Business question on Sales Percentage

[Mitch21]

This question is for any and all that have bred and sold ball pythons. I'm just wondering what your percentage is regarding the # of snakes you've sold from the snakes that you've listed "for sale"...

So for example, say you produced 30 baby snakes for a given year of production. Of that 30, you decide to sell 20. Of that 20, you successfully sell 12 and have to keep the remaining 8 since no one wants them. Therefore your % successful sales % would be 60%.

I'm just curious to see what typical sales numbers are for breeders... Do you sell most of what you WANT to sell? Do you generally sell EVERYTHING even if it takes a year or two? OR do you generally get "stuck" with some snakes that you won't breed again?

Sorry if I'm rambling or this doesn't make sense...been watching football and have finished quite a few beers.

To all who reply, THANK YOU!

[LadyOhh]

I have always sold 100% of what I intend to sell.. that are babies.

It's harder to move adults, depending on the sex and the morph type. Normal male or Het male adults are almost impossible to sell, versus a breedable Mojave female... Just depends.

I still have a Pastel adult Male that no one has been interested in for over a year. Other than that, its been a turn-around of about 6 months max to sell animals.

[j_h_smith]

You should be able to sell all of your neonates as long as you are realistic with your pricing. The breeders that want top dollar for plane jane snakes, will be disappointed when their snakes do not sell.

The market price will prevail, regardless of what you think your snakes are worth.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[rabernet]

And don't be afraid to hold your prices and wait for the right buyer to see your ad. Biggest mistake people make is that they slash prices if their animal doesn't sell in a week.

[BEasy119]

Great Thread,

I want to breed in the near future and i was wondering about this myself. I see a lot of big breeder with prices only big breeders can afford. Then i see some other breeders with good prices. I think if you want to sell your animals you have to see what the price is on the market.

[Mitch21]

Thanks for the replies all! Last year was my first attempts at breeding. I had some real solid locks but ended up stopping the breeding since my female was loosing more weight than I was comfortable with... So alas, this will be the year.

[Mitch21]

Anyone else have any perspectives on this??

[monk90222]

For the most part all baby snakes sell...even if you have to hold on to them for a year or so....Heather is 100% correct about the adult normal males and Het males. I've had one Het male for sale since 2006 and no one has been interested....lol
Believe it or not, I have the least problem selling normals, every year I get more inquiries than I have normal snakes to fill the orders....
Single gene co-dom males are becoming harder to sell IMO (for a decent fair price)....I'm not even sure I'm going to try to produce any this season (other than what pops out from morph X morph breeding) Everybody and their Uncle has them and breeds them so the market is flooded with inexpensive single gene males....