Honey price

[ShinySideUp]

I sell my 1lb jars of honey for £6, what would be a reasonable ask if I sold, say, 24 jars to the local shop, assuming they also sold it for about six pounds?

 

[enrico]

Sell to the shop at what you normally sell and let them put on the price up they want. I sell12 Oz to my shop at £5 and they sell at £6.20 just rang me and bought everything I have left as they can't get enough!

 

[ShinySideUp]

Problem with that is that I live just 200m from the shop and I would obviously undercut them so why would customers buy from the shop?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Problem with that is that I live just 200m from the shop and I would obviously undercut them so why would customers buy from the shop?

It's obvious that it's way time you put up your prices -a 1lb jar should be at the very least £7.00

 

[Finman]

You may go to the shop and ask, what price the shopkeeper is ready to pay.

 

[GuyNir]

I sell 1lb for £8 retail & £6.50 wholesale. 8oz for £5 & £3.75.

 

[enrico]

Problem with that is that I live just 200m from the shop and I would obviously undercut them so why would customers buy from the shop?

They have a choice. You will be surprised how many people would prefer to buy from a shop!

 

[Murox]

I sell to a shop at the same price that I sell for. Thats £5 for a 227g hex jar. Got a phone call last night from the shop for more, they sell at £7.50 per jar and it all goes. Took them the last few jars today, what I have left now is for me and family.

 

[robmort]

I sell 1lb for £8 retail & £6.50 wholesale. 8oz for £5 & £3.75.

As a matter of interest, do you sell to callers at the door or do you have an honesty box?

 

[GuyNir]

As a matter of interest, do you sell to callers at the door or do you have an honesty box?

Yes, by retail I mean callers at the door, neighbours, FB etc’

 

[holmbee]

Problem with that is that I live just 200m from the shop and I would obviously undercut them so why would customers buy from the shop?

Why not just sell to the shop and stop retailing yourself. Suggest they retail for £8 and you increase your price to them to £6.50. This is the equivalent price that my local deli retails at. If the prices are too high then start marketing in smaller jars - say 12oz. That is what we did when there seemed some resistance to the 1lb price.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I could get a lot more if I took it all with me when I go to see my son in Kent, I expect the shops round there would pay top dollar. Where I live here though is quite another matter, my village is full of builders, roofers and plumbers. They are all very rich but also as stingy as hell and not exactly in the quinoa and avocado set and I just wouldn't be able to sell 1lb of honey for £7 or £8 a pound round here.

I may also have made a minor cock-up. I have just ordered 300 bespoke labels (with net weight 1lb written on them) for the last of this years honey and towards next years, also I have bought over two hundred 1lb jars for this years and next years crop. Now the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I should go back to 12oz jars as they were much easier to sell because I could knock them out at £5 a time round here and no one batted an eyelid, plus I could get maybe £8 each in London if they looked fancy enough. Hey ho, too late now.

I might also add that, labour aside, once a beekeeper has got the equipment (suit, hives, extractor etc.), the only cost is varroa treatments, foundation and a few other sundries. Once a beekeeper has all this, it's just money for old rope really.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Why not just sell to the shop and stop retailing yourself. Suggest they retail for £8 and you increase your price to them to £6.50. This is the equivalent price that my local deli retails at. If the prices are too high then start marketing in smaller jars - say 12oz. That is what we did when there seemed some resistance to the 1lb price.

You're in Dorset, they have loads of money there. But as I've just said in the above post, yes, you are right about the 12oz jars. Strange things people think -- when I first started I sold in 12oz jars for £5.00 then I started selling in 1lb jars for £6 and people complained that my honey was too expensive when in fact it was cheaper oz for oz than in 12oz jars, weird.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I could get maybe £8 each in London

You're wide of the mark.

£9.50/340g is about right at London farmers' markets. I know a beekeeper with a good eye who's sold 500 x 340g jars at £10 this summer via FB and word of mouth down Barking way. Not to malign Barking, but it's not flush with Islington money, yet he sells all he can produce.

£7.95-£8/227g retail is not unusual; I sell at £6/227 and they add whatever margin they like. One supplier balked at £6 and came back a month later and wanted to buy.

Covid, hay fever and Brexit have focused buyers' minds on the value of local produce; price is secondary.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I may also have made a minor cock-up. I have just ordered 300 bespoke labels (with net weight 1lb written on them) for the last of this years honey and towards next years, also I have bought over two hundred 1lb jars for this years and next years crop.

Minor? Major.

The 454g jar (or the 1lb as some still live in 1976) is the easiest way to suppress honey price and honey value, but word is painfully slow to sink in.

You may go to the shop and ask, what price the shopkeeper is ready to pay.

Other way round: go to the shop and state your price. They'll always want to pay less; hold out, wish them good afternoon and wait for the call.

Of course, if you have a local beekeeper who hasn't a clue or doesn't care but just wants shot of it, the retailer will smile broadly. Talking to other beekeepers should result (eventually) in a standard price in your area.

 

[ericbeaumont]

bought everything I have left as they can't get enough!

They're under-pricing it.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Not this old chestnut again!

 

[Markthebuilder]

IMPORTANT NOTICE
Evreone please use the power of this forum and listen to your bees

THEY ARE DEMANDING A TRUE AND FAIR PRICE FOR THEIR PRODUCE
Any beekeeper found not adearing to the minimum standard honey price can expect their resident bees
to go on hunger strike.or leave the factory without notice.

The bees are demanding as a minimum. £10 per lb £7.50 for 12 oz £5 for 80z No discount for shops or multiple purchase .
buckets and barrels of honey may be sold at a negotiated rate. Of not more than 30% below the Pre packed rate per lb
The above prises are the minimum the bee union is willing to accept for thir produce this year,
In the unlikely event that beekeepers are unable to to sell stock may offer the bees produce at a reduced rate in the January sales.

 

[Markthebuilder]

I could get a lot more if I took it all with me when I go to see my son in Kent, I expect the shops round there would pay top dollar. Where I live here though is quite another matter, my village is full of builders, roofers and plumbers. They are all very rich but also as stingy as hell and not exactly in the quinoa and avocado set and I just wouldn't be able to sell 1lb of honey for £7 or £8 a pound round here.

I may also have made a minor cock-up. I have just ordered 300 bespoke labels (with net weight 1lb written on them) for the last of this years honey and towards next years, also I have bought over two hundred 1lb jars for this years and next years crop. Now the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I should go back to 12oz jars as they were much easier to sell because I could knock them out at £5 a time round here and no one batted an eyelid, plus I could get maybe £8 each in London if they looked fancy enough. Hey ho, too late now.

I might also add that, labour aside, once a beekeeper has got the equipment (suit, hives, extractor etc.), the only cost is varroa treatments, foundation and a few other sundries. Once a beekeeper has all this, it's just money for old rope really.

Sell your jars lb jars on eBay to people who want to preserve fruit. buy 8oz and sell for £5 a jar or 2 for £10 no one will bat an eye
It the mental block of £10 for one jar that is the problem

 

[Markthebuilder]

Not this old chestnut again!

only because people really do think their honey is worth more but are to scared to ask a proper price …people happily pay £2.50 for a mr wippey cornet.