Should You Haggle Over Your DJ Prices?

by Chris Brower
Last Updated: December 13, 2021

It’s a guarantee that some potential clients will question your DJ prices. You’ll quote a price that you put a lot of thought into, but their response might be something like:

“That’s over our budget for a DJ.”
“Ooo, that’s pretty high. Would you DJ for $___?”
“We like you, but this other company is offering to charge $200 [or whatever] less than you. Can you match that?”

This puts you in a tough spot. You want the business and the money, but you naturally want to make as much money as you can. You don’t want to make less than normal.

Plus, it can almost feel insulting when someone argues with your DJ prices, especially when you think your prices are more than fair. You think you deserve to be paid that amount for your services, but evidently they don’t.

And when you hear some of the odd things couples spend HUGE amounts of money on, but don’t want to spend more than a couple hundred on a DJ, it can be downright baffling. (My favorite story is a couple whose budget was $500 for a DJ, but $1,500 for seat covers. Seat covers.)

For DJs who get a lot of inquiries, and business is going great, it can be easier to just kindly say, “Sorry, we’ve put a lot of thought into our DJ prices, and as a practice we don’t haggle. We’d love to have your business, but if our price won’t work for you, we understand.”

After all, it is a fact that your prices aren’t going to work for everyone. Weddings are expensive! And not everyone can afford a top-notch DJ.

But for other DJs who don’t have tons of clients contacting you, you can feel in a jam: make less money but get the booking, or miss out on potentially any business for that day? There’s no guarantee you’ll get another inquiry for that date.

There’s no easy “yes” or “no” answer to if you should be open to haggling or not, but here are some things to think about when deciding what to do.

Are You Likely to Get More Inquiries for That Date?

If you think you’ll likely get more inquiries for that date – and thus, could get your full price from someone else – then it makes sense to politely turn down the business and hold out for a different client.

Some things to consider:

Is this date more than 9 months out? If so, there’s a greater chance someone will contact you again for that date. If the wedding is coming up sooner, say, within six months from now, the chances are dwindling that you’ll get more inquiries for that date. Thus, you might want to lower your price (if you must) to get the booking. After all, most couples have booked their DJ by now. Many of the couples who wait until the last minute seem to be ones who also have very-low budgets for DJs. However, a couple might be so desperate to find a DJ last minute that they’re willing to pay much more to get one. They simply have fewer options at that point.
Is this wedding during your peak season? Most of my bookings happen in April through October. I have far fewer bookings in December through February. Thus, when I get an inquiry for one of those “off” months, this might be my only chance for that particular date. If the inquiry is for, say, September, I know I’m going to get a lot more inquiries for that month and likely that specific date.
Is the wedding date a Saturday? The majority of weddings happen on Saturdays. Thus, you’re more likely to get more inquiries for that day of the week. If the wedding is 9+ months out and on a Saturday, the chances are much higher you’ll get multiple people asking for that date. Fridays and Sundays happen too but are less common. Mondays through Thursdays? Almost never. In 8 years, I have DJed only one Thursday wedding. Never a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. So if you get an inquiry for a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, even if it’s 9+ months out, maybe it’s worth lowering your price (if you must) to get the booking. Otherwise, you probably won’t get booked that day.

Is There the Possibility of Future Work If You Lower Your DJ Prices This One Time?

Do the potential clients have brothers or sisters who recently got engaged and might be in the market soon for a DJ too? Is this event for a corporate client or a school that could want your DJ services year after year if you do a great job?

If so, maybe it’s worth lowering your DJ prices to get the possible future, repeat business. It could pay off over and over again.

Of course, there’s always the risk they’ll keep expecting your DJ prices to stay lower than you’d like. “But last year you DJed for $600. Now you want $800?” You could simply say, “I gave you a $200 discount last time, and I think I proved my value. I’d love to DJ for you again for $800 this time.” You’ve (hopefully) proven yourself, so maybe they’ll go for it.

Could You Sell Your Services Better?

Some clients don’t totally understand all a wedding DJ does. Some think the DJ just presses “play” on “YMCA” and other typical songs, and “whatever, anyone can do that, right? Why should they charge so much???”

Some couples think, “Why even hire a DJ? I can just make a Spotify playlist myself. That’s as good, right? Especially if a DJ is gonna cost so much…”

There’s always the chance that if you have a very strong sales pitch that really communicates your value and how you’re just so much better than other DJs (or the couple using a Spotify playlist) that a couple might be convinced to raise their DJ budget for you.

If they can feel an urgency (“Oh wow, we have to have this DJ!”), they might be more convinced to spend the money and happily agree to your DJ prices rather than insist on a lower price or they’re walking.

Years ago, I toured a decent apartment that was $850/month. It was perfectly good. The price was similar to what I had been paying before, and I wanted to stay around that price. I was planning to take it… Then I toured an apartment that was $1,299/month – a huge price difference! But I was so blown away by how nice this place was, and how, wow, well, maybe I would want to use the fire pit, huge communal patio with cool furniture and grills, large pool, in-unit washer/dryer, etc. The other apartment was pretty good but this was amazing! Guess which apartment I ultimately rented? It convinced me I had to have it.

Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.

Keep The Same DJ Prices But Add an Additional Service “For Free”

Let’s say you quoted $1,000 for a complete reception package, but the client says that’s too high. You could throw in an additional service, such as the ceremony, uplights*, a projector, or some other add-on “for free,” and this could convince the client to hire you. You’ve sweetened the deal, and they now feel like they’re getting even more for their money.

It’s sort of like the earlier apartment example. “I don’t want to pay $1,299 for an apartment… but if that includes this amazing patio and pool, well, yeah, okay, sure!!” (And guess what? I ended up spending seriously less than 30 minutes on that patio and pool the whole year I lived there!)

You Can Haggle Too, of Course

If you normally would charge $1,000, and the couple wants you to charge $800, you could say, “I can lower my price to $900,” and they might bite. You can lower your DJ prices some without lowering them to the exact amount they want.

This is classic negotiating.

Sometimes just lowering your price some amount is enough to make a potential client happy and make them agree to pay a price that’s still higher than their request. Don’t sell yourself too short.

Are Your DJ Prices Too High for Your Market?

If you get a lot of blowback on your prices, there is the chance your prices are simply too high for most people in your market. You can’t charge as much in some cities as others. For example, when I lived in Chicago, I could charge a lot more for DJ services than I could in Kansas City. It was the same DJ services! But people were willing to pay more in one city over another.

Of course, you can still keep your prices on the higher end for your area. But you might not work as much. If you’re okay with that, by all means that’s fine.

But frequent blowback on your prices might indicate you should consider lowering them to get more business.

Look around at other DJs in your area – what are they charging? Is your business on par with them? Better? Worse?

You don’t have to charge the same as other DJs in your area, but if your prices are consistently more than other DJs, you need to be able to explain why. What are you offering that they aren’t? Why are you (likely) better than them?

Prices are tricky. It’s a lot of trial and error. I’m 8 years into business, and I’m still constantly thinking about adjusting prices. I often raise them for a while, but then business slows a bit, and I bring the price back down.

I sometimes get a lot of positive feedback on my prices (“Oh, that’s great!”), which is nice, but then leads me to think, wow, maybe I’m charging too low. Maybe I could get more? But then I raise prices, and I start hearing more of the, “That’s too high for us” comments. Sigh…

Conclusion

Haggling is a part of almost any business with high-priced services/products. It can certainly be a part of your DJ business too. It all depends on how comfortable you are with possibly losing the business. There's no simple "yes" or "no" answer on what you should do, but put some thought into it before you sell yourself short or miss out on a much-better payday.

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