toomanytommytoes
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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.
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Veggie
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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.
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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Small chilli
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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.
Builder that would like to go play in the garden.
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toomanytommytoes
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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.
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toomanytommytoes
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I managed to get almost 30 second hand 9 cell modules for 10p each at the garden centre. Should be enough I think.
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Scarlet
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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
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toomanytommytoes
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(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 £5 I 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).
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