Pied-$$??

[xdeus]

Sometimes they all come in at around the same price ... sometimes there are larger gaps from one big breeder to the next ... I do my best to be "in the ballpark".

Good to know. I suppose you would know if you were out of the ballpark pretty soon, either by the tons of offers or the nasty emails.

LOVE THE AVATAR ... YOU COULD SELL THEM AT DAYTONA!

What can I say, this thread was very inspirational.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Good to know. I suppose you would know if you were out of the ballpark pretty soon, either by the tons of offers or the nasty emails.

I guess my pricing has always been good to go ... I've never gotten one of these "nasty emails" I keep hearing about ... LOL ... but if I ever do, there is always the delete key.

-adam

[TraconSnake]

Petco lists $8 male imported CH for $80, for them to be selling albinos for $100 it would mean that they were getting them for $20 or under.

What kind of time frame were you thinking of?

I was using an extreme long term example. If enough people keep producing Albinos, there will come a time when albinos become common, and breeders will need a different type of rare variant to make money.

Profits will probably remain about the same as todays rare variants become more common, and tomorrow's rare variants are being hatched. Tomorrow's rare variants will make up for the lower prices of the older variants wich are becoming more common.

I don't think there will be any sort of crash unless either some cosmic statistical anomaly causes everybody to get huge clutches of one type of variant, or a huge percentage of breeders suddenly get out of the ball python business.


I also noticed a comment about not selling for under $400. Does that mean I won't be able to contact any of you to get a normal BP? Or did you just mean that once a variant drops below that number, you'll simply stop trying to produce that variant?

[greenmonkey51]

I dont know if anyone mentioned this but locality would play a big role in helping smaller breeders. I could buy a albino from a seller in California or I could buy it from a breeder that is local. I always try to support local breeders first. After hearing all this though Im glad Im more into cresteds, much easier to set prices, since everyone is different.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I also noticed a comment about not selling for under $400. Does that mean I won't be able to contact any of you to get a normal BP? Or did you just mean that once a variant drops below that number, you'll simply stop trying to produce that variant?

I sell normal ball pythons that I produce as by products of producing other morphs. For example, it's profitable for me to produce spiders, but there are normals in every spider clutch, so I do have normals for sale.

But, I don't specifically breed to produce normal ball pythons.

Make sense?

-adam

[ssscales]

Okay, but what exactly IS market price? It seems like many big breeder websites have outdated price lists. Most of the KS ads that have supposed market prices can be talked down considerably, some more than others. Do the big breeders get together and set a bottom price for their snakes amongst themselves? And how is a little breeder supposed to know what the big breeders have set a price at if it's not the MSRP?

Will this thread every die?

Like Adam already answered, the guys selling at the top tier set the trend. I'm finally giving in to this fact. I know the Jimmy fans are disappointed and Jimmy will be crushed! Fact is, these established breeders know a hell of a lot more about the "business" than any of us do.

Sure Jimmy selling Albinos at $1000 is not bad at all by any means for Jimmy, but why slash prices in 1/2 when the market is sustaining double that for others who know better?

It's pretty difficult to set a price tag on a 1st when you don't have the knowledge. As Adam also mentioned, these guys have been at this for a while and know what the BP public is willing to pay.

If Breeder X just imported the first glow in the dark Ball Python from Africa and was able to reproduce it, he'll know more or less if people will pay $20K or $200K.

The smaller breeder who happened to stumble on a 1st, may price it at $10K thinking he made a killing!!!
All the while, someone would've paid $200K...

I would be one of those pricing that glow in the dark BP for $10K! Why, I'm still knew to BP's and trying to absorb as much info as I can. I would probably call RDR or Kevin who will probably try and buy it from me for $10K and turn around and sell the babies for $200K!


Knowledge is power...

[ssscales]

I dont know if anyone mentioned this but locality would play a big role in helping smaller breeders. I could buy a albino from a seller in California or I could buy it from a breeder that is local. I always try to support local breeders first. After hearing all this though Im glad Im more into cresteds, much easier to set prices, since everyone is different.

I agree, I always check with the local breeders before going out.

Living in FL. we've got a number of breeders working with everything you can think of. Sometimes they have what you need, sometimes they don't.


IMO, the BP environment in general is very different than Boas.
The Boa market/environment in general evolves at a much slower pace than BP's. You won't see 5 or 10 new boa morphs each year and they aren't importing new finds all the time.


You usually won't see prices drop 40-50% in one year either, even with all the new guys jumping in the pool each year. Salmons, Hypos, Anery, Albinos, Snow, Sunglows they've all held their prices pretty steady with slight drops every year, a slight decline in comparison to some BP's.

I've seen BP Pastels last year for no less than $1000 come down to $500, Spiders in the last 6-8 months from $5000 to $3500. Supers were just $10,000, now I see a few being sold for $6000. That's not big breeders lower prices, but some out there ARE selling these morphs at these prices, that's a fact.

Wouldn't it be the opposite considering boas have much larger litters than BP clutches? Is it the number of new stuff coming out in BP's that makes people want to dump what they have and get the next possible hot morph? Or is it the new breeders involved in BP's mixed in with quick large sums of $$$ that is potentially rocking the boat?

There are still dozens of designer stuff left untouched in BP's, they almost seem limitless. They are interesting to say the least!

[xdeus]

Will this thread every die?

Like Adam already answered, the guys selling at the top tier set the trend. I'm finally giving in to this fact. I know the Jimmy fans are disappointed and

I think you misunderstood my post. I wasn't questioning the rationale behind the practice, but rather the methodology. This thread has mentioned "market price" numerous times, and the fact that the big breeders set the price, but I was wondering how the little guys know what "true" market price is set at. Adam answered my question, which is essentially estimating the price and hoping you're in the ballpark.

[ssscales]

I think you misunderstood my post. I wasn't questioning the rationale behind the practice, but rather the methodology. This thread has mentioned "market price" numerous times, and the fact that the big breeders set the price, but I was wondering how the little guys know what "true" market price is set at. Adam answered my question, which is essentially estimating the price and hoping you're in the ballpark.

I also know some, if not most of the websites out there are outdated. Some as old as last years pics and prices. You'd be surprised at how many times I've placed orders and even sent the payment, just to find out the snake or snakes were sold months ago and the breeder just hasn't updated the site.

What's even funnier is checking back 2-3 weeks later and still see the site with the same snakes for sale.

I've learned to pick up the phone and actually try and get someone to confirm if the site is up to date and/or do they still have the snake.

[iceman25]

Very impressive thread! Everyone made some really good points and Adam, you have some really sound advice for all us "noobs." I wish I could give you a million rep points man, but I'm still in the process of spreading it . Now this Jimmy guy, he may be a friend of a friend, but not a friend of ours......