Hi all! I searched and did not find a thread that answered this question exactly, but if you know of one please point me in the right direction.

Does anyone post prices of the cakes next to a picture on your website?

We have been getting business from people who saw/ate cakes at a party, but have no idea how much the cake was.

We have a chart on the website and how much per serving but people seem to not read it or maybe they dont understand it?

What are your thoughts? Pros and cons? I think the only reason we arehesitating is that we do not want to get 'stuck' by a customer who sees a cake and then adds on to it, but the price doesnt change.

Does that make sense?

What if you put "prices starting at $4.25 per serving" for example?

I like the idea of prices with cake pics. Maybe instead of just one price you could put "prices starting from $49.99" That would give clients a starting point idea before calling you?

Just my marketing approach...I do not post pricing only because I want that customer to contact me. Once on the phone I hopefully can establish a connection, or not, but typically that one pricing question leads to other questions and the answers may earn the sell.

Good luck!

Beryl Byrd used to post the total price of her cakes next to her gallery photos - she no longer has her shop and her site is no longer active but I know that was her practice. Her business was called Just Fabulous Desserts.

In my opinion, it is wise to post clear prices on a website. At a minimum, one should post price per serving. If I go to a website and there are no prices, I move onto the next site. No point in calling and spending time only to find out the prices are out of my range. And, if I have a budget, it doesn't matter how much I like the person I speak to. It all comes down to what I can and can't afford. So, that's from a consumer's prospective.

I would think the baker would also not care to waste time getting calls from people who want cakes WAY under what theirs cost. It seems it'd just save everyone involved time and energy to post prices IMHO.

I totally agree with this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadak

In my opinion, it is wise to post clear prices on a website. At a minimum, one should post price per serving. If I go to a website and there are no prices, I move onto the next site. No point in calling and spending time only to find out the prices are out of my range. And, if I have a budget, it doesn't matter how much I like the person I speak to. It all comes down to what I can and can't afford. So, that's from a consumer's prospective.

I would think the baker would also not care to waste time getting calls from people who want cakes WAY under what theirs cost. It seems it'd just save everyone involved time and energy to post prices IMHO.

I post lots of info on prices on my web site.

I think it helps people decide in advance what their target price may be. I am going to post some more detailed pricing as soon as I can get to it.

I think so many people see the tiered cakes on the food network and think that would be great to do but are shocked that it is not a 40.00 cake.

You can check my website nad see what I mean.

I do have starting prices and things like that, but I dont price each cake. It is too much work to go back and change the prices when we have a price change...

also, whether you have a price per cake listed, price per serving, or cakes start at pricing, people are still gonna call and ask "How much?" they either don't understand, didn't look, or don't cake to do the math. personally, I think pricing is helpful. I've had many clients tell me they wanted to know up front what they were gonna be paying. others, money is no object, so they don't look at the pricing page anyway!

Here is my pricing page!

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/cakeprices.htm


Thanks to a bunch of ladies that helped me on CC to revamp it.......I don't have prices next to EACH photo in my galleries because it would be impossible to change them when prices change since I have HUNDREDS of photos........However.......in my price list I do have a photo next to each price to show an example of what that price covers.

HTH

I think it can be a real debate with yourself on whether or not you put your prices up or not. I agree with an earlier poster when they said it can help weed out people who call and waste the bakers time when they go through the motions of describing what they want and everything and then you shoot them a price and then they decide that it's too high. Let them find out before they even call! lol I do have this to say though.......I have very very many people in my area that are not licensed who do cakes, and I think they would love to know my prices, or use that list to their advantage, and I have debated back and forth on putting up a price list because I think they would try to undercut my prices every chance they could get. As of now, evertime I turn around I'm hearing that I'm more expensive than everyone else. I've gotten the last three wedding orders that I've had consultations with, but have been told that of course by the bride, I was much more expensive that the other bakers she went to. Or maybe, I'm afraid to post my prices, in fear that if I do, then no one will call! lol And for the record, my prices are not that expensive. An average wedding cake for me is between $600-$800 for a 200-250 serving cake. OH well.....just rambling now! lol Anyway.....just wanted to say that I can see both sides....

I just wanted to say that I had a consultation today and they said that it really helped and they loved the fact that I had prices on my website.

I agree with Jadak..I too have prices listed..Not on all pictures but a basic guideline.I don't want people calling me and trying to dicker with my price.Cakes that are more state they are more depending on size and embelllishments added...Here it is... if you want to continue from there....we'll talk further.I as a consumer...am exactly the same..If I go to a site and see something I want to buy and there is no prices listed..I move on..

I have very basic pricing info on my website.

Firstly, as someone pointed out, it's helpful to give prospective customers a ball-park figure (so they know that if it's waaay over their budget, there's no point in wasting time for either of us).

However, I don't want to give away too much info to competitors.

And, if I price each cake, I'd then have to remember in, say, a year or two, to update every single picture on my website if I have an increase in prices!

when I first started selling cakes 2 yrs. ago my "competition" was selling theirs for $1.25/serv. for tiered cakes.....I started at $1.50 and quickly upped my price and now I charge $2.25/serv. and was just told "you're much lower priced compared to other people we've looked at" so I upped the bar and the others followed.....and now that I'm told I'm low......guess what.......I"m raising them again! I planned to anyhow, but that just sealed it for me!

Thank you all so much! This has really helped us decide. I think we are so small now that we can put the prices up next to the pictures. The pricing is on our pricing page so keeping it from the competition is not really an issue.

Actually CC has helped me have a very 'community' attitude about local business competition. You all are so wonderful it has made me reach out to other cakers in the area. There have always been cake designers in our town and always will be. Sometimes, people will like our designs & they won't. I am taking the attitude that there is room for all of us in town. Peace, love & cake, right? LOL!

Again, you all are the best! Thank you!

I don't put pricing on my website, and it hasn't hurt my business at all. When you're doing custom work it's too difficult to price things individually. I also don't price per serving, I have a per-cake price structure. Here's my blog entry on that topic, which is linked to my website and gets a ton of hits on the blog: http://acaketorememberva.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-i-price-my-wedding-cakes.html