• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Shipping included in price

R

reptilebreeder

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What do you folks do when a snake is quoted with the price of shipping included? Say an ad is "Colubrid snake $150 each, shipping included". That's great if you just want one snake, but what if you want several. Do they charge that same price for all? Say I want a trio would it be $450? Essentially you are paying about a $100 for a single snake (for convenience shipping is $50). If they charged the combined trio price you are esentially paying $130 per snake, because you can ship those 3 snakes for the same price. Obviously not for three adult Retics.
I don't think I've ever bought snakes in that situation, as I would have negotiated a "quantity" discount, or not purchased. I have a feeling many times those are "retail" pet stores, that cater to those who are buying one snake.
 
Surely they wouldn't expect to get the sale price plus shipping for each individual snake. I would expect three snakes in the example you gave to be a maximum of $350.
I rarely see the shipping included on the price when multiple animals are available unless they are being sold as a group. Or else I just don't notice unless I'm considering buying it.
I know when I advertise a clutch of offspring I list the price per snake, price per pair, and the shipping cost. I only include the shipping in the price if I only have the one snake or one pair available and I'm selling them together.
 
If I were buying and it was quoted as shipped price and I wanted 3 or 4. I would definitely say something about it to the seller. And if they didn't change the prices accordingly, I would take my business elsewhere.
But I am sure most people would adjust the prices.
 
Yeah, I've seen it mostly when someone is selling "odds and ends". One of each kind of snake or something, but sometimes I've thought about picking up a hodge podge order, and didn't want to deal with the built in shipping cost. I guess if I really wanted the items, I definitely would have negotiated the reduction. Also seems to be popular with the Leo Gecko ads. I don't buy much there, but wondered if buying singles is more popular with the Leo market. I definitly would not pay a combined full price though.
 
Shipping included in the price works just fine up to a certain point/number of animals/weight. When I sell baby ball pythons it's the same price for one as it is for 5. It's still going to be roughly a 2-lb package. A different story would be if you are buying one vs. two adult boa constrictors. In that case I would expect the cost of shipping to be increased accordingly by the seller.

Regards.
 
I just passed on a few snakes for just that reason. A shipped price was advertised (a good price), but I wanted more than one. At first, my request for a total was met with "I have them advertised for $XXX, shipped. so 3 of them would be 3x $XXX, for a total of $YYY." When I pointed out that I shouldn't have to pay the same shipping costs for each additional snake because they were going in the same box, I got a 'best price' of $25 dollars less. Needless to say I am making my purchase elsewhere.
 
hhmoore said:
I just passed on a few snakes for just that reason. A shipped price was advertised (a good price), but I wanted more than one. At first, my request for a total was met with "I have them advertised for $XXX, shipped. so 3 of them would be 3x $XXX, for a total of $YYY." When I pointed out that I shouldn't have to pay the same shipping costs for each additional snake because they were going in the same box, I got a 'best price' of $25 dollars less. Needless to say I am making my purchase elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was talking about. Doesn't make sense to me. Sure if they can eventually sell all the items seperately they will make their money, but to me it's a waste of time trying to rip someone off like that. Sell all 3 for the right price (minus duplicate shipping charges), and that's 3 animals sold, without worrying about making 3 seperate sales, and 3 seperate packaging and shipping. They still end up with the same amount in their pocket (per individual snake). Oh well, you know what they say about "common sense".
 
I've given up hope of finding common sense out there. I requested pics of a few snakes recently - received a few too far away shots (the animal was fairly stretched out, so I am guessing they pulled back to get it all in frame) that weren't particularly clear. I asked for clearer photos, explaining that there were specific traits I was looking for...I was sent more pics from the same photo session (no better, just slightly different positioning as the snake moved). Sorry - drifted off topic there for a sec...if it makes it any better, both of those animals were listed with shipping included prices.
 
If I'm not mistaken I have seen somewhere an ad where they had the shipping broken down by the number of ball pythons shipped. When it was up to an "X" amount (if memory serves me right 12) it was a certain price, if it was more it was adjusted. There's obviously a point where you jump from a 2 lb to a 3 lb package and that is just triggered by one animal as they round it up by one lb increments. That will surely change increase shipping costs.

Regards.
 
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