What people are really asking for when they tell me to lower my prices.

What people are really asking for when they tell me to lower the price of our handmade, natural lip balms.

[SpreadLove]

I understand your perspective, but also theirs. It went up 2.5 dollars from an already slightly higher priced lip balm. Personally I was ok with what the price was at 6.50 dollars, and thought it was fair to help a small company, but with the increase my more recent order almost cost 50 dollars for 4 lips balms after letter mail delivery prices included, but it cost me 19 dollars for 4 at another small company with delivery, who also makes natural lips balms. Very similar company idea as yours, and there are many small companies that are charging around 4.00 to 5.00 for a natural lip balm, so that could be where people are confused and or not understanding the difference. It’s pretty significant for lip balm even for my budget, so unfortunately from here on out I will also have to switch due to this. I love you guys and your company, and I wish you guys the best, but 9.00 dollars a lip balm for me is not something I can manage as someone who has to buy them in higher numbers.
(PS, Like you mentioned before; your lip balms may not work for everyone, but I’m sure you have your folks who will and can support you, who it will work for, and that’s what matters. 😊 And, for the record to anyone reading this the lip balms are pretty bomb, and I will miss receiving and opening up new flavours from them)

[zanarkandace]

“It’s too expensive!”
No, it’s too expensive for YOU.

[valeriemcbrayer]

I will absolutely admit that the prices are too high for ME! I lose lip balms too often to pay $8 per balm plus international shipping. That said, as a small business owner myself, hand made products are typically more costly and labor intensive than others so your prices are fair!

[joris]

It's no use to argue about a price.
You have the right to ask any price and the customer has the right to determine whether they find it worth it or not.

If I find something worth the price, I buy it. If not, I don't buy it and that's it.

[eclairlips]

Thanks so much for watching! Our website is eclairlips.com and if you enjoyed this video here are more on similar topics you might like:

Why I Respond To Criticism (spoiler: it's not for the trolls)

Why it's important for a business to stay on budget.

Does all the money from each lip balm we sell go straight into my pocket?


Don’t mistake social media comments for customer feedback


Coming soon: Why making light of mental health in my comments equals an instant ban.

[intomyworld]

I will admit, when i first looked at the website and saw the prices, i was shocked. After having purchased several, and tried them out. I can say the price was worth it to me. I love that they are hand made here in Canada, and i love the texture and scents. You guys are great!

[AkaNero._.]

Personally, I love your lip balms, but with the world we live in, I am greatly unable to afford the price when getting only a couple can reach up to $40-50.

[soleater]

this was a good response. i’m happy you clarified why you won’t lower your prices, instead of being rude and just telling us you don’t owe us affordability like many other businesses do:)

[Livingfreeme]

I bought some lip balms from your company. I like them, but admittedly, I am not sure if I will repurchase them. Simply because it takes so long to get the products, and I also think the balms are pretty pricey. I do appreciate all the work you do, but I just think I can buy lip balm locally and still enjoy using it.

[cocoanbella]

If I had money to blow on unnecessary stuff, I'd probably be putting it into a nicer vehicle, better food, eating out, home improvements, clothing, vacations. Only after I already had those things secured would I be spending significant money on beauty products. It's not for everyone. If prices are too high then the company will discover that through a lack of sales.

[LennyTheHopeless]

If there's one thing I know for sure it's that people truly hate paying for shipping. I'm sure at least a quarter of those people wouldn't be complaining if shipping was free on orders over a certain amount.

[warabocangel]

Cost optimization can happen in so many ways and it should be top of mind for business owners. There is much that can be done to optimize processes that do not involve lowering your employees pay

[hoipoi]

once I start earning my big girl money, I might try your lip balms. until then, shipping plus prices in USD = too expensive for me. I'll stick to nivea

[Kirsten_is_cursed]

That’s right, there are a wealth of other options. I choose to shop local because it’s better for the environment. You can’t use “but we’re a small business” as an excuse for literally everything.

[remitiras]

I do get the frustration, but as someone who's broke but really want to spend my money on businesses that I actually want to support and not just the cheapest options I find, I also get the people who ask you to lower prices.
There's a YouTube channel I've been a fan of for years and they're one of the biggest inspirations for my art, and they had limited time merch recently. I really wanted to get it, but the cost of both the item and shipping got to around 30 dollars, which is almost 10% of my monthly salary and I couldn't get it. Everything in their store cost so much, just a single sticker would cost me an insane amount of money compared to my salary. Still, mostly because of shipping, but not just.
I'm not trying to tell you how to run your business. It's probably not profitable for you to try to make new products that cost less to customers because the extra amount of work and materials it'll require, but I do think at least some of those people mean they hope you had cheaper options available because they want to support you but your products are too pricey for them to afford.

[jile_art]

I CANT BELIEVE THAT I DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION IN THE BEGINNING AND THOUGHT SHE WAS MAKING ICE-CREAM ROLLS 😭

[carissamessina]

And this is why I buy things that I can afford. I love to support small businesses. Absolutely! Especially local businesses. I do buy more expensive products from time to time as a treat for myself. Keep doing what you’re doing!! It’s obviously working for your business!! Keep it up!!

[desiree]

It's economics. You can talk about how you created your business and that it's a small business, and that you have a valid reason for charging more. This will work for a year
max, then customers will go for similar products which are available at a lower cost. If customers feel that the product is worth the value you are charging, great, else you have to meet their expectations, either by lowering the cost or by increasing the quality.
Also, remember, whichever brand the customers are shifting too also must have taken a lot of risk and effort to create their brand, and you cannot always request for support.

[octobermourning]

I’m an engineer. I used to work in those mass production factory. People work there too. We had manufacturing engineers, equipment V&V engineers, environmental control specialists, contamination control, and then the actual equipment operators. And that’s only a fraction of the people required to source, install, validate and qualify, operate, maintain, and retire machinery. The machines must pass visual inspection, internal and external auditing, and quality control verification activities. This is all human driven. There’s also regulatory and federal oversight of the business who uses the machines, and failure to meet regulatory requirements could cause operational shut down or black listed by regulatory or government bodies. There’s a lot that goes into those machines and it’s all human input. Provided, not nearly as much human input as all manual processes but that’s also not a bad thing. As your business grows, you’ll find investing into the machines will allow you to increase output and earnings, decrease cost for your consumers, and actually will improve product quality since machines control for variability a lot more efficiently than people do. You don’t need to change ingredients or methods to ultimately save money by automating them. Automation and ethical business practises are not mutually exclusive. Machines help so growth can occur more sustainably and ultimately more profitably.

Anyway, that’s all I had for my opinion. I agree with letting business set their prices for whatever reason. Every business does, and consumers have the same choice as always if they’d like to purchase that product. Really, my trigger was the unfair anti-machine sentiment that I don’t agree with. The machines aren’t exploiting anyone, that’s people doing it. You can run an ethical business and still automate, it’s what all these large companies should do since they can absolutely afford to do so.

[unknownt]

Totally agree. Don’t lower your prices. It’s our choice as customers to buy it or not at the current price. They’ll have to budget if they really want your products. If not, they can buy another brand. Unfortunately, I’ve had to give up some of my favorite restaurants because of high prices and instead cook at home. But I would never ask for cost to go down. Stay true to yourself. Do not waiver.