You know, Over the many years I have been in this hobby/industry we have all seen things such as the on-line auctions come and go. Personally I have bought some nice specific animals that someone had off of auction sites. I prefer to do private treaty, but there have been instances where a specific animal I needed for some project came up on one of them and I bought it from there. So far I have not been disappointed doing so. This last week I bought two adult female balls from one auction site alone and they are exactly what I needed. I am very pleased with them and the price I paid also.

With the exception of some cause donations, I don't use them to sell my animals instead relying on private treaty and a few shows.

My rules are pretty simple though:

1. Make sure I know whom it is I am dealing with and know up front the quality that I have gotten from them in the past.

2. Set a price in my head what I am going to pay and don't deviate from that.

3. If the animal is not as represented then make sure I am prepared to attempt to get it made right.

4. Realize that you usually get what you pay for. You may save a few dollars at an auction but with the competition out there it is probably not going to be much different from dealing with individuals that advertise in these classifieds or have a web site to work from.

Bottom line this is a buyer be aware industry and anyone going into the purchase of anything from a 50.00 kingsnake to a 10,000.00 ball python needs to look at all methods of sale and sellers before they make a decision to use one of these sites.

If a site is a bad actor, I also believe that there will be kickback and eventual shutdown of that site in the long run. But that goes for bad breeders, sellers and business in general. This is really a small industry and word does get around pretty quickly. Reputation is something that can be lost in a few seconds and takes a long time to repair or establish.

Good Luck out there,



Cherryville Farms - Reptiles

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