Quit selling it by the pound....go to a per unit pricing.
Offer your best looking heads in 1, 3, 5 heads and braids. Offer loose cloves in small paper bags.
Most people only want small quantities of garlic and a high
price per pound is perceived as " too expensive".
You can get 12 to $16 if you change your presentation and
leave your scale at home.
We lost our mushroom grower because of his refusal to change.
His replacement is charging a lot more , pricing in quarter
pound increments, and selling 3 times the product.

Good Luck!
Bud
22 year veteran of farmers markets

Bud, thank you for the reply. I believe you're right about this. I bought quite a few bulbs from a lady in WI this year and she sells all her bulbs by the piece. I like how she does it...you know what you're buying

depending on the rates I may have a table next summer at the local market. I recal hearing a yearly membership fee and then a per day fee and like 7% of sales on top of that. Seems kinda steep to me, seems I looked into it last year and figured it wasn't worth it.

Plus, I didn't want to compete with this other grower that's sort of a friend. I'm sure if I went in there charging $2.00 for a 2.5" bulb he'd say i'm nuts...but hey, I wouldn't have to sell as many to his .50 per 2" bulb.

I figure I'll have 15,000 in the ground this year.

Well I am selling wholesale for $3.50 and retail at $5.00 but I do not go to any farmers markets and sit around all day. I deliver it to the coops or people come to see me. I sell it all out in less than two weeks. I like it fast like that and the selling season for me is over just like that. I just think that when you add all of the fees to show the stuff plus the percentage of sales to the house and the hours you sit there, giving up your weekends, that my price is a better profit margin in the long run. I have taken up my prices every year and no one has said a word. So I plan to raise it until I finally hit my first resistance on pricing, then I will hold it for awhile.

Bucks, I think Fileree buys from growers for like $8.00/lb if you have the quantity and quality

I get 8.50 per pound at the farmers Market in one of the bigger cities in NC. I Have sold elephant by the piece but not the other bulbs. It would be easy if you had one kind and had a basket of $1.00 bulbs and $2.00 etc but when you have several varieties on the table and lots of garlic to sell I dont have space on my table or time to size all bulbs . I have a small sign with price per lbs and then a average price for example average head $1.00-$2.00 and I weigh them out. If I am going to a festival where I am going too be really busy I may bag them in mesh bags with the same price on all of them . I charge almost double per lbs for braids and charge more also for sampler ropes because of the extra time and materials.I still selling garlic at the farmers market though I don't have much. I have them all bagged now so I can sell the larger heads as well as smaller.

Bucks, if you are still on this forum, which varieties do you grow in zone 9, Arizona?

Or if anyone else knows which varieties do better in the Deep South that would help! I'm looking to try garlic this year, but don't know if we have enough cold temperatures for Elephant or some of the other varieties. I'll grow artichoke type but who has the most variety?