How to Price your Hookah

It's hard to tell exactly what to sell your hookahs for, and with a growing market, you want to stay competitive, yet still turn a profit. You are running a business, after all.

A little bit of research never hurt anyone, so if you found this, you're obviously looking. Chances are, you're selling more Junior hookahs (the small 17 inch variety) than you can keep on hand. That's great! But what are you selling them for? If the answer is anything less than $40, then you're charging too little. Anything less than that and you're practically giving them away (which might explain you never having enough on hand). If you're a negotiator at heart, then that is good news. It gives you a good starting point for negotiation. This is especially useful in flea markets and bazaars, where bargaining skills are a must.

So now you've got a $40 base for the small ones. The more elaborate Egyptian hookahs can be sold comfortably for around $80, but this is really no more than a starting point. The basic Egyptian pieces can be very simple, or amazingly ornate, so we're topping the price game at about $120 for the very elaborate ones.

The less common Bohemian hookahs can go for a good start of $120. These too are just as varied as the Egyptian ones, but as you may have seen, even the simplest of the Bohemian hookahs out shadow the best of the Egyptian ones, not just in terms of looks but overall smoke quality as well. That's what justifies the price tag, so you're looking at an upper limit of about $180.

The final, most common retail hookah, although none too common at all, are the beastly hookahs. We're not talking your every day, run of the mill hookah. We mean the giant, sometimes 6 foot or more hookahs, with as many as 12 hoses. These are really more of a novelty, since the likelihood of selling one is slim, other than to someone who has to have the best there is to offer, or someone who's opening a store with one as the center, and so, the likelihood of ever having smoked one is even less. But, if you want to sell one, the skies the limit, with an average price tag of AT LEAST $500, sometimes even going as high of $1500.

So now you've got an idea, but if all else fails, look at your competitors, charge the most you can while undercutting them, offer freebies. Consumers like freebies, like tobacco, coals, and shipping.