Ball python pricing?

after seeing this posting on the ball python general forum I have many questions this is the link to original post:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...imals-for-sale

It basically says to read this article:

http://ballpythonbreeder.com/2009/04...price-animals/

after reading all this i'm left with questions

1) why hasn't this pricing site been made? it would be used and I think everyone would appreciate it if it was legit.

2) Being this is my first year and I'm a hobbiest I know what I do isn't going to fix the problem of undercutting but I don't want to contribute to it. My question is what are fellow hobbiest doing to figure out the price of their animals? I've been fallowing bp prices for certain morphs for a couple of years and I remember when i first started looking seeing pieds no lower then $900. this year I have seen pieds for as low as $565 no joke.

I was thinking of looking at all big breeder sites getting an average and then taking 5 to 10% off of that average. The reason being people buy from big breeders for the assurance thats why they deserve to list higher prices. I can't offer the same assurance as their names can so my pricing should be slightly lower. Am I wrong in thinking this? clearly the current undercutting method isn't working. so how should I figure out my pricing?

There is a difference between pricing your animals slightly lower than the larger breeders and pricing your animals lower then the rest of the people out there. There have been people nearly cutting prices in half on some of the higher end morphs just to move them. They aren't patient enough to realize that this is an expensive industry/hobby and depending on what you are producing you may not sell them immediately. If you present yourself in a professional manner and illustrate that you have quality animals, even going as far as putting your reputation on the line for health and genetics, your animals will sell at some point. The more business and the more happy customers you have the better your reputation will be.

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Originally Posted by benwallage9

after seeing this posting on the ball python general forum I have many questions this is the link to original post:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...imals-for-sale

It basically says to read this article:

http://ballpythonbreeder.com/2009/04...price-animals/

after reading all this i'm left with questions

1) why hasn't this pricing site been made? it would be used and I think everyone would appreciate it if it was legit.

2) Being this is my first year and I'm a hobbiest I know what I do isn't going to fix the problem of undercutting but I don't want to contribute to it. My question is what are fellow hobbiest doing to figure out the price of their animals? I've been fallowing bp prices for certain morphs for a couple of years and I remember when i first started looking seeing pieds no lower then $900. this year I have seen pieds for as low as $565 no joke.

I was thinking of looking at all big breeder sites getting an average and then taking 5 to 10% off of that average. The reason being people buy from big breeders for the assurance thats why they deserve to list higher prices. I can't offer the same assurance as their names can so my pricing should be slightly lower. Am I wrong in thinking this? clearly the current undercutting method isn't working. so how should I figure out my pricing?

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A uniform pricing guides won't work because nobody is going to offer me the same price for my animals as they would a big name breeder. Under cutting the local competition is what keeps small breeders afloat. If your looking for a reference to what you should be charging for your animals, find what your local breeder is charging for the same animal and undercut them by a few hundred bucks. Just enough to make you look appealing to buyers, and not so much that you are contributing to the issue of dropping prices.

I think you have the right idea.