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Opinions Wanted

B

Bob Garby

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I'm looking for some opinions on a recent experience. I will not mention any names as I can't see any good coming out of it.

I recently contacted a breeder to be placed on his waiting list for hatchlings of a not too common animal. He was very polite and said that if his adults failed to produce this year, he was probably going to sell them. I responded by thanking him for his quick reply, wished him luck breeding his animals, and added that if he should decide to sell the adults I was interested in buying them.

Exactly thirteen days later I scan the kingsnake.com classifieds and find the breeder has listed for sale the adult animals in which I expressed interest. I immediately sent off an email telling him I wanted them. Naturally he responded that they were already reserved.

Am I out of line for being a bit perturbed here?

Comments appreciated.

Bob Garby
 
i hate to say it but i think that happens all the time.
its happened to me..and yes its frustrating and what to do about it i dont know.
there really isent much you can do but maybe avoid that person in the future if they dont take an interest in helping you fulfill your needs ...there are plenty of snakes in the jungle.
 
Am I out of line for being a bit perturbed here?
Click to expand...

Bob,

Were you upset by the fact he did not contact you?

regards,

Daniel
 
This is one of those rare instances where if it was ME that had the adults and had spoken to you.... I would have told the OTHER GUY that I had made a mistake and couldn't sell them to him because YOU were first! THAT would be the RIGHT thing to do! I would be just as upset as you are if it happened to me.... and rightly so! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED! It's not YOUR fault that his memory (like mine) is SHOT! He should live up to his promise!

....Neil
 
I'm assuming this was over email?

If so do you still have the record? I would forward them all to him...

and then move on. :(
 
Bob,

Maybe he honestly forgot about it. That can happen.

Hopefully the waiting list did not require deposits. One day he was signing people on a "babies" waiting list. Less than two weeks later his adults failed to reproduce, and he decides to sell them. Now, IMO that's what's really disturbing.

Best regards.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Daniel (Were you upset by the fact he did not contact you?) -
Yes, I was upset that he didn't contact me prior to listing the animals. Since it was only 13 days from the time I expressed interest in the breeders and them being advertised for sale, I have to believe he had a good idea he was going to part with them. I know it would take me a while to debate selling animals to which I had devoted several years.

Steven (I'm assuming this was over email? If so do you still have the record?) -
Actually it was both email and phone. I forwarded my original email to him with my desire to obtain the adults when I responded to his kingsnake ad.

To be fair, the breeder never verbally accepted my offer to purchase the adults, so we never discussed a price. I was more than willing to pay the price he listed on kingsnake, though. He has since sent me an email stating the buyer actually paid more than his asking price.
 
Hi Daniel (One day he was signing people on a "babies" waiting list. Less than two weeks later his adults failed to reproduce, and he decides to sell them.)-

He was not soliciting for his wait list. Through my research I found he was working with animals I wanted, so I inquired about being put on his list. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks.

Bob Garby
 
To be fair, the breeder never verbally accepted my offer to purchase the adults, so we never discussed a price.
Click to expand...

Bob,

I'm still puzzled by the fact that one day he is thinking on breeding them, thirteen days later they are sold. Maybe you saved yourself from a headache. Just a thought.

Take care!
 
Daniel,
I think the breeder is making a move to specialize in a particular animal, and is reluctantly selling the animals (different species) I wanted to raise funds. I have no doubt on the quality of any of his stock.

Thanks,
Bob Garby
 
Bob Garby said:

Steven (I'm assuming this was over email? If so do you still have the record?) -
Actually it was both email and phone. I forwarded my original email to him with my desire to obtain the adults when I responded to his kingsnake ad.

To be fair, the breeder never verbally accepted my offer to purchase the adults, so we never discussed a price. I was more than willing to pay the price he listed on kingsnake, though. He has since sent me an email stating the buyer actually paid more than his asking price.
Click to expand...


That's all well and good that someone else paid more than asking price (suspicious in my mind as is... as we were discussing in another thread, did the buyer "outbid" someone who had already agreed to pay) but since he never discussed a price with you its obvious all he had to do was name his price in an email reply to you prior to posting an ad. He didn't owe it to you, but it would have been nice.

Meanwhile I do think it sounds odd that he sold to someone who offered more than what he was asking.
 
I think the breeder is making a move to specialize in a particular animal, and is reluctantly selling the animals (different species) I wanted to raise funds. I have no doubt on the quality of any of his stock.
Click to expand...

He probably forgot about it then. It can happen. As for the fact that someone paid more than his asking price...Where do they get those customers? Am I the only one always stuck with the ones willing to pay less? :)

If you still want those animals so badly, try to find who did he sell them too. Get in touch with him and let him know about your interest in the babies. Who knows you might get lucky and this person might decide to sell you the adults in the near future. I was lucky and followed the track of two different snakes. One of them through two owners the other through one. They are both with me now!

Relax and enjoy the weekend!
 
I hate waiting lists

I understand, I would be bummed too.

And it is strange that there was less than a two week period of attempting breeding before giving up and selling adults?

But, I can tell you from the other side...I hate waitng lists and I try my hardest not to do them. I always have a bunch of people emailing me saying that they want dibs on my next clutch (even when a current clutch is available?). I used to take all the names and emails down, and then of course, I email them all back in a month or whenever, and...no takers. It wound up being a big PITA to track all of these people for nothing. And, with a high volume of email, people can be missed easily. So now I just say, email me a reminder in...weeks. Or just keep checking such and such classifieds--sorry.

But, that stinks and I would be bummed too. Next time, just keep harassing the breeder so they are sure to remember who you are and that you REALLY want them. They probably got a bunch of people "let me know if you decide to sell" and just took it in stride or forgot. But, they were taking names for babies and it was just a couple weeks...I dont know.

Maybe the buyer will back out?

Dana
 
Dana makes a good point here. I have tons of people talking to me each year and saying they would like to have this or that if I ever put adults on surplus. And I also used to make little notes of them and put them on my desk. But this proved to be a wasted effort for a number of reasons. One is because I would often lose those notes as more pressing notes got thrown on top of them. Secondly, the number of people changing their minds about something they were so hot about a month or two ago was astonishing.

So quite frankly, I don't do that any longer. Matter of fact, I don't even allocated even one brain cell when someone tells me that they want something and I should contact them when I make it available. It's not that I am being malicious about it, I just know I am usually wasting my time.

When I decide to put adults on surplus, I break out the camera, put photos on a web page, and post it for everyone to take a shot at. Everyone has a fair shot at being the first to see what I have put up there.

I think people fail to realize that some of us get a LOT of phone calls and emails. And it could be the person whom was the subject of this thread just had a change of mind about the plans for these animals and decided to sell them after all. But couldn't remember whom it was that asked about them two weeks ago. Heck, I can't remember who I talked to yesterday, much less two weeks ago! And I am sure there are a lot of other people out there with just as much on their minds as I have on mine.
 
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