The Price is Right The cost of your product can make or break a deal. Is your price on point?

Imagine that you've created the best product in the world . . . but you've set the wrong selling price. Price it too high, and would-be customers will cringe and walk away. Price it too low, and they'll perceive it as second-rate. The right price point, however, can make your product fly off the shelves--just like the 99-cent reusable shopping bags created by Earthwise Bag Co. Inc. in Commerce, California. The co-founders, Stan Joffe and his nephew Steve Batzofin, envisioned an earth-friendly product that was simple for customers to buy. "We saw [it] as an easy way for people to make a difference on a daily basis," says Batzofin.

One key part of their strategy was setting an enticing price point, thus making environmentalism both convenient and practical for customers. "Ninety-nine cents is a really attractive price point," says Joe Kennedy, author of The Small Business Owner's Manual. "[And] recycling and reusing grocery bags has its appeal to just about everybody."

Joffe, 59, and Batzofin, 29, created their bag concept after seeing the success of a similar reusable bag program in Australia. "Reusable bags have been tried by a number of stores, and we had some resistance [from retailers] in the beginning," says Joffe. "However, there was a great deal of interest in the environment, and the price point seemed to be really attractive."