More input wanted...

Originally Posted by homegrownherps

Vendors that DO NOT WISH to sex their animals before they offer them for sale, shouldn't be at shows selling the animals.
It doesn't matter if they are CB or imported.

Unless, like with the smaller herps, when sex can not be determend until they are a bit older.

Agreed! All animals should be sexed.

On a similar note, they should all be clearly marked and priced. I find it rather irritating to go to a table and find cupped animals without their sex, type or prices shown. I could go to a table with 10 different varieties of Corn snakes and know which morph was which, but not all the customers out there can.

Originally Posted by DAND

On a similar note, they should all be clearly marked and priced. I find it rather irritating to go to a table and find cupped animals without their sex, type or prices shown. I could go to a table with 10 different varieties of Corn snakes and know which morph was which, but not all the customers out there can.

I do allot of shows in a year, and at every show I see many vendors with unmarked delis ( no prices, names or sex ). I don't understand why.
I did ask one vendor and they explained that they leave them unmarked because it makes the customer ask, and that gives them the opportunity to "sell" the animal. I know if I see something and its not labelled w/ the price & sex I keep walking.

Promoters insist on a vendor marking the container if it is wild caught, they should insist on all the containers to be marked. with the type-sex-and price.

I already know what prices I'll have on my animals before I start packing for a show. But all it takes is a portable hand-held label maker to go back & lower/raise prices. It is typical at all shows for prices to be reduced towards the end of the last day. Group lot pricing is also typical & most vendors, especially distributors, want to get the best deal on quantities.

I agree about the labels. CLEAR labels with WC or CB on every individual cup or cage AND posters or fliers available that tell the customers what the labels REALLY mean. I'm tired of seeing WC animals in containers with no labels and too many people assume they are healthy, feeding and acclimated animals. Also, people are naive and sometimes have no idea what CB or WC mean so an explanation would be nice as well and that would work with a few posters or fliers stating the difference. Furthermore, if a promoter determined some sort of color code ahead of time it wouldn't be hard to make sure every CB had color A and WC had color B etc.

Also, mandatory care sheets with all animals purchased would be nice. However, some care sheets are going to be better than others. For example, some care sheets might leave out important aspects such as lights etc to make it appear that the animal is cheaper because there are no additional costs. (i.e. how many people selling slider babies tell the owners to make sure lights are purchased).

On that note, maybe it wouldn't be bad for promoters to have an APPROVED standard care sheet for each of the most popular animals. Then all the vendors can download it, print it out, and give it to customers. If they want to add more info, fine...but at least the agreed upon basics might be met. Plus, it might be nice to have a little link section like that on the promoters webpage. Pictures of some of the common animals with care sheets. Customers would get a resource in case the vendor wasn't one. Wouldn't really be that hard. In fact, I'll volunteer some of my care sheets if needed.

There is a few things that have been said that myself as a Show Promoter has been thinking about lately.

1) I totally agree that WC or CB need to be labeled as such. We state that very rule on our web site. We are in the process of enforcing that rule!

2) As far as Requiring vendors to label pricing, I think that should be left up to the vendor. The reason I say this is because as a potential buyer I personally will buy something quicker if it is labeled with a price than not. So if a vendor is willing to risk missing a sale then that is his/her choice...IMHO

3) I have talked with others about having caresheets available for attendees. But no one has come forward with any. So if you have some caresheets that contain simple care guidelines, I WILL PRINT them up and make them available at the Information! Of course I will give credit to you for your caresheets at the bottom of each sheet. So send away Jeff and anyone else wishing to share theirs. Thank You in advance for your help!!!! Please send caresheets to SERConv@gmail.com

Cathy Elrod
Southern Exotics and Reptile Convention

Having a label to decipher wild caught ( if allowed at shows ) or captive bred, yes with showing born/age on captive. Price ? Maybe but by not pricing will , in thought, make a perspective buyer more inquisitive about animal , in thought, about care, how serious to purchase, etc. Care sheets ? AT best only the basics as to your logic and thoughts ( throw in your opinion and or your way ) can be not of someones else's. Also your care sheet of your knowledge and way can be contradicting of books or the reverse. How to price or what to use to price ? If pricing on containers and using the old stand by deli cups, get a washable felt tip pen. If you feel the need to mark down that animal or raise the price, you simply wipe the price away and remark. Some more logics of advertising prices in marking : so the guy 3 tables down or across the room also sees your marked price as the customers do, so he marks his price lower than yours ( or doesn't mark ). While I firmly believe all being marked, think this as strategic way of marketing by not showing the price ?

[quote=old guy]Price ? Maybe but by not pricing will , in thought, make a perspective buyer more inquisitive about animal , in thought, about care, how serious to purchase, etc. QUOTE]

I personally mark all my containers, as for not marking the container w/ at least the name and price...well I see more people walk away because they the containers do not have a price.
Wether they are embarrassed, or the vendor is busy at the time, I don't know.
Not everyone is as knowledgeable as the vendors.
I know that if I have to ask, I wont. (unless it is something I really need/want).

Originally Posted by homegrownherps

Not everyone is as knowledgeable as the vendors.
I know that if I have to ask, I wont. (unless it is something I really need/want).

I've seen the non-pricing of items ending in the customer leaving. I've been asked the price for something on the table next to mine in the past and I have to tell them it's that person's table and they just leave. I've also had people state to me similar to what Jim stated, "No price, see ya."

[quote=homegrownherps]

Originally Posted by old guy

Price ? Maybe but by not pricing will , in thought, make a perspective buyer more inquisitive about animal , in thought, about care, how serious to purchase, etc. QUOTE]

I personally mark all my containers, as for not marking the container w/ at least the name and price...well I see more people walk away because they the containers do not have a price.
Wether they are embarrassed, or the vendor is busy at the time, I don't know.
Not everyone is as knowledgeable as the vendors.
I know that if I have to ask, I wont. (unless it is something I really need/want).

I totally agree with this. If there aren't prices or labels, I walk away. This is especially important when dealing with milks as many of the hatchlings look a lot alike. I like to label my delis with morph, date hatched, and the clutch they came from. I do this so if the buyer wants to see the lineage of the snake they bought, all they have to do is go to my website and look up the clutch ID and they can see the parents. I do think it should be mandatory to label all snakes for sale.
As far as care sheets go, I offer them on my table for every snake I am selling. Here in VA, we also must post salmonella warning handouts which is good.
Now, some of the things I would like to see promoters do to help the vendors:
1. Insist on receipts for any animal going out to help cut down on theft. I have only seen one show do this and it was in Puyallup, WA.
2. Provide security that roams around. I have too many animals thieved from table.
3. Some of the bigger shows do this but try and attract vendors with a wide variety of animals, not just one species like corns. I have been to shows where there were 10 corn breeders and only 1 boid breeder. Needless to say it didn't get much attention after that.
4. Ensure where the location of the show has electrical outlets for EVERY table WITHOUT CHARGING THE VENDOR! Some promoters charge you extra for a table with access to outlets.
5. Promote the shows through the Internet (such as here on fauna) with a listing of what vendors will be there and what they offer. This helps people decide if its worth the sometimes long journey to the show.

Hope this helps and it wasn't too boring!

I really cant say what the reasoning behind not putting prices for everyone to see. One thought comes to mind though ...maybe, a different price for different people.

As far as "not pricing will, in thought, make a perspective buyer more inquisitive about animal." I think it will genererate less sales than anything else. Aren't all of the people who attend a herp show "a prospective buyer"?

Providing security can be a good thing, but I have seen it where it was a bit much. I had some tables a a show in S.C. where they had security, but went way over board on the daytime security. I didn't see the need for them to all be armed, 2-3 sets of handcuff, sticks etc. A few guys/girls w/ shirts they say security would have sufficed. It was almost like the expected the president to show up

I think just about all of the promoters have a listing of the vender's signed up the show. But they should also have a link back to their site and/or the vender contact info. This will also help people decide if they want to make the trip and possible set up pre-sales.