Honey price

[Wilco]

I recently saw portable card readers in Screwfix for sale. They were about £30.00. Here is a screenshot of the online catalogue.

Three main options for me were Sumup, Zettle and Square. I went for Zettle in the end. Takes more types of payment and got it for £19+VAT (offer stated this, when clicked through it was more so I emailed them and they were very helpful). Easy to setup but not used yet. Think the difference in fees per transaction is marginal unless doing really high volumes. Also consider email receipt fees, refund fees and speed of clearing to your bank account (I've now set up a separate one for bee income so I can use it for equipment costs next year). Zettle does sting you on the cost for a second terminal if you ever need to expand or replace but there's nothing stopping you using multiple makes to the same bank account.

Planning £5/8oz this year.

 

[Martinreed]

I recently saw portable card readers in Screwfix for sale. They were about £30.00. Here is a screenshot of the online catalogue.

Cardless nmachines are fine for markets or 'face to face' sales but can't be used in an honesty box as they turn themselves off after 10 minutes

 

[enrico]

No real money, no real honey, their loss!! They usually come back with the cash!

 

[madasafish]

Many of my customers are OAPs. Card payments in some cases would be impossible,

 

[Newbeeneil]

Cardless nmachines are fine for markets or 'face to face' sales but can't be used in an honesty box as they turn themselves off after 10 minutes

That's the sort of info I require. Sounds like it wouldn't work with my set up.

 

[steve1958]

I used to spend time answering the door (usually when I was about to sit down for dinner), to customers wanting to buy honey from the beekeeper.
I soon discovered that many people had a desire to stop and talk.
Asking me how the bees were, or telling me about a recent news article they had read about bees.
Now I sell my honey to the local shop Instead.
If anyone knocks on my door I send them along to the shop.
They get their Honey, the shop makes a sale, and I get my privacy back.

 

[Finman]

Yes local bees are best

What else bees can be than locals

 

[gregior]

I sell mine for £4 for 8oz from the door. I leave orders on the front doorstep and the money is posted through the letterbox. Not had anything go walkabout yet.

 

[Markthebuilder]

Im new to this honey selling lark, so learning all the time.
A local commercial beekeeper sells on-line Runny Honey at £9/16oz and more for soft set and special honey (eg "tumeric infused" - sounds horrid to me).
I'm selling (ad-hoc) at £4.75 for 12oz(340g) from my door (£6.33 /lb).
I also sold 50 jars to a local shop at £4.50/12oz.

lol

 

[GuyNir]

What else bees can be than locals

That will be non local.

 

[Markthebuilder]

Im new to this honey selling lark, so learning all the time.
A local commercial beekeeper sells on-line Runny Honey at £9/16oz and more for soft set and special honey (eg "tumeric infused" - sounds horrid to me).
I'm selling (ad-hoc) at £4.75 for 12oz(340g) from my door (£6.33 /lb).
I also sold 50 jars to a local shop at £4.50/12oz.

Obviously anyone can sell honey at a price they chose and i have only passed on information I received directly from my no1 queen bee in my previous post however if your local commercial guy is selling at that price why would you undercut him? Ie you could be getting £ 6.75 and as I’m sure your honey is better than the commercial stuff
Go for at least £7

 

[Markthebuilder]

I sell mine for £4 for 8oz from the door. I leave orders on the front doorstep and the money is posted through the letterbox. Not had anything go walkabout yet.

Ah the double bluff your selling so cheep that the thieves don’t think it’s worth nicking

 

[Jules59]

however if your local commercial guy is selling at that price why would you undercut him? Ie you could be getting £ 6.75 and as I’m sure your honey is better than the commercial stuff
Go for at least £7

Good point.
Well, I had to start somewhere and took advice from various club members. Their prices varied enormously so I chose a value up at the top of the range to see what sort of local market I would have for my honey. It sold well and I increased the price this year by 12.5% .
My village is not particularly affluent (historically working class - miners and farm labourers), has a population of about 1500 and like many small villages has lost all it shops apart from a small post office. I feel my market is fragile so I tread gently. I have found the village facebook pages really useful to announce my latest harvest.
The "local commercial guy" is based 5 miles away and sells bulk honey, on-line and at a garden centre AFAIK.

 

[Markthebuilder]

I will report back to the bees and advise on their response in due course.

on a personal note I look at my tiddley 8oz jars and think £5 seams a lot for that????

but when I look at how much I spend … one hive here 10 frames there , unless it is bumper year what I’m doing is just for fun and the £5 jar return is to encourage my kids to walk down the Lane and fill the honey basket so their ice cream fund gets replenished

By fun as a hobbbiest it is probebly cheaper than golf, fishing, football etc but that doesn’t make the honey less valuable.

also look at the internet / ebay etc and see jars that look like 8 oz but t if you read description are much smaller selling for £6.50
I’m sure bee farmers have a view but if any are reading this far I would ask the question …. “is there not a value in the BBKA SETING A MINIMUM price recommendation n for HONEY or am I m naive?

 

[bobba]

This will be my second year selling honey. My jars are 400g because I can get 400g jars very cheap.

last spring when I got my first harvest of 2 buckets, I was overwhelmed by how much honey I had. I thought I would seriously struggle to sell it. So was happy to get rid of the stuff at £4/5 per jar. I sold some on social media and listed for £5 per jar. For fear of saying something that could be misconstrued, I will simply say a certain ilk of customer arrived at my doorstep to collect £5 jars.

However, when I got my summer harvest I upped the price to £7 per jar. Put it out on social media again. And none of the £5 per jar customers came back. However a new ilk of people showed up at my doorstep happy to pay £7. I honestly blieve many of my new customers overlooked my honey in the spring because it was too cheap for them.

The other unexpected thing, it seems the more a customer is willing to pay for a single jar, the more jars they want to buy at a time.

I am selling £7/8 this year and £12 for chunk. and my measly spring harvest sold in no time.

If you are scared of loosing customers if you put your price up, dont be. You will loose some, but they are not the customers you want. They will only introduce you to other customers that want cheap honey. Once you have put your prices up and found new customers willing to pay a higher price. they will start intruding you to more like minded customers.

I live in a city so have a lot of potential customers on my doorstep. But in spite of that most my honey goes out by post to all over the place. And they pay postage on-top.

I regret selling my first lot of honey for £4/5 per jar. And honestly, I understand the mentality of the fear of being stuck with honey you cannot sell.

But seriously (it is of my humble opinion) that anyone selling for less than £7 per lb for jarred honey is letting down them self and the side. You need to sort your act out, put up your price, and get what you truly deserve for your product. And no bulk discounts for jarred honey, even for shops.

I have learnt through blood, sweat, and stings what it takes to reap the amber goodness. And after all that effort so many of us undervalue our product. You need to put a proportional amount of effort into selling honey as you do making the stuff. In this modern world you need to be willing to use modern tools and make the most of every possible sales avenue.

Get on the tinterweb, be willing to post, Drop it into conversation anytime you are in the company of affluent people "that you keep bees". If they want honey they will ask. Both my GP and dentist are customers for example.

I am pulling supers this weekend so will have my numbers soon. But I do not think I will have enough honey for all my customers. So if some of you £5/lb relics out there wont put your prices up for fear of not selling, then PM me in a few weeks and maybe we can come up with a way of getting your honey to my less price sensitive customers.

I know I have rambled enough already, but look at the prices of other things, like so called "premium" honey, even in Asda. Look at the price people are willing to pay for Manuka, look at the price people pay for a couple of coffees or a cocktail. I think its £20 for a pack of cigs these days. Premium olive oil. Whats it cost to park a car in a city center.. If you sell a jarred lb of honey for less than a Big Mac meal (a highly utilized price index) you actually need a slap and some assistance selling your honey.

I think I am still underselling my honey. I think quality honey direct from the keeper is worth £10+/ lb jarred. Like many other categories of producer, we have been mentally conditioned by years of abundant low-price, low-quality and high-availability food. Need I remind anyone, in its unadulterated pure form, the amber goodness has a slew of known health benefits, it just tastes so good. And hardcore honey munches are serious addicts, once its worked its way into their recopies replacing sugar, or found its way onto that morning slice of toast, they need an ongoing supply.

So to anyone under-selling their honey, I beg of you to reconsider. Get what you truly deserve for your skills, efforts and investment. And if people want cheap honey, point them in the direction of Asda smart price syrup.

 

[Patrick1]

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.

That’s strange, I know a verry successful bee farmer in Cornwall who gets £8 for 1lb

 

[Patrick1]

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.

Our imports are a disgrace, 30% from China, we imported over 120M £ worth from many countries last year, that was an 8% rise on 2019, we just do not produce enough and sell it too cheaply.

Take a leaf out of Rowe marketing, never seen that in a silly 1lb jar, with the range of glass available reducing jar sizes and styles would help with the value, a target price of £10 lb would be a good start, encourage more marketing and less wholesaling, keep the product tight resold by beekeepers. Work in small groups to keep local honey local operate milk round style deliveries, don’t discount to shops let them mark it up.

We nee a change of mindset

Maybe we need a honey marketing company/group to promote the product for all the benefits we know.

 

[jeff33]

It all depends where you are and local honey availability. Here on Gower we have a lot of 2-3 hives beeks but I don't see anyone selling anything anywhere apart from someone with 5 hives trying to sell 8oz for £6 and a couple of stalls doing farmers markets now and again. I supply 4 shops, they don't argue with my price and get a few more asking to supply them as well. I also work with a community growing cooperative and sell my honey to their members when they collect their weekly veg order. I can't supply all year round, when it's gone, it's gone.... in probably 2 weeks.

 

[Murox]

It all depends where you are and local honey availability. Here on Gower we have a lot of 2-3 hives beeks but I don't see anyone selling anything anywhere apart from someone with 5 hives trying to sell 8oz for £6 and a couple of stalls doing farmers markets now and again. I supply 4 shops, they don't argue with my price and get a few more asking to supply them as well. I also work with a community growing cooperative and sell my honey to their members when they collect their weekly veg order. I can't supply all year round, when it's gone, it's gone.... in probably 2 weeks.

I don't entirely agree with you jeff33. Where I am there are like me several 2-6 hive keepers, again few sell to local shops. I choose to sell to just ONE albeit established shop in the area and only supplied 227g hex. jars at £5 each (they retail at whatever price suits them £7.50 as I recall). I only gave them small numbers of jars at a time, they sold like hot cakes. You obviously have more honey with 14 or so hives and you also supply more outlets. Granted the area I am in is smaller in size than the Gower although it would be fair to describe both as tourist destinations. I think your idea of working with a community growing co-operative is great - what a wonderful opportunity.

 

[jeff33]

I don't entirely agree with you jeff33. Where I am there are like me several 2-6 hive keepers, again few sell to local shops. I choose to sell to just ONE albeit established shop in the area and only supplied 227g hex. jars at £5 each (they retail at whatever price suits them £7.50 as I recall). I only gave them small numbers of jars at a time, they sold like hot cakes. You obviously have more honey with 14 or so hives and you also supply more outlets. Granted the area I am in is smaller in size than the Gower although it would be fair to describe both as tourist destinations. I think your idea of working with a community growing co-operative is great - what a wonderful opportunity.

You are not fully agreeing with the supply and demand bit? Sure some of the Gower beeks must be selling somewhere but I don't know where or perhaps they have enough for friends and family? I drive pass several houses where I know bees are kept, some with 10 hives but they don't even sell at the gate. I have noticed another supplier, a larger bee farmer from Carmarthenshire (who comically told the shop owner his bees flew over the estuary to gather nectar on Gower and marshes) but that's it. Gower honey seems to be like gold dust and everything with Gower branding is preyed upon by tourists which is why I charge what I charge.

I sell at the gate and have flooded shops this year because as you rightly say I have more honey. I opted for this instead of markets to keep my weekends free and by the time I add the cost of a stall to the equation, the margin is pretty minimal. If beekeeping was my main income I would certainly review my approach. Yes the shops mostly sell to tourists and that is another reason why I want to get it out of the door before mid-September. This also allows shops to add whatever profit margin they want.I also don't have a warming cabinet so don't want to wait until the honey crystalises.

Yes the community growing cooperative is great, especially that one. A good friend of mine who is involved with it suggested it to me. The collection point is next to a new bakery and I can put a table on Friday mornings if I want for a couple of hours or Thursday evening.