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If shipping was restricted to just airlines, will that affect your business?

How would shipping airlines only affect me?

  • If I had to ship only through airlines it would only hurt my business slightly.

    Votes: 3 20.0%

  • If I had to ship only through airlines I would pretty much be out of business.

    Votes: 9 60.0%

  • As a buyer if I had to pay for airline shipping I might as well buy from a local pet shop.

    Votes: 5 33.3%

  • As a buyer I would prefer airlines as the only shipping possibility.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
The BoidSmith

The BoidSmith

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In MHO this topic deserves further discussion as well as a “show of hands” on people’s opinion. Reptile sales over the internet have taken off in the last decade because of several things. One is the convenience of shopping from your own home and having access to every other possible breeder/dealer in the country. Another one is the fact that shipping is both convenient for the seller and the buyer, as long as they don’t have to drive long distances to either ship or pick-up. Door to door delivery is without a doubt one of the most convenient things of Internet sales. If the seller would have to drive to the airport every time he had to ship an animal his margins would be pretty much reduced. Let’s assume a worst case scenario where all other carriers decide not to ship reptiles. What are your thoughts on this issue?
 
We'd have to start working out group orders like many of my friends do with tropical fish orders. We get about 5-6 people to do one large order from a vendor and split shipping. A $50 shipping bill split 5 ways is $10, even if you bought an amel corn for $10 you're only talking about spending $20 for the animal....not that bad. Now if you can get a few people to get a $2000 order up it's worth it for everyone including the shipper. The main reason of course with fish is the large size of the shipping containers and weight of water, $70-100 is about average for most medium size fish door to door. You can ship about 10 times as much via airline for $50-60. They also split a lot of international orders for fish that no one else is importing. We get one guy in the US that has an import license to import them then ship either door to door or airlines out to the people around the country. This works great when you can get away with only one international shipping bill and one inspection fee.

My personal business would be affected though, many of my clients would have trouble stomaching the trip to the airport and the higher charges. Not to mention I drive 20 mins to Fedex, the airport is an hour plus because of traffic. (each way) Obviously though my concerns would be much less as I sell higher ticket items that are worth the extra freight and and trouble. $100 beardie vs $2000 BP, much different.
 
Another thing to add- Those of us who sell smaller ticket items might see a huge uptake in wholesale sales to pet stores. Those people that used to buy direct from us might be forced into the pet stores to buy. Then of course the pet stores would start ordering in quantity from the breeders.
 
I'm with Richard I'd take a hit. I have a hard enough time selling a Dragon at $100.00 and convincing the buyer to spend the $40+ on shipping. If shipping is as much as the lizard that would go a long way toward eliminating individuals buying one lizard.
 
Dan,

You left out the a choice similar to: "If it were the only choice available, my purchases and sales would be mostly unaffected".

As I pointed out in the other thread, when you amortize the cost of shipping over the lifetime of a reptile and the annual cost of keeping said reptile (assuming you ship and receive only one at a time; if you buy or sell two in a box then the cost per animal is $15-$18), and extra $30-$35 is really small potatoes ($6-$7 per year for five years or about 12-14 cents per week . Anyone who would let the last few dollars shift them over to an inferior quality animal at Petsmart really is interested only in the bottom line and not quality. And remember, those outfits would also be bound by the same rules and would have higher costs and therefore higher prices.

As a buyer I prefer Delta and I am always willing to pay for it. As a seller I also prefer Delta as it is better for the animal. Though they make mistakes, I haven't heard of too many animals being "cooked" by Delta like the animals recently cooked by UPS in more than one recent thread, or left outside in the cold as we hear about too often in winter.
 
Jim O said:
Dan,

You left out the a choice similar to: "If it were the only choice available, my purchases and sales would be mostly unaffected".

As I pointed out in the other thread, when you amortize the cost of shipping over the lifetime of a reptile and the annual cost of keeping said reptile (assuming you ship and receive only one at a time; if you buy or sell two in a box then the cost per animal is $15-$18), and extra $30-$35 is really small potatoes ($6-$7 per year for five years or about 12-14 cents per week . Anyone who would let the last few dollars shift them over to an inferior quality animal at Petsmart really is interested only in the bottom line and not quality. And remember, those outfits would also be bound by the same rules and would have higher costs and therefore higher prices.

As a buyer I prefer Delta and I am always willing to pay for it. As a seller I also prefer Delta as it is better for the animal. Though they make mistakes, I haven't heard of too many animals being "cooked" by Delta like the animals recently cooked by UPS in more than one recent thread, or left outside in the cold as we hear about too often in winter.
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In the end a few bucks doesn't matter to a herp aficinado but it does to Joe America that might want to buy a bearded dragon or corn snake for his kids. They don't understand amortized over the lifetime of the animal, just the bottom line.
 
I think that breeders who only work with low-$ animals (like me) would be forced to find other avenues to make sales. There would probably be an increase in shows and swaps, but I think that could be a good thing in many ways. At this point, I'm having enough doubt about a would-be customer footing a $40+ shipping charge for a $25-50 cornsnake or gecko. I was hoping that setting up a website and getting just a few people to "know" me would make it possible to sell and ship my animals directly. However, if shipping becomes available only through airlines, I will likely be forced to start selling to the local pet store again. Fortunately, I have a good relationship with them (used to work there for 3+ years) and they can take 90% of what I produce.
 
The BoidSmith said:
If the seller would have to drive to the airport every time he had to ship an animal his margins would be pretty much reduced.
Click to expand...
Then you do what most people who ship this way do. You ship once every two to three weeks and your customers adapt. I just paid for a pair of blue tree monitors. The seller offered three shipping options: He could ship American Airlines in the next few days (Delta Dash no longer services his local airport), he could ship door to door in the next few days also, or he could ship Delta from LAX in about two weeks. I asked him what he thought was best and this was his reply:
Hi Jim,

Dash is probably the best!! I go to LAX every two weeks to export so I can ship Dash from there and set up the best time for you to receive them. I can also ship via DHL overnight but we have to deal with weather problems along the way and often have to wait for good days to ship.
Click to expand...
Of course this is a relatively high dollar purchase but it didn't matter. I paid the $75 for Delta. I'll get the monitors when he ships them.
 
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DragonCharm said:
In the end a few bucks doesn't matter to a herp aficinado but it does to Joe America that might want to buy a bearded dragon or corn snake for his kids. They don't understand amortized over the lifetime of the animal, just the bottom line.
Click to expand...
Perhaps, but then it's your job to educate him, though "Joe America" is going to buy the $20 dragon at the pet store anyway, not a $40-$50 dragon and pay $40 to ship it. You've already lost that sale. But a herper and his buddy who are a bit more serious may really like your dragons, and buy two pairs and split the cost to make it worthwhile. Like I said, people would adapt.
 
A buyers perspective

As a buyer i could not bring myself yo pay $75 shipping for a snake that costs @$20 Unless i really needed or wanted it...lol
Let me explain,Ive been thinking about getting into corn snakes for several months, My local pet stores either dont have them or want to charge to much for them and some wont trade with me so i only buy my feeders from them even if i made it no out of pocket exspense for them (yeah you know who you are):hot:

Where was I
Oh so i look on Fauna,Ks,And yeah i know its wrong even on repti-scam everyday and i see a bunch of decent deals but mostly for lots(i only want a pair to begin with) so i have a few choices

1) pay @$90 for a pair of corns online
2) pay @150 for a ten lot of corns(which i will have to house and feed)online
3) pay @120 for a pair from 1 local petstore
4) swallow my pride and buy from a petstore that wont trade with me and still overpay
5) I can go to my favorite spot and pick and choose from decent prices and decent snakes The Reptile Show where i now go to buy my feeders and reptiles and i get to talk with like minded people and learn from them too

Guess where i got my pair of corns?

But if i see some thing online that i want or got to have or a high end animal that i cant find at the show(or a pair of het pied balls that i have to be sure that they are indeed what they are i will be coming here and buying from a good guy)

So i guess what im saying is:
If im not to particular on the reptiles, I buy from the show
If i am particular, Shipping will just be part of the price i am willing to pay
I hope i made sense...lol
 
Dennis1 said:
If im not to particular on the reptiles, I buy from the show
If i am particular, Shipping will just be part of the price i am willing to pay
I hope i made sense...lol
Click to expand...
Yes, that makes sense and that is my point. And as Paul said, and as I said in the other thread, a lot of low end business will be shifted to the shows and to pet stores. And the result will be more vendors at shows and more quality items at pet stores. Face to face is not a bad way to go. But remember, for many people the show is an hour or more away (for me most are 3-4 hours away -- near DC or in Raleigh, NC -- though there is a show once or twice a year in Richmond, a scant 2 hours away). Another overlooked idea is that people may buy from a regional seller online and arrange to pick up at the next show. I have done that more than once.

:>off_to<: And your pet store is overpriced. My local herp specialty pet store sells low end corns for $25-$30. :raspberry
 
I'm also not a big fan of letting pet stores sell my animals, the only one around here that carries a decent number of herps is on top of my do not sell to list. They weren't caring for my animals properly, were warned that I would stop selling to them and subsequently told they will never buy from me again.

The average consumer doesn't even know what a show is, they expect their pets to come from a local pet store. If they knew what a show was they still wouldn't drive more than 2 miles farther than going to the local pet store. I sell my dragons for about 1/3 of what the stores charge for the same animals from me. Personally I'd rather sell direct- that way the customer is paying a fair price, I *know* the animal is healthy when it leaves my hands, and I can be there to assist post-sale.
 
Dennis1 said:
I think i may be biased
Ive been know to drive 6+ hours with screaming kids in the back seat just to go to a show...lol
Click to expand...
OK. Six hours at 60 mph is 360 miles at 20 mpg is 18 gallons of fuel. At the current price of $2.50/gallon of gasoline that's $45 (each way?), wear and tear on the car and tires not included. Now how expensive was that $75 in shipping? And that's not counting meals out, and overnight lodging for you and your screaming kids (12+ hours in the car and being dragged around for several hours at the show whining that they are hungry and tired is hardly fair to them, now is it? :>poke2<: ). Of course, in all fairness, that doesn't take into account the "entertainment value" of the show.
 
DragonCharm said:
I'm also not a big fan of letting pet stores sell my animals, the only one around here that carries a decent number of herps is on top of my do not sell to list. They weren't caring for my animals properly, were warned that I would stop selling to them and subsequently told they will never buy from me again.

The average consumer doesn't even know what a show is, they expect their pets to come from a local pet store. If they knew what a show was they still wouldn't drive more than 2 miles farther than going to the local pet store. I sell my dragons for about 1/3 of what the stores charge for the same animals from me. Personally I'd rather sell direct- that way the customer is paying a fair price, I *know* the animal is healthy when it leaves my hands, and I can be there to assist post-sale.
Click to expand...
But there are some decent pet shops that would buy your animals in lots and would pay for Delta shipping if there was no "door to door" option. After all, if it's 20-30 animals and it's $30 more it doesn't really increase their cost very much.

Also, and no offense intended, but unless they took your animals on consignment, they were no longer your animals, they belonged to them. That doesn't mean that you need to sell to them but frankly if you came to me and criticized how I was caring for my animals I wouldn't buy from you again either.
 
Jim O said:
But there are some decent pet shops that would buy your animals in lots and would pay for Delta shipping if there was no "door to door" option. After all, if it's 20-30 animals and it's $30 more it doesn't really increase their cost very much.

Also, and no offense intended, but unless they took your animals on consignment, they were no longer your animals, they belonged to them. That doesn't mean that you need to sell to them but frankly if you came to me and criticized how I was caring for my animals I wouldn't buy from you again either.
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It's not that they wouldn't buy from me, I wouldn't sell to them. The animal's health is my primary concern, not making a buck. Therefore if I don't see them treating them properly I don't sell to them.

Yes, in the case of wholesale to pet stores if I had a good sized order going out the trouble to get it to the airport wouldn't be much since the sale was large.
 
Jim O said:
OK. Six hours at 60 mph is 360 miles at 20 mpg is 18 gallons of fuel. At the current price of $2.50/gallon of gasoline that's $45 (each way?), wear and tear on the car and tires not included. Now how expensive was that $75 in shipping? And that's not counting meals out, and overnight lodging for you and your screaming kids (12+ hours in the car and being dragged around for several hours at the show whining that they are hungry and tired is hardly fair to them, now is it? :>poke2<: ). Of course, in all fairness, that doesn't take into account the "entertainment value" of the show.
Click to expand...
You are right it doesn't take into account the "entertainment value"
And i get to spend time with my family
Which i would do before shipping any day
All of my children like to go to shows and all of them have one sort of reptile or another
 
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