Morning all,

So, this is something I've been toying about for a long time now...whether or not I put prices of each cake on my website.  At the moment, I have a wedding cakes start from 'xxx' and cupcakes from xxx but nothing to suggest the price for the cakes in my gallary.  I am curious what you all do?  I know some have 'from' prices for each design, some don't...what do you think the pros/cons are?

I resisted it because I didn't want people thinking the cost they paid for their cake could be made public and I was worried it could become a noose around my neck.  But, on the flip side, it would save me a massive amount of time in quick quotes ('how much does this cake on your website cost??') and hopefully weed out some of the people who don't have the budget.  We always complain about the unrealistic expectations people have about cakes...maybe this kindof policy would help educate them a bit?  What do you all think?

xx

Ya...tricky topic. I think it's good to have a minimum price indicated somewhere so all the bottom feeders are put off straight away. Something like "Basic cakes start at..." or "Minimum order of...required". I don't have prices since I never do a cake twice. Every single one is custom designed and then there is also the issue with different sizes, fillings, frosting, fondant yes/no etc etc. That being said...I live in a small community. People know my prices aren't low and whoever calls isn't on a budget. They don't care how much they pay. Well, sometimes I get a call from someone being referred to me and IS on a budget. But that's normally quite a quick call since their first or second sentence is "how much...". Happens ones in a blue moon that somebody can't pay my price. But like I said...that's my personal side of the story. If you DO the same type of cake on a regular basis you could indicate just those. Like a simple anniversary or graduation cake. Or say wedding cakes with buttercream X tiers, no deco start at X per serving...

I wouldn't put exact pricing, because someone will come in and want a cake with the same design but twice as big and get really mad that you won't give it to them for that price. It doesn't matter if you specify how many servings that specific cake is, people don't read things.

I put a starting price and my minimum, and I still get people emailing me saying "I saw that your minimum order is $500 and that will cover around 80 servings. How much would a cake for 25 be?" Uh, $500, but it doesn't register that a minimum is a minimum. Putting a specific price on a cake would lead to too many uncomfortable conversations explaining pricing anyway.

Years ago I had something like "The average price of a cake for 100 guests is around $400" or something like that on my site. One girl came in and wanted a larger cake with elaborate detail and when I told her the price she said "But it says $400 on your website!" Same thing, people don't read.

Yeah, no matter what you put, some people won't get it.  I have a starting price per serving and then I have a minimum order of 24 servings (8" cake) and I haven't had any issues with that.

I wouldn't put what someone else paid for a cake.  Some clients may not appreciate that.

Compromise? Maybe write a caption like..." 3 tier lemon cake, raspberry filling, buttercream iced- serves 125 as shown".  The customer could go back to a pricing page  and see that buttercream cakes are $4.00 serving with fruit filling.

Can't "fix" the plain stupid who can't do basic math though.