"Sales Pitch" to small local stores?

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you mice breeders actually sell your feeders to any local stores around you who sell feeders? I have a little shop right down the street from me who sells feeders for reptiles and all kinds of different bait and tackle for fishing. It's a nice little family owned business and I like to help them out and go there whenever I need crickets or fishing stuff.

Anyways, I was wondering how you got the business to buy YOUR feeders? What are some things that I should let this place know up front about my breeding, my mice, my care for these animals that might help my chances out? Obviously I don't plan on lieing to them about anything to improve my chances, but what are some "must tells" when I am trying to sell?

I was planning on going in there or calling and asking to speak to the owner, and explaining to him that I just started my mice breeding project for snakes a couple months ago, and aks him if he would be interested in buying some in bulk off of me once I get things rolling.

This store sells just about EVERY kind of bait/feeder you can think of, but not mice for some reason lol.

I was thinking they might be interested in my business since I live so close and would be able to give them quality/healthy mice for a good price.

Also, what are the rates you guys place on your feeders when you sell them?

I was thinking making them $1 a piece, 25 for $20, 50 for $35, ect ect

Any tips?

Mice go for less than $1.00 on the wholesale market. The shop owner has to price everything at double his cost (or more) in order to profit.

When I used to breed, I would just ask if they would be interested. I'm also on good business terms with my family owned pet store though, I've been a loyal customer for 6 years.

Just go in and ask if they want to buy some of your mice. If I were you though I would personally wait until I had my surplus first. Kinda a "don't count your chickens until they hatch". After all (but hopefully not) you could ask and have a female die on you or a mean one eat everyone babies.
But then again just asking if they want to purchase feeders wouldn't hurt.

And I think your price is a little high for wholesale. Maybe around .40 to .50 cents each? I can purchase my mice at a pet store for a loonie to $1.50 and I'm in Canada.

Id say if you want cash don't expect more than .50 a piece on full grown adult mice and as little as .30 a piece for pinks. Don't go into the store until you have animals to sell.

You may be able to get more for them if you offer to trade them for store credit but I don't know if you will need anything from the store.

$.60 for adults and as low as $.15 for pinks.

every place is different

Since you are starting a business I assume you will have proper tax numbers etc to show your potential buyer right?

Some places WILL require this info because they will need to show how they obtain animals and have required receipts for tax purposes

it all depends on how many you breed and who you plan to sell to. Many shows are pushing the vendors to have proper tax info, so be prepared.

You know, if you are looking for a way just to make the most money, why not list your extras on craigslist.com as pets or feeders? You would make a lot more if you did it that way, and a lot of people will buy them as pets, just because they would be way cheaper than any pet store. That's what I did after I stopped needing the store credit from the family business and I just preferred cash.

Thanks for all of the quick responses guys.

Yeah I guess it would be smarter to wait until I have a huge surplus before even asking him if he would be interested. But then again, I wouldn't really try to get a huge surplus unless I had a sure buyer of bulk quantities... so idk lol

But bsash that idea is pretty good. Craigslist is probably the best way to go as far as profit and pushing good ammounts. I have never used craiglist before though other than to search for stuff to buy.

I hope it's free to run an add that lasts forever lol. I would like to just post something like "Available feeder and pet mice" and have it run permanently if possible.

When you run adds for pets for sale or feeders on craigslist you will get flagged asap.

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Originally Posted by tomfromtheshade

When you run adds for pets for sale or feeders on craigslist you will get flagged asap.

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supposedly, it is within craigslist rules to sell "snake food"

However, intentional animal breeding or propagation is prohibited to be listed there...


so basically if you offer them in frozen form and do not say your are the breeder, then it is a gray line....


Personally, your best bet is to find out who is supplying the pet shops and contact the breeder. If he is a decent sized breeder he MIGHT use you as a supplemental supply provider. If he is a wholesaler, the odds are you will need to be able to supply certain numbers on a regualr basis or he won't bother with you.

I used to sell on craigslist all the time. It really depends on what area you post in, and if you put it in general for sale, they can not flag you for selling your animals. There is no way to run an add permanently, you just have to keep posting, but it is free and worth the time if you get extras.

You can post in the pets section, but you probably will get flagged.

Breeding is prohibited, that's why you don't say that you are a breeder in your listing. Just say your just selling them as pets, and you don't mind if they turn into feeders.

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Originally Posted by bsash

I used to sell on craigslist all the time. It really depends on what area you post in, and if you put it in general for sale, they can not flag you for selling your animals. There is no way to run an add permanently, you just have to keep posting, but it is free and worth the time if you get extras.

You can post in the pets section, but you probably will get flagged.

Breeding is prohibited, that's why you don't say that you are a breeder in your listing. Just say your just selling them as pets, and you don't mind if they turn into feeders.

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Nice! Thanks for helping out so much.

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Originally Posted by PurplePython

Nice! Thanks for helping out so much.

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No problem, craigslist is like my second home, ha ha. Feel free to ask anything you want, I can tell you just about anything there is to know about craigslist.

i sell mice on cl all the time.
you might want to look more into the law changes of late.
around here wholesale market on mice is not much. i dont see you making a profit from it unless your selling thousands at a time.
also alot of the stores frown upon this because they think they are getting something from apet and wilsons. also the potential for parasites

Craigslist is hit or miss.

People flag my postings selling pet rats all the time. They don't even remotely resemble feeder ads and they still get flagged.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomfromtheshade

Craigslist is hit or miss.

People flag my postings selling pet rats all the time. They don't even remotely resemble feeder ads and they still get flagged.

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because you can't "sell" on craigslist...

you must "rehome" pets with an "adoption fee".

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

because you can't "sell" on craigslist...

you must "rehome" pets with an "adoption fee".

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The man found a loophole! lol.

Nice work suzuki!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PurplePython

The man found a loophole! lol.

Nice work suzuki!

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its actually how the rules state...

and ads still get flagged.

Its all crap.

Craigslist sucks.

It usually takes them some time to flag something though and you don't get penalized for it so you can keep re-posting everytime they remove it. Sometimes it will be flagged within hours and sometimes it will take a day or so. Just save a copy of your ad in a word document and keep re-posting it. :D

It may seem irritating but if it doubles your profit....why not ya know

Like I said, you can "sell" you feeders/ pets as long as you put them in the "general for sale" section, otherwise, if you want to put them in the "pets" section, you will have to say it is a re-homing fee.

Basically your ad should look like this:

Hello,

I have a couple of rats/ mice that need to be re-homed. They are various sizes, and are becoming costly and time consuming. I no longer have the time to care for them and they need to go, they are my pets, but can be feeders if need be. I am asking a re-homing fee of "--" each.

Thank you,
_______

I have found that if you are polite in your adds with the "Hello" and "Thank you" that they will last a little bit longer. But, any how, that is how I used to write up my adds, so hopefully that will help someone out.

Good luck guys!

ive never been flagged for putting feeder mice on CL not one time. i also do not put a price, which those that have got mice from me can say they really got a bargin