If a person is selling a snake that I want, I will go above and beyond being neurotic and will research that person until I am blue in the face. I ask the bigger breeders if they've heard of them, or have dealt with them, and if they have, and that person gets good reviews, then there aren't any problems. A good number of my snakes are from small-time breeders and there have been good and not-so-good transactions.

I've also emailed some of the bigger breeders and have either gotten responses right then and there, and had a good transaction, sometimes I was just plain ignored or forgotten, so they didn't get my business. In the situation of the bigger breeder who ignored me, I was wanting to buy a breeding-size Ball, and willing to pay for quality. I'm very picky about what my animals look like, so if I don't get a picture of the snake I'm interested in, then I won't buy.

I've also had a good number of small breeders go above and beyond the call of duty to send me pictures, even of normal animals, so I could pick.

All in all, I think it evens out.