Pre-selling animals before hatching them, good business?

What does everyone think of pre-selling animals before they hatch? Good business? High risk?

I don't care for it especially when you need to put a large deposit down like some of the ads I have seen ask for (50% down).
I can see getting on a waiting list for offspring though but you should not have to pay anything up front.

Too risky to the buyer. You send the money and the eggs go bad or the wrong sex hatches and you have to hope that the seller has not spent the money you gave to him upfront.

As a seller, you have to worry about selling too many and having to issue refunds.

Either scenario is not where I would like to find myself.

I don't like to do it from me breeding standpoint as I feel it's bad juju for getting good eggs and hatch rates. Just my opinion and paranoria speaking there.

Not for me. I won't take deposits until after babies have hatched.

ditto - regardless of the species

Guess I'll buck the trend here......

I do it all the time. Matter of fact, unless a person puts a 20 percent deposit down on the animals they want, they don't even get on the waiting list. Had my fill years ago of people saying they wanted something, then when I call them when they are ready to go, they either changed their mind or got it somewhere else beforehand. Often I wouldn't even get a return call or email when I contacted them about their orders.... So I just got tired of wasting my time on that sort of thing. I figure it is pretty common for people to tell several breeders they want something, and first one to deliver gets their business. Good for them, and tough luck for the other breeders, I guess. So if you want a commitment out of me, you have to give me a commitment as well. Fair is fair, I believe.

Last several years I held a special pre-hatching sale whereby I took orders on animals being sold right out of the egg for 50 percent off of my list prices. No guarantees beyond life delivery, and the catch was the order needed to be pre-paid IN FULL. This worked very well for all involved as far as I know. And there were VERY few, if any, that I let down by not being able to deliver what they wanted. There were a couple of people who were disappointed when a couple of their animals wouldn't feed for them, but that was the risk that came with the greatly reduced pricing. "Right out of the egg" means what it says.

I guess I can see it a little more when it's someone who has a history and reputation such as yours, Rich....you've been in this for how long, and I don't believe you'd grab my money and run. I also don't think you'd be foolish enough to take more deposits than you will have the ability to fill.

However, there are very few people I would trust to do it, and I don't think it's a safe option for the average person. Too many fly-by-night folks around....and I don't believe in counting my chickens (or anything else) before they hatch.

Originally Posted by Rich Z

Last several years I held a special pre-hatching sale whereby I took orders on animals being sold right out of the egg for 50 percent off of my list prices. No guarantees beyond life delivery, and the catch was the order needed to be pre-paid IN FULL. This worked very well for all involved as far as I know. And there were VERY few, if any, that I let down by not being able to deliver what they wanted. There were a couple of people who were disappointed when a couple of their animals wouldn't feed for them, but that was the risk that came with the greatly reduced pricing. "Right out of the egg" means what it says.

Nothing like valuing sales over the life of the animals. I would never sell an animal that hadn't shed and eaten a few meals. Just my opinion though...

I do not take ANY money on ANYTHING unless I already have it, nor would I pay for something that doesn't exist yet.

The big difference between Rich taking deposits on animals that haven't hatched yet and the vast majority of everyone else is not many people produce 8 thousand hatchlings per year, let alone that many of one species.
It's unlikely that he won't be able to fill an order barring a natural disaster or something.

For the remainder of breeders, I don't like pre-selling nor do I do it. I've had people offer a deposit on things during the breeding season before I even knew if I'd get eggs of that morph. I always decline and tell them I prefer to wait and see what I have. For one thing I don't want the aggravation of having to keep track of people's money for several months when the possibility of a refund being required exists if I don't produce what they reserved.

There's usually one of a few factors which cause sellers to presell.
1. They need money now, not in 4 or 5 months. This means your deposit will most likely be spent before the breeder has hatched the eggs.
2. They want to lock in a higher price to hedge against a drop in value for the season. We speculate regularly, but we never know exactly what something will sell for until the babies start being released to the market.
3. They want to lock in a buyer immediately before they have a few months to think it over or perhaps find another breeder.

My stance is if I can sell it now I can sell it after it's hatched, if not to the person inquiring today, then to someone else.
Preselling isn't the only sales tactic that irritates me, there's a lot of people in the snake business that would make fine car salesmen.
The Ebay grab bag style of selling CH balls chaps my ass too, but I suppose that's a topic for another thread.