Quote Originally Posted by moghue View Post
Honestly i believ the one selling the item should absorb the cost. With that said i do believe if your using lets say a phase 22 panel then a small cost for that is ok since they are a bit pricy then if they return it they get a refund on the money. styrofoam is not that expensive hell if i have something shipped to me i reuse most of the packing material. I know some think that they should charge the customer i dont think so.
Those panels aren't cheap. Certainly they should either pay for it or return it. I agree the seller should "absorb"the cost too. By absorb I mean it should be built into the price or into shipping. I don't think it is unheard of to expect to pay for shiping. I mean how else am I supposed to ship it to you safely with the contents still alive? It is an expense that isn't free on my part just like feeding the snakes.


Quote Originally Posted by Freakie_frog View Post
It depends on the order and the customer. If a good customer of mine bought say 2500.00 worth of animals then the shipping would be Free. Normally the cost of the shipping supply's is figured into the price of the snake. It's why snakes at shows can be priced a little more affordably.



No but in some cases the shipper will as a way to help the customer out eat any difference so if shipping is $80.00 the seller eats 30.00 of that to give you a $50.00 flat shipping. So if the snake is say $150.00 and you pay 200.00 shipped break it down like this.

$200.00 - $50.00 = $150.00 - $35.00 for shipping balance (things like requesting a signature or delivering to a residence cost extra) - $20.00 for labor and shipping supplies and misc. = $95.00, Now subtract the cost of bedding and feeding fi the snake is 6 months old and it ate for say 5 months that's roughly 20 rats at say .95 each roughly $20.00 = $75.00 minus say $10.00 for bedding and misc cleaning supplies so now your $150.00 snake nets the breeder $65.00 which basically means that the breeder made 10.83 cents a month of that snake.

So like I said when it comes to shipping once the purchase exceeds a certain dollar value its much easier for the breeder to eat the shipping. Everybody does it different paying a "Box Fee" isn't something I feel like I should pass on to my customer cause it not their choice as to which one I use..

But that's just me at some point the price of the animal has to help recoup the cost of doing business..
I agree if I sell 500 mealworms or 5k mealworms the 5k shipment doesn't become 10x more expensive. I can pay for shipping and still come out in the green quite easily. In reality every customer doesn't order $2500 in snake or $500 or $50 in mealworms. You can state "Anything over x price will include free shipping", but the smaller orders need to have all expenses worked into the price or shipping. Assuming we are talking about an actual business here. Not Joe Smith selling 2 clutches a year at $30 a pop.

Maybe I see it differently. I agree you don't need to tack on an extra "box fee". It is just that if you order a snake from someone they have to ship to you. That means having a box filled with all the necessary requirements and actually packing up said snake or feeder in my scenario. Time is money. Handling, box requirements, these things aren't free and should be built into the price is all I'm trying to get at.