Who would you buy from ?

Hello everyone I wanted to see where everyone stood on this topic. Who would be your first choice to buy reptiles from... A big time breeder or the small time guys/gals ? I have been keeping and breeding ball pythons for around 8 years now. I dont breed 100 clutches a year lol I only do 6. My collection is very small. I like knowing what's going on with my animals at all times. I also like socializing them and spending some outside time sun bathing with them lol. My question is with so many people breeding balls these days am I even gonna stand a chance against the big guys ? I wanted to hear everyone's opinions regarding this matter. Who would you buy from ? Both have pros and cons.... Lets hear some .

Good question!! Me personally, i like the lil guy trying to expand his collection & have it pay for itself. Athough with the big time breeders you usually know exactly what you are getting & the quality you expect. Also the fair market price comes with that. Some high, some right on point. Alot of the smaller guys can let things go a lil cheaper cause they dont have a wharehouse with thousands of animals in it & not as much overhead. With some of the smaller guys tho you gotta be careful, theres alot of scammers & people that dont care about the animals, just the money. Do a lil research on them online & even pick up the phone & have a conversation with them. You can tell alot by talking to someone, haha i know it sounds weird in this day & age. Thats my feelings
Chris
B and S Pythons/facebook

Little or big, for many people, myself included, reputation is a big deal. A rep for honest dealing and good customer service is a huge deciding factor.

I agree with Christopher and Lucille, somewhat. I like the small guy (gal) with a good reputation. Reputation means so much these days and breeding ends up being the easy part. Keeping a good reputation is not easy, in most cases its harder than raising the animals we raise.

I really really appreciate and admire both of your answers. That is what I will have to stride for. Start small maybe even stay small forever, but not when it comes to customer service and making people happy. I want to give people the same exact feeling I was given when I opened up my reptile shipments..... The Wow feeling. I never want to lose sight of that. Making sure everything is as smooth as possible start to finish.

I'll go with a small time hobby breeder over some big operation every time.

I don't buy from the giants; but I don't buy from unknowns either. I've done it in the past, and was unhappy most of the time. I'm not buying any longer; but for the last few years that I was, my policy was simple - if we don't already have an existing business relationship, or you can't provide references from people I know personally, you aren't getting my money.
I'd much rather pay a little more in the interest of getting exactly what I want...and, on the off chance that there is a problem, the knowledge that it will be handled quickly and professionally.