The Disturbing Trend of Price Slashing in the reptile hobby/industry

Neil I dont know how many shows you do but I gotta agree with Rich about people blaiming themselves, from what I gather you deal more in the pet shop arena then the shows. Everyone who doesnt know better blaims the pet shops, because of chains stores like petco and others that are notorious for neglecting and selling poor animals. At the shows people have a trust about them you dont see in pet stores. People who dont know any better often think these huge wholesalers are breeding all the stuf they have. Someone like you or I can walk in a show and tell the wholesale dealers from the breeders just by looking at whats on their table. But people who dont know any better cant. Same as in the pet stores, you and I can tell a good pet store from a bad one, they cant. Thats were the education and experiance come in. Ive seen it alot even with people I know, that I would think should know better. They buy someones junk at a show and when it dies they think its their fault because they bought it "direct from the breeder". So as far as the shows I gotta agree with Rich on this one.

Jason.... I gotta give you that one.... I guess I am biased to the store itself, because I don't do shows.... too cutthroat! I am, however, shocked to hear you say that the folks at shows, blame themselves for the deaths of their animals??? I can't tell you how many people come into the store, a couple of weeks after every Tampa show, saying they bought an animal at the show and it died! Believe me.... they DON'T blame themselves.... that's why they buy another one from me, because, even though they are more expensive than at the show, they "look" healthier! It has happened on numerous occasions.... maybe they just tell YOU that, while they're right in front of your face, so they don't cause a riot?? Just a thought....

....Neil

Rich,

Your right in that buying your first reptile from a bad seller can sour the whole experience and kill a customer's desire for the hobby. Problem is that there isn't much we can do as sellers except provide information and high quality animals to combat the bad sellers. The other thing is to be particular about who you wholesale to.

Neil, no I meant what I said. The problem is that neither you nor I will hear from most of those people whom just never come back to try again. Especially from those kids whom have parents that were just looking for an excuse NOT to have a snake in the house in the first place.

Rich.... EXACTLY! And the reason you never see them again is NOT because they blame themselves?? The HONEST one's that DO blame themselves, are the one's you DO see because they have enough wisdom to know that they MIGHT NOT know everything??? I still say there are far less of those type, than there are those that blame us....

....Neil

Ok, so how realistic is this...

IF I ever get to the point that it's a good idea for me to get a table at an expo, should I print up care sheets for each and every animal I offer along with specialized info about the specific animal being purchased and give it to the customer? I'm thinking that general feeding, housing, and growth/appearance guidelines along with sex, birthdate, scientific name/common name, feeding chart, and my contact info/website could all fit onto one piece of paper. This will also help to serve the purpose of showing the customer the value added portion of my price because they can't get this information from the guy with the table next to mine and it shows that I care enough to take the time to do this.

Yes? No?

Thanks!

Jonathan.... ANYTHING you do for your customer that DOESN'T COST ANYTHING.... is ALWAYS remembered! Especially, good information and caresheets.... it is OBVIOUS to the buyer that you are NOT run-of-the-mill, and who do you think they will remember when they are looking to purchase their next animal?? It NEVER hurts to give the customer as much "informative" information as you have.... it will come back to you ten-fold!

....Neil

Neil, I guess your experience with this is just different from mine. I know I have gotten enough phone calls, email messages, and face to faces at shows from people about this to feel the way I do about situation.

Heck, my first and ONLY experiment trying to ship via Airborne's second day service (what a catastrophe that was), I had a girl crying on the phone because she thought she had done something incorrectly and killed the snakes inside.

Man, for that matter, check the message boards on KINGSNAKE.COM. Check out how many times you may see someone new at this posting a message like "HELP! My snake is sick and dying! What did I do wrong?"

Rich.... I know exactly what you're getting at.... but, I know people! I'm sure there are a few phychologists on this site who MIGHT be able to back me up.... but, most people, given the choice, will blame anybody else but themselves, until they are shown where they went wrong.... and even then, it's iffy....

As I said.... only the honest one's will have the guts to talk to you in person, or call you, telling you of their dilemma.... but, I still think a LOT more people will just blame you, and never contact you again....

....Neil

Agreeable on all points
but I still think a quality sale brings about more quality customers
Not everybody goes into this blind there are those that will do some simple husbandry research, it is up to us to help out each new customer so they have a pleasant experience, yes I know there are those that you can never please. From what I have seen in this hobby honesty pays off and word of mouth or keyboard get around, so do the lowballers but whose rep will last ours or theirs