Everyone is so FIRM!!

On a side note, I can't stand doing business with people who are firm on all they sell but haggle when they buy. They'll tell you all the reasons why you can't charge that much then they'll be the complete opposite when selling. Not my style.

cause this is a expensive HOBBY!!! emphasis on hobby honestly you just breaking even for the most part and what ever profit you make goes to buying new snakes for the collections lol i love wheelin and dealin though

I am generally very polite with the breeders I purchase from and make an effort to thank them for talking to me about the snakes I'm interested in as well as complimenting their productions. A little politeness goes a long way, and it tends to show in the discounts. I've even gotten a $1000 discount on a $3500 snake. I've gotten a $400 snake for $200. This isn't to say that someone should be fake polite to get discounts, but when I have hatchlings to sell, if someone makes an effort to be polite and friendly with me and sincerely enjoys the hobby as much as I do, I'd be happy to give them a break on the price.

What I don't like is the "buyer's always right" or "buyer makes all the calls" entitlement. I wouldn't want someone to come up to my booth and demand I sell a $500 snake for $400. Ask nicely? Quite fine! Demand it? Say they can get it for that price somewhere else? Go ahead and get it there...

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Originally Posted by domenge

This x's 1000000. Just a lot of sally's when it comes to just talking about price. A lot of you will jump ass and give me the whole quantity over quality. Which I believe in. I'm also a firm believer in the phrase, It never hurts to ask. That's all. No need to get all weird. I will pay asking price depending on the quality of snake/breeder. For instance, I spoke with Garrick Demeyer for over a half hour (great guy btw!) when purchasing my pastel double het. He was asking 850 plus shipping. After talking I asked for free shipping and I'd paypal him the money while we were on the phone. No questions he was cool with that. It's deals and people like that who I want to deal with. Not someone who gets offended if your just asking.:gj:

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I think that those that say that they are offended are basing it on experiences that they've had where the buyer tries to "insult" the seller with their attitude in many cases. I've seen buyers come up to tables at shows and look at an exceptional animal and say something like "your price is too high. All the other tables have this morph for X price - I'll pay you what they're selling them for".

Umm..no - first of all, that's not how you haggle, when they have an exceptional example and you want to pay average prices. I saw Collette Sutherland and one show just shrug her shoulders when someone tried that with her, and then shake her head when they walked off.

In your example, you took the time to get to know Garrick and build a relationship with him and probably were very polite in how you asked. Also - the price of the animal was high enough that eating the cost of shipping wasn't a huge "discount" off the price of the animal.

personally i think it is all about the attitude as mentioned by someone already, working out a reasonable price on both sides is not an issue with me as both a buyer or a breeder.

As a breeder I remember ones time, i had a clutch of beautiful Irian Jaya Carpet Pythons that i brought to a show and was trying to unload. price marked at $125 each, another table (not mentioning who), had some as well but were no where near as nice as mine, Initially marked at the same price. but he had something on his table i was interested in, and he was very interested in my entire clutch. he come over and asked what i wanted for the whole lot of them and so i made my counter offer, money wise he would have made out great, a lot more then the BP i wanted from his table. well he kicked of a attitude with me over it and the deal did not happen, he then returned to his table and droped the prices on his to $85 well needless to say i walked out of there with $1800 and all my carpets sold, while he had to pack all his up and take them home. at the time i think the PB was marked for like $400, and even though i had the cash at the end of the show i walked and never regretted not doing the deal.

as a buyer, it is always best to have the cash in hand and ready to pay the asking price including shipping, asking for a few bucks off or free shipping (depending on the animal) i do not see issues with, the seller will take it or leave it, if your gonna scoff over shipping fee's or the extra $100 or $200 is the hold up you should not have even approached the seller to begin with. but to toss an attitude about it is not gonna make the deal happen. the current 6 BP's i have are all from the same breeder, and the first order i got 3 snakes i got a total of about $350 off the total asking price without even asking for a deal. the following 3 although not as much as the first order price i got about $100 off. and that was even after some unexpected issues on payments from my end that occurred. Working with a few select breeders does go a long way especially when issues arise. and being repeat customers will generally snag you a slightly better deal along the way. just my experiences.

I learned from another vender at shows that you price your animals so you have downward room, cause you can always drop a price during the show or in negotiations, but it is really hard to raise the price.

With that said, each animal on my table has what I call hold back value. That is the value that if I saw the same quality of animal on another table at that price I would really have trouble walking away. Slightly above that is my bottom line. Also if someone comes up and low balls me by offering well below that price, I give them a polite "no" and leave it at that. I will not negotiate with that person from that point forward. The way I see it, these people know the value of the animal from looking online and are more worried about the money than the animals well being. That increases the risk of the animal not being cared for properly as they try to cut corners with their care. I like to think my animals all go to good homes, I understand the reality is not all do, but as a seller I can make decisions to improve the chances that the animal goes to a proper home.

I do tend to give multiple animal discounts and depending on my experiences with a previous purchaser I may give them a discount. Also though if I know someone is a flipper I will not generally give them a discount at a show.