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Author Topic: Selling Yourself Short?  (Read 21626 times)

Offline JP

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Selling Yourself Short?
« on: January 19, 2009, 09:25:30 pm »
I went in to the feed store on Saturday and there was honey on the counter. 1 LBers were $3.25 and $9.25 for 40oz. I told the owner these prices were very cheap for a local beekeeper's honey. He said that's what everyone's been telling him.


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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2009, 09:32:33 pm »
Sometimes deciding a on price can be tricky.  What some may think is exhorbitant others will consider fair value, what some considered underpriced others will consider expensive.  What a rural person will pay is not the same as what a city slicker will pay.  My take: decide on what is believed to be a reasonable price, if it sells well, bump it up.  When it gets to the point it doesn't sell or sells very little drop the price back to the previous price and you have it set for your market.
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Offline JP

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2009, 09:34:48 pm »
Forgot to mention this was in Ms.


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Offline HAB

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2009, 09:53:11 pm »
Forgot to mention this was in Ms.


...JP

Guess that explains it!! :) :) :)

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2009, 09:58:10 pm »
I've been saying for years I'm surprised some just don't give it away. Afterall, I see beekeepers providing free pollination all the time. Oh wait, let me change this. I have seen beekeepers afterall give their honey away, in exchange for a honey site, conveniently located and in conjunction with pollinating that farmers field. I guess there really is nothing for "free",...... some get paid for it also.   :-D

I agree...the honey is too cheap!

And before someone claims that not all beekeepers get ABJ or Bee Culture, I'll admit that point. But for anyone willing to do a sliver of market research, they conveniently list all the regions and the prices as reported by a good number of beekeepers. In the January report, the low for a 1 pound container was $3.91 for retail, and the top was $6.19 for retail. So to put this into reality, this beekeeper is actually selling below every reporting beekeeper across the country. There is actually not ONE beekeeper selling this low. NOT ONE!

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Offline Natalie

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2009, 10:31:31 pm »
I wonder how much he is paying for his jars on top of that.

Offline iddee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2009, 10:49:12 pm »
>>>>In the January report, the low for a 1 pound container was $3.91 for retail, and the top was $6.19 for retail.<<<<

Seems to me like the researchers didn't check in MS., or they would have found the same honey JP did. I wonder how many other low priced areas they missed.

With a little variance, it is selling for 5.00 a pint and 10.00 a quart in this area.
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Offline drobbins

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2009, 11:33:19 pm »
I'm getting $6.00 for a pint with no trouble but that's in a glass mason jar that costs about $0.75

Dave

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2009, 11:36:13 pm »
So let me get this straight....all beekeepers are selling their honey in Mississippi for prices around 3.25 a pound, as JP found. But JP also acknowledged the store owner said that everyone stated the prices were too low.

Let's see....the consumer buying public states the honey is too low. And the beekeepers are selling it at what could only be suggested as "at loss" prices.

I know some in Mississippi are slow. Some are downright stupid. But there must be someone able to connect dots when the buying consumers all agree that the honey is being sold way below what anyone expects to pay.

As for this pint and quart pricing...let me give you some advice. The average person, including consumers, could not tell you how many pounds of honey are in a pint. And I bet some beekeepers even after filling the pints and quarts could not state what they are getting per pound. Your better off selling in something the average consumer can relate too, that being a pound jar. It may not help the buyer, but it might just help those poor beekeepers who are selling their honey way less than what they should.

A five dollar pint, come to about 3.64 a pound. And if you can't get 4 dollars a pound for local raw honey, maybe you should give up beekeeping. Do it for yourself. Do it for your family. Your better off flipping hamburgers.
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Offline Scadsobees

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2009, 12:18:46 am »
If they want to sell the honey for that price, good for them!  If they sell out, then that is their business.  If they can make a living selling honey for that price, well maybe we should all be talking to them.

Because of people like that, there are a lot of extra people eating honey that wouldn't eat honey if it is $15 for a quart or $6 for a honeybear.  And local, so a lot of people get the taste for local honey and will stop to buy yours quicker too if they see it.

Here's were I get a bit wound up....
You are all assuming that all beekeeping is a business.  For most of us its not...its a hobby.  A HOBBY. And done for the enjoyment of the bees.  I have to deal with the honey. I HATE sales.  I couldn't sell heaters to an eskimo. I just don't like selling stuff, its not me.  So you expect me to give up beekeeping because I hate selling stuff???

Plus, I have a reletively large family and am on a tight budget.  I don't buy "extras" if I can't afford them, and honey is an "extra".  Most of the families that I know are in the same boat.

At a local farmers co-op I can get local maple syrup for $9/qt.  I've never seen it that cheap, most of the time it is $20-$30 a quart.  Because of this, I can now eat maple syrup on a semi-regular basis, something I'd not normally do.  I'm thankful for that.  If I can do that for some other families with honey, then that makes me happy.

So I have no problem selling my honey for $7/quart, even if everybody thinks that is a travesty.  I know that there are a lot of people eating a lot more honey than they would, and I have a great hobby.  Shucks, if I can break even on a hobby, then that is one great hobby!!!

Besides that, do you know how many beekeepers that there are with buckets of honey in their basement that they just give away or have no idea what to do with?  Better at $5/quart than to just throw it away.

I'm guessing that there are a lot of hobby-ists that have enough honey to stock the feed store.  People don't go to the feed store to by fancy high-fallutin honey.

I'd hate flipping hamburgers, but sure do love flipping frames.

Rick
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Offline rdy-b

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2009, 12:42:46 am »
It all depends on how much honey the keeper produces-most everybody would not sell honey for $1.20 a pound- but most arnt selling there crop wholsale to packers in drums-$1.20-$1.50 is what honey goes to packers for-this beek may be tickeld pink to get double his money for a couple of drums-for all we know -by the way JP did you buy a jar?  :lol: i always like to sample honey that comes from local beeks  8-) RDY-B

Offline Greg Peck

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2009, 12:47:59 am »
I hear your point Rick. But the flip side of that coin is the small time beekeeper who IS TRYING to make a few dollars for his family. He has a few kids and a mortgage that is due and he cant afford to buy maple syrup at 9.00 a  qt. All he wants to do is sell his honey at a fair price so he does not lose money with his bees (which his wife is angry about anyway) and be able to have a few hundred extra dollars in his pocket to spend on his family. Then they guy next door, who probably does not need the extra money  is selling his honey for next to nothing. In doing so he saturates the market with cheep honey and the guy trying to make a few extra bucks is shut out because if he can not turn a profit he looses his bees because he can not afford them.

I give honey away to people I know who can not afford it, and I will cut prices from time to time for my return customers but I know in doing so I am not taking a sale away from anyone else. I see both sides but I think if you just need to rid yourself of honey. wholesale it to someone else so you are not making it hard for the next guy trying to keep his bees and make a few dollars.
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Offline rdy-b

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2009, 12:54:44 am »
So who is the bad guy the poor keeper or the dumb store owner-or are they one and the same :-D RDY-B

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2009, 07:36:22 am »
So who is the bad guy the poor keeper or the dumb store owner-or are they one and the same :-D RDY-B

If they are splitting the profit, if any, then I would say both. The buying community already told them that.

If the beekeeper is getting all of the profit, then it is the storeowner.

As for "high-fallutin" honey.....just because a beekeeper marks his honey at a fair price, taking into account his time, cost, and wants to put a few dollars on his families table, there is nothing wrong with that. Call it "high-fallutin" if you want. But I know local raw honey should be selling for more than supermarket honey.

As for this notion that a beekeeper should lower his honey to ridiculously low proces in attempts to expand the market selling to people who can not afford it otherwise......wait a minute, that sounds like your selling mortgages... :shock:

I'll talk to the wife about lowering my prices to sell twice as much, for the goodness of the market. Although we would not be making a pennie, I'll try to sell her the idea that all should have some, and selling below market prices (As the buying consumers are telling the store owner and beekeeper) will give us that nice warm fuzzy feeling.

rdb-b, at least you give a choice of the two options. A "poor" beekeeper, and a "dumb" store owner.

I'm all for people doing whatever they want. I'm also for telling you what I think about it. Don't like my opinion on thinking the beekeeper AND store owner are idiots? Then take a lesson, and listen to what the buying community already said. They have said, according to the store owner, that the public was nice enough to suggest that the honey is selling for way LESS than what is expected. We can debate about unknown crap like "maybe" this beekeeper has a bucket in his basement, etc. But the one fact in this is the buyers have already spoken. And the honey is below what the local market calls for and dictates. And if the beekeeper and store owner can't listen to the market, then they are doomed anyways.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2009, 08:53:44 am »
AW, Com'on, Bjorn,tell us how you really feel.  :-*   :-D

I don't sell for resale, nor set up at stands. I only sell when someone asks. I do check prices any where they sell local honey. I didn't quote my prices above, I just said that is the average prices I see in this area.

I'm guessing that any beek that sells for less than production costs is either going to go out of business soon, or only sells a few jars each year. Either way, he isn't going to hurt the market for other beeks.
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Offline 1of6

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2009, 09:17:19 am »
Wow.

There are some things in here that I would not want said about me.  I hope you all don't talk about me like this when I'm not around. 

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2009, 09:23:28 am »
AW, Com'on, Bjorn,tell us how you really feel.  :-*   :-D

I don't sell for resale, nor set up at stands. I only sell when someone asks. I do check prices any where they sell local honey. I didn't quote my prices above, I just said that is the average prices I see in this area.

I'm guessing that any beek that sells for less than production costs is either going to go out of business soon, or only sells a few jars each year. Either way, he isn't going to hurt the market for other beeks.

iddee,
read the "sister" thread I just made. I think he hurts the market just as much as what many say about foriegn honey.


1of6,
Of course we talk about you. What do you think the private messages are for.... :buttkick:
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Offline sc-bee

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2009, 10:11:20 am »
>I know some in Mississippi are slow. Some are downright stupid.

Was this honey in Macon Ms.? :evil: :-D ;)
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Offline 1of6

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2009, 10:11:56 am »
 :jawdrop:

Offline CaptainCanuck

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Re: Selling Yourself Short?
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2009, 10:13:51 am »
Just a couple of observations about selling honey. I sell "raw honey" for $2.50 per pound + container. I get comments all the time from cutomers about how inexpensive my honey is. I tell them that if they would like to pay more I'd certainly accept it, they never do.

  I produce 60,000-65,000 LBS per year and sell it all from my honey house from April til Nov.

 I get beekeepers stop in all the time, the conversation is always the same. The first 15 minutes they moan about not being able to sell their honey, they spend the next 15 minutes telling me how I should be selling mine.
 I make a very good living and actually enjoy giving people excellent value for their money.

 I guess I'm one of the dumb ones  :)