• 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.

Starting Your Own Business

I

ianedward1

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Messages
56
Reaction score
3
Points
8
Location
Lawrenceville, GA
So this is mainly targeted towards those with brick & mortar type establishments. I live in an area with a population sizable enough to be defined as a city, support multiple colleges, and have a nearby international airport. Despite all this, the main access to exotic pets is Petsmart. The one local business has a tiny selection behind their fish tanks that is riddled with mites. We have a Repticon every six months, but it is not one of the big shows by a long shot.

My main question here is, is it possible to really have an exotic pet store as a profitable business? What are your most profitable areas? Would you advise trying to take on an industry giant wholesale store like Petsmart? Have internet sales become a necessity in business survival?

Any encouragement/discouragement from the idea is welcome.
 
My local exotics shop thrives for several reasons:

- They raise and sell mice, rats, and ASF as feeders and they're looking at expanding to rabbits. They started strictly as selling both live and frozen bulk feeders, the exotic critters and dry goods came later. I'd say more than half of their space is dedicated to feeder production and I'd bet this is still the most profitable part of their business.

- They stock healthy, mite-free, decent quality but not super-expensive high-end critters housed in clean, appropriate enclosures. You won't find a species like a BRB that needs high humidity stuck in a dry screen-top tank suffering from stuck shed and multiple eyecaps.

- They do quarantine new arrivals and make sure they are healthy and feeding before they get moved to the public sale area.

- They do have an online presence and ship.

- For dry goods stick with high-turnover consumables like substrate, or equipment where when it breaks the customer wants a new one immediately, like a decent quality thermostat.

- If you have the space you can consign used equipment like racks.

Finally, since you have to care for live animals, expect to work every day for several years.
 
The working every day caring for animals would be a break for me. I work a shift job and then come home to care for an entire room of animals as is lol
 
I figure that feeders would be a huge profit source, especially since they are so scarce in my location. Plus, you can always freeze and ship the surplus through online orders. I just wonder what kind of profits margins are there exactly, since renting a large enough space for front store, feeder racks, quarantine area, etc., can be so costly. I know that the typical business plan shouldn't expect to profit within the first 1-3 years, so I wonder what kind of startup savings one would need.
 
So start with a few feeder colonies at your house first, sell the excess locally for cash, track income and expenses for the feeders, and see how many colonies you would need to run to justify renting space. Plus if/when you ever do get to that point you'll already have a customer base.
 
What about breeding some novel prey items? Right now, I don't think anyone breeds slugs. If you selected a nice species that's widely accepted, those could be quite popular with salamander keepers. Wild caught ones are at risk for pesticides and parasites so not very desirable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top