too good to be true?

i've been out of the ball python market for a long time, never looked for more after getting my breeding plans bought. ive been looking today and came up with this ad http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tion-Reduction. are these prices for real? should i trust this member?

Hey, kind of rude to be posting this on the same forum that the op posted to. If you don't believe their prices, send them a PM and ask them directly what the deal is.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Hey, kind of rude to be posting this on the same forum that the op posted to. If you don't believe their prices, send them a PM and ask them directly what the deal is.

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Also not much too amazingly shocking about these prices, if the bloke is really getting rid of stock and wants to get rid of them quick then these seem fine.

Most of those seem on par with expo prices. There isn't anything in the ad that comes off as a red flag to me.

Collections reductions/sales aren't all that uncommon. People move long distances or to pet-unfriendly apartments, start families, get deployed, or fall on hard times and need the money. Some just don't have their hearts in it anymore and would rather sell the snakes than grow to resent them. Some go in a new breeding direction, or have better genes to replace the individuals they are selling. Not everyone has unlimited rack space to insist upon a price they feel an animal is valued at. Even at "low" prices, it can take time to sell snakes. The average Joe (speaking for myself here, not the person who posted the ad) doesn't have the marketing resources to compete with reptile businesses.

If you are concerned about scammers, here are some general things to watch out for:

- If snakes are sick or show signs of not being kept properly (stuck sheds, underweight, burns, etc.).

- Pushy attitude or unwillingness to provide what we've come to expect as "standard" customer service (seller refuses to send pictures, rushes you through looking over the snakes, etc.).

- Clear lack of knowledge by the seller: wildly misidentified species or genes, improper husbandry, and so on.

- New/rare/expensive genes offered at *absurdly* low prices, or genes offered that the seller doesn't have in their collection or a provenance for (adult pastel het sunset female for $500, or a clutch of het. dreamsicle babies when there's no pied or lavender albino snakes in the seller's collection).

There is a specific location here on BP.net for these types of threads - in the Inquiries/Feedback forum. I've moved it to its proper location for you.

Those prices are very much in line with the local cash prices I'm seeing on the forums and at expos. I also wouldn't bother having anything in that list shipped to me unless it was a stellar example of the morph.

If you haven't bought/sold in a while be prepared for (non)sticker shock at how much prices have cratered for common single-gene morphs and hets.

Yeah and you better move quick, I'm local to the seller and already made contact ;)

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Wow these prices are in line with expos now?! Adult pastel females going for under 100? The market has really crashed huh?