+- Garden And Gossip Forums (https://gardenandgossip.org)
+-- Forum: Flowers and Ornamentals (https://gardenandgossip.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=44)
+--- Forum: All about Flowers and Ornamentals (https://gardenandgossip.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=45)
+--- Thread: What's a fair price? (/showthread.php?tid=2308)
What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 04-02-2025
I am going to try selling sweet peas this year, but I'm unsure how to price them. Generally, I undercut the big online gardening companies and garden centres because I think they're overpriced. I've done a bit of research and the online companies sell them in modules of 6, 10 or 12 cells. A lot of them are multi sown, so you get 3 or 4 plants in each cell.
So I'm thinking of sowing 3 to a cell in 10 cell modules, but I don't know how much to charge. How much would you pay for 30 sweet pea plants? The range online seems to be between 50p and £2 per cell - £20 for a 10 cell module seems way too much, even though it would get you a lot of plants, and £5 seems more reasonable.
RE: What's a fair price? - Veggie - 04-02-2025
Do you sell them to local people? Do they collect from you? Just wondering what the associated costs are - cost of modules, any packaging?
I'm not the best one to ask how much I'd pay, sorry.
RE: What's a fair price? - Small chilli - 04-02-2025
I’m not going to be much help either I’m afraid. I used to price my plants depending on what it was my price ranged from 50p to £2. I found I had a lot left or people gave what they either thought it was worth or what they had ( which really pi$$ed me off, because they wouldn’t do that in a shop! And I wasn’t over charging by any stretch of the imagination) . Now I just have a sign that asks for a donation. 9 times out of 10 I get more than I would have asked. Also location & situation makes a difference on pricing. I have to be very aware that most of my customers are impulse buying. Because no one is going to drive a 7 mile dead end road if they not coming for a walk on the beach or go to the cafe. No one is coming just to buy things from my sales barrow.
I get quite a bit of stick from friends telling me I should put my prices up on my homemade items. But people won’t pay shop prices on the side of the road.
RE: What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 04-02-2025
Yeah, only local and they collect. Modules I will try to buy second hand, but they're not very expensive new. The biggest cost is the seed and the compost.
Selling online means I would have to buy special packaging for posting plants safely, which is an extra cost (I would have to buy in bulk to make it worthwhile), but also a massive waste of plastic, and I haven't found a good way of selling them without clamshell protection. eBay and Etsy feels are also quite high. I was going to sell plug plants on eBay but they're introducing new buyer protection charges which really cut into the profits on low value items.
RE: What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 05-02-2025
I managed to get almost 30 second hand 9 cell modules for 10p each at the garden centre. Should be enough I think.
RE: What's a fair price? - Scarlet - 07-02-2025
I don’t sell plants but a friend does locally and people really want a bargain ( they did take her table once too) have you considered selling the flowers…. Just putting them out on a Saturday morning, everyone loves sweet peas. If you only wanted to do plants - I would cut to 2 per cell. Then sell for £5
RE: What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 08-02-2025
(07-02-2025, 08:15 PM)Scarlet Wrote: I don’t sell plants but a friend does locally and people really want a bargain ( they did take her table once too) have you considered selling the flowers…. Just putting them out on a Saturday morning, everyone loves sweet peas. If you only wanted to do plants - I would cut to 2 per cell. Then sell for £5I prefer to have everything sold by the end of June so I can have the rest of summer to myself. Growing enough sweet peas for selling as cut flowers would take up too much room, and I would lose space for growing other things I enjoy. Two per cell is a good idea, and I think £5 would be a fair price for 18 plants (works out at about 28p per plant).
RE: What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 25-02-2025
Pretty good germination so far, and I have some spares in a pot to fill in any gaps. I sowed about 3 seeds per cell, so most cells will have at least 2 plants in.
RE: What's a fair price? - Mark_Riga - 26-02-2025
One thing to save on costs would be to save your own seeds. Like beans and peas they don't easily cross.
RE: What's a fair price? - toomanytommytoes - 26-02-2025
The seed wasn't too pricey really, it's a Spencer mix I grew last year and was really impressed with, just £9.99 for 1000 seeds from Premier Seeds Direct. It would have been more expensive if I'd gone for individual varieties, but then I'd charge more for that anyway.
Today I filled in any gaps in the modules, and got 4 more 9 cell modules after taking some for myself due to the packet I bought from T&M having had terrible germination (surprise, surprise). Sweet peas aren't the easiest thing to prick out since the root gets so long so quickly!