Feeling disheartened about competitor's prices

[Seraphine]

I'll hold my hands up and say I don't know loads about pricing for the industry so don't shoot the messenger!

But... For genuine shellac fingers by CND master and qualified etc around where I live in Essex and also most prices I've seen in London (obviously not seen everywhere don't get me wrong) It seems to top out at high 20's. Like £28. Locally in Essex more like £22-25. £30 may really be a stretch... just a thought.

Mrs Penguin gets hers done whenever she gets hold of my card and I don't even think she would pay £30 even with my money lmao.

Am I wrong in thinking shellac lasts about 2 weeks? That's £15 a week up keep for regulars. Quite a lot. £60 a month. Obviously this is if they're regular which they may not be.

Like I say I have no idea how much the stuff costs

Thanks for asking, Banner Penguin - I should clarify this!

My charge for Shellac is £23. My charge for extensions, in either gel or acrylic, is £30. The Shellac price doesn't include lengthening - it's just a regular Shellac application (although I usually include glitter/basic art for free... although I know that would make a lot of nail professionals on here shudder)

The extensions usually last 3-4 weeks without needing an infill (infills cost less than a full set). Once a client's nails are grown out, I usually I try to convert my extension clients into gel overlay, and then into Shellac on it's own. I'm trying to get them into a less expensive, less time-intensive process, and it has worked for the majority of my clients.


But to do Shellac, I need to purchase REAL Shellac, and correct light bulbs for my CND lamp, and all the paraphernalia needed to do a Shellac treatment - I'm not fobbing my clients off with dodgy product purchased from Ebay. But that all has a cost.

 

[BannerPenguin]

Thanks for asking, Banner Penguin - I should clarify this!

My charge for Shellac is £23. My charge for extensions, in either gel or acrylic, is £30. The Shellac price doesn't include lengthening - it's just a regular Shellac application (although I usually include glitter/basic art for free... although I know that would make a lot of nail professionals on here shudder)

The extensions usually last 3-4 weeks without needing an infill (infills cost less than a full set). Once a client's nails are grown out, I usually I try to convert my extension clients into gel overlay, and then into Shellac on it's own. I'm trying to get them into a less expensive, less time-intensive process, and it has worked for the majority of my clients.


But to do Shellac, I need to purchase REAL Shellac, and correct light bulbs for my CND lamp, and all the paraphernalia needed to do a Shellac treatment - I'm not fobbing my clients off with dodgy product purchased from Ebay. But that all has a cost.

Hiya!

Sorry I must of got the wrong end of the stick - as usual as Mrs Penguin would say! ha.

Sounds pretty industry standard pricing to me taking into account buying all genuine stuff etc. Like you say you aren't over charging as I've done plenty of designs and websites and seen plenty of prices as normally I have to type them all in.

Just need to keep going at it! Twitter is good. We pick up work from Twitter.

PENGUINS TOP TIP! - If you have an iPhone/iPad (not sure it's on android?) There is an app called Echofon. It's an unofficial twitter app that has an advert banner on it so it's a free app. I mention this because it has a search function! It's BRILLIANT and a kept secret of mine. It does pick up a lot of american/international tweets so you have to scan through them but you can search something like 'nails in *your area*' and hopefully you might come up with people tweeting out to friends asking for someone who does nails in your area!

I often search 'cheap printing' etc and 'banner printing' and pick up clients off of it! Just send them a friendly tweet saying hi, if you're still looking just send me what you're after and I'll send you a price. They'll either ask a price or ignore you. No harm either way.

 

[Seraphine]

Thank you, Banner Penguin! Those are great ideas!

The problem is that the public often doesn't understand what the services are... they try to compare like for like, but if they don't know the difference between Shellac and Bluesky, it's a problem. Gel can be high end, name brand gel like CND Brisa, or it can be £5 "mystery" gel bought online that contains God knows what. Many clients have no idea.

They also get hung up on the number. If I charge £30 for a set of nail extensions that will last a month, they still see it as overpriced when they see "why pay the salon prices when I'll do your nails for £8!" It doesn't matter if their nails last 5 minutes.