Does pricing depend on the buyer?

[skydnay]

Hey, y'all!

I recently made friends with the manager of a reptile shop near me (I was bored on the 4th and decided to hang out there, as they were open with normal hours, and since no one else was in the store, I got to handle a lot of their reptiles, which was super fun!) and mentioned that I was planning on breeding my ball pythons once I get them up to size. My new friend mentioned he'd be interested in buying hatchlings to sell in the store, as he thought my snakes were gorgeous, and because I mentioned I wanted to make a project out of producing some BELs. This was super exciting to me, because I was wondering what I was going to do with the hatchlings I produced. I'm not opposed to listing them places and shipping them, but since this is a local store, I could easily just drop them off.

Since I was thinking about it, I wanted to see if anyone had experience in the area or knew if there should be a difference in price point if I'm selling direct to a buyer versus if the snake is going to be resold. I've noticed that some morphs are listed a bit high (e.g., $120 normal hatchling), and I would assume this is because the goal for the store is to make as much profit as possible.


TL;DR: Should I sell hatchlings at market price, regardless of buyer? Or is there some different way to sell to a store?

Also, would there be any pertinent tax consequences from selling to a store rather than direct to a buyer? Relevant to Texas would be helpful. I'm not sure there would be, but if anyone knows... I also only plan to keep this a hobby (for now). Thanks!!

[ladywhipple02]

Pricing depends on the seller - what are the snakes worth to you?

The store will most likely want to purchase the clutch at a wholesale rate from you. If you just want to off-load them, and not worry about feeding and care, it's an easy way to go about it. When you sell to a store, however, you can't guarantee the snake is going to go to a good home. The store is in it for profit. If someone comes in with the funds to purchase an animal, they're typically not going to check into whether or not that person has everything to properly care for that animal. Thus why a lot of breeders will keep their prices a bit higher and ship one by one from reptile websites. There's still never a guarantee, of course, but the breeder can be a bit more discerning if they choose - and can usually ask for market price and get it.

It all depends on what you want to do. If you don't want to worry about caring for the babies, then wholesale is the way to go. You make a little and save a little. If you want to be a bit more picky about who the babies go to, you're going to spend a bit more in care and time, but you'll make a bit more from market price.

[skydnay]

Pricing depends on the seller - what are the snakes worth to you?

The store will most likely want to purchase the clutch at a wholesale rate from you. If you just want to off-load them, and not worry about feeding and care, it's an easy way to go about it. When you sell to a store, however, you can't guarantee the snake is going to go to a good home. The store is in it for profit. If someone comes in with the funds to purchase an animal, they're typically not going to check into whether or not that person has everything to properly care for that animal. Thus why a lot of breeders will keep their prices a bit higher and ship one by one from reptile websites. There's still never a guarantee, of course, but the breeder can be a bit more discerning if they choose - and can usually ask for market price and get it.

It all depends on what you want to do. If you don't want to worry about caring for the babies, then wholesale is the way to go. You make a little and save a little. If you want to be a bit more picky about who the babies go to, you're going to spend a bit more in care and time, but you'll make a bit more from market price.

Aha, that makes sense. I'll have to discuss with the manager more then, I suppose, and decide what I want to do from there. Thank you!

[JodanOrNoDan]

Wholesale is around 50% of retail.

[skydnay]

Wholesale is around 50% of retail.

Ouch, that's certainly something to consider. I'd much rather sell direct to buyers in that case, but it's nice to have a back up, jic.

[Charis]

Also depends on the store. Places around here will only give around 15 to 20 percent of retail to wholesale snakes to. Can be a life saver if you end up overwhelmed and need to dump a lot off your back fast but generally not worth it for hobby breeders around here.

[Bogertophis]

Stores will never pay as much as private buyers, since they have "overhead"...the building & staff & utilities all cost them more. Also they figure they might
have the animal for a while before it's sold. As others said, it's an option if you're overwhelmed taking care of all that you've produced, but don't even dream
of getting top dollars from pet stores. They buy cheap & sell high.

[AbsoluteApril]

Wholesale is around 50% of retail.

yup or less

[skydnay]

Also depends on the store. Places around here will only give around 15 to 20 percent of retail to wholesale snakes to. Can be a life saver if you end up overwhelmed and need to dump a lot off your back fast but generally not worth it for hobby breeders around here.

That makes sense. The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning more toward just keeping this store in mind for a back up plan.

Stores will never pay as much as private buyers, since they have "overhead"...the building & staff & utilities all cost them more. Also they figure they might
have the animal for a while before it's sold. As others said, it's an option if you're overwhelmed taking care of all that you've produced, but don't even dream
of getting top dollars from pet stores. They buy cheap & sell high.

Oh, right, I didn't think of that. Though I did assume there'd be some drop in price, I didn't realize it'd be so drastic. I'll likely keep to private sales, then.

yup or less

oof.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Selling to a retail store means you are selling WHOLESALE which is about 70% to 50% off the retail price depending on what you sell.

Retail is retail the price is up to you if people make you an offer you can accept or turn it down.

I do both lower end stuff I wholesale unless I do a show (than wholesale after the show), high end stuff I retail and I usually get my asking price (unless it's a return customer but that's a different story all together)