Babies are hatching, and the fun of finding new owners begins!

[bcr229]

Oh Joy!!! My favorite part of breeding...dealing with sales. Lots of window shoppers (Can I have 500 pictures of each snake, so I can then disappear into the night never to be heard from again )

You know people will want lots of pictures, so take lots. Put them on PhotoBucket and give each snake its own directory. Put a link to the directory in the ad for that snake. Done. Anyone wants more pictures, direct them to the link. Oh, and crappy cell phone pictures don't count either. The best deal I ever got was for a pewter - the crappy cell phone picture made her look like a normal so no one was biting on the ad.

people lowballing me for snakes I quoted at half the current market value. Really???

"Market" value is determined by both the buyer and seller. If you're not a big-name breeder you won't get the prices seen elsewhere. So, don't blame the buyer for trying. That said, you can either ignore a true low-baller, counter-offer, or respond with a price higher than your advertised price if you want to tick him off.

And then my first potential solid buyer turns out to have page after page of drama on the BOI and everywhere else.

I have no idea why there's so much drama in the reptile world. I thought firearms industry was bad. That said, the horse industry is worse, probably because the number of people participating and the amount of money changing hands is much higher as well.

Why do I have such dreadful luck at finding decent buyers? I try to be a good guy and give people good deals, only to find them trying to flip the snake I just sold them on Craigslist for a few extra bucks. Funny how he immediately falls in love with the snake, but a week later is trying to sell it.

So have the buyer sign a first right of refusal contract with teeth - if he wants to sell the snake in the future, he has to call you first and give you the chance to buy it back at market price. Failure to do so is a breech of contract and he owes you $X (keep it under small claims, which is $5k in VA). Note you don't have to buy it back, you just have to get the opportunity to do so.

Also, where are you advertising? Here? Fauna? CL? FB? VAHerps?

I guess I'm just a sucker. I've personally delivered snakes from here in Northern Virginia to Delaware, Philadelphia, New York and never asked for a penny extra. I try to bend over backwards for buyers but almost always seem to take it in the shorts. I'm seriously considering taking all my babies to a local pet store and handing them over so they can deal with it. That would be good to support a local business, right? They seem to take care of their animals. I don't know...I have two clutches I need to find homes for and I'm already sick of dealing with it.

What am I doing wrong?

It sounds to me like you come across as either desperate to sell, or you got into BP breeding because you like BP's, and not because you understand marketing and sales. So, like others who go into business for themselves because they want to turn their passion into a business - whether it's firearms, restoring classic cars, customizing motorcycles, etc. - they have plenty of technical know-how, but no idea how to run the business, negotiate, and deal with people. Sure, you're doing this as a hobby, and that's why it's driving you nuts - all this other stuff isn't fun, and it's not something most folks care to do. Believe me, I know - I run a home-based biz (not BP's) and some days I just want to scream.

So, my advice: don't take the low-ballers personally since they're looking out for their own bottom line. Either ignore them, counter, or insult them if you have the time to mess with them. If you don't want to sell to "flippers" then draft a FROR contract. If your current advertising efforts aren't working, look for others.

You sound like the type of seller I would like to deal with, and you're geographically close enough that I probably would at some point.

Good luck!