What would you do?

$350 is a bummer, but seems more than doable.IMO- It might take time and with the fact that there was NOT a timeline, I think a little time for you to pay the $350 is reasonable. Or he could wait until you do breed her, but I he said he didn't want that.
Good luck either way....this is just my $0.02

It's really more your fault that the female didn't produce than his, only because the female was in your posssession. It is a vague thing since it said 'first litter' not 'this season' or another time limit. Plus, the female could have laid a clutch and had them all be normals. He would have gotten a $10 male out of the deal then. You can't predict what will hatch out of the eggs in a combo like this, so if he was gambling that "pick of the litter" would be something spectacular, he might have gotten disappointed at only having normals or pastels to choose from rather than pewters.

His idea of compensation sounds more than fair, and it does sound like he's willing to work something out with you, so I hope everyone will be happy in the end with whatever deal is settled on.

Frankly...I would think that the deal was completed and since he did not get what was specified then is entitled to nothing.

I'm really favoring B...

B. Tell him I have nothing to sell and he needs to take the pastel female back and pay me for the pinstripe male that was included in the trade.

with a change...because I don't like plan switches in the middle of the deal when things don't work out for the "losing" end, I would adjust the end of "B" to say that we can call this an even trade and be done, or we can ship each other's animals back and be done.

That is...if you have proof that she never did go? Did you keep documented evidence that she was being bred and never ovulated?

I think I am with Deborah on this one if you are looking to just go that route!

He is a local guy who has been to my house several times. I don't have proof that she never ovulated, but he had seen her with the male and I had shown her to him every time he came over. I emailed him and let him know I don't have anything to sell/trade. I offered to give her back and work out the pinstripe issue as he no longer has that snake or I offered to sell her and pay him back once she is sold. I also did offer to make payments, but let him know that it would be a bit before I could pay her off. His price is more than fair and I want to stress I am trying to take this gracefully and deal with it in a professional manner that will keep him happy without hurting myself too much. I don't feel it is my "fault" that she didn't take; these things happen and just because I got hit with some bad luck I don't think I should get the shaft on the whole deal which is the reason I don't want to sell any of the snakes that I searched long and hard for to add into my collection. I'm sure it will all work out one way or another.

Here is what you say is the original deal(If this goes to the BOI, have your ducks in a row and your emails in your mailbox ready):

Originally Posted by Ronda63

About six months ago I did a trade. I got an 1100 gm pastel female and he got a hatchling pinstripe male and future pick of the litter from the female pastel when I bred her. Well, unfortunately, the female did not go this year.

Here is the other party altering the deal and expecting that you will adhere to his unilateral new added terms:

Originally Posted by Ronda63

I just received a communication from him saying he has been more than patient and cannot wait until next season to complete the deal and wants to talk monetary compensation for the pastel female.

IMHO along about junior high school or even earlier for modern day youngsters, there is a realization about sex, biology, and the fact that copulation will create new life in some cases but not in others.

There is no way he did not know that in the breeding snake biz sometimes the female will not end up gravid.

What might be fair is a promise that the first time this snake has offspring, he gets a pick.

For him to alter the agreement after the fact because he is out of patience is laughable, you could not help this (as long as you have records that you set it all up and the deed was possible).

If he says frog, don't feel like you got to jump.

If you choose to agree to a future offspring, you better learn patience. I agree with Deb and Lucille and think it is ridiculous to suggest you should jump through hoops, and sell something, to please this person. The OP's rep will be just fine. The other person, not so much.

What I like about posts like this is it tells us how others think and what their expectations are in a transaction. Almost as good as a BOI thread when it comes to knowing who not to deal with in the future.