Sooo anyone else feeling it?

If I'm right, I have bought almost all my snakes from this site, but that's not saying too much, I have only kept snakes for the past 6 years now. Very few have I gotten from shows. And I really wish I could remember everyone I have bought from lol

I could go on an on about sales in general, but to stay on point and answer you specific question as it relates to sales specifically on Fauna...

1. 90% of what I list here I end up selling here, the other 10% locally.
2. 90% of what I buy, I buy here, 10% locally as well.
3. Sold out of 2014 babies too.

I have made a conscience effort to use my buying dollars here. The more people buy and sell from each other here in this circle, the more the sales will be better for everyone here. In addition, for various reasons, I now make sure I try to focus my purchases to those members with paid memberships, adding another layer of confidence to my decision.

If everyone tries to sell here, but then goes and buys else where, then we are shooting ourselves in the foot as it relates to Fauna.

If anyone else whats to discuss sales/prices/market in general, I'm happy to do that, but I didn't want to ruin your thread, so I tried to stay on topic.

I agree, I've also seen a lack of sales overall, not just on this site. The lowballing also seems extreme this year. Stay strong though guys... keep in mind that selling to the lowest bidder doesn't really pan out for anyone, especially the snakes! I see a lot of folks buying snakes, keeping them a year, and then having "collection blow-out sales" the following year when they don't make bank like they were planning to. It'll blow over, even if it takes some time. Sadly, I fear a lot of reptiles (especially ball pythons) along the way won't make it. You know it's sad when you see people on colubrid forums purchasing baby ball pythons in bulk to use as feeders. Not that I blame them, but... well, I wish we as a market would practice some restraint and not breed a species to death.

But like Robert, I'm digressing a bit. As far as traffic on Fauna goes, even though I am advertising and selling more widely than just this one website, I constantly refer window shoppers and actual customers to come to this page to look up my own membership information so they know I have been and will continue to be in this hobby for the long-haul. I don't know if it's helped with traffic to this site or with my sales, but with all the newbies in the hobby, I feel that Fauna has helped reassure some folks that there are at least a few of us oldies hanging around that know what we're doing.

I think there is a "brand loyalty", even though I like it here and have a decent reputation going for me, every time I am hunting something I look at Kingsnake or my latest Bushmaster availability list first. Those where the first and, to my knowledge, the only places to shop for reptiles online...I knew this place existed maybe 3 years ago. I have sold several here this year, but I started early and I agree it was pretty slow compared to some recent places on Facebook I have been checking out. My guess there is simply the volume of people on FB and the fact that it bombards users with a ton of notifications about new adds, messages, comments, etc... . I did hear a lot from some people that emailed me about adds posted here, that the site did not have a comfortable lay out. Did not make much sense to me since everything is good for me whether I am on my PC or my phone. I also think some of the more "community challenged" members that have been banned throw a lot of fecal matter that ultimately turns some people off from even browsing the site. We also have to come to terms with the fact that auctions are getting excessively popular for many, including myself.

There was a time when Expos where how you bought animals. Then it became expos & magazines. Then it became expos, magazines & 1 internet site. Now we are facing what feels like endless avenues to possibly sell with. Each time a new one appears, it potentially dilutes the selling strength of those before it.

As an example:
Year one: Expos sold 1 million in ball python sales
Year two: Expos sold 500k and magazines sold 500k
Year three: Expos sold 333k, magazines sold $333k, and one internet site $333k.
Year four: Expos sold 250k, magazines sold 250k, 1st internet site, 250k, second internet site 250k
Year five: so on and so on...

Each year the sales for each outlet decreases. The over all sales could still be the same for the market, but each avenue becomes less productive than before. In theory, if demand increased at the same rate then each new outlet may not take shares away from the other. With a flood of lower end morphs however, it appears that demand currently can't keep pace to support all sales outlets like it "used to".

Originally Posted by snowgyre

You know it's sad when you see people on colubrid forums purchasing baby ball pythons in bulk to use as feeders.

Wow, that is news to me, but I don't visit the colubrid forum. Maybe I should to see the fun over there.

I feel that Fauna has helped reassure some folks that there are at least a few of us oldies hanging around that know what we're doing.

Very true and powerful tool

Originally Posted by EmeraldBoid

I think there is a "brand loyalty", ... I have sold several here this year, but I started early and I agree it was pretty slow compared to some recent places on Facebook I have been checking out. My guess there is simply the volume of people on FB and the fact that it bombards users with a ton of notifications about new adds, messages, comments, etc... . I did hear a lot from some people that emailed me about adds posted here, that the site did not have a comfortable lay out.

True, there can be brand loyalty to a particular site, as well as the ability to "brand" yourself successfully somewhere. I simply don't have the resources to be everywhere all the time, so I had to decide, "brand myself a little in many places, or concentrate my efforts in a more single focus." At least for me the single focus has worked.

It is hard for most any outlet to compete against the mega power of FB's $ resources in whole. I'm sure there are some updates and features that would be nice to have here that perhaps Rich might consider.

Originally Posted by Robert Walker

True, there can be brand loyalty to a particular site, as well as the ability to "brand" yourself successfully somewhere. I simply don't have the resources to be everywhere all the time, so I had to decide, "brand myself a little in many places, or concentrate my efforts in a more single focus." At least for me the single focus has worked.

It is hard for most any outlet to compete against the mega power of FB's $ resources in whole. I'm sure there are some updates and features that would be nice to have here that perhaps Rich might consider.

Yes, I started using Facebook recently as it was easier to keep up with my classmates and friends plus auctions, I ended up drifting to some of the classified sites as kind of an experiment and it turned out good. I will still advertise here too and I usually direct inquires here for the BOI or the buyer is looking for something else I don't have, so I say, "X on fauna had a few advertised...".

Maybe making the site more mobile friendly would help, like a direct app vs. Tapatalk. Of course that's not my call to make.

The only reason I have a Facebook account is that it seemed to be the way most people were marketing. I hated that I had to create a personal account in order to have a business page (yeah, I probably did it wrong). I've found that I dislike Facebook more than I anticipated...I have no desire to make a bunch of posts to build & maintain interest in my page; nor do I want to be part of all (ANY of) the groups. I'm also not interested in striving to devalue my animals just to make a sale. I'll deal with slower sales, as long as they continue to happen.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

You know it's sad when you see people on colubrid forums purchasing baby ball pythons in bulk to use as feeders. Not that I blame them, but... well, I wish we as a market would practice some restraint and not breed a species to death.

I thought BP's were a fairly common feeder snake even before the explosion of morphs? And while I'm not into keeping a snake-eater, well... there are people on rat, guinea pig, and rabbit forums who get stressed out over selling their pets to snake owners.

I don't think the usage of ball pythons as feeders was that widespread until the last couple of years. Before then I know folks used non-eating corn snake hatchlings as feeders.

As far as Facebook goes, I agree with you Harald. Advertising on Facebook requires constant babysitting since ads get pushed down out of sight so quickly (although I've noticed the same happening in the ball python classifieds here). However, mobile technology is certainly here to stay, and the reality is that if you're not mobile-friendly in terms of web design, you're simply not going to have any of the smart phone crowd spending a lot of time on your site. I think that's partially why Facebook is so popular... aside from the social networking aspect of it, almost every piece of mobile technology can easily use it.