Can You Believe This

[Bodacious]

I do think though at the end of teh day that Jane Public isnt always interestd in how many course you have done or who you have done it with, they are just interested in how much it is going to cost them.

I have never had anyone come in and ask me who the products are by or how much experince you have, they always say first how much do you charge.

Also they may have been somewhere else that is cheap and had a really bad job BUT it dosnt always make them go to someone who charges more they just think htat the product has wrecked the nails, never the technician!

It isnt just nails, you have the likes of Asda, tesco selling everything, give it time and sooon you wont have to go anywhere but hem for anything including beauty, I mean even tescos anre now going to sell vibrators. The small busniess I feel is a dying breed but that is a differnt story alltogether.

But ask yourself this, how many of you actually make the effort to buy from a small idependent business at a higher cost, or how many of you love the cheap, oops sorry 'value for money' stuff you get from the supermarkets.

I would love to set the price of our nails at £50 and just do one to two sets a day, but if we are strugling to get them to pay £28 how and do two sets a day there is no way I can up the price as then we wont be doing any

 

[Tickled Pink!]

I mean even tescos anre now going to sell vibrators.

:!: :!: :wink2: :wink2: :wink2: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[xtremities]

Hi all,

Thanks all for your responses.

I agree with a lot of your comments.

I started out 6 years ago as mobile and only charged £15.00 for a full set and obviously as I became more experienced and completed all my Creative courses, including NVQ Qualification, raised my prices to approx. £30.00.

Then I started working in a salon 4 years ago and the going rate was £40 - £45.00 for natural enhancements and £50.00 for permanent french.

In 4 years I have never raised my prices. I believe I am worth what I charge, as not only do I do acrylic enhancements, but also sculpting and correcting toenail disfigurements, also can do all systems. Some clients are amazed when they crack a corner of their nail, I can just sculpt it back in and have never had that done before, so they know they are paying for my expertise, and also I am courteous and make a real fuss of my clients.

I notice a lot of you are from Northern England (not all) and maybe the price of nails is cheaper, like housing, etc.

I am 20 minutes from London and the property prices here are exhorbitant and I might add if you go into London nails are anything upwards from £65.00.

I do realise I may have to drop my prices a little in order to gain new clients, especially with the NSS salons competing with us all the time.

What is a girl to do?

Would be interested in Geeg's comments to this.

p.s. I am going on a Biosculpture conversion course on Monday so that I can offer yet more service menu to my clients and this is at a cost of £250.00 for one day, so learning about nails is not cheap, so why should our prices be.

SAM
NOTHING BUT NAILS

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Sam , this is such a tough one, but I would stick as you are if the rest of your business is okay. Nails is still a new business to most, compare it to hair - you have cheap salons and bloody mega expensive ones, but they all seem to survive.
I would say to charge what YOU feel you are worth, don't let a few cheapskates make you undersell and undervalue yourself. Our business has died at the mo and the temptation is to slash prices to try and entice new biz, but this tends to be a short term fix as you attract peeps that are looking for a cheap price and will then jump ship when you put prices back up. We are just looking at remarketing ourselves in the local area, and to offer half price pedicures to our current clients to keep them keen, getting them to have a go at other services so they may be tempted againin the future ...... and to stop us getting so bored with nothing to do but CLEANING!!!!!

 

[Prionace]

I totally agree with everything said here. My price is quite low at the moment cause i've only finished my coursde 4 month ago, and my clients come to my house to have their nails done. But i'm always thinking ahead. I'm planning in offering my services in local salons that don't have nail techs. They can book for me and i shall pay they a percentage of the service provided, of course to do this i imediatly have to raise my price to about 30-35£ per full set and 20-25£ for infills. I also intend to continue my training. Hopefully i can do a Creative conversion before next year, and take courses on other systems and on pedicures (that i don't provide yet). When i can get my skills to a desirable level i'm hoping to open a salon and there charge 50£ or more for full sets. If all goes well, i think i could acomplish this plan in 2-3 years. So, wish me luck!

 

[dee]

!tescos are going to sell vibrators !, lmfao there will be a hell of a lot of happy peeps in tescos :lick:

 

[RAQUEL]

well in our tescos they have sunbeds!!!...

 

[Katmoz33]

what are NSS salons?

and sunbeds in tesco wow ours doent have that! it has a shower in toilets though not sure why thats there.
Kat xxx

 

[VanessaB]

It is interesting to note that a lot of girls mentioned that they haven't put their prices up in a while - the SUPPLIERS sure have though! Every year its a bit extra!

We accept this as normal business practise. As costs to them increases, they must pass this on to their customer - US. No problem!

Why can we not pass this hike onto OUR customers too?

If you have not changed you prices for a couple of years, think about how much LESS profit you are now making compared to then!!

Less profit means NO extra money for TRAINING or paying mortgages etc.

I know its not all about profit and I agree that its difficult to decide pricing especially when you dont want to undersell yourself or price yourself out of the market. I had a nightmare deciding mine!!

Its just a little idea to get people thinking!!!!!!

 

[geeg]

It is interesting to note that a lot of girls mentioned that they haven't put their prices up in a while - the SUPPLIERS sure have though! Every year its a bit extra!

We accept this as normal business practise. As costs to them increases, they must pass this on to their customer - US. No problem!

Why can we not pass this hike onto OUR customers too?

If you have not changed you prices for a couple of years, think about how much LESS profit you are now making compared to then!!

Less profit means NO extra money for TRAINING or paying mortgages etc.

I know its not all about profit and I agree that its difficult to decide pricing especially when you dont want to undersell yourself or price yourself out of the market. I had a nightmare deciding mine!!

Its just a little idea to get people thinking!!!!!!

Suppliers (well ethical ones anyway) do not put prices up every year like a payrise! Only if the price of raw materials goes up or something else that affects the manufacturer or the economic situation, do prices rise, and of course your prices have to go up accordingly. Actually the price of nail products has been pretty stable for years and in some cases have even gone down. One of the perks that you get when you buy form a large well known distributor is the advantage of their buying power. It's just like the supermarket. The more the distributor buys, the better the deals they get ... and if they are ethical, they will pass these deals on to you.
But back to the question in hand, I have to say that your business should be about the profit ... that is why we are in business ... to make a profit otherwise it is a hobby not a business.
I would never lower my prices just because the person down the road was charging less .. I would make my service value added and as different from the person's down the road as I could be.

 

[naturalnails]

When I first started, I based my prices on what I thought a newby was worth and set it at £18 until I felt I was as good as the local salons - I only did one set at £18 after seeing the nails coming out of salons at a cost of £25 ish.

I sometimes do a secret shopper phone call and check what others are charging just to see how I compare. Recently a lot of the local salons have brought their prices down, presumably to get more business. Mine have stayed the same so I am now one of the highest priced in the area and working from home. I certainly dont feel I should be cheaper from home - you get personal service and more flexible hours.

In my experience people do call and ask the price first but if you dont immediately tell them but ask them what their needs are and get a dialogue going then they appreciate your knowledge and generally I get a booking.

Also I have had people who call and ask what products I use and also how long I have been working, rather than just the price.

 

[Deb379]

I think I have managed to put my prices middle of the road. It does depend on your area of course, if I set up in Chichester then my prices could be more. When I've looked at other people's prices I seem to be about right.

I have based a full set on £33 for french but that is with tips or sculpts, clear is £27, polish or airbrushed colour is £30. This is for acrylics, fabric and bio.

Natural nail overlay is quite a bit cheaper with any of the systems, based on the fact that it will be quicker and only product used. £22 clear, £25 for colour, £26 for permanent coloured gel, £28 for french. Maintenance £20

What i'd like to know is, how many of you charge more or the same for toe nails?

I haven't finalised my prices yet in concrete and keep fiddling must admit, I have charged toes the same as fingernails, but is that fair as toe nails are generally smaller.

In Fleet they charge £55 for set of nails which I think is far too pricey

Deb379

 

[Chemz Nailz]

hello evry1

I have booked a CND conversion course on Tuesday and I can't wait

On the subject of prices, Nail enhancements were only for ladies wot lunch if you catch my drift the first time I saw a nail enchancement was on jeffery rodgers' daughter in college 1994 I was amazed at how I couldn't tell they weren't real. (I used to buy the 99p false nails in the pound shop) I'm sure she told me she paid thirty five pounds for them which was alot a dough (for me anyway)

About six years ago 1 nail bar opened in my home town (harlesden) NW LONDON and charged twenty five pounds for a full set they were overflowing then another then another, then another ,then another, then another harlesden high street is a very small place but each shop was always busy they all are NNS salons and only accept cash.
They made if affordable for any Joe bloggs to have nail enhancements even if they are MMA. So that is why we cannot charge more because of sub standard salons doing cheap nails as long as the nails and designs look good people are happy.
We have to educate our clients on mma, and sanitation ask them if the tech washes her hands between client

I currently live in harrow who have only a handful of these salons but the prices remain the same as harlesden to combat this problem i have devised a stratgey

if you offer what others can't you can dictate your prices
as yet i haven't seen any glittered acrylic nail enhancements
I havent' seen encapsulated enhancements
i haven't seen clear tips with simple but elegant designs
only standard airbrushed or freehand nail art
people aren't as consertative as they used to be and I always get comments on my nails when they have alot of colour and design not when french manicured
invest and train in these methods as they will get your work noticed and then charge appropriatly if no-one else does it they can't go to anyone but you

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Hi Chemz - your second point about offering something different is spot on, make yourself stand out from the crowd.

I can understand what you are trying to say about if we all charger the silly cheap prices that NSS salons charge then we'd all be as busy as them. However IMO any good tech cannot compete on price with NSS salons because we use good quality expensive products, and we take on average 90 mins to do a set whereas their killer drillers can churn out sets in 45 mins ..... so if you look at time taken we are probably cheaper per hour than them, give a better service than them and we can talk the same language as our clients.

Pity the Government didn't catch up with the fact that using MMA results in knackered nails, outlawed it and made all of us genuine peeps a lot happier, and the unknowing public not have to suffer the nail torture these place dole out.

 

[Jaffacake]

What i'd like to know is, how many of you charge more or the same for toe nails?

I haven't finalised my prices yet in concrete and keep fiddling must admit, I have charged toes the same as fingernails, but is that fair as toe nails are generally smaller.

I charge the same for toes as natural overlays on fingers, its true that toes are smaller, but big toes arent, and i find it more fiddly and that the toes seem to stay on longer than fingers and need infills less so it evens itself out in the long run. Jmo x

 

[smooth]

From this pricing does vary and it seems that all "cheap" nail enhancements are not done by NSS using that MMA. It could be that they are mobile and don't have the same overheads as salons, they are fairly new and whilst they use good quality products feel they need to be competitive until they get up to speed or that the market is heavily flooded and they charge what everyone else charges.

Clients nowadays do shop for price, it's a shame but a lot do, it used to be a very small percentage but this has risen steadily. Do a trial price increase but be prepared to lose those penny pinching clients. In return you will get in the long run, loyal clients who are willing to spend their money.

 

[josiejo]

hey sam , ive been doin it for 8 years and i charge 31 for full set and 15 for infills. how much wer u charging?xx

 

[Anna Lee]

This is an extremely old thread dating back to 2004...
Hopefully, many of us has actually rise their prices since then...

 

[honeybeartalons]

ooh, you have all got me thinking now, I charge £23 FS and £15infill, I have 12yrs experience and creative trained, i work mobile but feel that if i charged more ,my loyal clients wouldn,t be able to afford to get their nails done, I know im probably a bit soft but when they all buy you a xmas pressie i feel really guilty about charging more,

 

[Susie H]

ooh, you have all got me thinking now, I charge £23 FS and £15infill, I have 12yrs experience and creative trained, i work mobile but feel that if i charged more ,my loyal clients wouldn,t be able to afford to get their nails done, I know im probably a bit soft but when they all buy you a xmas pressie i feel really guilty about charging more,

As has already been pointed out by flower, this thread is from 2004
I'm sorry hun, but considering how much fuel prices have been hiked in the last couple of weeks, let alone since 2004, how are you managing to make a profit and pay yourself a wage:smack:
A home salon doesn't have these overheads to worry about or the buisness rates that a shop salon has to bear, but even so, I would expect them to have increased since that time, you, with your overheads.......... it's about time a modest increase came into your menu