What does "But only if she charges me proper price for it" mean

[user1471867483]

My 80 year young mum makes homemade greeting cards. A coworker and I got talking about hobbies and craft and I told her my mum makes cards and I told her what my interests were. She said she'd love to see my mum's cards. I emailed her a few and she said they're amazing and would like one made for her mum and then in the same email said, "But only if she charges me proper price for it". What does she mean by that?

She doesn’t want to take advantage of your mum and is not expecting a freebie. She’s wanting to pay what she would in a shop / market for a nice handmade card. £3 to £5?

Maybe she doesn't want your mum to underprice her work, so she's asking to be charged the same amount as a stranger would be.

It means that she doesn’t want mates-rates, or wants to come across as a cf expecting it for free.

I think she means that she wants to pay fully and doesn't want mate rates or discount. That's how I'd read it.

She doesn’t want ‘mates rates’. She wants to honour your mum’s skills and time by paying her appropriately.

It means she doesn't want a favour from a friend / a discount / mates rates. She wants to pay what the items are worth. A fair price decided upon by your Mum equivalent to whatever a similar crafter would charge.

She wants no discount.

Your co-worker is being a decent human being so good for her.

I work in the craft industry and is a very common thing that new entrants and hobbyists undercharge for their work, often not even covering the cost of their materials, let alone their time and experience.

Thank you very much. I thought the opposite in that she was looking for a cheapie. Silly me.

I can imagine.

My coworker wanted a handmade card for her mum's 93rd birthday! I have emailed her all the cards my mum has made, but the coworker never got back to me about it, even when I reminded her that I emailed her pictures of them too 😢. My 80 yo mum is disappointed.

Yes, this has happened to me several times. I think your co-worker may have found the cards weren’t to her taste after all. Or maybe, she didn’t like the price.
I sold my cards for years, mostly without issue, but this situation did crop up now and again.
i wouldn’t ask the colleague why, as this would look a bit desperate. I would just write it off as experience.
You could ask for a deposit for future cardmaking requests, but this might put people off, so I wouldn’t do that, personally.
It’s a great hobby, and if you can make some money from it, so much the better.

Honestly OP, to make your own mum feel better I'd be inclined to purchase a card myself and pretend your friend had ordered it.

It's going to cost you a small amount of money but will make your mum feel good about herself.

Just don't let on the fact that the original order fell through - tell your mum the friend has finally made her mind up and chosen a card.

Please consider this little gesture, it could mean a lot to your mum.