“If I sell eggs and lose $1 per dozen, how many dozen do I have to sell to break even?” It’s a silly question, of course, but I’ve seen countless well-meaning farmers try to answer it by trial-and-error, on their way to getting a job in town.
I’d rather ask, “if I sell eggs and make $3 per dozen, how many do I have to sell to quit my job in town and make my dream job my real job?”
What’s the difference between the two farmers asking the questions? One of them knows how to price a product for sale.
There are two aspects to pricing any product:
1. What will the customer pay?
2. What do you need to make?
Let’s start with the first one, “what will the customer pay?” It’s really the most important, because it doesn’t matter what you need to make on a product if no customers will buy it at that price. To begin, consider existing pricing in the market for products similar to yours. If three farmers in your town are selling a dozen eggs for $6, that’s probably what people will pay. Its not likely, if your eggs cost $9, that people will buy them. That is, UNLESS (and this is a BIG idea when it comes to small business strategy) your product is BETTER. If all the farmers in your town are selling eggs (pasture raised) for $6, you can charge more money if you offer something better, like pasture raised PLUS organic certification.
A strategic aside: The best businesses in the world grow not by offering incremental improvements on existing products in the market, but by offering something completely different. A famous egg farmer in Italy sells his eggs for $18/dozen. How? His chickens roost in trees. He feeds them organic grains raised on the property and soaked in milk from a goat herd that exists only for the chickens. He spends several hours each day hunting for eggs in trees, on buildings, and in shrubs. And he’s happy to have help from every journalist and high-end restaurateur who wants to join him. His product is better. It’s more fun, and has NO EQUAL. In that case, he gets to be more creative with the price. (The opposite, of course, is what economists call “perfect competition.” The best example is corn sold to the co-op; all suppliers bring an equal product, and the market dictates the price. This environment is bad news, and best suited for going out of business unless you are the most efficient producer in the market.)
You Have Three Cows... 
Its rough when competition of label gets their feed in bulk from a relative (@ $3 a dozen), or are sold at a store. But the quality of eggs is far less then mine which costs far more in feed . I find in this area people just see ‘Organic’ and ‘convenience of location’. Which puts this small time egg seller highest quality Organic no GMO eggs hard to sell. Even when I am selling at a loss. Then there is Costco at $6 per 18. I am at Costco price. Yet my cost is $.75 per dozen more in output. Yes people see a dozen eggs since they are already at the store and just buy it. Even when I live just down the street. I find the world of advertisement and way of convenience to the consumer has programmed society from certain types of reasoning.
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