Albino pricing

[ctrlfreq]

They become cheaper because they gradually become cheaper to make. Animals do not necessarily apply to this.

I disagree - it's much cheaper to produce albinos now than it was ten or even five years ago because you can get a pair of animals capable of producing 100% albino offspring for around a grand.

In marketing terms, albinos are in the late adoption stage (like dvd players and televisions), meaning that the supply can easily outstrip demand because they're cheap to produce, which drives their overall price down.

[Freakie_frog]

I disagree - it's much cheaper to produce albinos now than it was ten or even five years ago because you can get a pair of animals capable of producing 100% albino offspring for around a grand.

Who does it get cheaper for ???? I mean if I paid 1500 for my albino then the cost to produce them doesn't drop for me it cost me the same in 2009 as it did in 2008, My rat food stays the same, my power bill doesn't get cheaper, vermiculite doesn't get cheaper, so how is it cheaper to produce albinos this year than last. So why do I want to lower my prices if it doesn't get cheaper for me to produce them.

The whole ball of wax is that if breeder decided this season to not drop prices on any more morphs..period end of story. Then the cost to produce albinos for those breeders does what. It doesn't get cheaper it stays the same.

Your overhead doesn't go down with the price of the product..The price of the product drops with the cost of overhead thats how business work.

[ctrlfreq]

And yet every year the new models of hybrid cars don't get any cheaper, a 2009 house is more expensive than a 1975 house.

First, hybrid cars are still in early adoption, which means that the technology is maturing while the price of production is falling - they're just on an earlier part of the curve. Second, once you take the new taxes, technology and inflation out of the picture, a 2009 house itself is not actually more expensive than it's 1975 counterpart.

Things in this world get cheaper the less desirable they are not the more desirable.

Things get cheaper for one of two reasons - decreased demand or an increase in supply. Supply increases with popularity, especially as production techniques mature, which is why you can purchase television sets for $200, DVD players for $30, and visual Albinos males for $300.

I mean the more desirable gas got the higher the price got, the more people desire a given brand of cloths the higher the price gets to be.

That's actually not true at all - gas wasn't more desirable, it was less available, and desire isn't demand - demand is the number of people willing to purchase a good or service at a particular price point, not just aspire to being able to purchase. Sure, Calvin Klein jeans may be more desirable, but there is no debating that Lee Jeans, as sold at Wal-Mart everywhere, are more popular and cheaper.

Not sure why a breeder would say hey I sold 50 albino last year for 600.00. I this year I know what I'll do...I'll sell them for cheaper..I mean I like making less money every year for the same product.

That's actually very simple - they understand that supply of that particular strain of animal can easily triple after the second year. Since the animals they're offering are ultimately indistinguishable from the rest of the supply, they have to continue to meet market rates for their animals, or eat the cost of retaining them.

[TankMasterOG]

Im sorry to say it but i think he's right. i dont have a albino but need a female. I was told by someone that at the Daytona breeder expo thay should be about 300-350..for 09 offspring.. i dont think it will be true but if it is...Mike from Ballroom reptiles sead he was going to buy all of them on friday and send them to europe...i would like to pay 350 for an 09 albino but we will see....

[ctrlfreq]

Who does it get cheaper for ????

Anyone who is acquiring visual stock for breeding. If you bought two visuals at 1500 each, and produced six visual offspring, they cost you 500 each in initial stock to produce. If I bought a pair of visuals at 1000, and produce six visual offspring, my per-unit cost is only around $165.

Now consider the cost of producing visual albinos fifteen years ago when a single visual would have run you 8k or so, and you had to produce multiple generations of hets and possible hets to produce those visual animals.

if breeder decided this season to not drop prices on any more morphs..period end of story. Then the cost to produce albinos for those breeders does what. It doesn't get cheaper it stays the same.

It's not "end of story", as it would become more expensive as the overhead (space, food, power) of maintaining unsold animals rose.

Your overhead doesn't go down with the price of the product.

It does when the primary "overhead" cost is the price of the breeding stock.

[AaronP]

I disagree - it's much cheaper to produce albinos now than it was ten or even five years ago because you can get a pair of animals capable of producing 100% albino offspring for around a grand.

In marketing terms, albinos are in the late adoption stage (like dvd players and televisions), meaning that the supply can easily outstrip demand because they're cheap to produce, which drives their overall price down.

You don't buy a DVD Player to make another DVD Player. The cost of raising and taking care of the animal is no different. Pure Bred Dogs don't get cheaper year to year, more people may be breeding them but they don't get cheaper. Greater volume of animals being produced doesn't mean they should be cheaper. It's Supply and Demand, the higher the demand the higher the cost. The lower the demand the lower the cost. If you sell out of all your animals you're not going to lower your price just because.

People lower their prices just because they think the animal won't sell for the price they ask for it. We're destroying our own market. The sooner people realize that snakes are not a get rich quick scheme, the better.

Everyone also seems to forget what it cost to raise the animal to breedable size in the first place. It costs a hell of a lot more to raise up a Female Albino to breeding size than it does a Boy.

I'll be damned if I sell an albino for only twice the amount of a normal come 3 years from now.

[ctrlfreq]

Pure Bred Dogs don't get cheaper year to year, more people may be breeding them but they don't get cheaper.

This is actually a great point, but not one that supports your argument. The price of pure-breed dogs is only stabilized for those that have certification - those lacking certification can often be picked up in front of your local k-mart, pound, or from a rescue operation for very little or no money.

That said, I've been a proponent for years of a certifying body with published standards (al la AKC) for morphs as a stabilizing force in the industry.

It's Supply and Demand, the higher the demand the higher the cost. The lower the demand the lower the cost.

Yes, but you're missing the crucial point, which is that's only true if supply is stable - which it's not by any stretch of the imagination.

Think about it - you buy a pair visual morphs for $3000 (1500 ea) which cost $100 per year to maintain (food, water, shelter, heat). When the first clutch of 6 visual offspring pops out in two years, you now have 8 snakes that have cost you $3200 total (400 ea). The next year, you pop out another clutch of 6, and now have 14 snakes for a total investment of $3600 (258 ea)

The next year is the biggie though, because say you hit 50/50 on your m/f ratio in year two - you now have four females ready to go. Year four sees an equal number of clutches, so you've got 38 snakes for a total investment of $4300 (114 ea).

People lower their prices just because they think the animal won't sell for the price they ask for it.

People lower their prices because they have to undercut the people who make their livings on these animals, and those are the people who know for a fact their supply has outpaced the demand. Watch who lowers their prices first - for example the first Fire I was offered for under a grand was from Bob Clark who had an entire table full of them marked quite a bit higher.

[Freakie_frog]

So the over all question stand if they will sell for 600.00 why lower the price??? I think the answer is..

"Because thats what people expect"

[98bcobra]

Who does it get cheaper for ???? I mean if I paid 1500 for my albino then the cost to produce them doesn't drop for me it cost me the same in 2009 as it did in 2008, My rat food stays the same, my power bill doesn't get cheaper, vermiculite doesn't get cheaper, so how is it cheaper to produce albinos this year than last. So why do I want to lower my prices if it doesn't get cheaper for me to produce them.

The whole ball of wax is that if breeder decided this season to not drop prices on any more morphs..period end of story. Then the cost to produce albinos for those breeders does what. It doesn't get cheaper it stays the same.

Your overhead doesn't go down with the price of the product..The price of the product drops with the cost of overhead thats how business work.

This is why I got out of breeding bearded dragons. The overhead is not getting any cheaper and the price plumets because the market is SO flooded with them every year because of the amount of eggs they lay.

I agree why drop the price if you can sell them at the cirrent price.

[cinderbird]

i believe that soon, the breeding part of the hobby may start going in a different direction. People who want quality breeding stock dont want grade D pastels. They want top quality, stunning animals and are willing to pay more than (2x the price of a normal, for example) for the animal they want. I have talked to MANY people who share this school of thought.

This is where I plan on going with my (extremely small) hobby breeding plans in the future, QUALITY and stunning morph examples. I don't want to produce low grade animals. I want to produce animals that I feel are stunning examples of a morph through selective breeding. No running a browned out male pastel through 3-5 dark normal females.

I picked out all my animals based on their looks (and personalities if i could handle them before purchasing). My first normal, a sizable female now has gotten so much lighter as she has aged. She may end up being a dinker for me.

If people continue producing quality morphs, people will want to spend more money to get the animals they want. Sure you can get a brown pastel for 70, but if you want a NICE bright yellow pastel you're going to shell out more for it than what petco charges for a CH import.