Hello all. So the little general store adjacent to the cafe I work at gets slammin busy in the summertime and it would be great exposure for selling my soaps. The manager finally sat dwn with me today to discuss a pricepoint for my soaps. They prefer to buy my soaps outright (25 bars for now and they would price them to sell at $5 ea. ) to see how sales go. She started out by wanting to give me only $2.80 per bar! I knew that was waaayy too low. My bars are artisan soaps with either coconut milk/goats milk, enriched with cocoa and shea butters and weigh between 4.75 to 6+ oz. (average at 5 oz). So anyway, I said I would want at least $4 per bar but she said the highest she could go up to was $3.00. I was like "ummm" so i said i would need to think about it and find out what my true cost is for making each bar.... (i was assuming somewhere like $1...i was way off.)
So for the last couple hours I have been calculating and have come up with an average of $2.10 my cost per bar. HOWEVER, this does not include any labor (or the miniscule electricity).
My question to you all is: Do you factor in your time when pricing your soap? I make small batches of only 5 bars and it takes me an hour to make. if I pay myself a modest $10 per hour, that adds another $2 per bar making it $4.10! I would be pratically giving my soap away at only $3.oo! So I dont know what to do, I have this oportunity but at the same time i dont want my inventory to be bought at this low price when I could be selling it on Etsy for twice that much.
Your thoughts? Im supposed to bring her soap tomorrow but I am having serious reservations. I work realy hard to produce a kick ass soap. On the other hand, is it a given that you wont pay yourself at first when trying to start your own business? Is the exposure and potential future customers worth the price reduction?
thank you for your advice, i look forward to your comments...
So for the last couple hours I have been calculating and have come up with an average of $2.10 my cost per bar. HOWEVER, this does not include any labor (or the miniscule electricity).
My question to you all is: Do you factor in your time when pricing your soap? I make small batches of only 5 bars and it takes me an hour to make. if I pay myself a modest $10 per hour, that adds another $2 per bar making it $4.10! I would be pratically giving my soap away at only $3.oo! So I dont know what to do, I have this oportunity but at the same time i dont want my inventory to be bought at this low price when I could be selling it on Etsy for twice that much.
Your thoughts? Im supposed to bring her soap tomorrow but I am having serious reservations. I work realy hard to produce a kick ass soap. On the other hand, is it a given that you wont pay yourself at first when trying to start your own business? Is the exposure and potential future customers worth the price reduction?
thank you for your advice, i look forward to your comments...