Prices of new morphs

[dr del]

Hi,

Would you have to know the genetics (dom,co-dom,rec) first to set the price or doesn't that really matter?


dr del

[Rapture]

Seems to me it might not matter to set the price, but would matter when it comes to holding that price.

[Blue Apple Herps]

I figure $60k for a new recessive morph could be a good investment. Pieds, caramels, etc are still going for $2.5k+. So if you had a new recessive morph male and bred it to a bunch of females and produced hets then bred those hets back to the male and made homozygous animals as well as hets; those would sell for a lot. Lavender albinos are going for $10k - so you figure that between selling hets and homozygous animals; it would be a breeze to recoup your investment. Plus you could cross it into all the other morphs before anyone else. So by the time others are offering it, you offer a pastel version, or a pinstripe version.

Now that being said, I don't think I could ever pay $60k for single snake; even if I had a zillion dollars... But that's just me.

[wolfy-hound]

A brand new morph to prove out can make or break a breeder. If someone pops up with a purple BP and offers it for a high price, there will be plenty who buy them, or buy hets from them. So if you grab that first, and are the sole personw ith them, you stand to profit. And you profit not only in money, but in reputation.
The price isn't that outrageous.
And that "ivory" was one of the only ones known at the time. It's not like you could have looked THEN and said, "Oh there will be a lot, and the white version won't be as impressive". Taking a chance on it was a good idea. It just didn't pan out correctly, although he probably made his money back, just didn't hit a jackpot.

[jknudson]

A snake is only worth what the owner feels it is worth...or what a buyer is willing to pay.

[Rapture]

Thanks Jason!

[surf4life]

i think anybody who is willing to drop 60g on a snake is whacked out of there mind..

[Seneschal]

Well let's look at it this way; yeah, the price is gonna drop; that's a given no matter what you do...but let's assume what you get is very visually striking and remains that way--let's use the pied for example. I don't know what the original pied sold for, so I'll just use $60,000 as an example.

Let's say Pied 1 was a male, for $60,000. Only one would be around, there was probably a lot of competition for it...one, two years down the line, it's proven to be simple recessive and genetic, and if you're smart you held back all the babies. You have a monopoly of the snake and the hets. The price is what YOU set for them--but selling immediately wouldn't be wise. You hold back all the babies for the first three years, until the first hets are breeding and you have a good number of them, take them to shows, show them off...get the word around that YOU have the ONLY Piebalds in existance.

They are gorgeous, they are new, and more importantly YOU are the one who first produced them, YOU are the only one who has them. More and more people take notice, and your name is on everybody's lips--everyone knows about you and the piebalds. Everybody wants them; you get offers left and right.

Finally you decide to sell some hatchlings; $55,000 a piece for visuals, $25,000 for a pair of 100% hets, $10,000 for possible het pairs.

You sell, let's say, 2 visual hets, 4 pairs of 100% hets, and 6 pairs of possible hets.

You make $270,000 in the first year of selling.

Next year you have more for sale, and maybe by then one of the male visuals you sold is breedable, so you lower your prices some. $50,000 for visuals, $20,000 for hets, $9000 for possible hets.

It's more affordable, and the word is out more, so you sell more. 3 visuals, 4 100%, and 8 possible.

That's $302,000.

Even assuming 10 years down the line you've dropped the prices to $3000 for visuals and $1000 for hets, you're selling maybe 60 visuals and 100 hets a year.

You have MORE than made up your investment, and your name is OUT there. You are BIG, people want to buy from YOU. It's really more than worth it...and yes. I know, my prices were a little extreme, but you get my point. Even dropping prices down to $30,000 in year 1, you'd still make a profit.

But the real profit is years down the line when your name is still the one people think of when they think piebald, when you are who they go to for their ball python morphs. That's the real value in buying and proving out that morph. I know this was long winded, but, eh...it made sense to me.

[RGreen454ss]

Very well put Seneschal If I had the income I would easely drop a 100k on a only known morph coming out of Africa. And would drop half that on the second visual produced from the first one imported from Africa....Speaken of income I got my Mega Millions tickets for Friday....That snake may come sooner than expected

[Sputnik]

A snake is only worth what the owner feels it is worth...or what a buyer is willing to pay.

That sums it up in a nut shell for me. Times are getting tight too!