Buying at Events vs Buying Online

Personally, I have had good experiences buying both online and at shows. I like that at shows I have the opportunity to see and handle the animal myself before making the purchase (photographs can sometimes be very misleading!) and talk to the breeder in person. I've never tried haggling, though, but then, I've only bought one normal at a show! However, I maintain that she is one of the prettiest normals I have, too, and she's only gotten prettier as she gets older.

Buying online does offer you a lot more choice, and as picky as I am about the animals I buy, although I've been to a few shows, there isn't always an animal that meets my picky standards, whereas I see more animals offered online that make me go 'wow'.

I would personally hold out for the animal that you fall in love with and a breeder you can trust, regardless of whether it's at a show or online. Both times, the animals I got were at a more than reasonable price, and both times I was very pleased with the purchase. I personally am not inclined to haggle if the animal is already priced fairly and I like the breeder--and if the animal's right for me. Usually I'm happy to pay the price for the right animal.

So is it fair to suggest that perhaps at these expo's, reptile shows most vendors sell their overstock and save only the best and holdbacks for online sales?

I think most vendors will carefully choose what to bring to an expo--they want to show off their very best in person, and many vendors will even bring a few animals NOT for sale, to show the quality they have.

They don't want to undersell their best animals, but they do want to show them off. In their position, I would bring a combination of things. (We're starting selling at expos, but at this lower level, we pretty much just bring everything, lol).

I've never known a vender to hold back animals from a show to sell them online instead. They might have higher prices that are firm on better stock, but I don't know what purpose would be served in not bringing animals in order to hope they would be sold online rather than bringing to a show to offer for sale there.

The less hassle because of no shipping works on both ends after all. The seller can set his price on any of his animals at any level he chooses, high or low.

I like shows. I've never brought online, but from what I've seen, prices at shows are better and theres no shipping. Feeders are definitely cheaper to get at a show. I can get 50 mice for less than $30 at a show. Or the same for more than $70 online. I only have two snakes so it makes no sense to order enough mice to make shipping reasonable.