How did you guys get sooo many buyers?

[stephhassler]

Ok, I just read the post and all the replies on the free egg post. It sounds like lots of you are selling lots of eggs. I usually end up giving mine away to family because I can't sell them. I charge $2.00 a dozen. There are several farms around here who charge $1.00 - which I think is soooo totally stupid and self-defeating. Why not just say my product is crap so I charge a pitance for it!!!! Anywhoo, my chickens are free range and I have printed up a little flyer on the added health benefits from free range eggs. At $2.00 a dozen I would think I could sell rather than give away. What am I missing? Oh, by the way, in the beginning I gave eggs aways to lots and lots of people - saying try these for free and if you like them let me know and you can buy the next dozen. I got lots of compliments on my eggs, but no regular buyers. Don't know what to think. Also tried farmer's market and ran into at least 3 people selling for $1.00 / dozen!

 

[wombat]

I think that pricing depends on where you are. If there are a lot of farms selling fresh eggs, and a lot of people keeping their own chickens near you, and you live out in the countryside, you won't get as much. There's no scarcity.

I live in an area that is rapidly becoming more densly populated. The last true farms in the immediate area were just south of us, and they were carved up and developed and there are now over 20,000 people in high-density townhomes and McMansions where there used to be two large farms. All those Volvo-drivin' yuppies gotta be fed, and they all want to be fed well.

The health food / organic grocery store near us sells brown free range eggs for $5 a dozen. I could probably charge the same, if I were so inclined.

If you'd like, I can send you a dozen or so yuppies, and you could start your own colony. They're easy to catch, and they breed like bunnies. I'd give them away, but a lot of them are lawyers and you can imagine the paperwork involved in rehoming them, so I'd probably have to charge you.

 

[Junkmanme]

It has been my observation and personal experience over decades of involvement in various businesses that it is generally not nearly as effective to compete on the basis of price as it is to compete on the basis of QUALITY of the product or service offered.

IF you can justify a higher price to your customers based upon a higher quality of your eggs, THEN you can successfully sell your eggs for $2.00/dozen while competing with others selling at $1.00/dozen. AND, I believe, you can sell just as many, if not MORE.

It is more a matter of marketing than a matter of price-cutting/price-fixing.

just my 2 pesos worth,
-Junkmanme-

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I sell eating eggs for 1 dollar per dozen.

I do not sell "crap", and I do sell many eggs - enough to pay partial feed costs (the rest of feed costs is made up from hatched chicks sold).

If you can get 2 dollars per dozen, then more power to you. It is rude to call people who sell for less Stupid and Self Defeating. Maybe they are selling their eggs because they know what the market will bear and do not think that people should pay more because they happen to think their eggs are more special.

Even if they are more special, it doesn't mean that other people will go out in a bad economy and spend twice as much for their eggs when they can feed their families for less and maybe pay a bill or buy toilet paper with the money saved.


I edited out a lot of what I had planned to write.
I think you could have worded this without offending those who sell for that "stupid and self defeating" dollar a dozen (and no, I am not the only one who does sell for that).

eta - is it more stupid and self defeating to have a refrigerator full of eggs that you cannot sell, or to sell eggs and pay your feed bills?

meri

 

[SproutGirl]

I sell mine for $3.00 per dozen, and I know some folks who sell theirs for $5.00 per dozen. You might like a book called You Can Farm by Joel Salatin. In it, he talks about getting a good price for your product and makes some of the arguments that you do, but in different way than you do.

Sometimes at our local farmer's market, (where I have a small business selling sprouts) when I see folks selling what I think are quality products that are priced way lower than what others are selling them for, I will buy them, and pay the farmer more than what they are asking. For example, I will buy a basket of beautiful strawberries that are selling for $1 while others are going for $3.50. I will give the farmer $4 and tell them what beautiful strawberries they have and that I think they are so lovely, that I am tipping them. They are usually sheepish, and offer me more strawberries in return. I accept, eat a few, and tell them what I think of the flavor, and that I think they deserve more for their hard work, which is why I paid them more. I leave it at that. More often than not, they will raise their prices to the going rate. However, it is up to them, and we do live in a free economy!

Good luck with your egg business, and with making peace with your fellow egg farmers!

 

[cap1717]

Here in Souther AZ, eggs are going for 5.00 a doz at the farmers markets, 2 or 3 $ doz from local owners selling from their homes. I will market mine at $3.00 doz to friends and family (who may be expecting freebies, but after the first doz, will not get them)! Well, except for the "dog and chicken sitters", of course who take care of things when I am out of town. . . .

 

[WildBurroShirts.com]

Quote:
OK...where to start?

I'm at LEAST as frustrated as you are with this. Prior to getting chickens I was paying $5 a dozen at Raley's (grocery store, Carson City, NV) for organic free range eggs. Whole Foods (2 hours rt away) sometimes has deals, but never below $3.50 a dozen.

ALL of the eggs on the local craigslist ($3 a doz) and at the feed store are NOT organic...so I 'thought' I saw a niche.

And have raised mine organic, which I have to tell you, is costing me more money than I care to even compute at this point.

I put 2-3 ads up a week. From those ads, I've sold maybe 4 dozen. Ironically, I joined a buying club to buy organic grains in sort of bulk from unfi.com and the other people in the buying club have been my saving grace: they ordered 12 dozen today. Which of course, I didn't have because--

--are ya sitting down?

---I just gave away13 DOZEN for FREE last week! All told since they started laying in late May I've given away more than 40 dozen eggs for free.

One person has purchased eggs from all those freebies, and I think it's just because I have a part time (4 hours a week) job at her office, to be truthful.

So. I think maybe the way to go is go print up a really "pretty" ad that says something like:

"Are you hungry for arsenic, pesticides, petroleum products and other icky things? Then please DON'T buy my organic eggs! Because here's a pic of the labels from what goes into my chickens, combined with free ranging, homemade organic yogurt, and homegrown organic veggies. And here's a pic of what comes out of them. Because between you and me...pesticides and other icky stuff is not something I associate with breakfast food."

Then maybe a blurb on battery hens (how they're tortured) and the health benefits of free range eggs (lower in cholesterol, etc).

But, I'm a newbie. And if your Manchester is in England...well, no idea at all about marketing over there.

So...I feel your pain. Luckily I love my chickens, and am willing to give it to this time next year to make it work. But...it ain't easy.

One thing I have figured out, and again not sure if it applies in England: if you really have a surplus, and don't feel like feeding them to critters or back to the girls, you can donate them to a local nonprofit, which will at least give you a tax writeoff.

And good karma.

Best of luck. If you ever figure out some great marketing tips please pm me...I'm always open to suggestions.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I apologize if my opinion offended you. Perhaps stupid was too harsh a word. Self-defeating was not. It is my opinion that when a person can get grocery store eggs for $1.89/dozen it is self-defeating to sell a BETTER product for much much less. And yes, I would much rather have a refrigerator full of eggs than sell them for $1/dozen. I'll give my eggs away to family and friends before I will sell them for less than grocery store eggs.

And, by the way, I AM an attorney. There has been a lot of attorney bashing on these boards. I understand that not everyone will have a high regard for attorneys. But each person is entitled to his or her opinion - whether I agree with it or not. So, every time there is a negative post regarding attorneys I don't get all offended or up on my soap box. Again, I apologize for using the word stupid, but I stand by the remainder of my post. If that upsets you feel free to put back in all of what you edited out.

Self defeating I can live with, the Stupid part sort of ticked me off. Yes, you have a right to an opinion, but it is usually courteous not to be calling folks stupid.

Our local stores sell eggs for 99 cents a dozen. I live in a very rural area, and most folks around here are farmers (lots of Amish). I understand that people in Washington and California can sell eggs for 5 bucks a dozen, and I'm glad for them - they also pay much higher feed bills than I do.

I guess my point was that prices/costs and "stupid" is relative to where you are standing at the moment. Sometimes we forget that we are not the center of the Universe

(I am guilty of this, also, not slamming you.)

My feed bills are more than likely MUCH less than yours if you are feeding organic - in which case, it would not pay for me to sell so cheaply, either. I can get a 50# bag of feed for $6.30 - feedstore mix 16%. So, a dollar a dozen pays my feed bills pretty well.

Self defeating - sometimes

but usually the "cost" is outweighed by the pleasure of having them around. My family is smaller, lately, and we don't eat that many eggs - I could cook the eggs to feed back to them - or I could give them away. I actually attempted to give them to neighbors for free - they didn't want them unless I charged them something - so I began charging a dollar a dozen - sometimes they pay me more than that, but I never ask for more. I could not give them away, but I can sell them at a dollar a dozen all day long.

I might be able to get more, but I basically have two customers - my neighbor and his father. My neighbor is one of the best neighbors we've ever had - he is married, self employed, his wife works, and he has two young children - they are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. His father is my other customer.

My neighbor usually takes a couple dozen at a time, but his father, who fosters four boys (ages 12 - 17), takes 7 or 8 dozen at a time if I have them, and he pays me more than I ask. I do not have the resources or the patience to deal with foster care - if he does, I will support him whatever way I can.

So, yes, in some cases, it might seem stupid to sell for so cheap - but without knowing the whole story, it is hard to say.

eta because I can't spell this morning
meri

 

[Wifezilla]

This is the same problem facing many crafters. I have had really good years at my craft booth and years where it doesn't even pay to get out of bed. If I charge for my actual labor hours, I would never sell a thing.

 

[Wifezilla]

It has been my observation and personal experience over decades of involvement in various businesses that it is generally not nearly as effective to compete on the basis of price as it is to compete on the basis of QUALITY of the product or service offered.

IF you can justify a higher price to your customers based upon a higher quality of your eggs, THEN you can successfully sell your eggs for $2.00/dozen while competing with others selling at $1.00/dozen. AND, I believe, you can sell just as many, if not MORE.

It is more a matter of marketing than a matter of price-cutting/price-fixing. wink

Oh HECK yeah! Like when the stores have "Vegetarian Fed" eggs for over $4 per dozen. AARGG!!!! CHICKENS AREN'T MEANT TO BE VEGETARIANS!!! Drives me insane!

Anyway...the actual eggs are only small percentage of the total "product". You are selling fresh air, sunshine, happy chickens, health, etc... Marketing and packaging are your keys.​