REPTlLE RlNG ??? legit?

Just seen this new website. Is it for real? Seems crazy low prices. Is this the future of the reptile hobby? Anyone made any purchase through here yet?

Yep its real. Ebay for Reptiles. It was originally called ReptileBay. And hopefully not the future of the hobby...

Its Mike Wilbanks' brainchild so its legit. It hasnt been out for long. Personally id stick to Mike's auctions for now though, other people haven't been posting auctions long enough for me to trust it.

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk 2

I think it's stupid. Imo it's ok to do an auction every once in awhile to draw some attention to yourself or to raise money for something specific, but now everyone and their brother are doing auctions. It's ridiculous.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

Reptile Ring is awesome! I just bought a pastel female there for $80!!

If I'm looking to buy something, I prefer to buy it right-out, not vie with others for the top dollar. For everything, not just for animals.

Just checked it out. There is some cool stuff on there. Really digging the tiger anthrax lol

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Archimedes

If I'm looking to buy something, I prefer to buy it right-out, not vie with others for the top dollar. For everything, not just for animals.

---

Yea, exactly, and In a lot of cases they lower the value of the gene too.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike41793

Yea, exactly, and In a lot of cases they lower the value of the gene too.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

---

Bingo! That was the first thing I thought.

I hope its not the future. I looked around the website and found out it cost $200 to be able to join and list auctions. Add that to the fact they'll probably be going for lower prices than normal (because every one wants a deal, especially when it comes to auctions), the only people who would be able to afford it will be the big names with a big following. Any one just starting out our who is only in the hobby sector with a couple clutches a year would, I predict, ends up keeping many of their snakes unable to sell them, or sell at a loss, if this were to become the norm.

It doesn't bother me when I see some lower end things that are hard to move because of a low demand but high end morphs or combos should not be auctioned in my opinion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andybill

It doesn't bother me when I see some lower end things that are hard to move because of a low demand but high end morphs or combos should not be auctioned in my opinion.

---

The only high end auctions ive seen where for highways and they sold for half price or less. They where also charity auctions where all procedes went to us ark

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigt0006

The only high end auctions ive seen where for highways and they sold for half price or less. They where also charity auctions where all procedes went to us ark

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

---

On the Reptile ring I saw a Ghi Mojave Fire, Fire Clown, Highways, Pumas, Nuclear Enchi and more go up on the auctions. I like to keep tabs on the Ring so I can keep myself sorta in the know. When I see animals like that up there I cringe. Especially the fire clown. Ouch.

I don't approve of or care for this reptile ring, or auctions. I'll never support either.

Search out a quality snake you want. I highly doubt you are going to find the best example of whatever morph you are looking for in such a place. The gene pools are going to get muddy. Besides, support a smaller breeder. They have some amazing animals. That's where some of my best have come from.

The whole purpose of reptile ring is to attempt to bring the all the facebook auctions on one site. Now joe blow small breeder can move animals more quickly without taking a beating trying to auction them on facebook with only a few people seeing them. You guys can hate on them all you want, but the auctions are here to stay in some form or another. Reptile bay is definitely an improvement over the facebook format.

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CryHavoc17

The whole purpose of reptile ring is to attempt to bring the all the facebook auctions on one site. Now joe blow small breeder can move animals more quickly without taking a beating trying to auction them on facebook with only a few people seeing them. You guys can hate on them all you want, but the auctions are here to stay in some form or another. Reptile bay is definitely an improvement over the facebook format.

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk 2

---

I disagree, people with animals that cost upwards of five grand wanted a way to sell them without sitting on them until they were adults.

"no, I didn't sell my 5k snake for 2k, it auctioned for 2k. I can't help that. It's not my fault that the price dropped on the snake, blame auctions".

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CryHavoc17

can move animals more quickly

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk 2

---

This shouldn't be what breeding is about...

So far all the njce genes ive seen go for about the list price. Yeah they're listed for about an 1/8 of the price with about 5 days to go on it. Then last hour or so they jump up around there list price. Like the guy who got a female pastel for $80. Thats a out how much your gonna pay at an expo for one if not less. IMO i dont think it changes anything other then what people are talking about

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

So far all the njce genes ive seen go for about the list price. Yeah they're listed for about an 1/8 of the price with about 5 days to go on it. Then last hour or so they jump up around there list price. Like the guy who got a female pastel for $80. Thats a out how much your gonna pay at an expo for one if not less. IMO i dont think it changes anything other then what people are talking about

---

It does. It's not all about the money/price. People are going to just go to these auctions/reptile ring whatever, rather than shop for the individual snake. If you actually take the time and do the leg work, to look and search for the best example, not just what ever is easiest. You probably will find a much better example of the morph.

But I guess people these days don't want to do any work for themselves. Look around and find the best snake you can, and be proud of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DooLittle

It does. It's not all about the money/price. People are going to just go to these auctions/reptile ring whatever, rather than shop for the individual snake. If you actually take the time and do the leg work, to look and search for the best example, not just what ever is easiest. You probably will find a much better example of the morph.

But I guess people these days don't want to do any work for themselves. Look around and find the best snake you can, and be proud of it.

---

Yep which is why you bid on the animal that you found to be a great looking example of the gene. Sure people might grab something cause it they can get it cheap while others that are shopping found the animal they would love to have in their collection. I saw a pastel calico on there that was better then i could find on any breeders site or on kingsnake :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sorraia

I hope its not the future. I looked around the website and found out it cost $200 to be able to join and list auctions. Add that to the fact they'll probably be going for lower prices than normal (because every one wants a deal, especially when it comes to auctions), the only people who would be able to afford it will be the big names with a big following. Any one just starting out our who is only in the hobby sector with a couple clutches a year would, I predict, ends up keeping many of their snakes unable to sell them, or sell at a loss, if this were to become the norm.

---

In addition to the $200 for just getting an account established, you have to cough up another $100 per year to keep your account. And they collect 5% of the final sales price for every animal sold. Then on top of that, you are required to spam facebook/twitter/google+/etc. or you're considered a "Free Rider" and they can revoke your selling privileges. Sounds fun. :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sho220

In addition to the $200 for just getting an account established, you have to cough up another $100 per year to keep your account. And they collect 5% of the final sales price for every animal sold. Then on top of that, you are required to spam facebook/twitter/google+/etc. or you're considered a "Free Rider" and they can revoke your selling privileges. Sounds fun. :rolleyes:

---

Yikes

I admit I do check it occasionally just to see what's posted and how much people are buying them for. I've yet to see something that is "the one" for me. And I only buy "the ones" (the ones you'll regret passing up. the ones you spazz out scared someone else will get it until the sale is finally complete)

Like it or not this is capitalism. People come up with an idea and implement it. Some people like it and use it. Some people don't and won't use it. It's like every other service in existence. Some people love the deals they get at Walmart and others won't step foot there. It's all how capitalism works. Part of living in the world today. I'm not supporting it or condemning it. All I can hope is that it's existence has some kind of positive effect on the hobby. If it has a negative effect then I will hope it fizzles out and dies.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sho220

In addition to the $200 for just getting an account established, you have to cough up another $100 per year to keep your account. And they collect 5% of the final sales price for every animal sold. Then on top of that, you are required to spam facebook/twitter/google+/etc. or you're considered a "Free Rider" and they can revoke your selling privileges. Sounds fun. :rolleyes:

---

So, you PAY them to join and you would expect to advertise the site.
And, instead they can deny you use of the site you already paid to post on. For not working for the site for free advertising for them instead of growing your own brand.

If the site isn't very limited in geography (which kind of defeats the purpose of the internet) and, can be used by people from different jurisdictions and varying consumer protections, I smell some legal troubles for that site in the future.

Bring people to one place helps the market though and the hobby really needs a site built for selling. kingsnake and fauna are just modified forums with keyword search. I'm surprised they haven't been replaced yet (especially kingsnake).

I also think advertised prices are the joke a lot of the time. Here is the model I've seen many people use: I'll give you my advertised 5k snake for 2k as a "wholesale price" and now everything is all good, enjoy your "5k" snake.

I also don't see anything wrong with an auction model. It works for horses, why not reptiles? starting bid is the minimum you would take for the animal, then let the market find the real price from there. Problem being, everyone has to see the auction. Single site solves that. You can claim all day that X morph is worth Y dollars, but when no one (even you) is willing to pay it, then obviously it is not worth what you claim.

Now do I agree with Mikes model? not really. I understand why you would want to make people pay for an account, it takes a dent out of frauds, but the reoccurring payment I don't agree with. Maybe even set up a "after X amount of time or X amount of transactions, get your money back in credit". Final sale % is standard for any site and makes the people who profit the most contribute more. I don't think they guy doing 500 dollars a year and the guy doing 50K a year should pay the same amount. The ads however are excessive IMO, even being on the bottom of someone elses auction page. Just seems really greedy and commercialized, among other things.

I did start to work on a ebay type of site also. I figure people would start bids at their minimum price and go from there, if they didn't like the auction, set starting bid and buy it now at the same price. but it also had the ability to search by morphs, weight, sex, ect., a notify list, where you could set conditions and get an email if someone post an animal that meets those conditions. "I want a double het hypo/clown female" or even specific as "I want a snake with at least enchi and lesser that is over 500 grams and posted for under 3k". that way no ad gets missed. easy access to make a charity auction and have the money go directly to them. I was going to talk to SYR and see if we could even make the sell to shipping part streamlined. I abandoned the idea after seeing mikes site tho.

I felt a site like that could do wonders and show the real market, not the false advertised one. I don't really know if mikes model will accomplish it though. But I think Fauna and Kingsnake are going to fall behind in their current state though, whether it be mikes site or something else.

I love seeing these posts.
Auctions do not drive down the price of any of our animals, it only shows what people are willing to pay.
The quantity of the genes available for sale are what drives down the prices.
Do you have to sell or ask market value? No. Just make sure you have an animal worth what someone would be willing to pay more for.

I am a here and now buyer that likes to put my hands on whatever I am buying. I have bought online too, from a member here that I trust.

Regardless, your animal is only worth what cash hits your hand.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sho220

In addition to the $200 for just getting an account established, you have to cough up another $100 per year to keep your account. And they collect 5% of the final sales price for every animal sold. Then on top of that, you are required to spam facebook/twitter/google+/etc. or you're considered a "Free Rider" and they can revoke your selling privileges. Sounds fun. :rolleyes:

---

Those are the kinds of "rules" I have a problem worth. I can maybe understand a fee to set up an account, but not $200 initially and $100 thereafter. I can understand a commission, but not in addition to those high yearly fees. I have accounts to sell on Amazon and eBay, and neither one requires fees like that, just the commission and a small listing fee.

I'm not a big breeder, haven't even had 1 clutch yet. But a model like that, with those kinds of fees, is very discouraging to me. It isn't all about making money, if I breed my snakes its a labor of love. But even in a labor of love I don't want to lose a ton of money. With this model of addiction site, I feel like I would be spending money to lose more money, never get close to even breaking even.i also feel like I'd have to get into breeding as a big business, spend thousands on more snakes, and ultimately lose more money. That's not what I want to do, and not how I want to treat this hobby. I don't have a problem with auctions in general, just have issue with this particle auction model.

Here's a novel idea-- instead of looking for the best price... looking for the best example possible, and striking up a relationship with the breeder so you know you're getting a healthy quality snake.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but expanding a collection is about more than finding the best price, and selling a collection animal is about more than selling it for the most money an anonymous person on the internet is willing to pay.

Sent from my warm hide using Tapatalk

I have been on the fence about this whole thing. Mostly a silent observer up to this point, I don't like it much but there are some points that cant be argued against. The ReptileRing is still new so I am just watching and waiting for now. If this is truly where the market is headed well there's not a whole lot we can do. Markets evolve and we have to evolve too or get out. I plan to continue to breed my snakes and that means I will have things to sell. So sell them I will but right now it's the old fashioned way for me. I will not pay the prices required to post on that site until I have no other choice. Ridiculous!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

I did start to work on a ebay type of site also. I figure people would start bids at their minimum price and go from there, if they didn't like the auction, set starting bid and buy it now at the same price. but it also had the ability to search by morphs, weight, sex, ect., a notify list, where you could set conditions and get an email if someone post an animal that meets those conditions. "I want a double het hypo/clown female" or even specific as "I want a snake with at least enchi and lesser that is over 500 grams and posted for under 3k". that way no ad gets missed. easy access to make a charity auction and have the money go directly to them. I was going to talk to SYR and see if we could even make the sell to shipping part streamlined. I abandoned the idea after seeing mikes site tho.

---

I think your features would have been a really nice addition, too bad Mike beat you to getting a site of this platform up.

I think they want less smaller breeders in the ring that's why the fee's are excessive. Less breeders less competition. I would expect more of these sites down the road if they aren't here already.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sho220

In addition to the $200 for just getting an account established, you have to cough up another $100 per year to keep your account. And they collect 5% of the final sales price for every animal sold. Then on top of that, you are required to spam facebook/twitter/google+/etc. or you're considered a "Free Rider" and they can revoke your selling privileges. Sounds fun. :rolleyes:

---

But it's got Wilbanksies name on it, so you're supposed to like it - even admired and possibly worship it.

If you are going to go far in the reptile forums, you better brush up on your blind fanboi rulebook. If some newbie came up with the idea, THEN you can pan it. If an established name sets those type of rules - you know - the $200/$100 fees, the license to spam and the built in excuse to bust up market prices - well, then it's a brilliant and groundbreaking idea.

Are we clear on all this? Go read your Fanboi Manual and it will all make sense.

That auction has a very limited selection anyways. I do check it every once in a while, but I'm not going to go bid on a snake just because the price tag looks attractive. If it isn't in my plans, then I don't want it. Plus, I don't think people will actually change their searching methods from finding a particular snake for sale to just waiting and hoping one pops up on the ring and has a nice price tag. We all know that the value of different genes goes down in time anyways, so if that many people wanna sit around waiting and hoping that their 5k dream snake will sell for 2k, chances are that by the time it happens it will have already dropped in value anyways. And for the few lucky people that get the good deal while the gene is hot... congrats, but you have to imagine that the quantity wont be there to crash anything. Maybe I am missing something, but I definitely don't think that this is "where the market is headed" per say. It's just a new idea that gives people a different way to shop for what they want.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

I did start to work on a ebay type of site also. I figure people would start bids at their minimum price and go from there, if they didn't like the auction, set starting bid and buy it now at the same price. but it also had the ability to search by morphs, weight, sex, ect., a notify list, where you could set conditions and get an email if someone post an animal that meets those conditions. "I want a double het hypo/clown female" or even specific as "I want a snake with at least enchi and lesser that is over 500 grams and posted for under 3k". that way no ad gets missed. easy access to make a charity auction and have the money go directly to them. I was going to talk to SYR and see if we could even make the sell to shipping part streamlined. I abandoned the idea after seeing mikes site tho.

---

Why? If you can get it done, with a better search capability including one for location for those of us who prefer semi-local pickup whenever possible, no annual fee, listing fee, or spamming required, just a fee to the seller when the animal sells, your site would probably attract more sellers and buyers.

I'm currently selling on ReptileRing and I find it to be an additional way to sell my animals. If you asked me a year ago I would have been against auctions but at a certain point I realized that they are here to stay. ReptileRing brings sellers and buyers together in one place instead of having a bunch of separate auctions on FB.

I have a waiting list for my customers for animals I hope to produce this coming year. When I produce stuff that's not sold via my waiting list it goes on my site. I would then sell animals to my customers and anyone else who would see my ads etc. Now, with ReptileRing I can have another option for certain animals and stuff that's been on my site for a while. If something is on my site for a long period of time I figure the demand isn't there or I overestimated the value of the animal. ReptileRing can be an outlet for such animals. I'm also getting new customers once they receive my animal and are happy with it and my customer service.

Also, the fees and 5% isn't really a concern for me, there are always costs of doing business. I'm sure there are large expenses maintaining the ReptileRing website as well as the initial costs of setting it up. I am also benefitting from Mike's customers as well as the other breeders customers. In return they benefit from mine. Why should I get these benefits without a cost? Mike has approx. 80,000 Facebook followers last time I looked and a huge customer base. I just started my Facebook page and have a much smaller customer base. Shouldn't that cost me something? In addition, we aren't asked to spam, we are asked to simply promote the site. I have never been asked to promote other peoples auctions nor have I been asked to spam.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bcr229

Why? If you can get it done, with a better search capability including one for location for those of us who prefer semi-local pickup whenever possible, no annual fee, listing fee, or spamming required, just a fee to the seller when the animal sells, your site would probably attract more sellers and buyers.

---

First mover advantage is huge and hard to compete with. The amount of time that would need to be put into it is huge. Say I do finish it, mike site adds the same features and changes his policy to accept everyone, already has a user base and the known name. Now im out hundreds of hours with nothing to show for it. That combined with the already bad taste in many peoples mouth about auctions already, i decided it wasn't worth pursuing, too much risk.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Bring people to one place helps the market though and the hobby really needs a site built for selling. kingsnake and fauna are just modified forums with keyword search. I'm surprised they haven't been replaced yet (especially kingsnake).

---

Coming Soon.... Very soon.

I'll tell you why it's taken so long to do something better than KS and Fauna...it's hellishly expensive and difficult to do it right. Very few people have the money AND the time, drive, and ability to pull off something on that scale. But someone did. Coming soon. ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Skiploder

But it's got Wilbanksies name on it, so you're supposed to like it - even admired and possibly worship it.

If you are going to go far in the reptile forums, you better brush up on your blind fanboi rulebook. If some newbie came up with the idea, THEN you can pan it. If an established name sets those type of rules - you know - the $200/$100 fees, the license to spam and the built in excuse to bust up market prices - well, then it's a brilliant and groundbreaking idea.

Are we clear on all this? Go read your Fanboi Manual and it will all make sense.

---

I'll pass on the Wilbanks fanboi club...I prefer doing business with the small timers...:)

One question I have is for folks who post their snakes on the auction site - do you feel at all guilty when you list a snake at one price and then it auctions at half that at auction?

Say you have four siblings. Enchi clowns. You sell one on your site for 2
5k (guessing). The others dont really move so you post them on Reptile Ring and the remaining three auction for around $1k each.

Do you think / feel you cheated the customer that bought on your site? Yes they get a quality animal and "first pic" but at the cost of 150% increase. Do you worry you could damage your relationship with that customer? I know I wouldn't be happy if I found out. Couple hundred sure but that's a hell of a lot more than a couple hundred when you can get the same genes from the same breeder and your "buy price" is leaps above anyone elses.




Justin Kobylka has a solid article on his site discussing reptile auctions and both Mike Wilbanks and Ben Seigel offered comment to the article. Its worth a read and Mike comments and clarifies on the fees and setup.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zee-man

One question I have is for folks who post their snakes on the auction site - do you feel at all guilty when you list a snake at one price and then it auctions at half that at auction?

Say you have four siblings. Enchi clowns. You sell one on your site for 2
5k (guessing). The others dont really move so you post them on Reptile Ring and the remaining three auction for around $1k each.

Do you think / feel you cheated the customer that bought on your site? Yes they get a quality animal and "first pic" but at the cost of 150% increase. Do you worry you could damage your relationship with that customer? I know I wouldn't be happy if I found out. Couple hundred sure but that's a hell of a lot more than a couple hundred when you can get the same genes from the same breeder and your "buy price" is leaps above anyone elses.

---

That was an issue I thought of early on and I will try and avoid it at all costs. I try and make my customers happy and this would be a real negative. I don't plan on auctioning high dollar snakes, morphs in high demand or new morphs. Also, if a customer buys a certain morph off my site I think I would hold off on auctioning the same morph at least for a while.

Thanks for the response Dave and appreciate both the honesty and the forethought on your part.

ReptileRing has nearly doubled its availables. Will be interesting if Mike restricts the number a single breeder can post at a time to avoid quashing bids to extreme lows or that is 100% up to the poster.

Lots of interesting stuff to learn about an opportunity like this. For those there now being "in" early will certainly have its advantages.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Coming Soon.... Very soon.

I'll tell you why it's taken so long to do something better than KS and Fauna...it's hellishly expensive and difficult to do it right. Very few people have the money AND the time, drive, and ability to pull off something on that scale. But someone did. Coming soon. ;)

---

Are you talking about The Reptile Report Marketplace? I just saw an ad for it on FB. Looks very interesting...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bcr229

Are you talking about The Reptile Report Marketplace? I just saw an ad for it on FB. Looks very interesting...

---

Yup!

https://www.facebook.com/TheReptileR...type=1&theater

:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Benjamin Serenity

Reptile Ring is awesome! I just bought a pastel female there for $80!!

---

I don't think in our hobby/business that this qualifies as awesome. =(

Prices look low now because no one knows anything about it. I just found out about it myself. If more people start checking the site the average price will go up to normalized value. It's like how you used to be able to get a deal on e-bay and now basically everything there is just retail price or quickly gets to that price if it's not under buy it now like most things anymore.