after reading your experieince with it, i don't think I'm BRAVE enough!!

Well, I am designing a brochure right now, and the outside is completely finished. I am procrastinating big time on the inside, because it will contain a list of base prices. I am only putting prices because I feel it will be easier when people call because they will already know what I charge. I have been selling myself short too. It's time to stop. I work at a grocery store bakery and I didn't realize until I started working there that I was actually only a few dollars above them. Thanks for the boost I needed to WAKE UP!!

gee...this same thing happened to me just today...

a customer came in starting telling about a stacked cake she wanted for a baby shower...

she pointed to one of the dummies...something this size , but blue with polka dots...

"ok, but that size is over 100.00, is that ok?"

i think she about swallowed her gum....she was wanting to spend 35.00!

ha ha ha ha what is it with these cheapskates and 35 bucks?...is that thier magic #?

well she still made an order...2 double layer 8 inch rounds is what she got for the budget she gave me to work with....

not what she had "pictured in her mind"...but if ya can't pay...you don't get.

Melvira- i know hated to give that cake up!! Did you have to go eat some chocolate after handing over???

I've done cakes too, where I hated to see them go. We put so much of ourselves into them - it's like giving birth and then handing them over to complete strangers! Sometimes, I think I've lost it in the cake decorating realm!!

I am so glad that I have read this forum. I am a beginner decorator, though I have made cakes for 5 other people. One of the cakes I made, was a spongebob cake. It was for a friend of a friend of mine. Someone else was supposed to do her cake for her, however said no at the least minute, so my friend said do you want to do it? She paid for all the ingrediants, and I did all the work. The only thing that bothered me about the situation is that I had to come out of pocket for delivery. Its was 20.00, and it may not seem like much to some, but it was for me at that time. I felt that transportation should have been provided for me, since I was doing a huge favor! The only time I do free cakes - I haven't had a paying customer since I just started - is as gifts and for my daughter. Since I was working as a temp, I would do cakes and give them as gifts instead of purchasing the gifts. This allowed others to see my work, and it gave me an opportunity to practice. Some would say, why not charge - but I didnt buy the gift.

Since I want to be a peoples baker making cakes for all budgets, I have had to do alot of research. I have created a profile of cakes and the cost of other bakers and the average price of cakes. So for instance, if Costco's do sheetcakes for 17.00, I would offer 1/4 sheetcakes for 20.00, however saying that other bakers charge 35.00 for their sheetcakes and the difference between mines and Costco's is the quality.

I have learned from research to just have a starting set price. All fondant cakes start at 3.00 buttercream at 2.00. General fillings are X amount and for more gourmet it will be an additional XX.XX.

I live in NYC and I can tell you the prices are high, even in my local neighborhood.

So far this is my idea...what do you think?

Also, I am going in the direction of socially responsible as well...

Maescakes... sounds like you have the beginnings of an excellent business plan going! You seem to have done some research and know what you're talking about. That is so wonderful! So many of us just jumped in and didn't even think about price until someone said, "What do I owe you." (Deer in headlights look...) "Um... I guess... how does twenty sound?" (You know you undersold yourself when they cackle greedily while handing you the cash and then literally RUNNING away with the cake!)

Yes, I hated to let that cake go... I really got attached to it. The good news was that is went to good parents. They actually showed great excitement when they saw it... that makes it worth it! If they hadn't, I might've just run with it!