I would say that when talking about *visible* morphs, selling

them is probably 80% about the animal, and 20% about who you

buy it from (assuming you are buying from a person that you

notice has been around for a while and has a lot of good

references...not just some nameless/phone numberless email

address!). You can expect that someone will pay a little more

to get their animals from 'Big Name' breeders. How much more...

I'm not sure, but it's got to be something.



Regarding pricing...people will usually try to sell their

animals for as much as THEY can. The *reasonable* sellers,

will usually look at the competition to see what they are

charging, and then price their animals accordingly. Assuming

they aren't in a hurry (to 'fund another project', etc. LOL),

their price will usually start out at what everyone else is

asking. Then, when they don't sell in a few weeks, they start

to drop their price until they get some takers.



Or, if you are really observant and notice that the competition's

animals haven't been moving for several weeks/months, then you

realize their price must be too high. So then you list yours at

what is probably closer to the eventual sale price (maybe 20-30%

less than the animals that haven't moved in months). Guess what?

Your animals sell!



It always makes me laugh when I hear angry people talk about other

people "Selling their animals for below the 'market price' " and

being upset about it. In my opinion, people sell their animals

for AS MUCH AS *THEY* CAN. If the 'angry' person really believed

that someone was 'killing the market', then that implies that

they think the animals that were sold were sold for less than

they were worth. However, if they really believed this, then

wouldn't they simply buy all of those 'bargain' animals and

turn around and sell them for a nice profit?



The bottom line on all of these animals is SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

The expensive animals are expensive because they are rare.

When more are produced, prices come down. If 'small' breeders

produce enough of them, then THEY will drive the prices down.

However, usually the small breeders only produce a few. So even

if they sell them for less, it won't have a significant impact

on the overall prices. Usually, by the time the 'small' breeders

start dominating the market for a particular morph, the big

breeders are already working in 3-4 new high end morphs and the

cycle continues. Of course the market for ball pythons really

hasn't been around for that long (the first morphs...albinos...

only hit the scene about 12 years ago), but that is what I would

expect to happen.



Good luck to all,

Chris

[ Show Entire Thread ]