I am so sick of low-ballers!!!!

Why do people feel it necessary to offer you so much less than you are asking for a snake!?! Seriously....$250 shipped for a Mojave female that is over 200 gm? It is people like this that ruin our hobby. If you can't afford close to the asking price, be respectful and just don't respond. It is insulting and irritating as heck!! We work hard to breed, feed, and maintain our snakes and a low-ball offer is the ultimate insult. Often it seems to be the newbies who feel it necessary to low-ball. They obviously haven't taken the time to raise and care for a snake and have not learned just how much time, love, and attention it has taken to get the snake to where it is. I really wish the "buy cheap, sell cheap" people would just go away!!! Our hobby would be so much better off without them.

Originally Posted by Ronda63

Why do people feel it necessary to offer you so much less than you are asking for a snake!?! Seriously....$250 shipped for a Mojave female that is over 200 gm? It is people like this that ruin our hobby. If you can't afford close to the asking price, be respectful and just don't respond. It is insulting and irritating as heck!! We work hard to breed, feed, and maintain our snakes and a low-ball offer is the ultimate insult. Often it seems to be the newbies who feel it necessary to low-ball. They obviously haven't taken the time to raise and care for a snake and have not learned just how much time, love, and attention it has taken to get the snake to where it is. I really wish the "buy cheap, sell cheap" people would just go away!!! Our hobby would be so much better off without them.

This post reminds me of when I first started. I had quoted Harald a price for some of his animals (this was BEFORE I had heard of the term "lowballing." I was so far off that I got a chewing out.

I don't believe that I have never given a price on an animal since. Now, I prefer all prices to be posted/and or stated, so I can decide if I want to buy or not.

Sooo...... will you take $255 shipped?

Seriously though, I usually ignore them now. I've thrown some lowballs in the past (but they were on "make offers") and being ignored probably pissed me off more than them being lowballed.

On the other hand, there are breeders out there encouraging these low-ballers to get snakes at cut-rate prices and SHAME ON THEM TOO!! If the breeders would stop selling their snakes for such below market prices and stick to their guns, being willing to keep and maintain the animal until it does sell for the appropriate price, then everyone would be better off. But, alas, too many unscrupulous people only looking to make a quick buck and to hell with the rest of us!!

Well, let me tell you, that female will be in my collection until I get an acceptable price for her regardless of whether I "need" the money or not. Basically she increases in value every time I feed her so why not?

And NO Nick...I will NOT take $255 shipped, lol. For you, I will take $500 shipped just to show how much I like you.

Sadly, the lowballers do it for a reason - there are people that say yes.
You can blame the lowballers for ruining the hobby, or you can blame the people that take their offers for "market crashing", lol. Don't get me wrong - I hate being lowballed...and I DON'T view it as a starting point in negotiation. Lowball me, and we're done talking. Deborah is probably the only person that has lowballed me and ever had a subsequent transaction with me. (combination of us being friends, and - if I remember correctly - she misunderstood the count on the animals she placed the offer on).

If people consistently told lowballers to pound sand, things might change; but I don't have any hope that that will happen. Too many people are unwilling to sit on animals they have for sale - whether for economic reasons, or simply because they produced too much. There is another reason, for some of us, anyway - I lowballed myself this summer: I sold at litter of hypos/poss supers dirt cheap to get them out of here ASAP. Not because I was desperate for money, or because I needed the space...but because they were so damn ugly I couldn't bear looking at them. (You can laugh, but I'm serious - I was incredibly disappointed with the outcome of that pairing)

Originally Posted by Ronda63

appropriate price

Is that your price, the market price, or what?

In my opinion, "appropriate price" would be at or near market price. When I sell something I research current pricing and attempt to stay within a reasonable range of the average. That can't always be done, as sometimes you can't find comparable pricing, but for the most part, if the seller does some research they can stay close to market price. There are always variables, and exceptions, of course.

Isn't market price a function of supply and demand and thus not static, and subject to change?

Yes, it is based on supply and demand to an extent; however, in my instance regarding a Mojave female for $250 shipped, that price is definitely not the current "going rate." If you look at the current prices, that is not even the "going rate" for a hatchling female (less than 100 gm). When you deduct shipping cost (estimated between $60 and $70 depending on location), plus factor in the paypal fees, (estimated to be around $8-10), the actual price offered was $170 to $180. Is that a "fair market value" for her? I definitely don't think so; hence, I will hold onto her until an offer is given that does fall within the "market value" and will happily place a "low-baller" title to the person who offered me this.