Oversaturation Of Market

[MarkS]

Prices won't come back up on an animal once they drop. Prices may fluctuate a bit...Clowns,Pieds, Bananas (and others) are never going to command thousands of dollars again.

Granted, I agree that most morphs will never again be thousands of dollars, but they will come up somewhat and I suspect that they will stabilize around a few hundred dollars each for most morphs. But I also predict that prices will drop even further then they are now, I think next season we'll see some truly ridiculous prices and fire sales with people dumping whole collections. But I suspect that prices will go back up again after that but not to thousands of dollars.

[OhhWatALoser]

I don't know why people think prices will stay the same without illegal price fixing.

[rlditmars]

I don't know why, but almost everyone wants to become a "hobby breeder" on the second day of owning their first BP. I don't know how many threads i've seen that start with "not sure what im doing but want to breed!" I personally don't understand it.

I think I can offer one possible scenario, since it is mine. I have always loved snakes and so the first time my daughter and I visited Repticon, we saw all of these wonderful looking ball pythons. Unfortunately many were priced completely out of our reach, or at least more than I could justify paying for a snake. (I believe this may be true for many ordinary folks.) Then as you walk around you start talking to the various breeders and one explains that a "Yellowbelly isn't vary expensive, but if you breed two together, you can produce an Ivory." At that time Ivories were going for about $800 or more. Yellowbellies were running around $125 to $200. So it was the idea that we could get two affordable snakes, grow them up, and breed for the snake we hoped to obtain, but couldn't justify buying at the current price. Not only that but it was a project my daughter and I could share, so that was cool too. Now the kicker, my daughter will actually be breeding the pair for an Ivory this year because she bought the male the first year and the female the second year and it has taken almost four years to get them to this point. Ivories are pretty inexpensive now but she still wants to produce one because that was the initial goal. As for me, I am just hooked into it because of the possibility of producing something I want to make. It's never been about the sales. All I ever hoped for is that the production would support the hobby eventually. I'm not sure that's the case anymore, but it isn't discouraging me yet.

Now that may not be everybody else's reason for being a Hobby Breeder, but that's how we started. And I still see the breeders at the show out their pitching the wares and explaining how someone can breed X to Y and get Z. Let's face it, that is how they make a sale and that is what they are there to do. However, every sale they make using that tactic and results in another person being a hobby breeder, almost ensures that their product will be worth less in the future.

[calmolly1]

I'm anxiously waiting to be able to get an Axanthic male. Why? Because I love Axanthics! Will I breed her to my fire het hypo? Certainly not for at least 4-5 years cuz they have to grow up. I also am scared to put my beautiful girl at risk. So like I do in horses I will probably buy whatever morph I want in the future. Cheaper, a lot easier, less risk to my pet snakes! I can see the allure of breeding but I'm going to leave it to you big guys. I failed my genetics class in college and still can't get my head around it lol. I just wish more "hobby" breeders would think the same. Already too many unwanted pets of all species out there just spend a while on CL.


Molly & Steve
0.1 normal BP 'Precioucess'
0.1 BCI 'Luna'

[Rob]

I don't know why people think prices will stay the same without illegal price fixing.

Agreed....just like anything else, the newest hotness thing will cost more, driving "last years" model's price down

[OhhWatALoser]

Agreed....just like anything else, the newest hotness thing will cost more, driving "last years" model's price down

Also add in unlike most consumer goods, these animals can reproduce. Imagine buying two iPads and making multiple iPad minis (haha, get it?) , every year. Apple couldn't control the price anymore and prices would undoubtedly come down.

[TheSnakeEye]

Here's what I think.

Yes supply & demand are a huge factor when it comes to prices. But I think the bigger issue is people trying to undercut everyone else. For example: Seller A has XYZ for $500 and is selling them quite well. Here comes seller B with the same XYZ's and wants to sell faster than seller A, so they drop their price to $450. Noooow here comes seller C and says "hey I have XYZ, how can I outsell A & B? I'll just sell them for $400. So now it's become a back and forth battle of who can sell what faster.

Now to backtrack on the supply & demand topic. Yes that plays a huge role in the price of the animals, but not as much as we may think. Why do we (breeder's) & normal pet owners buy these morphs? Because of their looks. So as long as they can afford it, is someone NOT going to buy, let's say a Banana, because many people have it? Honestly I would buy a Banana for $50 or $5,000 and not care how many are out there. I own and breed the snakes that I visually like. Taking that into consideration, if 95% of breeders, no matter how big or small they are, maintained their prices at a certain price point, consumers would make purchases no matter how large of a supply there is, considering they could afford it.

[TheSnakeEye]

This would slow down the drastic price drops considerably. Granted I know price drops are inevitable and I accept that with arms wide open because I want for people like myself to be able to afford these beautiful morphs. But what really gets to me is what I invest a ton of money in an animal and then these "market crashers" crap on the price on the animal and now I'm out A LOOOT more than I wanted to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't plan on becoming a ball python breeding millionaire. I don't plan on this being my main cash cow. But if I can, at the very least, pay back what I invested, then I'm pretty happy.

I also feel that many of us need to go back to our roots and remember why we started this. We didn't get into this "hobby" to reproduce a thousand Bamboo's. We got in this hobby because making these combos was the coolest thing we could do. So if you want to blame supply and demand for these price drops, it's not because there are a million breeder's. It's because there a bunch of breeder's targeting the high end stuff and then whoring them out. I can only think of a handful of breeder's who own some of these "higher end" morphs and limitedly breed them so as to not over produce. And that my friends is a breeder I can appreciate.


Sorry for the rant, and sorry if my thoughts are all over the place. I'm at work and my mind is racing.

[tacticalveterinarian]

If you just keep what you truly enjoy or appreciate and don't pay attention to the market prices- then you don't even notice the saturation of the market! Personally, I don't mind seeing lower prices on beautiful morphs, that only encourages new hobbyists to start keeping ball pythons and allows those of us that have been drooling over some combos to afford them!

[Ransack]

I am curious if any sellers are running into people looking for prices that they have seen on auctions. I don't have problems with auctions it's simply that I have seen snakes constantly go for like 40-60% off of going market value.

IMO it would be important for sellers to explain to buyers that are trying to use auction prices and advise them that they might want to try waiting for that particular exact morph snake, in the sex they require to come up for auction again and hope they get the same great deal they saw. See how that works out for them