hey I'm starting a cupcake catering business and I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out what to price each cupcake at, as far as basic to extravagant??? any ideas or places I can look at? 

You could Google bakeries in your town, most have their menus and prices on their websites.

.......or..... you could do your homework properly and cost out your product/overhead, etc, down to the penny, like any proper and successful business.

good answer, pastrybaglady -- it's always wise to know your competition and what the traffic will bear -- learoe is doing her homework properly already because she's asking experts and getting great advice

What I am against is calling bakeries with a "How much would you charge for...".  Let's not annoy our fellow bakers during their work hours unless you intend to order a cake.

Do we have any eyeroll smilies?

I also do find this a bit difficult but I just make sure that I calculate the price for 1 cupcake and than put the price on it for what I earn myself. So the ingredient cost and my payment. Than I do that times the amount of cupcakes. Cost a bit of time but I think it's best to know what you pay and get.

You need to know the going rate for your area and you need to know your own costs as well as how many people are selling the same product in your area to know if it's even a worthwhile thing to try and sell cupcakes where you are.

Sell by the dozen, if you do by the each, you will kill yourself and will be hard to make a profit with labor costs.  When making cupcakes, stick with a pattern, maybe 2 or 3 different designs.  Ex.  I made a Channel Handbag (white quilt) and make coordinating cupcakes to go with it (about 40 cupcakes).  Well, there were about 10 or 12 different designs, some had fondant toppers with the cc logo, then i made some chocolates in the shape of handbags & high heels, some were coated in 3mm white sugar pearls, etc.  Needless to say, you learn from your mistakes, waaaaaayyyy to time consuming, so have a plan, pick a pattern, and stick with it.

When doing your pricing, use this as a guideline (and you have to factor, baking cups and cupcake boxes too!) Do something like $1.50 per cupcake or $18 per dozen for Buttercream Cupcakes (that will be your basic), basic with fondant toppers $2.00 per cupcake or $24 per dozen, customized cupcakes (here you get into anything that is personalized and time consuming and you can just stated either $2.50 or $30 a dozen or you price them per customized order.  But I think you can stand in that ballpark.  However, you do really need to cost out all your ingredients.  And don't forget labor, typical home bakers & professionals charge anywhere from $10 to $15 per hour for just their time.

Hope this helps

Don't forget to include the cost of overhead, such as license fees, health inspection costs, liability insurance, advertising, etc.

Hello everyone thank you all for the input! I would like everyone who has helped me to understand I have already priced most everything I was just trying to get a clearer idea as far as if my pricing was a good price without letting everyone know what I priced them at already and how I should set up my pricing. As far as Basic cupcakes to extravagant, filled, not filled, decorations, time, also I would like to set something up where people can actually have me do the displays for them and that would all be a package type deal. I live in a smaller but semi wealthy town, surprisingly there aren't any cupcake shops around town let alone very many bakeries and I've even talked to most bakeries and they say they won't even do cupcakes because they are to time consuming for them. however they did say they would sell my cupcakes. I have talked to quite a few locals who think doing cupcakes in my town would be a great idea! The reason I am asking for help is basically I would be setting the market for cupcakes and I've looked at many different bakeries online and they have ranged anywhere from 2.50 a piece to around 4.50 a piece. So I guess my trouble is figuring out what people will go for around this area. Also I have already set the standard I will not sell anything less than half a dozen. Here are the prices I came up with: 2.50 for a basic regular, and 3.50 for a "gourmet" cupcakes which I consider filled or anything else more extravagant. Another question for everyone; where can I get the best packaging online for the fairest price?