what do breeders charge at expo shows

Gots me another funky questions

Next weekend Im going to a WI reptile show.
I KNOW Im going to get another ball rather its a normal female or an albino male (scraping together all my money as well as using all my tax return to afford one)
but what i wanna know is how much decrease in price is there at a reptile show?
I know there is no shipping charge and stuff but from your guys experiance what kind of deals could I get....
also do you think I could bat my eyes a few times and wear a low cut shirt to help me talk the breeders down in price *Wink* :gj:
(dont tell my boyfriend about it haha)

*Erica
(and serioulsy guys Im not that shallow and ditzy to do something like that...or am I? ah!)

My experience has been that if you keep your eyes open and shop "smart" you can find some excellent deals at the shows. But a lot of your opportunities will depend on how big the show is and what vendors are there. Obviously, the more BP vendors you have to choose from, the better chance you have of getting a sweet deal.


All that being said...be careful! If it is a deal that seems too good to be true, then it most likely is. You might want to keep a trusted friend's phone number handy to give a call to and talk over a deal and/or ask advice if you find something that seems too good but you're not sure. Someone that can help keep you from an impulsive buy you might regret later.

alot depends on the breeder, at best maybe 10-20% of retail for a cash sale? if the snake is dirt cheap, i'd be a little worried. if the show is real big, some vendors might not discount. big shows have alot of traffic and demand might be higher?

vaughn

smart thinkin guys....

I'll keep all that in mind. I'll get your aim screen names if you have it and let you know whats what when Im there....you'll be my little pocket elves!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 4Khan

smart thinkin guys....

I'll keep all that in mind. I'll get your aim screen names if you have it and let you know whats what when Im there....you'll be my little pocket elves!

---

I might be going too, we will see, I want to go :)

Normal female or albino male? You know you're talking about a difference between a $200 animal and a $2000 animal, right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by elevatethis

Normal female or albino male? You know you're talking about a difference between a $200 animal and a $2000 animal, right?

---

sadly yes.
I know albinos are expensive, and I know It sounds nutty to go from a simple female normal that i can get for 100 dollars at a pet store (No i wont ever do that again) to a $2000 dollar snake. But I have my mind made up, I want an albino. So it comes down to now or later. I am really really really outta my mind for it but like i said before maybe some guy will give me a break and be like
"oh yeah thats an albino ball"
"naa I really dont like him...you can have him for cheapy, yeah its like he was cool for a week and now im into spiders or red tail boas....so sure i'll give it to you for cheap"

HA! Dream with here on this!

Usually the best savings can be had on the last day at the last hours of the show. Sellers at shows probably paid show fees, gas, hotel rooms, food, misc expenses, etc. The last thing some of these guys want to do is drive one more snake home when they can drive home with a few extra $100's in their wallet!! Of course it depends on the show and the seller!

As Judy mentioned, if it's too good to be true, question it!
There is a fine line between getting a great deal and getting screwed!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 4Khan

sadly yes.
I know albinos are expensive, and I know It sounds nutty to go from a simple female normal that i can get for 100 dollars at a pet store (No i wont ever do that again) to a $2000 dollar snake. But I have my mind made up, I want an albino. So it comes down to now or later. I am really really really outta my mind for it but like i said before maybe some guy will give me a break and be like
"oh yeah thats an albino ball"
"naa I really dont like him...you can have him for cheapy, yeah its like he was cool for a week and now im into spiders or red tail boas....so sure i'll give it to you for cheap"

HA! Dream with here on this!

---

Absolutely!
If you find a couple dozen Albinos at the show on the last day. Walk around with $1200 cash and you'll be driving home with your Albino! Just make sure it's what you want and what your looking for! Like I said there is a fine line!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ssscales

Usually the best savings can be had on the last day at the last hours of the show. Sellers at shows probably paid show fees, gas, hotel rooms, food, misc expenses, etc. The last thing some of these guys want to do is drive one more snake home when they can drive home with a few extra $100's in their wallet!! Of course it depends on the show and the seller!

As Judy mentioned, if it's too good to be true, question it!
There is a fine line between getting a great deal and getting screwed!

---

mmm...good thinkin!
Its like if i go early i can see all the good morphs and good deals etc, but if I do like you say I can possible score big. Hmmmm I like your thinking and although morphs are nice and nothing beats them I think working on them the last hour might help me get out on top.

Thanks again guys!

personally i would get the albino you want! if at this show or the next or online. try to get the best deal on what you really want, you will be happier down the road, even if it costs you more. hope it doesn't though. i would pay more for bigger/healthier looking animals,rather than save a bit for a small runtish one. that's me, my wife loves the runts:rolleye2:


vaughn

Yeeaahhhh....ya know...if you want it bad enough.... and if you have the money.... LOL When I was finally able to get my first BP, I shelled out a fair amount of money to get a het caramel girl, even though it will be a number of years before I get to the point where I can start collecting more snakes and breeding them. But I KNEW what I wanted and I had the money to spend....


I don't regret it! But I did haul myself to a show first to make sure I couldn't find something in person that I wanted before spending the money online.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kavmon

personally i would get the albino you want! if at this show or the next or online. try to get the best deal on what you really want, you will be happier down the road, even if it costs you more. hope it doesn't though. i would pay more for bigger/healthier looking animals,rather than save a bit for a small runtish one. that's me, my wife loves the runts:rolleye2:


vaughn

---

That's why I said, make sure it's what you want. Just don't get the 1st Albino someone throws at you just cause it's the cheapest! I'd rather pay more and get the quality morph I need and want to inject in my project Vs settling for a sub quality morph to save a few hundred bucks.

Now, if you can find that grade "A" morph you're looking for and reduce it down to a price your comfortable with...it's an even better.

Last time that I checked the website there were about 3-4 smaller vendors that had Ball Pythons listed for the show. So odds are that you should be able to haggle with the vendors a bit....however they know what their snakes are worth, but I'm sure that cash in hand makes it more oh so sweet.

I'll be looking for a couple different things...We'll see what kind of deal I can get, I like to deem myself king of deals! :twisted:

I'll be the short guy with a shaved head walking around the show...feel free to say hi.

Cash has this effect on people! Breeders more so than resellers! They may know for a fact that snake is worth $1000! They can even know for a fact that sooner or later they will get $1000 for it!

But on that last day of the show, when all he's thinking about is how the wife or girlfriend spent more than they've sold on this road trip! Or how he bought that expensive fishing rod and reel he couldn't really afford! Or how the truck needs a new set of tires!

At that moment you pull out $800.00 (3- $100's and 25- $20's) in nice crisp bills!! Knees start to buckle, palms get sweaty, they start chatting, the wife or girlfriend is looking at him as if to say "You damn well better take that $800.00 before it walks away!".

Before you reach the end of the table....he's calling you back!
$800 it is!

Cash speaks volumes, because the seller isn't having to pay his cuts to the credit card companies. At least that's my take on it. :rolleyes: Plus it's a done deal. No worries about payments and other such issues that could arise.

Is that why Rick wanted my ATM card before we went to that show? Hmmm...

Not to burst the bubble or anything, but just remember that if U wait until the last day (or last hours) of the show, yeah you'll probably get some cool deals, but the SELECTION may not be all that hot anymore. The snake that you had your heart set on got sold to someone else, and now you'd need to choose another. The "you snooze, you lose" syndrome.

Here, the show's so small that it's WYSIWYG and after a quicky trip around the room, I went back and visited, asked questions to buy.

Just a thought. :twocents:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cassandra

Is that why Rick wanted my ATM card before we went to that show? Hmmm...

---

I DELIBERATELY left the debit card behind, but ended up at the ATM anyway.:oops:
But FD got her ceramic pegasus and we got a dragon that wasn't on the orig. shopping list & was a splurge. The idea was to learn and have FUN, and we did, so I didn't sweat (too much) the extra $80.

I'm definitely excited for this show since I have a few things on my list I won't be disappointed if I don't get the item on the top of my list. And if all fails and I don't find anything that I like/or can afford, it will still have been worth to see some cool things in person.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tigerlily

Cash speaks volumes, because the seller isn't having to pay his cuts to the credit card companies. At least that's my take on it. :rolleyes: Plus it's a done deal. No worries about payments and other such issues that could arise.

---

Not only that, but lets be honest, many of these cash transactions usually don't all, if any get claimed as income..:O :O

I agree, waiting for the last day can cut down the pickings depending on the show. This is why, you need to know who and what are at the show and how will the traffic be?

Small shows with slow traffic aren't going to get many $1000-$2000-$5000+ buyers. Great deals are out there, you just have to find them, make them happen and ask yourself...is this what I'm looking for and does this fit the bill in all aspects of what I'm looking for?

Example: I'll be looking for 1-2 Pastel males soon, I want the best Pastels I can find as these will be the foundation of my BP collection.

Can you find Pastels at $500, absolutely! You can probably negotiate $800 for two! But, do I really want to haggle too the point of losing out on that perfect Pastel that will be the base of my BP collection? Or do I want top of the line, hand picked, the best Pastels I can find that will in turn produce great Pastels, Supers, Bumble Bees, etc, etc?

IMO, certain things are negotiable from both the seller's and buyer's point of view, other are not. I'm not looking for the cheapest Pastels or what I can afford at the moment. Of course, we're always going to try and negotiate, but in this case I'm looking for a particular Pastel 1st, price will be an after thought within market value.

I'm with you Gerry - I would put my desire to have a top quality animal over wanting to save a bit. My approach if I were in the situation would be to pick the best but offer cash in hopes for saving me just a bit on the sale and making it easy for the seller to make the sale (as they can drop the price a bit as well as opposed to a credit card sale and cash sales are so much easier to deal with). =)