Morphmarket Negotiating Prices

[sp0420]

Hey Everyone,

Ok so what's you opinions?
Was looking around on morphmarket and came across a seller selling two separate snakes. I researched seller and reviews and decided to go for it and try to negotiate a price for both animals.
I messaged saying "Im interested in purchasing both your animals" had two questions and ended "can you work with me on price if I purchase both"
Seller answers questions within an hour and says "they do 15% discount on more then one"
By the time I could respond (about three hours). One was on hold. Only reason it took so long is my gmail put it under promotions and I didn't receive a notification. So after a couple hours not hearing back I got on MorphMarket and seen the response and that one was on hold. Which is too bad for the seller who lost two sales and only got a deposit for one.
Bad business practice, or am I trying to negotiate a price wrong? I'm hesitant to make an offer and risk lowballing. Maybe I should just make an offer right off the bat and risk lowballing/insulting? Maybe I should just offer full price? Maybe I should just keep it simple and say "I'll take it what's the best price you can do?" Idk. I would have bought both even if they wanted full price. I'm not cheap but almost everything I buy I try to negotiate. I've always worked hard for everything I have and money doesn't come easy. I also understand people kick tires and first come first serve etc, but at that point I feel like I'm negotiating a price and I feel my response times were not unreasonable.
Anyway don't get me wrong not upset. Well a little disappointed I guess lol. But there's literally dozens of new snakes on there daily and I'll pick up what I'm looking for eventually. Just curious on what others think, bad business? And curious for any opinions on the best ways to negotiate and seal the deal at the same time.

Thanks,
Sean

[XpensiveWino]

In my experience selling online, there are so many flakes out there - not implying you are *whatsoever*- that unless I have done business with someone in the past, there's no 'holding' or waiting without some money securing the transaction. I've been burned as a seller enough that I always opt for the 'bird in hand', so to speak. I also try to make that as respectfully clear as possible so there's no misunderstanding.

With that being said, as a buyer I've missed out on many deals/purchases that I wanted to make that the timing just wasn't right, or someone just managed to beat me to.

We sound similar in that I'll gladly pay fair price (not just a cheap price, but fair price), but if I think I see an angle to negotiate I will. Usually in those instances, I make the specific offer rather than asking if they will go lower. People are so burnt out on tire kickers, time is money, etc... When I'm selling, I feel like I've already posted my price, and I don't want to negotiate with myself. When I'm buying I'm pretty forthright with my offer, and I always ask for payment address in my initial email so that if we do agree, I can get them the money right away and get the item off the market.

With animals, it's tough because we *should* ask the right questions before committing (pairings, feeding habits, etc...), but we also don't want to miss out.

Anyway, I get your frustration, and you're right: There will be more out that the deal will happen for.

I just did a deal like you are describing with a great, pretty well known seller. Two snakes full price, but negotiated free shipping. I'm new around here and not sure if we're allowed to name MM sellers. Happy to share via message. I imagine you're probably already on your way to another deal with all of the options out there on MM.

Good luck!
Adam

[Igotsmallballs]

You got to jump on it! Look at the reviews and make a quick decision. No one is going to play twenty questions when they have someone that says “I want this snake and will pay in full. Very rare to get screwed with a lot of positive reviews on morph market.

[JobForARetic]

In this industry its only natural for the seller to sell their snake to the first person to send money over.
If they got paid every time someone inquired, haggled their prices, asked for PayPal info, then they would not need to sell snakes at all. You could have easily been 1 of 10 people inquiring about the same snake.


It's only normal to want to negotiate prices, but if the animal is of outstanding quality, low priced, or both, then it's important to try to pay as quickly as possible, if you have any questions try to calling them first so you can get all your questions answered in a minute or two, if they cant be reached by phone then refresh your messages every few minutes. You're likely competing with many others interested in the same snake.


In most cases though, sellers are willing to go down on prices within reason. Sometimes they'll go down a lot more than you think.

[redshepherd]

That's pretty much how morphmarket and online sales in general have been working, whoever sends money first gets the snake, regardless of chatting and chatting.

Just a couple weeks ago, I messaged a seller literally saying, "I will purchase this snake. Let me know your paypal and I'll send money over!"

Apparently the 10 minutes it took them to respond to me and for me to send money, someone went on their website (which I didn't even know about) and bought the snake 1 minute before I sent the money. So the snake went to that person. Doesn't matter how many times you say "I'll reserve this snake".

[67temp]

I will only do holds for past customers. There are way to many people that say I get paid on Friday can you hold it till then, only to never be heard from again. Now just because that snake is marked as hold does not mean it is sold or that there was even a deposit put down. MM lets the seller click a check box to put something on hold. You can let the seller know that you are still interested and willing to buy. You can also ask the seller if they have a clutch mate of the one you were interested in that is available. Not even 25% of my inventory makes its way up on MM.

[sp0420]

Thanks,

Good advice next time no matter how I negotiate I'll ask for payment info in first message. Maybe then the seller will know I'm serious.

Thanks,
Sean

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Here is an answer from a breeder standpoint, offer will depend on supply and demand and also the way you go about your offer and how low your offer will be, so depending on the animal your offer may be accepted or rejected.

Right now it is a seller's market, snakes are selling and they are selling at their asking price, because of the lack of shows and restrictions at shows that do not allow as many vendors and customers in, customer have turned to online marketplace to purchase their animals (there are also advantages since you can often do payment plans). So because of all that many snakes sell for their asking price (obviously I am not talking about those that are saturating the market)

As for missing out on animals happens all the time, it's not uncommon to have 2 to 3 people on the same animal at once, ultimately the most responsive person will get that animal.