Dahlia Mania

BarryO · 2024-01-14T19:02:54+00:00

Cosey It is indeed a broken system. If you know your inventory will sell out online in an hour or two, should you feed the frenzy by repeatedly announcing...

Juliarugula

I don’t know how to move this to the other topic page, but…

I’m in favor of raised prices for coveted varieties in general. I think it only makes good economic sense, and it’s certainly in keeping with the way most other “collector’s” plants are sold. (I’ve seen single eye divisions of hostas sell for hundreds). And to be clear, I’m a buyer, not a seller.

Another argument in favor would be that hybridizers are primarily compensated for their work during the first few years after the release of a new variety, since they still have some control over distribution. So it would seem increased prices on new releases would better support hybridizing efforts as well. (From my layman’s perspective at least - feel free to correct me if this is off-base)

Cosey

BarryO should a seller be applauded for selling a tuber for $40 or $80 or $120 ? Sure a seller is entitled to sell for whatever the market will bear. But in your gut, one probably knows whether should conduct is worthy of approval.

I'm not sure if this was a rhetorical question but I'm game for answering. I've read online comments referring to some growers being "profiteers" or practicing "price gouging".

I don't think this is being practiced by the selling community at large for the following reasons-

Those selling are not using inconsistent practices within a healthy, competitive market.
There hasn't been an unexpected change in inventory (ie, huge loss of tubers in a large area (natural disaster)or supplier).

I think sellers are reading the room and testing the waters to see where the ceiling is. Prices have been incrementally increasing over the last 5 years at all large sales. Even Swan Island radically modified their new intro price the last two seasons.

At the end of the day, new intros and in demand varieties are a low cost luxury item and there is always a segment of a market that will buy into it. Take coffee for example. Make a cup at home for $.75 or go to Starbucks for $6. 800% price increase and, yet, people choose SB everyday.

I find it interesting that a new or existing farm hasn't marketed "inexpensive" dahlias for the value minded customer. I wonder if that price point makes sense for a business anymore.

blown_dry

Cosey I find it interesting that a new or existing farm hasn't marketed "inexpensive" dahlias for the value minded customer. I wonder if that price point makes sense for a business anymore.

I see bulk offerings all the time. And I mentioned the supplier that experimented with pricing some varieties at "low" prices and didn't get many takers. Interestingly, the bulk-import suppliers have abandoned their niche as the low-priced product and are selling the exact same product to the new dahlia customer at the prices they expect.

blown_dry

Juliarugula I suspect they were using a web monitor and those can be set to check every few seconds. I have not had this issue with "normal" behavior. 😂

Juliarugula

blown_dry And I mentioned the supplier that experimented with pricing some varieties at "low" prices and didn't get many takers.

I seem to recall that there’s a known phenomenon where a too-low priced product won’t sell whereas the same product at a higher price point will. Oddly enough, I catch myself falling for this type of thinking sometimes when I’m antique shopping. I’ll see something that catches my eye, and then decide against it when I see how low it’s priced…. It’s weird. I can even be aware I’m doing it and it still happens.

Cosey

blown_dry

Bulk= wholesale? While there are customers on the farming side that look for those 80% of my customers buy less than three tubers. (I know I'm not an inexpensive option, but given the sales this year I'm not the most expensive either 😂). I was thinking on the value tubers the casual buyer is looking for.

Can anyone comment on what the in person dahlia society sales have been like across the country? What prices are they asking for? Has the demand gone up? Do they sell out? I routinely suggest finding those sales to people. That's how I got started. When I started my business I approached a local society and purchased their remaining stock after their sale.

blown_dry

Juliarugula The psychology of it all is fascinating. I've been doing dahlias long enough to see former 'it' dahlias that no one has an interest in anymore yet they haven't gotten any less pretty. I read an interesting article about Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. As a brand its popularity was on a long decline. In the US they began marketing to young people as a brand to consume "ironically" and found new success as a cheap beer so uncool that it was cool. In China, they played off the blue ribbon branding and marketed as a US premium product, pricing it extravagantly with good success.

bloomhjelm

I wish there were a few more instruments readily available to sellers and buyers.

One would be a way for hobbyists to more effectively market and track their inventory to facilitate trading and 1.1 sales. I see a lot of this done through Facebook and Craigslist when those cause topics to get pushed down and lost. It would be great to have a well-adopted trading board centered around a personal inventory manager, the same as any trading card or wine or comic book collector has.

I wish online shopping platforms which small sellers use like Square and Shopify made it simple to set up randomized draws to select committed buyers. Some people will always go home empty-handed, but that would give people without web alerts and extensions a chance to purchase the rarities. I don't love auctions unless they are for non-profits. I think mystery sales are more frustrating and customer-limiting than effective. Subscriber and early access sales just cause me to receive 150 different email subscriptions. 🙂

Juliarugula

Cosey

Our dahlia society (Elkhart Dahlia Society in Indiana) has a great in person sale. Tubers are $5, plants (cuttings or potted tubers) are $8. There’s definitely an intense focus on the part of a few buyers, but it’s still friendly and there are plenty of tubers to go around. We certainly don’t sell out - I’m not sure what happens to the excess at the end! Last year, there were even leftovers of some pretty sought-after varieties.

Definitely my all time favorite dahlia shopping experience.

blown_dry

Cosey Bulk= wholesale?

I mean the 3 and 5 tuber lots of good tuber producers that are very affordable per tuber.

MIDahlias

Cosey
I'm on Michigan. Home to three societies under the Midwest Conference and ADS, as well as Dahlia Hill. All four sell tuber for $5 each. Cuttings are more. I only know the numbers for one society. People do line up before we open. We sold around 800 on three hours last year.

One of the other society's tends to have KA and Coseytown's cuttings for $15 (I think, I went in 2022) there were a lot of one variety and I picked one off the table. A man told me he was buying them all. I was told usually a couple of people get there early to buy all the high end cuttings. True or False? I don't know.

I love society sales.

BarryO

Juliarugula
Our dahlia society on Long Island NY charges $5 per tuber and 3 for $5 if the tubers are unidentified.

Teddahlia

The Portland Dahlia Society private sale for members charges a version of market price for tubers and pot tubers. A $20- tuber may cost you $10-S12-. And remember there are no shipping costs and you know it is a good pot tuber or tuber as you can inspect it. And for the really rare or expensive tubers or pot tubers, there is an auction. The club makes killing on them and remember, you do not have to bid. I would not donate a
new introduction to the club unless I knew it was going to be sold via an auction. The club needs to pay for it's expenses and our show has no entry fees and free admission and costs something like $5,000- to put on.

drewtheflorist

If you want to get to a million dollars in the dahlia business, you better start with 2 million ....

blown_dry

drewtheflorist If you want to make a small fortune in the dahlia business, better start with a large one. 😂

WanderingDahlias

I’m curious on limiting varieties at sales. I certainly understand the reasoning on only having a limited amount and wanting to spread them around so more people can get one. Could it also be if someone comes in and buys all the highly desired varieties at once, there’s not a lot of motivation for other sellers to buy your more common ones? But if they can buy a KA, they’re more likely to spend on others at the same time to take advantage of shipping? Although that concept is out the window when things sell out in seconds. I bought KA’s Coral Sea this morning, and I didn’t waste time browsing. One and done.