Well, just to take a look from a slightly different angle... I have a het pied male that is about 1 1/2 years old. My son bought a homozygous pied male this past year. I no longer need the het male. He has never bred, so he's unproven. There is NO WAY that I would sell a het as a 100% het unless a) I produced it or b) I proved it. So, if and when I decide to sell my het pied male, he will most likely be priced as a normal. I will tell the potential purchaser that I bought the snake as a het pied, but because I haven't proven him, I can make no guarantees, hence the price of a normal. (Please note that this is NOT a sales pitch. The snake is NOT currently for sale!!! I am simply using him as an example in this thread!!!)

Its not worth proving him at this point, because even proven, he would at best be worth slightly more than a male het produced by our homozygous male, and by virtue of who the dad is, I will KNOW that they are hets. And yes, I paid the price of a 100% het pied male for this snake.

Now, I probably wouldn't be willing to take such a loss on a female! Each and every het pied female, whether 100% or 50% is worth proving out with our homozygous male. I MAY produce homozygous babies with them. I WILL produce at least ALL hets.

However unlikely it may be, it is possible that the seller was unwilling to sell the animals at full price because they were unproven. We all know how damaging it can be to a breeder's reputation for selling hets that may not prove out.