How can I help this customer?

Hey guys,

So I've done my share of dealing with various customers. Not all prospective owners are excessively knowledgeable, in fact one of the parts of this hobby I enjoy the most is education.

However I have had my first run in with someone I am NOT interested in selling too because they do NOT seem interested in taking any responsibility. I would like to educate them but with baby steps, you know like a pet rock maybe. I could simply tell the person that given the conversation we have had they will not be purchasing my animal but I would like to salvage the opportunity to educate.

I will post the conversation up here because I honestly at am a loss as how to proceed. I know how to do so politely but like I said would like to salvage the opportunity to educate, any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

I don't know this persons name so it has not been changed to protect the ignorant. Here is the conversation that has taken place via text: (if it is of interest the craigslist posting is under Flagstaff AZ "Ball Python, Normal") As a side note I'm still not convinced this isn't somebody I know messing around haha.

Buyer:

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Do you still have the python?

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Me:

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Sure do, and its still eating well

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Buyer:

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Was it not eating well before? Does it have any mites?

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Me:

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It has been our best eater out of the clutch, very regular. Nope, haven't seen any mites.

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Buyer:

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That's good, is it gonna get big as hell or no cause I don't want a big ass snake I got kids at home.

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Me:

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Pythons are some of the larger snakes but Ball Pythons only get about 8 feet long.

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(hadn't sexed it yet so overshot to make sure the size would not overly concern them)

Buyer:

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How old is the one u have and how long? is it pretty tame

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Me:

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Its almost two months old, a little over a foot long. Babies can be a little snappy but they usually mellow as they get bigger.

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Buyer:

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Oh, ok but it's not poisonous right? I have never owned a snake just iguanas.

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Me:

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Nope not poisonous. There are care sheets on websites like ball-pythons.net that have a bunch of information for prospective new owners that can be very helpful.

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Buyer:

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Yea I mean I owned one for like a week but it ran away when could I see it?

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(At this point I obviously won't want this person knowing where I live since I don't intend to sell them a snake)

Me:

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Please read up about what is required to successfully take care of a snake. If you are still interested in a couple of days please let me know. I will hold the snake for you until Friday.

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This last was sent at noon on Monday. At which point I did not get another communication until this morning...

Buyer:

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When could I check out the python?

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I'm sort of out of patience, I feel like this person is wasting my time. After this conversation nothing short of a quiz and a trunk full of stuff to build his enclosure is going to convince me this guy has the first clue about what is going on.

But like I said I would REALLY like to salvage this , if this person is interested in snakes I want to get them started on the right foot, not like they cant just go to Petsmart and buy one no questions asked. Then they will have no information and end up with another dead snake. But I can't MAKE them learn anything.


If you have any suggestion please don't hesitate.

Thanks in advance!

"Owned one for a week and then it ran away" If he doesn't know that BPs aren't poisonous or venomous, I doubt he had one at all... even for a week. This sounds like the type of person that's going to plop it in an empty aquarium and forget about it. Good on you for following your instincts on not selling, but still being courteous and educating the best you could.

Perhaps what you could do is tell him that you will sell him the snake if he can show you proof that he bought an enclosure and the proper equipment? It might turn him away, but if it does, that's not the person you want to sell to anyway.

That is exactly what I thought after that comment as well. And yes they sound like EXACTLY that type of person which is why I'm uninterested in selling.

Exactly, that is what I mean. Short of answering some quiz questions and showing me their setup I don't know what else will give me any confidence.

At some point you have to remember you're not their mom. You're with in your right to refuse to sell to anyone you want to. Just make sure that you understand at some point everyone buys their first snake. Someone has to sell it to them that someone will be you at some point..

Sadly I see ignorance on both ends.

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Originally Posted by Velrys

So I've done my share of dealing with various customers. Not all prospective owners are excessively knowledgeable, in fact one of the parts of this hobby I enjoy the most is education.

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Me: Pythons are some of the larger snakes but Ball Pythons only get about 8 feet long.

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But to answer your question it's simple you can refuse the right to sell to anyone and you do not have to give the reason, I know I have.

A little advice if you want to deal with real potential customers chose the right venue for your ads, CL is not the right venue and unless things have change it is against their TOS to sell animals on their site.

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Originally Posted by Velrys

That is exactly what I thought after that comment as well. And yes they sound like EXACTLY that type of person which is why I'm uninterested in selling.

Exactly, that is what I mean. Short of answering some quiz questions and showing me their setup I don't know what else will give me any confidence.

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I don't think anything else can give you confidence. If you really want to make the sale, you should let him check out the snake and see how comfortable he is with it. If he likes it, you can tell him you'll hold the snake until he has a proper set up or he can bring his set up / pictures top show you. That's really all you can do. Like Freakie_frog said -- everyone buys their first snake. If you make sure he's got the right set up, then he will start off on the right track. Send him off with a care sheet and your phone number if he has questions. Other than that... there really isn't anything that you can do. If he has the chance between taking a pop quiz or just hitting up another CL seller, he'll probably do the latter.

And just as a question... were you joking about the 8 feet thing? I didn't notice it until the commenter above pointed it out! Don't spread misinformation just to test the waters.

Tell him it's been SOLD.....

Jayare

I would not respond any more. This person sounds like someone trying to pull your chain. If you meet them in person, you will probably wounder why you wasted your time. There are other people out there you can sell to. And you will sleep better with the thought that your little guy is in good hands.

I do understand that everyone buys their first snake at some point however some research should go into that purchase. Enough research perhaps for them to know that BPs are not "poisonous". I still remember how surprised I was going from having a fair level of reptile knowledge to snakes. Very little stays the same in the crossover.

Yes I am obviously aware that I do not have to sell anything to this person. My question was, can anyone see a way to direct this person towards learning how to take care for a snake that has worked for them in the past?

Yes, as I said in the original post I overshot the actual size, I meant it to be a max rather than an average. And I think also trying to shy this person away from getting it.

Actually I really like CL for the reason that you get people who are getting into snakes/reptiles/exotics for the first time. By putting a normal up from time to time you get people who shy away from the $100 price tag on anything interesting at petstores or who don't know exactly what they are looking for, anything with scales will work. But they are interested and want to learn, or at least that is typical. I have never run into this brand of "I want snake!" Do you know anything about snakes? "I want snake!" customer.

I agree with Deborah. Ball pythons dont get 8 foot... your already digging his hole deeper down into ignorance... I would tell him its sold. Then again who says the person that is knowledgeable doesnt mistreat it? Make the best judgement call!

The max size of ball pythons is 6 feet, with 3-5 considered the average. I believe that's what they were getting at.

Hey thanks Jelly! You actually put up the correct information rather than just telling me I'm wrong.

Ok, now that we are all over the fact i exaggerated the size to try to make this guy go away...

I have heard more than know, only owned BPs, that BPs can be finicky in a number of ways.

I was thinking that perhaps there is another type of snake I can point this guy to as a starter? For example I have heard that corn snakes incubate at room temp... not sure if that is true, but if it is, are corn snakes more easily taken care of over all? Like lower temps wider humidity range?

Like I said I have no idea about other snakes, not even saying I would put another snake in this persons hands, but is there maybe a cheaper to maintain snake out there?

I think you should just be completely straight up with the person, tell them you aren't going to sell them the snake unless he makes an effort to learn more about them. Laddi-da. Problem solved.;P

Just wanted to say that I was once in this guys shoes. Except I emailed breeders asking for informatiom about ball pythons. None of them responded to me...

So I went to Petco and got myself their baby ball python starter kit! 40 gallon tank, red heat lamp, giant water bowl, a half log, a branch, and some aspen. Well when my snake wouldnt eat or shed, I found out that snakes can have shed issues, and that my setup was stressing him out... along with all the other myths.. all from coming here..

I think you have a good opportunity to mentor a new ball python owner and future reptile hobbiest. I would show him my snakes and see if he's still interested, after hearing how I do things. But that's just me. A less-stressful and easy escape would be to tell him the snake sold, or that you don't feel comfortable selling to someone with no experience.

Just a thought, but have you asked him to call and talk instead of texting back and forth? Texting can be terse and I think you'd get a better read of whether this potential customer is educatable - or not - if you talked to him.

I had thought about that Fraido in fact that is what I was trying to imply when I asked them to do some more research and get back to me. I didn't want to put it exactly like that though, I was afraid if it was an obvious ultimatum the person would lose interest more rapidly.

Yes h00b that is exactly the kind of situation I would like to pull out of this. I have also spent time almost always fruitlessly trying to contact bigger breeders and I don't want to turn this person away from the hobby like that.

I definitely do feel comfortable selling to someone with no experience in the add I even offer contact if they have questions about what is required with owning this animal.

The weird part about this is that this person is almost exactly the kind of person I like dealing with but I've never met anyone so... disinterested? before.

Ok, so you would suggest having them over to take a look at some real animals and their setup and let them make the decision as to whether or not they can handle it. Thank you that option was my first instinct but I was afraid it was a bad idea... the whole only my friends actually get to see my collection thing.



Yes bcr another frustration is that this person has only sent me messages when I was unavailable to pick up the phone and call. You know, you can text and type but not talk situations. Then he never contacted me again after I asked him to do some research so I didn't think he was interested last night so didn't try to call him. But yes, I make it a priority to get on the phone with people if for no other reason than to have a quick chat and get a better feel.

Perhaps rather than discount this person from the information I have gotten so far I should wait until tonight to give him a call. Thank you, I'll do that tonight.

Well when I think about it, if someone is clearly lacking necessary knowledge regarding a snake they want, educate them! Makes sense to do so. But if they're aren't interested in educating themselves (doing research), or being educated by someone (pretty well the same thing..) they shouldn't get the snake. But, do what you feel as though you should do, and good luck.(:

You already gave them a link to find information. They probably haven't so much as looked up a caresheet. You can't make someone learn about how to care for the snake. I'd just tell them you don't want to sell to someone with zero experience that doesn't know how to care for a hatchling.

And 8 ft is a bit more than just over-shooting. I would have stuck with 6 ft. It's not like he's going to sue you if someone somewhere says they've got one 6 ft 1inch.

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Originally Posted by Velrys

Ok, so you would suggest having them over to take a look at some real animals and their setup and let them make the decision as to whether or not they can handle it. Thank you that option was my first instinct but I was afraid it was a bad idea... the whole only my friends actually get to see my collection thing.

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Well having a closed collection is totally fine too! If you have one, and you don't want to open it to everyone, you should not feel bad about that. I don't really want just anyone to come in and mess with my collection, but if I trusted the person, or if it was for educational reasons, I may make an exception. I've had only a couple folks come by to check out my snakes, and I trust them. Other folks include house guests who just want to see the snakes, and are too scared to handle them lol.

Right Fraido I totally agree but I think they just have lack of interest in doing research but am holding out hope they would be up for learning from a person. Then the only concern would be their follow through.

Right Wolfy I have the same assumptions but I am certainly up for teaching a person even if they have an aversion to reading.


Ha ha, I have always been up for viewers. My wife is a bio major so she usually brings someone by every month that is interested in taking a look... though funny how they all want to see the snakes but when you ask if they want to hold one they take a step towards the door. But thats my wife's deal she wants to do the education stuff and get people more comfortable and all that. Anyway, the only part that concerns me is someone intending to buy a snake coming by the house then knowing where I live when I tell them I'm not interested in selling (if I end up making that decision).

But, I have asked them to please give me a call so that we can talk about care and housing, hopefully they will show interest and I can get them on the right track. I'd still love to sell this person their first snake I just don't want to sell them their first ex-snake.

Hopefully you can educate this person, and they will have a lovely snake to love and call George and stuff.;P

Agreed! that's why I'm trying the super soft kid gloves. I'll lead them by the noes if I have to, I just need to have some confidence that they will actually do what they need to when they get this thing home... At the rate its eating they will need to rename it to Big George.

You should make the person sign an agreement to keep you updated for a few months on the snake's care and condition. Lol, maybe you'll get the reassurance you need if you do that.

I agree with h00blah...I did loads of reading and research but couldn't get anyone to answer my questions except the breeder I finally bought a snake from. They made sure I had the correct set up already waiting at the house with temps and humidity stabilized before I took my baby home. It was part of the deal...

I'd start with.."so you had a snake before, and it 'ran' away...How did that happen?" Great chance to explain required set up. Then go from there. If he comes and you don't want to sell him a snake just say "I'm sorry, when you've done more research and have your set up complete, give me a call..."


Molly & Steve
0.1 Normal BP. PRECIOUCESS
0.1 Normal Columbian BCI. LUNA

many people start off this way, and eventually learn what they need to know and become the breeder's we have today and there's nothing wrong with that... Now with that being said, this particular person (I could be wrong) seems like your typical Craigslist shopper. They see the word python and boom just go off that. They don't know if they're inquiring about a ball python or a reticulated python. They just want a python. Those are the same people who later on try and rehome it as a "boa python". Don't get me wrong I use CL sometimes as well, and I get some traffic from my ads, but I hardly ever sell through there because of this specific reason.

You should definitely try and educate them, because even if you don't sell them a snake, someone else will. So might as well and try and save whatever animal they purchase.

Good luck in whatever it is you do.

That is my concern as well SnakeEye, someone else said it too, its better to get info and possibly a snake from me than definitely a snake and probably not info from a chain petstore.

Exactly, and I would rather have this knee jerk reaction pointed in my direction where I can try to slow them down and get some info to them than again, a chain petstore, that will simply hand over an animal if the price is right.

I've left them voice messages now, no one answered when I called, that basically say exactly that.

"It's great you are interested in snakes but they can be a quarky animal to keep, it's cool you're excited about snakes and I would like to sell you one, but there is important information I want to make sure you have before making a final decision to own one. " basically.

Anyway I am concerned that for someone that didn't seem to be interested in doing any research this might sound too much like work... and granted setting up your first enclosure is some work but if you do it right its smooth sailing after that. Just want to get this person over that hump.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm not going to repeatedly bug this person so if they get back to me thats great and if not it's been a weird learning experience :)

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Hopefully you can educate this person, and they will have a lovely snake to love and call George and stuff.;P

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Lol, my lemonblas's name is George

To the OP, just my thought. maybe a little white lie could help, maybe suggest that an offer was made that is hard to pass up. If the real customer seems like he is still interested and willing to match an offer. Maybe he is more open to learning than you thought.

Ok, so I was waiting to see what would happen before posting so here is what happened.

I ended up having a good conversation with the guy who was looking at the snake. After I was able to convince him that snakes are not iguanas things went pretty smoothly. I explained the need for a thermostat and heating pad and digital thermometer. He seemed to understand and I had some laying around and offered them to him. He said it sounded like a plan and he would contact me over the weekend to come pick everything up.

Then of course I never heard from him again. So, he continued to be an oddly disinterested guy, he sounded excited on the phone so still seems weird.

Thanks all for your help!

My theory on buyers:

More than 3 questions and they are not going to buy the snake.....

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

My theory on buyers:

More than 3 questions and they are not going to buy the snake.....

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How are they eating, what are they eating, what were the parents, when do you feed, how do you ship, .... just samples of questions I ask before I buy. Definitely more than 3...

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

My theory on buyers:

More than 3 questions and they are not going to buy the snake.....

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Only if you don't answer. I'm in the market for a very specific snake right now (not a BP), so far only one seller out of three has responded to my questions. I have the cash ready, she'll be getting the sale.

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Originally Posted by JPR

How are they eating, what are they eating, what were the parents, when do you feed, how do you ship, .... just samples of questions I ask before I buy. Definitely more than 3...

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Well..... those are pretty much standard questions I have already answered when I post an ad.

Hatch date, diet, weight are all listed, and shipping these days is pretty much only by FedEx whether you use SYR or FedEx directly.

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

Well..... those are pretty much standard questions I have already answered when I post an ad.

Hatch date, diet, weight are all listed, and shipping these days is pretty much only by FedEx whether you use SYR or FedEx directly.

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Good point, if you post detailed ads then I won't bombard you with questions.

OTOH if your ad just states "I have X's for $Y, message me for details!" then we'll be playing 20 Questions.