"I sell JL my animals at a reduced price
because I want to support a good shop. I fear for them. It
seems the good ones go out of business. "

Brian,

there are a few reasons that it seems that the good shops go out of business.

1 .It costs more money to run a good shop than a bad shop (get good animals, hire knowledgable staff, clean cages regularily etc)

2. higher expenses mean neccesarily higher prices.

3. 90% of the people shop for cheap prices

therefore, if you are a good shop, but need to charge higher prices to cover your costs, people will shop elsewhere.

I believe you said earlier in your post that I quoted something about fair prices (if it wasn't you I am sorry but it still fits) Whenever people say that I ask them what they think is fair. The response is always the same "I don't know but they charge way too much) Most people have no idea what it costs to run a business. Typical markups on dry goods is about double, less on more expensive items like tanks, lighting, filtration etc. Livestock markup is generally 2.5 to 3 times but I've seen it as high as 5 or 6 times depending on what the local market will support. Things I pay a buck for (talking fish here) and sell for 3.00 I've seen shops in other areas selling for 6.00 or 7.00 (and getting it) and the day before, they were scooping them out of the same tank as I was. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact of location.

The typical reason given for the 3 times markup is that you have to cover the initial cost of the animal, you have to feed and maintain the animal until it sells, you have to cover for losses, and you NEED to make a profit. By buying better stock (CBB perhaps) stores can reduce losses and but those animals generally cost more to begin with and they still need to be maintained so if the animals are retailed for the same price as the lower quality ones the shop owner has even less margin. If they are sold at a higher price (better quality demands higher price right) most people will shop somewhere that the price is lower.

I hope you don't take offense to this next part. Again I am only trying to illustrate a point. You say you sell your stuff to the pet shop for a lower price. Thats great, I am not going to ask you what kind of break you are giving them, but I will ask you this. Do you also sell your animals in the area (swaps, shows, classifieds etc.) If so you are in direct competition with them. Do you give them enough of a break so that they can compete with you on price and still make a decent profit. If not, you may not be helping them all that much. I have people offering me 2 week old baby beardeds for 30, 40 even 50 bucks each in 10 lots then they try to sell the same ones for 10 bucks more at shows and in classified ads. I can't make a living on 10 bucks profit on a 30 dollar investment espescially when I have to maintain 10 of the little buggers for another 6 weeks before I even offer them for sale. They think they are doing me a favor by giving me a "price break" then they are offended whern I offer them $20.00 each

You bring up some excellent points and I agree with what you said. I am only using your post to bring up my points because it helped to illustrated the problem so well.

Bottom line. If there is a good shop in your area, support them. Support them financially as well as through helping them push the benefits that they provide. If you don't, don't bemoan the fact when they close their doors.

Steve Schindler
Tropical Oasis

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