A tiny bit of a rant.

[Entropy]

I don't know about many of you but when I'm looking into purchasing something I like to see it.
I myself have some preferences in my normals that I look for. What irritates me is when you see ads going "Don't ask me to take pictures of them. They are normal."
While I understand that it's not always easy to take the time for pictures and then taking the time to load them and send them (we have 'picture collectors' in the horse world too sadly) I can be completely turned off of a seller because of things like this.
Last I checked all normals did not look exactly the same, some are bright some are not some are banded some are not...
I just can't talk myself into sending money for creatures I haven't seen even a picture of.

It's just a quirk of mine I guess. Because I can understand where they are coming from but it still rubs me the wrong way.

[SPJ]

I totally agree.

There is NO reason not to have pictures available.
I would pass on the purchase myself.
I don't get it how some people think they can sell an animal to someone without the buyer seeing what they paid for.
Normals may be normals but they vary a LOT.

[JLC]

I'm with you in that if someone wants my business but doesn't want to go to any effort to show me what I'm purchasing, then they simply won't get my money. However, I don't get upset about that...that is their choice on how they wish to run their business. I guess in their minds, they think whatever bit of time they save not taking and sending pics makes up for the lost sales opportunity.

[recycling goddess]

hey, it took me maybe 5 minutes... max to take a pic of my fish the other day and send it off to a friend who wanted to see how much they've grown...

if i were asking someone for money for a critter... or even gifting it away... i would definitely want the person to WANT to see pics! if they didn't... i wouldn't want them to have my critter!!!

[rabernet]

I also like to see pictures and be able to "cherry pick" if you will from pictures, exactly the snake I'm going to receive.

I have very specific tastes, and I know what looks I'm looking for.

Sometimes I have sent a seller a few pictures of my own animals to give them an idea of the look that I'm going for.

That's why sites like Will Bird's are perfect for me. He may have 135 animals for sale, but every one of them is individually photographed and put up. Same thing with Ballroompythonssouth.com (who needs to get on the ball and get their '06 Fancies up! LOL)

Or take Adam and Justin, who are both breeders that I'm getting animals from. Adam takes individual photos of the animals available that you are interested in, and you get to pick from the photo - Justin was the same way - sent me pictures of the het clown males from his first clutch this season.

But, I do tend to just look over the ads that say that they won't take pictures of the animals. Kinda makes you wonder as a seller, why don't they want you to see pictures? I'm sure there's more to it than just that, but I wonder if they realize the business that they could have had, that just didn't bother to contact them and moved onto the next ad?

[wolfy-hound]

I guess that people who don't take the pictures of their animals for sale still sell them. Those of us that are picky, we find someone who will take pictures of each individual. I say kudos to both. I never ask to see a picture, unless the ad says Ask for Pictures.
I bought a 10 lot sight unseen once, and they were all lovely, all the genetics is the same, so I didn't mind just saying, sure, send me 10. Each one has their own beauty, ....okay, I have yet to see an ugly ball python myself. But still, go to the peopl who will post pictures if you are that picky about an individual. Anything I am going to spend a significant amount of money on, I will get pictures first too.
Wolfy