What would you do?

I'm writing this in hopes of getting advice from more experienced folks, as this is the first time I have had this happen and I'm quite upset about it.

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. I then offered him an enchi female from a female of mine that is being bred right now and is producing follicles.

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. I, like so many people in this business, have to sell something to buy something, so I am now in the position that I will have to sell something I don't really want to sell in order to pay for this female.

At this point I see my options as:

A. Sell the pastel female to pay him back.

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.

C. Sell something that I really don't want to sell to get the money.

Any way I look at this, it is setting my breeding program back significantly. The pastel female in question is the only breeder size morph female that I currently have in my collection. I have sold several in the past few months in order to fund some other projects. Had I known this was going to happen I most certainly would not have sold my other girls.

I would really like some feedback as to what you would do in this situation. I'm between a rock and a hard place and I don't know what to do. Thanks in advance for your input.

Sell something to pay for the unproduced hatchling.

You can continue talking to him, see if he'll agree to some other trade in the future, but when you do deals for unproduced young, it's very difficult to work out a perfect solution when the female doesn't produce. He's entitled to a pick of the litter, but what guarentee did anyone have as to what would have been produced?

Anytime any deal is made other than straight cash for snake.... you should think ahead and put it all in writing. "Pick of the litter OR if no eggs are produced, $xxx in compensation" etc. Of course, hindsight being 20/20 it doesn't help you now.

At any rate, you're sort of in a hot seat, as he is entitled to what was agreed to, so now you need to work out what makes him happy. Might not be what you'd want to have happen, but since at this point, he's out his end of the bargain, he's got the upper hand.

I see your point. However, everything that I have in my collection I have selectively chosen for certain qualities and there is nothing at this point that I am willing to give up. Had I known a few months ago before I sold off my other stock this wouldn't be a problem.

Since he is the one choosing to back out of the deal (he just agreed a week ago to an enchi female) would it not be appropriate for me to give the pastel back and ask for compensation for the pinstripe that was included in the deal (he has since sold that snake and no longer has it in his possession). As I think about it more, giving the pastel female back would set my breeding program back a year, but giving up any of the selectively chosen stock that I have now would set me back even more because I would have to search again to find comparable animals. I want to do the right thing, but he was fully aware of the risk when he agreed to the deal and I feel I should not have to completely screw myself in order to make this right.

I would try to work out a reasonable amount of money and make payments to him.

GL, this is a hard one.

Originally Posted by Ronda63

I see your point. However, everything that I have in my collection I have selectively chosen for certain qualities and there is nothing at this point that I am willing to give up. Had I known a few months ago before I sold off my other stock this wouldn't be a problem.

Since he is the one choosing to back out of the deal (he just agreed a week ago to an enchi female) would it not be appropriate for me to give the pastel back and ask for compensation for the pinstripe that was included in the deal (he has since sold that snake and no longer has it in his possession). As I think about it more, giving the pastel female back would set my breeding program back a year, but giving up any of the selectively chosen stock that I have now would set me back even more because I would have to search again to find comparable animals. I want to do the right thing, but he was fully aware of the risk when he agreed to the deal and I feel I should not have to completely screw myself in order to make this right.

Let me ask this, would you rather give up a good looking snake? Or have your reputation slammed and have a hard time selling snakes in the future?

I agree that this is a difficult situation. But IMO, you need to please him to show how your business works, and what kind of person you are. Because when it comes down to it, all you really have in this business is your reputation.

Nick - I would love to try to make payments, but unfortunately, right now I am just not in a position to do that due to my work being significantly reduced recently.

Stephen - That is true....reputation is everything. I am more than willing to make this right. My issue is what to do to make this right. This is a tough spot I'm in. I guess lesson learned and I take the loss. Thanks for the input everyone.

I don't think her reputation will get slammed. She's looking for a solution to a problem that wasn't outlined in the initial deal and really, it's not her fault the snake didn't produce as planned.

If the deal was for pick of the litter when she is bred, then it may take another year. Of course, this isn't the answer he is looking for, but was there a time limit on the deal? Really, what's to stop him from asking another $1000 on top or else he squeals in the BOI? It's really a complicated situation.

How much money is he looking for, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't know yet. I got the email from him last night and asked him to let me know how much he was looking to get as soon as possible and I haven't heard back from him yet. Right now it is just a waiting game and it's totally stressing me out, lol. Hopefully he will get back to me soon so I can figure out for sure what I need to come up with to get this fixed.

I am also curious as to if there was any timeline?

No time line was ever specified. My intention was to breed her to my black pastel and shoot for black pewters. That was what happened but she did not go. I did ask him several months ago what he wanted to do at that point and there was no definitive answer given and then, as I stated, I guess it was a couple weeks ago, he asked if my offer of an enchi female was still available and I told him definitely.

I just heard back from him. He is thinking her value is $500 so minus the $150 on the pinstripe that makes for $350. He asked if I had anything I was willing to trade to make it even.