REPTlLE RlNG ??? legit?

[sho220]

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.

[MonkeyShuttle]

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.

Yikes

[Marrissa]

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)

[Expensive hobby]

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

[Raven01]

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.

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.

[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).

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.

[PitOnTheProwl]

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.

[sorraia]

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.

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.

[Archimedes]

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

[Andybill]

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!

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.