The REAL reason for dropping prices?

Its very interesting that a couple of years ago, you'd read a lot of forum posts expressing how great of an investment ball morphs were. Suddenly a lot of the same people changed their tun and leaned more towards "its a great hobby that you can break even with."

I believe that there are a few factors for the price drops:

- Increased supply. Obviously.
- Less demand. Not many people are entering the market anymore. Also, not many people are willing to incur large weekly feeder bills or invest a lot of money into caging.
- No market unity. Too many back door deals and price slashing, no one has any confidence in the market anymore and aren't willing to invest large sums of money out of fear of losing their "investment."

Just my .02....

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Its very interesting that a couple of years ago, you'd read a lot of forum posts expressing how great of an investment ball morphs were. Suddenly a lot of the same people changed their tun and leaned more towards "its a great hobby that you can break even with."

I believe that there are a few factors for the price drops:

- Increased supply. Obviously.
- Less demand. Not many people are entering the market anymore. Also, not many people are willing to incur large weekly feeder bills or invest a lot of money into caging.
- No market unity. Too many back door deals and price slashing, no one has any confidence in the market anymore and aren't willing to invest large sums of money out of fear of losing their "investment."

Just my .02....

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Wasn't a lot of the initial excitement spurred by high price tags of a few morphs in particular? "Oh my gosh, Joe just sold an albino for $20,000!". It sort of reminds me when the real estate boom and flipping houses took off...everybody wanted a piece of the action until they realized it was hard work and not worth as much money as they saw on TV.

I think one thing that helps control supply is that ball's have relatively small clutches compared with some animals (40 bearded dragons at a time, for example), and they can be a little picky when it comes to breeding.

I feel like demand is just going up and up, but maybe I'm missing something here. A breeder from of mine produced about 1000 eggs last year, and says he hopes to get that number to 5000 in the next couple years.

Is there there such a thing as a back door deal? If a market is "free" then producers can sell at whatever price they want.

JonV

If demand was going up and up as you say, and the supply was still limited as a result of them laying small clutches and being picky breeders, Economics 101 tells you that the prices would absolutely not decrease.

There absolutely is such a thing as a back door deal. When advertised prices are always 50-100% higher than what they are actually selling for, speculation starts to become a huge factor in what happens to the price. All of those back door deals got around and everyone began to think, "well, if I just wait a year, I can buy it for half." With everyone thinking that and no one buying, its almost a self-fulfilling prophecy because that causes the demand to decrease, with the prices following right behind it.

Think about it, why should I buy a pied now for 2500 when I can wait 2 years or so when they are at or under 1000? Those kinds of statements get into everyone's heads and that kind of speculation truly does affect the market.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Think about it, why should I buy a pied now for 2500 when I can wait 2 years or so when they are at or under 1000? Those kinds of statements get into everyone's heads and that kind of speculation truly does affect the market.

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This is fine if you want to wait 2 years on a male but when you want a visual female than its worth it to buy it early.

Another thought I didnt see come out... How many people are in the 3-5k club and are willing to pay that cash for a snake?? I'm guessing there are way more 3-5k snakes for sale than customers willing to pay that. Clowns are a good example... start of 07 they were 4500-5000$... end of the year theyre down to 3250 or so. I think many breeders who were trying to sell these snakes said to themselves "aw man these have been on KS for 3 months and I cant get anyone to bite... ill drop my price"... this continues for a whole season and we know where it ends. This problem isnt only in the 3-5k range its the whole market.

To add a little spice ...theres about to be quite a few 2-3 combo morphs hitting the market this year because more people are breeding... A morph may be "rare" in terms of supply but theres going to be more competition between breeders to get someone to buy your 3k albino spider instead of the killer bee or something...This competition is only going to get worse with more new breeders every year hence my beliefs the market will be based on quality looks and not supply and demand.

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Originally Posted by JoshJP7

Another thought I didnt see come out... How many people are in the 3-5k club and are willing to pay that cash for a snake?? I'm guessing there are way more 3-5k snakes for sale than customers willing to pay that. Clowns are a good example... start of 07 they were 4500-5000$... end of the year theyre down to 3250 or so. I think many breeders who were trying to sell these snakes said to themselves "aw man these have been on KS for 3 months and I cant get anyone to bite... ill drop my price"... this continues for a whole season and we know where it ends. This problem isnt only in the 3-5k range its the whole market.

To add a little spice ...theres about to be quite a few 2-3 combo morphs hitting the market this year because more people are breeding... A morph may be "rare" in terms of supply but theres going to be more competition between breeders to get someone to buy your 3k albino spider instead of the killer bee or something...This competition is only going to get worse with more new breeders every year hence my beliefs the market will be based on quality looks and not supply and demand.

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I have 6 normals in my collection and wont add any more, they will all be visual females if not double morphs. I dont plan on producing a lot of snake but the one I do produce will likely have 1,2, or 3 genes in them.

I like when threads like this are brought up! Usually by guys with 15 animals..:oops: Let the market do what it wants. I sell animals at a price I like, weather its FREE! or someone pays me what I'm asking. I could careless if albinos are at $50. I'll still produce them, Make some money and Still work My ash off at my day job. Imagine; an albino ball for $50.. everyone would buy atleast one..

Thats alot of $.. If thats what your in it for...:(

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Originally Posted by JASBALLS

Imagine; an albino ball for $50.. everyone would buy atleast one..

(

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I know I sure would :D Maybe two;)
The morph I want costs as much as a small car - so chances of me ever getting one are slim to none. Well unless I hit those lucky numbers in the lottery!!!

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Originally Posted by JoshJP7

Another thought I didnt see come out... How many people are in the 3-5k club and are willing to pay that cash for a snake?? I'm guessing there are way more 3-5k snakes for sale than customers willing to pay that. Clowns are a good example... start of 07 they were 4500-5000$... end of the year theyre down to 3250 or so. I think many breeders who were trying to sell these snakes said to themselves "aw man these have been on KS for 3 months and I cant get anyone to bite... ill drop my price"... this continues for a whole season and we know where it ends. This problem isnt only in the 3-5k range its the whole market.

To add a little spice ...theres about to be quite a few 2-3 combo morphs hitting the market this year because more people are breeding... A morph may be "rare" in terms of supply but theres going to be more competition between breeders to get someone to buy your 3k albino spider instead of the killer bee or something...This competition is only going to get worse with more new breeders every year hence my beliefs the market will be based on quality looks and not supply and demand.

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Jumping in on the front end of a new morph is one thing and buying after they are plentiful is a different thing. A person may opt to buy a new morph when it is first available as a financial investment or just for the excitement of being connected with the new morph. Prices should be expected to gradually come down as a morph becomes more available. The real front end I feel sure is much higher than the 3k-5k club. How quickly the price actually does decrease is probably pretty much in the hands of the 3k-5k club I would suspect though.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

Hmm.....good point. But there are people who do similar things with the stock market...and they are sitting on a beach, having a drink with a little umbrella, probably reading this post on Wi-Fi.

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Yeah but over time the prices of stocks tend to increase where as ball pythons tend to decrease. A stock could decrease too, but in the long run the market tends to increase.