Is My Price Fair?
You’ve seen the post. Maybe you’ve written it. A photo of a beautiful batch of candles or a tray of cinnamon rolls, and one question underneath: “Is $8 too much for this?”
The comments roll in. Half say charge more. Half say they’d never pay that. Someone’s aunt sells hers for $5. You walk away more confused than when you started.
I see these posts all the time, as a seller and as a farmers market manager. Here’s my honest answer. Nobody in the comments can tell you if your price is fair. But you can figure it out yourself, and it’s easier than it feels.
The Day Someone Made a Face at My Bread
One Saturday, a woman stopped at my table and saw the $8 tag on my sourdough. She scoffed. She made an actual face. Then she looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
I have pretty tough skin, so I let it roll. But I thought about it later. If that happened to a brand-new vendor, it might be enough to make them lower their price. Or worse, not come back next week.
Here’s the thing. That bread wasn’t for her, and that’s okay. Plenty of people are happy to pay what I ask. That’s the beauty of a free market. I get to charge what makes selling worth it, and every customer gets to choose whether to buy.
So when the comments start rolling in on your “Is this too much?” post, remember that face. Everyone has an opinion on your price. Very few of them know what it costs you.
Why the Comment Section Can’t Answer This
Strangers don’t know your costs. They don’t know what you paid for wax, how long those rolls took to rise, or what your booth fee was last Saturday.
“Fair” also means two different things. To a buyer, fair is what they’d pay. To you, fair has to cover everything it took to make and sell the item, plus pay you for your time.
And copying another seller’s price doesn’t fix it. Their price carries their guesses. If they forgot packaging or booth fees, now you have too.
So the better question isn’t “Would someone pay this?” It’s “What does this actually cost me?” How you answer that depends on how you price right now.
The Three Types of Pricers
After years of selling and running a market, I’ve noticed most sellers land in one of three groups. See which one sounds like you.
The Guesswork Pricer
Your price comes from a feeling. What other tables charge. What seems fair. What you’d pay yourself. This is how almost everyone starts, and there’s no shame in it.
The catch is that you can’t see what’s missing. You could sell out every Saturday and still not know if you made money.
The Missing-Pieces Pricer
You do some math. Usually you add up ingredients or materials, maybe the jars and labels. A lot of sellers in this group use a rule like “double your costs.”
The catch is what that math skips. Your time. Your booth fee. The card reader’s cut. The oven that runs for three hours. Your price looks profitable, but a little money slips away with every sale.
The Profit-Ready Pricer
You account for every cost and build in profit on purpose. You’re in good shape.
Your challenge is different. It’s doing it the same way for every new product, and sticking to your number when it feels high.
Not sure which one you are? The free Undercharging Check takes about two minutes. Answer five quick questions and find out your pricing type, plus what to fix first. Take the Undercharging Check → HERE
What Goes Into a Real Price
No matter which type you are, a fair price is built from the same six pieces. Miss one and you pay for it yourself.
Materials + Packaging + Labor + Overhead + Selling Fees + Profit = Your Price
- Materials. Everything that goes into the product. Flour, wax, yarn, fragrance oil. Most sellers count this one.
- Packaging. Jars, lids, bags, labels, ribbon, tissue. Small costs that add up fast.
- Labor. Your time. Yes, even if this started as a hobby. If the price doesn’t pay you, you’re working for free.
- Overhead. The things you use but don’t think to count. Electricity, your mixer, your tent, your table.
- Selling fees. Booth fees, card processing, online shop fees. Every place you sell takes a cut.
- Profit. This is separate from your labor. Labor pays you for today. Profit is what the business keeps to grow.
The list is the easy part. The math is where people get stuck. How do you put a number on your time? How do you split a $30 booth fee across 40 jars? How much profit is enough? And what do you do when the final number feels too high?
That’s exactly what I teach in Price It for Profit. In one lesson, I walk through pricing a dozen chocolate chip cookies, start to finish. The final number surprises almost everyone.
Your Next Step
If you’re not sure where you stand, start with the free quiz. You’ll know your pricing type in two minutes. Take the Undercharging Check → HERE
If you’re ready to fix it, Price It for Profit walks you through all six pieces in short, plain-spoken lessons. You get a printable workbook and a spreadsheet that does the math for you. Price one product or your whole table, and use it again every time you add something new. See Price It for Profit → HERE
Next time you see an “Is this price fair?” post, you’ll know the answer doesn’t live in the comments. It starts at your kitchen table, with your own numbers.
