Ballbids.com

[aviBallBids]

Zach and Avi... who are you guys?! How long have you been in ball breeding? I got that same "Along Came a Spider" Nerd poster. If I take my smiling picture in front of it, can I be legit too? Excuse us for being skeptical but the Ball Python/Reptile industry is inundated with scammers and people straight up in it just to make a buck.

I'm getting flashbacks to a company a few years ago that overnight put out a ton of ads using "cheap" and "buy morphs for less" in their advertisements. Morph King Reptiles and the people associated with that company are still looked upon as a black eye to this industry.

How about showing us some pictures of your facility? Collection? Snakes breeding? I'm thinking that this will just be another chapter in this highly drama-filled Ball Python industry...

Hi MarkieJ!

Please, let me tell you a little bit about Zack and I. We're both from South Florida, but currently living in Louisville, Kentucky. We've been best friends since right before we started High School.

As long as I can remember, Zack has been involved with snakes, in one way or another. I still remember the first time I got bit by his retic, square on the neck It wasn't that bad, so I got a bit more comfortable around them from that point on (Ironic, huh?).

I have a computer science and digital marketing background, and it's this fact that made Zack originally approach me about the idea for BallBids.com. It's certainly not something that happened overnight--we've been planning and building this slowly for more than 6 months now.

Seeing as how major penny auction websites are all competing day in and day out for the same customer base, we thought it made sense to create a niche penny auction website that catered to a specific audience (In this case, reptile owners, breeders, enthusiasts, etc.), in exchange for a smaller overall crowd.

As for the NERD poster, we simply didn't have anything better to use as a backdrop, and we really like the look of it!

We plan to put together a few videos to announce our first few winners, but I'll be sure to share our office, breeding facility, and print shop with the community at the same time.

I was reading some of their comments on other sites (facebook, other forums) and it seems like they purchase the snakes from top quality breeders and then sell them on their website. My assumption is that the model allows them to make a decent profit off the snake.

Butter: market value of $350
She is currently at $2.08

Lowest rate per bid seems to be $0.55, and highest rate per bid seems to be $0.90 (correct me if I'm wrong) so I'm going to average $0.72 per bid.

There have currently been 208 bids on this butter female if my average calculations are correct. This means that they have to sell her at $4.86 minimum to break even. Everything after is profit.

Let's pretend they purchase a snake from NERD at $1,500.
They need to have 2,083 (average) bids on the NERD snake for them to break even. The snake would sell at $20.83 at this break even point. Everything after is profit.

Please correct my math if I'm wrong, it's late.

Interesting business model. It might work for some people. I would be wary that the person winning the snakes at the end is not a legitimate customer (like you or me) but a friend or bot. But I guess if we see that people from BP.net or Fauna or something are winning the snakes and singing the praises of the site, my opinion might change. I know some of the bigger penny auction sites have auto-bids and shillers that increase the price or never allow a real customer to get the product.

This is not to say that ballbids.com is going to do the same thing, but that it's a complaint many have against penny auctions. As time goes on, we'll see who is getting the snakes and that'll verify legitimacy

Hi Slashmaster!

I appreciate your perspective! All we can suggest to others is to sit back, watch how things pan out, and wait until the community speaks well on our behalf.

Unfortunately, like you say, the penny auction model is notorious for being taken advantage of by scammers, but you know very well how valuable a successful breeding program can be in the long run. I would never risk our reputation on that end in order to make a few quick bucks.

In the end, all we can ask of the community is to give us a chance to show that we will, in fact, honor the final auction prices of our ball pythons (and hopefully other reptiles in the near future), and our winners will, in fact, receive those animals in the mail, as promised.

-Avi =)

[Don]

Terms and Conditions state that there is no warranty. This means no live guarantee, no health guarantee, no sex guarantee. It also states that live animals may not be returned.


Also, when I looked for zbyers7, I get a bunch of posts from "man-made evolution". Are these two people the same person?

[pinkeye714]

If you bid your STUPID! The owner is Zack Byers who was here and went by zbyers7 and told everyone here and bush league breeders club members that he was a big shot and we were peeons .He is a fraud and has found a way to rip everyone off if you fall for it.So if you bid i guess its true a fool is born every minute

Do you mind providing proof of this? I have followed back to zbyers7 threads and post. As well as man-made evolution since i believe they are the same person or one is his business associate.
As far as their post and threads. I see nothing about them bashing on Bp.net or bush.
Also on a side note, it is just rude to outright call people stupid!

[joepythons]

Terms and Conditions state that there is no warranty. This means no live guarantee, no health guarantee, no sex guarantee. It also states that live animals may not be returned.


Also, when I looked for zbyers7, I get a bunch of posts from "man-made evolution". Are these two people the same person?

Good catch yes thats the same person it looks like he had a name change.I wonder when or why he would change it

[joepythons]

Do you mind providing proof of this? I have followed back to zbyers7 threads and post. As well as man-made evolution since i believe they are the same person or one is his business associate.
As far as their post and threads. I see nothing about them bashing on Bp.net or bush.
Also on a side note, it is just rude to outright call people stupid!

I guess it was either removed or cleaned up by Judy and her staff.I dont candy coat stuff and if it hurt your feelings or made others think twice it was worth it since its just a word.

[ballpythonluvr]

I guess it was either removed or cleaned up by Judy and her staff.I dont candy coat stuff and if it hurt your feelings or made others think twice it was worth it since its just a word.

I for one appreciate your blunt honesty, especially if it is going to prevent me from getting scammed.

[joepythons]

I for one appreciate your blunt honesty, especially if it is going to prevent me from getting scammed.

Why thank you .I was correct about MKR before they were totaly exposed.I was correct about bigdaddywholesell before he was finally removed from our hobby.I dont attack people just because i am bored and feel confident i will continue my winning streak here in time .I wonder why Zack left without replying to my posts? Oh i guess he will be contacting Judy again telling her i am picking on him on facebook again.Sorry its not going on its just here out in the open

[aviBallBids]

I'm getting all excited just thinking about those browned out Pastels...

so let's recap...

Your business model is based on a scam
Your banner ads lie
And your selling the scraps no one else wanted

Wow...where do I sign up?

I'm sorry to go directly against what you've put into writing here, but allow me to elaborate:

The business model itself, if a scam, would have been illegalized at some point after the original website (Swoopo.com) went into business. Unfortunately, the business model is attractive to scammers, so I understand your criticism 100%, but, as I've mentioned, we're in this for the long haul, BallBids.com or not, so we can't afford to tarnish our reputations.

The banner ads, as I've mentioned, are designed to give our visitors an idea of the possibilities, which, in fact, are real possiblities once we are able to develop our user base some more.

And as for the quality of the ball pythons we have up for auction, aside from the Fire Female we're giving away, all of our snakes were hand selected by Mike Wilbanks over at Constrictors Unlimited. We won't be putting up any browned out pastels.

I'd be interested in how they quarantine these animals that they acquire and put up. How long do they hold them to guarantee the health of the animal before it's put up for this auction. Not sure I'd risk adding a "flipped" animal into my collection just to save a few bucks.

The only one, in my estimation, who wins in this, is the owner of the site.

Hi rabernet!

All of our animals are quarantined in a melamine rack system that we put together ourselves to keep costs to a minimum. We've got one sub-adult rack as well as a hatchling rack built, including several thermostats, heat tape, hide boxes, water bowls, etc., to keep the snakes happy and healthy. Once we're done putting together the rest of our material, we should have enough room to house roughly 100 snakes in all. We also feed them rats several times a week, and, seeing as how Constrictors Unlimited handles their business, we've never had a problem when it comes to meal time.

You'll get a chance to see everything we do here once we get our first video up. Please, stay tuned!

you consider quibids and bidcactus competitors?

You go of their millions of dollars in research but fail to realize your target customers are completely different from theirs.

If you have spent that much time in this community you would know that we are a skeptical group because we have been burned, scammed and outright lied to. You shouldn't have given these "possibilities" a price.

That's like the ads for diet pills that say "lose 50lbs a month" and forget to tell you that you can only eat celery and coffee and have to run 10miles a day.

Those "possibilities" are only possible when you know the habits of your bidders. You dont yet.

sent from my EVO

Hi jbean7916!

I wouldn't say that QuiBids and BidCactus are our direct competitors, but they offer an almost identical service. Their marketing seems to work well for them, so it made sense for us to borrow some of their ideas.

At the same time, you mention a great point--our target customers are completely different. This is absolutely true, and if it weren't for Zack's suggestions and involvement (Seeing as how he's been much more involved than I am and for a much longer time), this company would not have been able to take off the way it did.

Also, we expected to be met with a certain level of criticism. We realize that not everyone will come to appreciate what we have to offer, but all we can hope is that most will keep an open mind. And as for the habits of our bidders--you're right, we don't know those habits yet, but there's only one way for us to find out, and that's to give it a try.

from my understanding( and sorry if someone already said this) its no different that ebay execpt you pay per bid? same risk of not winning the bid and same chance on saving a ton of money?

and if the snakes are coming from breeders you would normally buy from anyway i can see the appeal and value in something like this. its not a scam either if they are completely open about how they do buisness. you either accept it and use it or you dont.

Now would i personally do it. Im not sure. I think i would have to have someone i know directly that did this and had a good experience before i would jump on.

Hi tcutting!

Yes, you have the right idea about how our service works. Please, take a moment to see the "How it Works" page on our site, found here: http://www.ballbids.com/page/how-it-works And yes, we only intend to purchase from reputable breeders, as the last thing we need is an unhappy customer with a less-than-investment-quality animal.

allow me to add that whoever the breeder is that is supplying the animal should give some sort of guarantee on it. additionally I don’t think ballbids houses the snakes at all but the animals should go directly from seller to auction winner. Thus eliminating costs for them and ensure the cleanest bill of health possible.

Hi again!

Please, allow me to copy-paste some text from a previous response:

"All of our animals are quarantined in a melamine rack system that we put together ourselves to keep costs to a minimum. We've got one sub-adult rack as well as a hatchling rack built, including several thermostats, heat tape, hide boxes, water bowls, etc., to keep the snakes happy and healthy. Once we're done putting together the rest of our material, we should have enough room to house roughly 100 snakes in all. We also feed them rats several times a week, and, seeing as how Constrictors Unlimited handles their business, we've never had a problem when it comes to meal time.

You'll get a chance to see everything we do here once we get our first video up. Please, stay tuned!"

i personally think i will use this site at one time or another just because i feel they owners are being open and honest and answering questions the right way. i know theres a chance of getting burned but there really isnt much these days that wont burn you, including other penny bid sites. now on the other hand if its legit and i win an awesome snake for 10% of what it retails at, well ill probably be jumping up and down for joy. sometimes these penny bid sites work out like when i tryed to win a laptop and i actually won, that laptop is the one im using to post this comment, so things that seem too good to be true do sometimes work out.

Hi pbjtime8908!

Thank you for keeping an open mind, the effect it has on our reputation is priceless! And congratulations on winning your laptop!

If you bid your STUPID! The owner is Zack Byers who was here and went by zbyers7 and told everyone here and bush league breeders club members that he was a big shot and we were peeons .He is a fraud and has found a way to rip everyone off if you fall for it.So if you bid i guess its true a fool is born every minute

Hi joepythons!

I apologize wholeheartedly for Zack's previous behavior here and on Bush League. None of us are perfect, and it showed very well at that time. Zack was upset about the way he was being cornered--he wasn't prepared for it. He realizes that he shouldn't have let his emotions get to him, and I, for one, don't condone such behavior.

I realize that it will take a long time before those who were involved will allow their perceptions to change, if at all. I can only hope that at least one person will accept my sincere apology.

from what i have heard read through this thread is that the only way you get ripped off is if you keep rebidding on an item? and even then it is only 55 cents at a time if i understand this correctly.

if you lose a bid say you bid 15bucks on a snake you only pay the 55cents or do you pay 15.55 even though you lost?

Hi again!

Let me give you an example scenario:

Say you place 20 bids, at the cost of $0.65 a piece (The average cost of a 100 Bid Package), and won an auction at a final price of $15, the total cost to you would be 15 + 0.65(20) = $28. if you lost the auction, the total cost to you would be $28 minus the final auction price, which is equal to $13.

I hope that makes sense!

Hey Zack or who ever you want to be called i recently started a thread on bush league breeders club and wanted to invite you to comment there also.So here is that link. http://www.reptileradio.net/reptiler...952#post670952

Hi again joepythons!

Thank you for the invite, I'll head over there shortly!

-Avi =)

[joe23]

Do you mind providing proof of this? I have followed back to zbyers7 threads and post. As well as man-made evolution since i believe they are the same person or one is his business associate.
As far as their post and threads. I see nothing about them bashing on Bp.net or bush.
Also on a side note, it is just rude to outright call people stupid!

yep- i remember him too- very good actually...lol


tbh it doesnt surprise me, that he starts this scam site.


as far as him being a breeder- umm i dont know...lol


if i read his old posts n stuff, he doesnt sound like a breeder who has a good reputation in the business.


dont be fooled people- the site is scam. only people who will win are the site owners.


btw- i really wonder if mike wilbanks knows that his name gets put into this.

i probably think he just sold snakes as probably everyday and he has probabky no clue his name gets torned into this.


i guess the best would be a (sticky) thread where all infos get put into one post, cause not everybody will read a 20 page long thread...

[joepythons]

Oh one more thing you both lived in Florida but BOTH moved to the same place and the magicly thought up this idea right? Sorry i dont buy it Zack and in time you will be exposed as a phony.Oh please let me know when you venture over to bush league breeders club if you can .