Giving a Discount

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

The discount depends on your goal. If your goal is to make sure your snakes go to a good home, then I don't see how the discount could hurt if planned properly. If your goal is to just make sales, I don't really see how it would help.

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And this is pretty much the reason my fiance has a problem with it. If I don't sell snakes and scare people away, then he looks at it as a bad choice. I would keep them all if I could but I obviously can't do that. I have to sell some to at least help with some of the cost of keeping them. This is a hobby for me at the moment. I'm not making any money from breeding. Actually quite the opposite, I'm pretty far into the red lol. He would like them to at least be able to start paying for themselves. I can't do that without selling some snakes. I still would like to see them go to good homes though. How do you guys insure that the babies you produce go to prepared homes? Or is there even a way to insure that without taking a huge loss in sales?

I offer something from a similar but from a very different approach with my dragons. Bearded dragons come with a 48 hour health guarantee. This is reasonable in the industry and generous compared to some. For no charge, I will extend the health guarantee to a length of my discretion (usually 1-3 weeks) if pics of the set up are sent before receiving the dragon. It makes sense to link the set up with an extended health guarantee if it can be done with little "fuss". Your goal should be offer an incentive that helps those who want to take advantage of it while not impacting those who don't (I'm assuming that $10 is already an upcharge built in your price otherwise that's a very high percentage discount on low priced snakes).

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Originally Posted by BlueMoonExotics

I still would like to see them go to good homes though. How do you guys insure that the babies you produce go to prepared homes? Or is there even a way to insure that without taking a huge loss in sales?

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You can offer incentives and refuse sales where you sense something is off but you can never ensure a prepared home. Not possible short of in house inspections and I certainly would never buy any animal or product in existence where the seller demanded this. Remember, it's just an incentive and going to far will just ensured you get 'gamed' with set up pics from the internet. You'll learn to get a sense of people over time and can refuse sales at any time. I have in the past and am sure that I will again.

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Originally Posted by Jabberwocky Dragons

It makes sense to link the set up with an extended health guarantee if it can be done with little "fuss". Your goal should be offer an incentive that helps those who want to take advantage of it while not impacting those who don't (I'm assuming that $10 is already an upcharge built in your price otherwise that's a very high percentage discount on low priced snakes).

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No, I was going to keep it at $10 even if it was a $20 normal. It's not that big of a deal for me but hey, who doesn't like $10 off anything else they buy? I like your idea of an extended health guarantee as well. I was thinking about doing 10% like Deborah had suggested but I haven't decided yet what I want to do now that I've got everyone's input on the matter. I did take down the statement until I can think everything over and decide what's best. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to offer something like that and not scare people away once I build up a good reputation. Maybe for now, I should just try to do my best at getting a feel for someone. Although, like in my previous scenario, they were a very sweet person and since they were a vet tech I figured they had a pretty good handle on things. I guess you just have to hope for the best. It sucks but I suppose it comes with the territory for anyone who produces animals.

Just a thought, maybe it would be better to have pictures of proper setups available and send a full caresheet with each animal, at least when you have first time buyers. Sometimes simply putting the info in front of them can make all the difference. And no, in the end the only way to guarantee perfect homes forever would be to keep them all, which no one can do if they breed. We can only do the best we can.

I tend to think people would be much happier with a 48hour or 72hour, or 1 week health guarantee than an extra $10. That extra *sense* of security is probably worth a lot more to most. When you're writing that up though, make sure to clearly exclude mites from the additional days of guarantee as there is no way to check for them in pictures of someone's enclosure.

If your only worry is going to an educated home or not, I also personally think the best you can do (considering all factors) would be to just provide proper caresheet links, let them know in advance that thermostats are a required piece of equipment to avoid severe burns, digital hygrometer/thermometers are the only accurate ones, etc. before making a sale, and watch the way that they reply. If you get a good feeling, then great- and if you get an iffy feeling, you can still refuse the sale. It's tough to go any deeper.

And of course with this, the discount conundrum doesn't apply, so you won't need to worry about that. :P

It is a different culture compared to other animals. Since there are just SO MANY hobbyist breeders/big-time breeders in ball pythons, it's easy for a buyer to pass up a seller for seeming too nosy/too many holes to jump through, and simply find another equal seller (in the buyer's eyes) on the same day. Assuming you're not selling quirky three gene combos or something.