If it's too good to be true....

[JLC]

So if i think my pastels are better qaulity,do you think i could sell them at a show for 250 when everyone else is selling them for 150(no!)

If you feel like you must sell at that particular show, then of course you'll price your animals however you feel will best move them. But if you really do have high quality pastels, there just might be someone at that show who is as picky as, say, rabernet...and perfectly willing to pay more for the best looking pastel at the whole show. You risk missing out on that deal if you cave in to the lowest common denominator....but the risk/benefit is yours to weigh, and not anyone else's.

But I'm not talking about vending a specific show...I'm talking about marketing to a much wider audience via online businesses where your pool of buyers is vastly larger. I'm talking about a general attitude about your entire business model...not the specifics of selling one or two particular animals in one or two given circumstances.

Btw,higher price doesnt always mean better quality.

I don't believe anyone here said that.

[buddha1200]

Using the show was just an example.

[rabernet]

Maybe scared is a harsh word.
So if i think my pastels are better qaulity,do you think i could sell them at a show for 250 when everyone else is selling them for 150(no!)
i myself will pay for what i want,but everyone does not have that luxury,everbody including myself will always look for deal first,then weigh our options about that deal

Yes. I sold my pastels for higher than market price this year. I have a few more that I haven't put up for sale yet, because they're not ready to go yet.

I know that my pastels are higher quality, and I just have to find the buyer that appreciates and is willing to pay more for higher quality animals. I sold three to one buyer at higher than market price. And he told me after we made our deal he would have paid more if I'd asked more for them - and he'd been looking for three years to find pastels that met his high standard. I had them, he bought them.

I'm also a buyer that pays more than market for stellar examples of a morph. Quality begets quality. I just picked up a Fire female who was more than any other fire female at the show. But she was also the nicest example at the show, and I wanted her, so I paid what the seller was asking. I recognized that she was far nicer than any other fire at that show.

[rabernet]

Ha! I wrote my reply about being a buyer who pays for top quality animals before I saw Judy using me as an example of the type of buyers that are out there.

I'm not the only buyer who is choosing to take their collection and hobby to selectively breeding.

I've got people who saw my black back cinnies (they were sold before their first shed - without me advertising them) who want me to contact them next year. Because they see that they stand out from your "average" cinnie, and they want to selectively breed themselves.

Even my normals were carefully selected for how they could contribute to the quality of the animals I produced.

[Chris633]

Like I said in my previous post, I have no rep as a breeder. But I believe in the animals I've purchased and the quality of offspring they will hopefully produce. So I plan to price them based on quality. I think a quality animal practically sells itself. Add good customer service to that and I think you have a winning combo.

I go to the White Plains show all of the time and I've seen the same thing. But the animals that I see time and again are the high end/high price snakes or those that aren't good representations of the morph (generally speaking). The high quality and financially attainable morphs move quick.


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[buddha1200]

Ha! I wrote my reply about being a buyer who pays for top quality animals before I saw Judy using me as an example of the type of buyers that are out there.

I'm not the only buyer who is choosing to take their collection and hobby to selectively breeding.

I've got people who saw my black back cinnies (they were sold before their first shed - without me advertising them) who want me to contact them next year. Because they see that they stand out from your "average" cinnie, and they want to selectively breed themselves.

Even my normals were carefully selected for how they could contribute to the quality of the animals I produced.

everyone doesnt have the ability to spend over market value for certain animals,so as a business person should i say screw the little guy because i feel as though becuase they dont have alot of money they dont desrve quality .

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Julie,

Your line of thinking is a typical newbie mistake. You are trying to price your animals, and even discount them before they exist. Newbies tend to think that you have to be a big breeder to charge full price. This is completely and totally not true. In fact, the opposite is often true.

I guarantee you that there are plenty of people in your area that would be willing to pay you MORE then they would pay to the big breeders because you are local to them. They can meet you in person and look at your animals. They can ask you questions and get one on one customer service in person because you are THE local breeder.

The Big Breeder that you see online probably sells the majority of their stuff online, or at shows. That means that they have to keep prices low and on par with the other internet guys, or the other people at the show. If someone wants to buy from them they usually have to order the snake without even seeing it in person. They have to pay for shipping. They have to wait for it to arrive. They have to risk the snake showing up dead. Or they have to wait to go to a show to get it. With you they can call you and meet up with you that same day and look and touch in person... they can even take it home IMEDIATELY!

How do you think petco charges $80 for normals and sell out all the time? Why do you think prices for low quality morphs are so high in reptile shops? It is because they can charge those prices, the local people will pay them.

When your babies do come, put them up for sale at whatever the going kingsnake price is plus 25%. Local people will pay that all day long because you are local.

And yes, if you offer your snakes for lower then they need to be you will piss people off. This is true in any business. The ball python world is ultimately a pretty small world.

[JLC]

everyone doesnt have the ability to spend over market value for certain animals,so as a business person should i say screw the little guy because i feel as though becuase they dont have alot of money they dont desrve quality .

Why do people put such a spin on common marketing techniques? Does Rolex screw the little guy because they don't sell diamond and gold watches for the price of a Timex at Walmart?

YOU price your animals however you think best. Why not give them away for free? Not everyone can afford $25 for a snake...should they suffer or be "screwed" because they happen to not have that much money?

[Jessica Loesch]

Buddha ... your thinking is all wrong. If the little guy can't afford the morph, maybe he is in the wrong hobby methinks. There is nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with just having a pet bp. But if you can't buy a morph, then don't.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

everyone doesnt have the ability to spend over market value for certain animals,so as a business person should i say screw the little guy because i feel as though becuase they dont have alot of money they dont desrve quality .

Yes. They are more then welcome to buy one of my $40 normals instead. If they want a "super $500 morph" then why shouldn't they have to pay $500? Why should I, as a business person (or even as a hobby breeder), undercut my return on my investment and time?