Do you offer payment plans?

[Galaxygirl]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I wanted to ask breeders their opinion on payment plans. First of all I'm curious as to how many people actually accept payment plans, and if you don't, what is your reasoning. If you do payment plans:

1. How long of a payment plan do you offer?
2. Are you supposed to charge interest or anything?
3. Have you had a lot of bad experiences with payment plans?

I'm trying to decide if I want to allow payment plans. Say I sell a snake under a payment plan where its going to take two months or so for the payments to be completed, and during this time I am paying for the food and care for the snake. How do you decide if it's worth it? If I have a clutch of babies and a lot of people interested, but one of the buyers wants to do a payment plan, in the end it costs more for the seller to do a plan instead of selling the snake to another person that's ready to ship the next week. Curious about opinions. (:

[Dave Green]

I typically offer 60 day payment plans with a 25% non-refundable deposit. I don't charge interest or anything and 90% of customers come through as promised. There are occasional issues but if there is regular communication I'm good.

[BCS]

I would do 25% non refundable deposit and only 60 days.

[Albert Clark]

I recently purchased a animal from showcase serpents where Adam Chandler offers a 60 day payment plan on his terms. He asks for a 20% non refundable deposit of the purchase price to start. Once the payment is received he takes the animal off the market and he keeps the animal and cares for it until its paid off. I paid for my animal in less than 30 days. I know it can be trying to hold on to animals on a payment plan but you need to be strict about the adherence. There should be no need for any plan over 60 days. If someone really wants a said animal they shouldn't need 3 months to pay for it. That is just my take on it.Adam is great to work with and makes everything go smoothly.

[Galaxygirl]

Thanks everyone for your input! Seems like payment plans are pretty common and shouldn't be a problem then

[bcr229]

<Mod Hat> Thread moved to Business Talk. </Mod Hat>

Getting a non-refundable deposit is a good idea. I do the same in my business (firearms) for special orders, layaway plans, or for any process where the buyer may be delayed before being legally permitted to take the firearm (e.g. Title II transfers, which can take 6-8 months for government paperwork to process).

The non-refundable deposit can not be put on a credit card or paid via PayPal, as it's all too easy for the buyer to do a chargeback. Funds for deposits must be paid using cash, personal check (wait 10 business days to clear), or USPS MO.

I would also have a payoff deadline, you don't want the buyer to put down a deposit and then take a year to pay off a critter.

[bondo]

I also do a non refundable deposit. I normally allow 60 days to pay. However I have allowed longer amounts in the past. I play it by ear when I chat with the person. I can usually tell how serious they are.

[FranklinMorphs]

I'm not in the position of actually doing it yet, but I can say that every single seller I've looked at or contacted has had some type of payment plan, typically no more than 60 days, with several at only 30 days. All have been 20-25% down, a couple requiring a minimum of $100 down, but not many. All have had very explicit terms of services relating to their payment plans, including payment dates. I do distincly remember seeing one that offered 90 day plans only on purchases in excess of $1000, so you could do 4 payments.

So far, I intend to do something similar to a mashup of all these options: 25% down with a $50 minimum, 30 day plans as standard, 60 day plans over $500 and 90 day plans over $1000. All payment plans must be worked out and agreed to prior to a deposit being made. Payments must be made at least once per calendar month. If a single payment is more than 7 calendar days late without contact from the buyer(preferably before the deadline passes) I will notify the customer that they have 3 business days to contact me or their deposit will be forfeit and their payments in excess of the deposit will be held as store credit for no more than 30 calendar days before it too is forfeit. If that store credit is used for a deposit on another snake, it will be non-refundable in it's entirety, regardless of the percentage. No interest, no fees for payment plans.

[distaff]

From buyer's perspective, I like a payment plan.
From a seller's perspective, if you can sell all your merchandise quickly without offering a payment plan, then you are better off without it.

The payment plan however, is a good way to sell merchandise that isn't moving w/o having to put it on "sale." Markdowns cheapen your animals, everyone else's animals, and may miff some customers who recently paid you full price for animals of the same quality.

Colin Weaver (IIRC, that is his name...I can't remember his site name, but he had some very insightful business essays.) is worth reading for anyone in the reptile business. Worthwhile reading for any independent business person, actually.

I am not in this business. Nevertheless, one thing I notice scanning classifides like Kingsnake.com is some very low prices! I wish people valued their labor more. Why is any CB animal going for $30-$50? I haven't pencilled it out myself, but I can't imagine anyone is really making money when overhead costs are figured into these prices.

Just my two cents.

[Emilio]

I also offer payment plans I believe most breeders do now a days. Communication is key.