Price Check?

[BHReptiles]

So, I've had a snake on the market for about three weeks now 4 different venues. So far, hardly any nibbles!

So my question is this, what do yall (breeders specifically) do to price and move animals? I don't want to feel like I'm advertising, so PM me if you are serious about helping me with my issue. I want to figure out A. what I'm doing wrong and B. how can I price her better but not be out of market value and C. what's the best way to market yourself as a brand new seller.

Again, I want serious people to PM me so I can follow the rules here on ball-pythons.net

[dr del]

Don't sell the sausage sell the sizzle.

Plenty of good clear pics of the exact animal for sale. If you can't be bothered getting a good picture of it I can't be bothered paying for it.

Say why you think your snake is worth the price.

If it makes great combo's help people know that - link to the page on wobp or whatever.

Give all the info they need - sex and weight are the bare minimum - if you have a feeding record show it.

If you can get a video of it feeding and the place you advertise allows you to link that then by all means do so. It's probably the only time people have a reason to make a feeding video.

Make it easy for people to trust you - and be nice to people who ask even if you suspect they are just picture hunting or lowballing. Good customer service wins in the end. The guy window shopping this year may be a serious buyer next year and he will remember people who blew him off.

Make it easy for people to give you money. Offer multiple ways to pay you if you can - and stick to the rules of each method.

Don't ask people to send money as a "gift" to save you charges if it is against the rules. If you will try and cheat them for a few bucks why should I trust you with a purchase worth hundreds?

That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure others will have more advice.


dr del

[Mike41793]

Doc covered it pretty well^...

[Wapadi]

what sites are you using to sell the snakes? That makes a big difference!! All of my sales last year where from here !! and facebook

Again pictures, pictures and more pictures!! Cell phone pics do not count

And I provided cell phone video of eating when the customer asked.

[Mike41793]

what sites are you using to sell the snakes? That makes a big difference!! All of my sales last year where from here !! and facebook

Again pictures, pictures and more pictures!! Cell phone pics do not count

And I provided cell phone video of eating when the customer asked.

You mean- Crappy cell phone pics don't count* :p

[TheSnakeGeek]

Make it easy for people to trust you - and be nice to people who ask even if you suspect they are just picture hunting or lowballing. Good customer service wins in the end. The guy window shopping this year may be a serious buyer next year and he will remember people who blew him off.

this especially. won't name any names, but i started looking around for a female orange dream a little while back. contacted a breeder that i knew worked with them to ask if he still had any available. he emailed me back saying he still had a couple males for sale, but no females. i emailed him back wanting to know one other miniscule thing (don't even remember what it was now), and i never heard back from him. i know people get busy and these things can fall through the cracks occasionally, but i couldn't help but feel as if i had been blown off as soon as he knew i wasn't an immediate potential customer. i'm not the type to resend an email or email again because i don't like to "bug" people.. but because of this, i'll be looking elsewhere for OD's when they start hatching out this year.

[liv]

I don't purchase from people without clear pictures, clean enclosure (if visible in the picture), proper grammar and reasonable response time. There are too many people that meet these requirements to bother with people that do not.

[RobNJ]

A lot of it depends on what you're selling...nice animals are your biggest selling point. But, the climate changes year to year. People with the money to spend are buying into higher end projects. Those who don't fit into that category are scooping up the mid-range stuff. As the "old" mid-range stuff falls into the lower end category, they are being bought up. The dime-a-dozen stuff is a hard sale only because there are so many of them around, and that's where resellers and lowballers are waiting to offer you 30-40% of your asking price.

Stick to your guns, make adjustments when necessary, and your animals will move...some take a bit longer than others to go.

[BHReptiles]

Most of those things I've got covered. I just recently got some good shots of the snake in question (at least to my non-photographic mind they were good) with my mother's FANCY camera (until I can afford my own). I have pretty much posted everywhere except Kingsnake simply because I can't afford the membership I need in order to post on their classified section. I have a video, but not a feeding video. Maybe I'll get one on feeding day (Wednesday). As for the info I include, I include a lot! Plus I link to my iHerp page where buyers can see her feeding first hand. Maybe next add I'll do a link specifically to her feeding data. I like to think I'm a nice person xD I've really only had one trade offer and I entertained the trade despite it not being what I wanted. I've sent additional pictures, etc. Maybe I'll just have to wait it out and see if things don't just work out on their own.

[OsirisRa32]

this especially. won't name any names, but i started looking around for a female orange dream a little while back. contacted a breeder that i knew worked with them to ask if he still had any available. he emailed me back saying he still had a couple males for sale, but no females. i emailed him back wanting to know one other miniscule thing (don't even remember what it was now), and i never heard back from him. i know people get busy and these things can fall through the cracks occasionally, but i couldn't help but feel as if i had been blown off as soon as he knew i wasn't an immediate potential customer. i'm not the type to resend an email or email again because i don't like to "bug" people.. but because of this, i'll be looking elsewhere for OD's when they start hatching out this year.

This for sure!!!!! I had the same thing happen to me in the past month with 2 separate breeders who I have now blacklisted in my breeder book...over 2 small $$ snakes..but the breeders apparently couldn't be bothered to answer my Qs and did nothing then respond with a nasty "if you want info look at my website" response...well the info I wanted wasn't on their websites...-_-...Every ounce of customer service counts!!