ANOUNCEMENT! New 2007 Policies!

I am not sure if this is the right forum to put this in but I wanted to make an announcement pertaining to a new concept we are launching in 2007 aimed at helping all low-income herpers to acquire the morphs or rare species, pets, breeders, etc, that they want or desire.

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This is the statement we recently posted on our website:

2007 NEW POLICIES!!
We are very excited to announce our latest "pro-herper" concept that will be launched Jan, 01, 2007. As we care about all herpers great and small we decided to launch a new policy aimed at all low-income herpers around the globe. Basically what it boils down to is this: If you are a reptile lover that is not a member of an enormous tax bracket, this is the policy for YOU. For dedicated herpers with average incomes the rare and beautiful high end morphs are not out of your reach. We want to make it not only possible but in fact easy for any herper with any budget to not only have the incredible and rare species and morphs as pets, but also to make lucrative investments that will pay off for them in a very big way and make it possible for them to make wonderful, considerable supplemental income by way of doing something they love doing. Any herper with a verified low income (by demographic definition) is qualified to receive any of our animals at HALF OFF our normally low prices. Thats correct folks, we are here for everybody. Please inquire for more details if you feel you apply. All inquiries and resulting sales are 100% confidential. All our animals are available on the "Half Off" policy. All "Half Off" accounts are available on our incredibly easy Payment Plan described below on this page (of our website). Happy Herping folks and future customers from High End Herps Inc

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If you or someone you know is a good, dedicated herper that happens to have a relatively low income don't hesitate to contact us and we can help you to get what you need. We can help to get you set up in breeding so as to generate extra income that will enable you to afford the better things in life. It's really all very easy and we'll be there every step of the way to help you. Not just with breeding and husbandry, but with caging, rodent breeding systems, business advice, marketing, etc. Please go to our website when you get the opportunity and read a little about what we do.

We're looking forward to hearing from each and every one of you.
David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

David, that's an interesting concept. I don't quite know what to think about it. My initial response is simply this..... Because I pay out a much larger portion of my paycheck to the tax God's, that somehow this makes it acceptable to gouge me, as compared to those in a lower tax bracket, when it comes to the pricing of animals.

I don't know, maybe my initial response here is more knee jerk then anything, but from what I just read, it would make me think twice about buying from you since I already know that your prices are inflated by 100%. Probably not the best marketing ploy.

Griz

Phew !!

Griz writes:
....... Probably not the best marketing ploy.

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Ya think ! If and when I get an email from a "potential customer" asking me if I have income-adjusted price brackets for the same animal, I will know who to blame ! Louisiana ... Huey Long ..... some ideas don't die easy. Good luck Dave .

I addition to the fact, as Griz pointed out, you've effectively lowered your prices by 50%, there are other issues. You would need to be a little more specific as to the income guidelines. There is more to the cost of caring for herps than the original purchase price. I would think that someone with a verifyably low income may also have trouble paying for proper care.

kmurphy said:

I addition to the fact, as Griz pointed out, you've effectively lowered your prices by 50%, there are other issues. You would need to be a little more specific as to the income guidelines. There is more to the cost of caring for herps than the original purchase price. I would think that someone with a verifyably low income may also have trouble paying for proper care.

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I wholeheartly agree, I often refuse sales when customers tell me that they are 'breaking the bank' just buying a dragon. A big deal when most of my dragons only go for $75 and their setup can cost over $200.
I disagree though that ball pythons are in the same bracket. They are low maintience and high profit. Vet bills are a concern though.

I don't know what to think, personally, about David's new system. Are these people then compelled to offer the same approtunity to their customers when they breed?
I am middle class and I have no idea why anyone would want an animal basicly on a 'pity' sale. Sorry, that's just the way i take it. They should just save up for a pretty pet [they will be cheaper by the time they save up anyway] or get out a small business loan or do a payment plan. 50% off just seems a bit much.

I'm sure you mulled it all over David, I'm just rambling. You have a great site and great animals. I wish you all the luck in the world!

How does one "verify" that someone has a low income purely through "demographic definition"? Isn't this going to have to involve tax paperwork or pay stubs? I'm not sure this is the type of information one would be comfortable passing along to a reptile breeder, nor am I sure you have a legal right to request it. Dunno though... just leaves a weird taste in my mouth.

Plus, this would be INCREDIBLY easy to fake... are you going to use background checks or credit checks to verify authenticity?

Post to Sara

Thanks for the well wishes and for your nice, positive post Sara.

Yes, this idea/concept will certainly work very well. Already I have gotten a huge response about this from folks that otherwise are unable to afford the nice morphs that they have always wanted. I generally tend to believe that most people are honest and I will usually take someone at face value and give them a chance without just automatically distrusting or disbelieving them.

I also feel that this opportunity enables the less privileged, whom often work MUCH harder to make a living than the upper classes, to make some lucrative investments that can make them 10 to 20-fold their investment in less than 3 years and thus they can then have a better, more rewarding life. Sometimes people just need a little 'leg-up' in life. And I'm here to give it to them. I help anyone with breeding whether they buy from me or not.

Thanks again for your positive post Sara. You get half off on any of our 07 animals just for being a decent human being with an optimistic outlook on life. Too bad everyone couldn't be like you.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

Well, I think it's a great concept, but I've always been a firm believer in the idea of if you can't afford the initial purchase of the animal, how are you going to pay for the proper care, setup, etc.....especially when touting the huge profit people can make in 2-3 years, don't you think that could be setting people's expectations a bit high? From my understanding, (please correct me if I am wrong) most of the animals you deal with are the very large snakes (retics, burms), which can be very expensive to feed and house properly....then to feed and house the offspring of that pair until they are sold? I've been in this "business" for a few years now, and I have yet to make a REAL profit, more less doubling or tripling my investments.

Believe me, I understand not being able to afford the brand new high dollar morphs, I have scrimped and saved for what I have....but I fear that a deal like this may open up a whole new can of worms that you may not be prepared for. Verifying that someone's income is actually what they say it is can be an interesting and difficult venture in itself.

That and, well, as Griz said, is it going to hurt your sales from those who actually CAN afford the higher priced animals, but know that you could be selling them for a lot less but choose to price them higher based on what they can afford to pay?

Like I said, it's a great concept.....but I think it needs some more contemplation before implementation.

High End Herps Inc said:

Thanks again for your positive post Sara. You get half off on any of our 07 animals just for being a decent human being with an optimistic outlook on life. Too bad everyone couldn't be like you.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

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You go sara ^_^


I think this is a cool idea too and im interested in how it will turn out. Since this idea is aimed at people like myself, i am somewhat intrigued as to how it all works out. There are some animals ive been interested in and maybe this is the way to go? Maybe once i get one things all finished up with another user here, ill look into this too.

Youre going to be making alot of people REALLY happy methinks!!

Set in stone

Mooing Tricycle said:

I think this is a cool idea too and im interested in how it will turn out. Since this idea is aimed at people like myself, i am somewhat intrigued as to how it all works out. There are some animals ive been interested in and maybe this is the way to go? Maybe once i get one things all finished up with another user here, ill look into this too.

Youre going to be making alot of people REALLY happy methinks!!

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Email me any time and I'll explain in greater detail how it works and I'll help you to get a nice breeding group going that will certainly pay off in 2 to 3 years. I also help all my customers with cheap but effective caging systems, locating inexpensive food sources, marketing their offspring, web design, breeding information and of course an overall comprehensive business plan, all sure to help one succeed. All free.

Honestly, if any of my customers or even occasional herpers that ask for and use my advice should ever fail in their breeding endeavors I would take it as a personal failure on my part in my duty to assist them in their success. When done correctly, the only way to fail in reptile breeding is if your breeding stock dies. If you obtain your breeding stock from a 'clean, pure source', such as from our closed colonies, and you never cross contaminate them with reptiles from unknown sources with unknown histories then your colony will also remain healthy for their natural lifespans.

I am opening a franchise near you Alicia in NH. Perhaps you will be able to make a short drive to hand pick your stock should you decide to go this route.

Let me know what I can do to help.
David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

There are a few things I see that could go wrong.

1) People got upset with MKR and them lowering their prices for everyone. Now you just took some people and said screw you. And then took others and said here is the world.

2) You will have people that will now have family members that never owned herps buying form you. Why? Becuase they are lower income and the high income herp person wants things cheaper.

I honestly think a payment plan to hold an animal would have been a better plan. Or just price your animals at a price for everyone. As I believe you should be able to price your animals at what ever you want. But to seperate people on what price they pay becuase of how much they make? What about the people getting food stamps and what not. Now I pay taxes to help them eat and support their hobbies. See my point?

This is a very noble thing and I think your heart is in the right place. I really really do. But I also think if you want to sell albino Ball pythons for 600 bucks then just do it for everyone. yeah with this new plan you will make alot of people happy but you may also make people very mad. And I am not just saying a little. You may lose the top end sales to these people that earn more.

This is just my opinion. I know it is not what you wanted to hear. But sometimes you have to look at the whole photo album and not just a picture on one page.

Dave,
I wish you nothing but the best, and hope that whatever you end up implementing is enormously successful ... BUT ! The big BUT !!! If such a marketing strategy involving investment or collectable items is to be considered, and even remarked upon as likely to succeed (vs. this is an idea that could "bite you in the butt"), might I wonder why no other business in America, reptile or otherwise, has used such a strategy ? Outside of "10% off for senior citizens", all other subsidies (discounts, etc) for the poor are just that, subsidies by the government where the seller still gets full price. Just food for thought, but what you are doing amounts to shooting yourself in the foot on a marketing principle known as "value perception". It is real. On the other hand, if this is a cover to sell more animals by cutting your price in half, and bypass the criticism laid at the feet of such as MKR (we're on the same page there Tom), then it might work. In that scenario, you are not expecting, or relying on, "full-price" customers to sustain your business anyway....... good luck, sincerely.

hell YES

High End Herps Inc said:

Thanks for the well wishes and for your nice, positive post Sara.

Yes, this idea/concept will certainly work very well. Already I have gotten a huge response about this from folks that otherwise are unable to afford the nice morphs that they have always wanted. I generally tend to believe that most people are honest and I will usually take someone at face value and give them a chance without just automatically distrusting or disbelieving them.

I also feel that this opportunity enables the less privileged, whom often work MUCH harder to make a living than the upper classes, to make some lucrative investments that can make them 10 to 20-fold their investment in less than 3 years and thus they can then have a better, more rewarding life. Sometimes people just need a little 'leg-up' in life. And I'm here to give it to them. I help anyone with breeding whether they buy from me or not.

Thanks again for your positive post Sara. You get half off on any of our 07 animals just for being a decent human being with an optimistic outlook on life. Too bad everyone couldn't be like you.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

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I'm.... pretty speechless. Thanks!

High End Herps Inc said:

I am opening a franchise near you Alicia in NH. Perhaps you will be able to make a short drive to hand pick your stock should you decide to go this route.

Let me know what I can do to help.
David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

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Ill have to check it out eventually when you do open it up! Do you have a date set for when you might open?

Well put

Gary,

You must be commended for your post. You have demonstrated here with this post that you may disagree with my concept/idea on some levels but that you are still able to tactfully and eloquently make your point without insulting me or unnecessarily putting down my business.

I want to set a few things right with a few things in your post that you either got wrong, or that I disagree with:

1) I don't appreciate the comparison to MKR. That is way off base and there is no comparison. They set their prices low on mass produced animals with the sole intention of damaging the ball market so as to seek a revenge on certain ball-morph-based reptile breeding businesses, (which will remain un-named). We keep our prices on all our morphs at what we consider to be a "fair market value" based on the availability of the morph/species and upon our 4 month unconditional guarantee, which no one else anywhere offers or comes close to.

2) We do have a payment plan. The best and easiest to manage in the entire reptile industry. It's on our first page on our website. One can obtain any animal (or group of animals) from us for just 50 dollars down and as little as 50 dollars every 90 days. We also feed their animals for free and they can choose how big they want their animal/s to grow by the time they get it or them, (within healthy perimeters)

3) I don't produce ball morphs. I have my own reasons for this which do not have to be stated here.

Gary O said:

1) People got upset with MKR and them lowering their prices for everyone. Now you just took some people and said screw you. And then took others and said here is the world.

I honestly think a payment plan to hold an animal would have been a better plan. Or just price your animals at a price for everyone. As I believe you should be able to price your animals at what ever you want. But to seperate people on what price they pay becuase of how much they make? What about the people getting food stamps and what not. Now I pay taxes to help them eat and support their hobbies. See my point?

This is a very noble thing and I think your heart is in the right place. I really really do. But I also think if you want to sell albino Ball pythons for 600 bucks then just do it for everyone.

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As to anything else, I respect your opinion and would never attempt to try to change it. Differing opinions is what makes the world an interesting place.

Thanks for your input,
David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

NH franchise

Mooing Tricycle said:

Ill have to check it out eventually when you do open it up! Do you have a date set for when you might open?

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It should be up and running in 4 to 6 months.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc

We're looking forward to hearing from each and every one of you.

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I thought every post was a positive post. Didn't you want to know what others thought? Can I get 50% off now.

David,
Speaking only for my mention of MKR, but also assuming that Gary's was the same, it had to do with the extent to which MKR was perceived to have "crashed the market", and no one made a link to any other ethics parallels. Again, it harkens back to value perception. If a furniture store has a sign in the window that says "All things half price every Tuesday", many buyers would have a hard time justifying ponying up full price the other 6 days of the week. If one customer can buy at $5, and the other must pay $10, the customer paying $10 is going to have a difficult time perceiving that the value is $10.
If your animals truly have a value above the "half-price-for-the-poor" price, is it not prudent for a buyer with deeper pockets to find someone who would qualify to buy yours at the lower price to make the purchase ? Perhaps for a "poor buyer" to become a bit entrepreneurial and find a way to resell at a mark-up ?
You chose to post this here in Fauna, and some have raised very legitimate red flags, such as proof of qualification, value perception, is there an existing parallel model, etc. Just trying to make the world an interesting place .

David,

The fact that you already do offer an excellent and easy payment plan is what first caused me to question the whole idea. If the snakes are already priced at what you believe is a fair price, why do certain people get to purchase at below that price? Is it not a fair price for everyone? If you can still make a fair profit selling them at half price, why are you selling to some at the higher price? Different areas of the country have different standards for "low income", are you going to differentiate for cost of living? I've dealt with people applying for free and reduced-cost memberships at the YMCA where I used to work, and even for that small amount, you'd be surprised the lengths people would go to just do convince us that they were low-income, when indeed they were not.

I understand you have the best of intentions, but I think these are the sort of questions that a lot of people will have, and I do think they are fair questions.

Answers to your questions

Hello Cat,

They are fair questions. But I would think that what I am doing and why should be self-evident and self explanatory. I will however answer each of your questions in turn and hope that I can make some sense of this for you and some of the others that don't quite see the logic of it.

<The fact that you already do offer an excellent and easy payment plan is what first caused me to question the whole idea. If the snakes are already priced at what you believe is a fair price, why do certain people get to purchase at below that price?>

Because they can't afford them at the fair market prices and I have the power to give them what they want at an affordable price based on their limited income.

<Is it not a fair price for everyone? If you can still make a fair profit selling them at half price, why are you selling to some at the higher price?>

No, this is custom-tailored for disadvantaged people that don't have it so easy. That don't have good paying jobs. That don't have well-to-do family to help them in times of need. That are on their own. There are a lot of folks that just barely make ends meet and I came up with this notion so as to help such people to have an opportunity to actually turn things around for themselves. To be able to generate more income so as to have a better life. Sure there are low-down scammers that try to lie, cheat and con their way through life. But that doesn't mean that everybody is that way. And I won't let the minority of bad apples ruin it for the majority of good folks in the world.

<Different areas of the country have different standards for "low income", are you going to differentiate for cost of living?>

Yes. That is what I mean by, (by demographic definition). I realize that minimum wage and the cost of living in New York is different than in Alabama.

<I understand you have the best of intentions, but I think these are the sort of questions that a lot of people will have, and I do think they are fair questions.>

Sure they are fair questions. I hope I helped to make this easier to understand. I do have the very best intentions for every form of herper from every walk of life. I'm sure you would not begrudge a disadvantaged herper from getting a break if it came down to it.

Back door deals are made all the time by every breeder in the world. They sell their stock to their business acquaintances and friends for ten cents on the dollar. But nobody really ever hears of this. It also has no effect on the actual market one bit. I will never list my animals for listed half values. People may apply quietly and discretely and it will never be advertised. I merely made this announcement and posted about it on our site because I must let the herp world at large know what we are doing here for the less fortunate. It's our way of giving back and spreading our own good fortune I suppose. All I know is it feels very good when I am able to help good folks out that are just down on their luck. I hope that eventually everyone is able to see the good side of this.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc