Let's talk about.....wholesaling

I've seen comments about wholesaling, as well as having made a few. This isn't a how do you feel about it thread (just wanted to nip that sideline off right now); this is a what it means and what are your terms thread. My main interest is the perspective of people that do this as a business, regardless of scale (*NOTE* that means you have have a tax ID for your reptile business, and you claim your income from it)...however, I'm not going to exclude hobby sales or occasional sales. If you purchase wholesale, your input is welcome as well. All I ask is that you identify what group you fall into.

I will be drawing examples from several years of sales, several kinds of animals, and several types of customers. Situations may or may not be altered, but it is not my intent to single anybody out for any reason. If you think you recognize yourself in one of my comments, please don't take it personally. I'm posting this thread as much to expand my own knowledge as to share my thoughts.

When I think wholesale, I think business to business. I also think quantity. In my mind, there is a difference between wholesale and quantity discount. I also view wholesale as a more generic type of sale/purchase.

Obviously, one can't always recognize the businesses on name alone. Lots of people use "businessy" names, and websites are becoming more and more common across the spectrum. For out of state sales, I'm somewhat less focused on whether someone is a "real business" when they inquire about a wholesale purchase; but, instate, I want their NYS Tax ID for my records. That's because the State wants their money; and, if I make an instate sale, I'm required to pay sales tax unless it is wholesale to a business...and, if the State comes sniffing at my books, I don't want any hassles.
I get a fair number of inquiries from random people who make statements to the effect that they only pay wholesale. That's nice. I have one animal posted in the ad, and the price is $XXX. Do you want it? Why do people think they would get wholesale pricing on a single animal?
What if Jack, of "Jack n Jill Reptiles" (who - for the purpose of this example - happens to be 17 yrs old, and just purchased his first snake 6 months ago) contacts me saying he wants to purchase the three female mojaves I have advertised? I have them listed at, say, $200 each (which is theoretically at, or slightly below the price people have actually been paying)...and Jack says he wants them wholesale, and will give me $75 each. Given the situation, I'm going to say no. Will I give him a decent price for purchasing all three? Absolutely. But it will be certainly be higher than the offer he just made (at asking price, 3 x $200 = $600, vs 3 x $75 = $215), especially since I could realistically expect to sell them individually without much trouble.

Since I have a litter of hypo + super hypo boas that will be available soon, I'll use them for my next example. I've already publicly stated that I would prefer to sell them in wholesale lots. Since they aren't all the same, I'm going to be grading them - with the nicest ones being probably 2x (maybe a squeak more) the cost of the lower end. If somebody contacts me and says I want a wholesale lot of 10 hypos, and I'll give you $xxx; if the price is acceptable to me, I will select 10 of the ones I don't expect to be super hypos...without much consideration of gender. Conversely, if that same person approaches me with a specific list that includes the 7 best females and the 3 best males (of which I think at least 8, probably 9, are supers) for the same price, I'm going to decline - and for a couple reasons. 1) that deal leaves me with all the lower end snakes, and male heavy to boot...heck, the probable supers are the handful I would choose to keep and sell myself 2) even if I were willing to bulk them out, I'd have to be desperate to do so at low end hypo wholesale pricing.

That's enough for now (I'm going to bed, since I have to get up for work in 6 hrs).
Let's hear what you consider wholesale, and the conditions you apply to those sales/purchases.