I got a phone call yesterday and the lady said I need 7 dozen cookies by tommarrow....I already had some sugar cookies I had to decorate. So I said "yes" I can do it..... She basicly told me she expected to pay $3.00 a dozen....I said I have never charged for chocolate chip walnut cookies before so I would have to get back with her.....she said don't worry about it.

Anyway I charge $10.00 an hour plus the cost of my ingredients...... So I charged her $49.00.....she was NOT!! Happy about it;-(. My question do u all think I charged to much????? Cause I am feeling bad.....I even packaged them very pretty.....and were talking about Walnut's they aren't cheap when you have 7 dozen to do. I hope I get some feedback from all u wonderful ladies. Cakegirl31

I'd say she got one heck of a deal. For undecorated cookies I generally charge 50 cents each and for decorated it's anywhere from $1-$2.50 per cookie depending on intricacy. Of course the pricing includes nice packaging as well.

The problem with the world today is the economy sucks so everyone is pinching pennies and most people don't really understand how much work it is to do that. I would advise her you could tack on a $20 short notice charge Afterall, she did give just two days notice for 7 dozen cookies!

I don't do that kind of cookies .. but I really don't think you charged too much ! And I think I would have charged more because it was a very last minute order.. lol

My cookies are pretty big (generally use a 1/3 cup scoop) and I charge $15 per doz.

I don't think $7 a dozen for good cookies is bad. Considering if I buy a box of Pepperidge farm cookies they are about $3 or $4 a box and there about 12 in each container and those are not homemade or special ordered. And at a fancy bakery you would never be able to buy 1 cookie for less than a $1.

Don't feel bad at all. In the past I have purchased cookies from the bakery and for 7 dozens of chocolate walnut, she would have paid alot more. She could have been charged anywhere from $2 or more for individual cookies like that at the local bakery.

I say it sounds like she robbed you. Who gets to order 7 doz. cookies the day before at that price and they don't have to pay a rush fee.

I agree with everyone here. I don't think that was a lot of money for 7 dozen and at the last minute PLUS nice packaging. The next time this woman needs cookies, i would tell her to shop around and see what everyone else is charging so that she can get an idea of how much to expect to pay.

OMG she got one heck of a deal! It sounds like at that price, you iddn't even charge for labor. I made some sugar cookies (Zebra print in my photos) and charged I think it was about $35 for a dozen.

I think your price was WAY more than fair. Just because she thought it should be less doesn't make her right. Do you know how much it cost you to make them? I'm sure you didn't make much. My chocolate chip cookies cost pretty penny to make... so I know I'd be charging much more than you did.

Thank you all for the quick response....I even delivered the cookies....now I am feeling a little bit irrated.... I wanted to charge her more but other people were like $65.00 for cookies is way to much....I also had to make a speacial trip to the supermarket too It is really discouraging me at this point....I almost feel like saying why bother....I get so tired of everyone making me feel like my prices are to much.....I live in a small town but almost all my buisness has been through Hillsdale College were everyone still has pretty good jobs..my husband works there also so I know this for a fact... I kind of figured she thought she was going to get them for next to nothing. Ok sorry for ranting thanks again for responding so quickly. Cakegirl31

Did she know what the price was going to be? Before she purchased them? Because it sounds to me like maybe you just gave her the total at the end. But I could be totally wrong here.

Perhaps she wouldn't have ordered if she had known the total? But seriously, you didn't charge enough! As you said, walnuts aren't cheap. And I know you had to spend hours baking them. Plus the packaging!

And always remember... DO NOT turn on your oven before the customer knows what she is paying!

I'm pretty sure people think that because they are ordering last minute they get a chance to pay half price. which is what she got... I think if people can pay $13/lb for cookies, than what you charged was really fair.

There is a little Bakery in our village Pretty rural farm country) and they charge $24 a dozen for both cookies and muffins.

Wow- that is super cheap. I charge $24 a dozen for my basic choc. chip. They are large (I use the pampered chef 2inch scoop).

An order of 7 dozen cookies with cranberries and walnuts) would easily be over $288(more with delivery and walnut and cranberry costs).

Plus the last minute charge.

I made a cookie arrangement for a friend .... 25 cookies. Her company was paying for it so she didn't care about cost. But she told me everyone loved them until she told them how much it cost. I told her, "Then they would REALLY be shocked if they went to C by D because my prices are 25% LESS than their's." Her eyes bugged out in surprise.

They just don't know.

And yeah, the "christmas clearance" mentality is a good one. Of course, that's assuming you have these cookies laying around, getting stale, and HOPING someone comes by to take them off of your hands. QUITE different from "oh please make me a rush special order at the last minute!" deal.

That's exactly why i said before that people should go out there and check out the various price ranges for what they would like to order. Then when they come back to you, they'll be happy with the money they're saving!

There is a local candy store that sells decorated cookies and bouquets. While i don't advertise, there are some who call on me to prepare bouquets or cookies. There was one lady who got my number from my sister, who wanted to order cookie favors for her daughter's wedding. WHen i quoted her a price, i could hear the shock in her voice and she actually said she wasn't planning on spending that much. I gave her the number for the local store to ask what they would charge and would you believe it was $2 more per cookie? And mine would've been personalized with the couple's names as opposed to their generic wedding cookies.
Needless to say, she ordered from me.

well, just to disagree here, if she told you right up front that she only wanted to pay $3 per dozen you should have sent her right on over to walmarts.

Sorry i don't think you over charged and i do think she got a deal especially with delivery included, but i do think from her perspective that she only wanted to spend $21 for the order when it was more then double she should have been told ahead of time so that she could make the decision on whether or not to purchase.

Whenever i read a thread along these lines i always think -

The reason they are coming to you (for their order) is because they do not make them themselves - and they really have no clue as to the time and ingrediants it takes to *whip* them up.


Don't be peturbed by her - after all its not like you were sitting at your kitchen bench tapping your fingers waiting for her to ring - i am sure you had 100 other things you could of been doing.

Again, stand by your prices that you set - otherwise by lowering them you don't set yourself apart from the boring ole store packaged ones.

It is another version of *tough love*
WE HAVE TO BE TOUGH TO DO WHAT WE LOVE.... with a smile of course.

Bluehue

You didn't charge too much, but should have called her with the price so she could have made other arrangements if she didn't want to pay that price.

If someone told me when I picked something up they expected me to pay $49 instead of about $21; I would say 'I don't want them at that price, have a nice day' and exit. Even if I would have paid that price, I would feel I was 'bait and switched.'

i've had people get sticker shock over the price of my cookies and i only do decorated cutout cookies and i've even had another businesswoman tell me i STILL wasn't charging enough! i've learned that my time is worth more money, my work is custom and there will be people who want that. anyway, live and learn-charge a rush fee at the very least i guess

I see where she's coming from. $2 a cookie sounds like a lot. Especially if you compare to a grocery store. But that's why she contacted you and didn't go to a store. Because you do better work, better packaging, etc. So while I understand the sticker shock, she just needs to understand what went into it. And only $10 for labor is a little nuts. That's probably $3/hr. Please point that out to her as well.

The lesson learned here is to never start on any order until a price has been negotiated and finalized. That avoids any unnecessary surprises on both sides.

I wondered about my prices on my dessert cookies, as well. These are the "normal" type cookies I do aside from my photo cookies, but not normal flavors. Anyway, I was at the mall and there is a Mrs. Feilds there. I have bought cookies there before, individual ones, without batting an eye, then I added up 1 dozen at that price and realized they were twice as much as mine! Of course, I am not paying premium on rent at a mall, but still, I don't think your price figure is too high at all.
I got stuck one time like that, too. I made a custom cake topper for a wedding cake and the bride told me exactly what she wanted. She spent over $1000 on her cake (I worked at the bakery, didn't get to pocket that ) So anyway, after all the fondant sculpting and painting, and about 5 hours of work, I collaborated with some people to come up with the price of $250 for the topper, which she would have never found anywhere else. Her husband didn't blink when he came to pick it all up and wrote me out a check, but she threw an absolute fit about it. I had to get my manager involved since the topper was a side job, but we got it worked out. She just didn't understand the custom work she asked for.

I agree. I don't think anyone really likes to be surprised. I recently dropped off an article of clothing at the tailor to be fixed. I told her i didn't want to pay more than it would cost to buy a new one, but she said she'd take care of it. When i went to pick it up, i was completely shocked at what i was being charged (and unprepared as well). I could've gone to the store and bought 3 of the same for the price she was charging to fix one. She explained how much work was involved and i'm sure it took her a long time to do, but the bottom line was that i didn't expect to pay so much.
Bottom line, i should've been very clear with the amount i was expecting to pay and if she felt she couldn't do it at that price, then she would've said so.

No matter what is being bought, people have an idea of how much they're prepared to pay for items. That's why it's beneficial to be clear with the price you are charging so that no one gets surprised in the end.