Why We Are Idiots For Using Kingsnake.com To Price Our Animals

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Originally Posted by 771subliminal

When I shop I dont sacrifice quality, but I look for the grade A for the C grade price.

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And I'm not willing to sell my Grade A's for C grade pricing. But I'm also not willing to produce more than I can comfortably keep for myself. If I sell my animals at my price - it's a win. If I keep my hot animals, it's still a win!

Here's another example of recognizing that there are distinct differences between the "average" example of a morph and a stunning example of a morph.

Just last night I was on the phone with a local friend (who is also a member here) just chatting about snakes in general and what's going on with this coming season, etc. He says to me "by the way - I want an enchi from your girl when you produce some. I don't care what you're asking for them, I'll pay your asking price, but I have to have one of your enchi's offspring".

There's a saying that some of my ball python friends and I say - "there are enchi's and then there are ENCHI'S!"

My point is - there ARE buyers out there who recognize that a stunning animal should be worth more than an average animal. The difference is the mentality of the sellers. There is no reason to dump your price just because your animal doesn't sell in the first day, first week, or even first month of you listing it. Don't be so quick to panic drop your prices.

My enchi is the model for my avatar. Here's another picture of her as well. And yes, I paid more for her than your average enchi price.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...i/IMG_5244.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...i/IMG_5251.jpg

All I know is that I want one of those (Robin's) Lesser babies... seriously, he is SO hot! :bow:

And I agree, there is no price on quality or desire. If I had the means, I'd happily spend more for a snake that made me go wow, over a cheaper one that made me go "eh." Even within my limited budget, I've been as picky as possible... took months to find the right Mojave, and I honestly didn't even care about the price-tag (although it actually wasn't too bad ;)).

understanding where your coming from animals are worth different amounts to everyone, like me im a small breeder have about 40 ball pythons, i dont need to sell a lmnop ball for $2000 (all others prices) when i can sell them for $1000 and be able to feed my snakes for another 6 months without it coming out my pocket. bigger breeders have bigger overhead. I dont all i have is just hydro, snake food and supplies, and rent but i have a job for all that and what ever i make from my snakes just goes back into them... so if a lmnop is worth to you $2000 then that dose not mean its worth that to me.

Not to bust your balls. Colin, maybe it's the so say small breeders producing 70 clutches and over 400 ball pythons a year that drive the prices down.

I know there are big breeders that produce hundreds of clutchs and do it for a living. BUT, some "small" breeders have to get a job, keep their day job, breed as a hobby, PAINT FOR A LIVING, etc, etc, etc,...

3 years ago, I saw a breeder at an expo selling normals(his "disposable"(I know that that word sounds horrible) ball pythons) for $10. On sunday, after lunch, he dropped the price to $5 for a perfectly healthy normal.---I assume it was worth it to the breeder because he made some gas money, paid for his table at the show, and doesn't have to feed and care for these "undesirable"(horrible word again) snakes.

Stirring the pot!

May I make a suggestion. I think some have missed the point. The object is not to stop those who unload animals cheap. It is to bring to everyones attention that we do not need to let them dictate price for our animals. Wal-mart sells diamonds so does Cartier. But Cartier doesn't run down to Wal-mart to check prices. They set their own price based on what they think it is worth knowing they will not win over the Wal-mart diamond shopper. And trust me the diamonds at Wal-mart are not the same quality.

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Originally Posted by JDL

why is it the auto industry (when actually only 2 car companies got money) is the butt end of the bail out jokes when the money they got wasnt anything compared to the money the finacial district got?

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If Kingsnake had opened a bank the joke would have gone differently, however since they got a brand new race car......

[IMG]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ngsnakecar.jpg[/IMG]

As a breeder when it comes to what I spend on a snake isn't relative. Sure right now prices seem to be dropping like a stone. When the dust settles those people that paid attention to the quality of the animal the buy as apposed to the price tag will have the upper hand.. How is that you say? Because they will be producing the high quality animals that are still in demand..

When you buy there are two ways to go about it.. buy the gene (i.e. I don't give a crap what it looks like I just want to own a pastel..) or buy the quality (i.e. when its 1800 grams will it still be a fantastic looking animal?)

3rd post here. Blah
Selling snakes on kingsnake.com is very competitive. Most of the snakes that I have sold were sold on kingsnake.com. So, I have nothing bad to say about kingsnake.com and think it is a good place to sell snakes. I also have purchased most of my collection from the classified ads on kingsnake.com.

If spiders are selling for $200 plus shipping. I don't think anyone would buy one from me for $400(I sold spiders for $400 in the past, but not this year). So, I may price mine at $250 shipped.

I do believe in breeding for quality. Example: Nicer pastels will produce nicer bees, blasts, etc. The nicer/higher quality snakes that I produce are priced higher than the others. Examples: One with a unique pattern(high white pied) or one that is lighter or brighter.

With few exceptions, my collection was built on buying higher quality/better looking animals. An example of me buying what was priced lower is my first spider. In 2005, spiders were expensive(at least for me), but I wanted to produce bumble bees. I bought the cheapest one on kingsnake. Shame on me for saving $300. My first spider is one of my breeder females now and has produced two clutches for me including my first bumble bee.

Still enjoying this topic!

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Originally Posted by wilomn

There is not a thing wrong with being a business. Most of us either do now or plan to sell snakes in the future.

I find it difficult to define a hobby, something one does for pleasure, with a business, something one does for compensation.

I know a guy who keeps a bunch of orchids. He built a greenhouse for them. They're neat. He spends a lot of time with as well as on them. As far as I know, he's never sold one, he's never mentioned anything about wanting to make his investment back or that he wanted to make enough by selling little orchids to buy other orchids.

That's a hobby.

He breeds snakes too. Really nice ones. He sells them for money. I think it's a business he likes a lot but I, just me, don't consider that a hobby. There are different expectations from his interaction between his two interests.

This probably holds true for a great many.

My definitions of hobby and business may be a little more black and white than some.

I'm not claiming I'm right or anyone is wrong, just clarifying and expanding my prior statement.

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I think flowers and snakes are different animals though. There is, in my opinion, a lot more that goes into the keeping and breeding of snakes than the keeping and breeding of flowers (given I have absolutely no experience keeping and breeding flowers). There is also a lot more to worry about, and a heavier ethical burden involved in snake husbandry and breeding. Beyond that, the idea of breeding on any sort of upper scale and keeping every single hatchling produced does not seem realistic to me, especially as grown hatchlings reproducing becomes an exponential problem. I think in the snake world if you're going to think about breeding, you have to also think about selling. I don't really think it's an option for 99.9% of people to NOT sell. In my opinion, selling is just another part of the hobby. Just because there is a business element to Ball Python breeding does not mean it's a business and not a hobby, I don't think it's sensical to draw such distinct lines.

Cheers,
-Matt