Pricing your honey from real costs, not from what others charge

The most common pricing method in this trade is to look at what someone else charges and go slightly below. It is also the fastest way to erode a market and lose money without noticing.

Start from your real cost

Add everything up for a year and divide by the year's total yield:

• Depreciation on boxes and stands.
• Jars, lids, labels.
• Planting to extend forage.
• The cost of the founding colonies, depreciated over years.
• Your own labour — the item most often left out and usually the largest at small scale.

The result is your absolute floor. Selling below it means subsidising buyers with your own time.

Low yield is the reason for the price

A colony yields a few hundred millilitres per harvest. That multiplication alone explains the entire gap with ordinary honey, without invoking any health claim. When a customer asks why it costs so much, this is the honest and sufficient answer.

Do not sell by weight when buyers think in volume

Honey is heavier than water: 500 ml is roughly 700 g. Quoting in grams while a competitor quotes in millilitres makes your price look higher than it is, or misleads the buyer. Pick one unit and print both on the label.

Tier by size

A small jar to try, a medium for regular use, a large for people already committed. Price per millilitre falling with size is normal and helps buyers move up. Offering only one size is a mistake.

Explain rather than discount

Buyers who say it is expensive mostly do not know how low the yield is. A short explanation and a photograph of the apiary do more than any discount — and a discount cannot be taken back.

Frequently asked

Should I start cheap to build a customer base?

No. Customers who come for a low price leave for a lower one, and you cannot raise prices later without losing them.

How much below retail should wholesale be?

Whatever the number, it must stay above your fully loaded cost. Wholesale below cost is working for free so someone else can resell.

Should prices move with the season?

Hold them steady so regular buyers can trust you. When yield is low, limit quantity rather than raising the price.