I've decided to start selling decorated cookies and did some research on pricing, which isnt so much the issue as to my decision to only take minimum orders of 2 doz. because I bake from my kitchen. I've decided to sell my cookies for 1.25 each (for now at least) Picture in my photos. I figure it wouldnt be worth my time to turn my oven on just to make 12 cookies for 15.00. My question is, is it unreasonable to set my min. order at 2 dozen? I got an E-mail for a cookie order (my first) a few days ago but after telling her the price and the minimum order, did not hear from her again.
I don't think it is wrong to have a min order at all, people do it in cake orders all the time. Especially when you still have to bake a full batch of cookies, even if they only want three. So in the long run you would be losing money on it.
It could be that they wanted Walmart prices and weren't expecting it to be that much, rather than you are charging too much.
I don't think there is a problem with a minimum but you might want to look into your pricing. I think $1.50 is really low. Mine start at $2.00 and go up from there depending on the design and number of colors. Just a thought.
I'd do a dozen and time it before you settle on $1.25 each. That seems low. Once you see how long it really takes you'll probably want to raise that price. Compare that to the price of the stale cookies they sell at the national franchise that has "cookies" and "bouquets" in the name. They charge a lot more for those than $1.25, and they definitely don't bake them fresh! Also, are you planning on wrapping them or would it just be the cookies in a box? If you're going to add bags and ribbons or twist ties, you should definitely charge more.
That pricing does seem really low. Cookies are pricey. There's a lot involved...making dough, rolling it out, cutting the shapes, baking them off, icing them by hand with multiple colours, cellophane bag/ribbon/tag packaging & box for transport to client.
I wouldn't go less than $1/inch, which is a pretty common pricing range. If there's more detail/colours/personalization/packaging...I'd go up from there.
As for the minimum of 24 per order....that's totally reasonable. You should state very clearly that it's 2 dozen of the SAME shape/colour of cookie. (I've had confused people order 3 dogs, 2 giraffes, 8 elephants, 7 fish & 4 lions....thinking I meant that they had to order at least 24 cookies! That wasn't what it meant....that's even more work!) 
I've been following this thread for a bit and I now know that my price for decorated cookies is too low. Grant it...my cookie skills are still developing but I agree that cookie making is a lot of work. My cookies start at $1.75/cookie. When you say X dollars/inch, is that from its longest or widest point?
I've been following this thread for a bit and I now know that my price for decorated cookies is too low. Grant it...my cookie skills are still developing but I agree that cookie making is a lot of work. My cookies start at $1.75/cookie. When you say X dollars/inch, is that from its longest or widest point?
Yes, I estimate like dkelly does.
Sometimes it's a thin cookie and there's not much area....other times it's a long/wide cookie and you have to account for that. It's also about the detailing you put into them and how many colours you use. It all adds up. Write a name or inscription on it? That should be 25-50 cents extra too. The more ornate, the higher the price. It shouldn't be any different than what you'd pay yourself to decorate cakes per hour, right? 
Thank you for your advice. I'm also going to rethink my prices.
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