Can of worms in here ;) - Priceing low to help the hobby - ya right

DireWolf0384

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
783
The only people high T and invert prices hurt are those that cannot afford it. It IMO, creates a "Elitism" and that can be bad.
 

EDED

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Messages
549
dont tell me how to price my possession

helping the hobby means captive breeding not droppping loads of cash to some european dealers and selling them high for your profit.

i dont have money, i dont want to pay alot

i dont feel like feeding 1000's of babies, i have another job that pays well i dont expect making money selling bugs, you shouldnt either,

free country, i do what i feel like.

my 2 cents, not aimed at any particular people, just saying this is retarded and selfish on all sides, its a hobby for me, so i really could careless about making money aspect.
 

KenTheBugGuy

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
676
man

This subject has gone round and round and people just keep repeating the same things. Eded nobody is telling you how to price you slings. If you read through just a couple pages you will see that.
 

Printer

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
15
Hi Ken,
now I'll try to answer to your first post.
I'm sorry, but my english isn't good and i don't have the time for read all pages.

Well...
Im agree with you on some of your points: if you want to breed a spider you must think to eventual slings. You can't sell of all for "nothing" only because you don't have time.

However im agree with breeders who sell "cheap" slings for disseminate new species, to avoid catches in the wild.
Let me explain.
For example, Poecilotheria metallica...
For many people is the best spider in the world, so a lot of retailers/importers do business by selling spiders for high prices, like 250€ for a WC female! :embarrassed:
One of the few things that we can do like spiders keepers/breeders, is to help against the extinction. This species is endangered. The main reason is the brutal deforestation but maybe "we" can help to save some specimens.
With this i don't want to say to give spiders for free... but sell spiders like P. metallica for 250€ isn't hurting the hobby only, but also the nature.
As spiders keeper one of the most important things is respect for this animals, business come later.

Sorry again for my bad english, i hope you can understand my message!
Cheers, Andrea
 

Fran

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
1,533
Ciao andrea, come stai :)

I agree with you, and I agree with Ken when he try to explain the costs of being a dealer.
Still, when money gets involved, there will always be people who will price high to make more money.
 

Bosing

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
891
+1

Just wow. Ken hit it right on with one point ... just nowhere close on the topic itself. Dealer oversaturation has done a lot of destruction to the hobby. When I first got here there were hobby pioneers still in large numbers. We traded amongst each other and sold off our excess stock low enough where we made money back to feed our own projects we enjoyed keeping and learning about. Thanks to dealers trying to make a buck from something that was trading at a market sustainable price, the pioneers got disgusted in large numbers. Im not saying dealers are bad .... but really when are there too many? When they start driving up prices because they are fighting for the same stock and then having to mark it up higher to justify paying the bills vs supporting a hobby that was meant to do nothing but eat their money, the dealers hurt the hobby by pricing out people who collect large numbers of species and traded around the world to get in new stock. Large amounts of dealers are great for people who keep maybe 5 or less and lose interest quick in the hobby. Part of the fun of this for me was that I had to bide my time and wait to collect from either in or outside of my friend circle.

The guy giving slings away cheap ... that does help the hobby a lot ... just doesnt help the dealers bottom line. Few dealers are bringing much new in (im not saying all) ... just buying out hobbyists and reselling their stock marked up. Ever notice how we pass things along and then that gets passed along again through a network of friends? Someone turns a friends excess slings into a breeding project and then they get bought by others wanting to own 1 ... or 10. Im sorry if it hurts the dollar value, but this isnt about dollar value for me. Hate to tell ya this but I still give stuff away to friends on occasion for free. Do you think that hurts serious collectors or the hobby? Please tell us how. Scorpions and tarantulas are not mainstream commodities. This hobby was not about turning a buck when I got here. We loved our bugs and we loved trading them. We made lasting friendships in the process of passing along our joy. There were a few dealers and it balanced itself out. If this doesnt scale back on the profit turning were going to keep slowly going the way of baseball cards. History has a way of repeating itself and you can already see it if youve been here a fair number of years.
Very well said, and I agree.
 

Ranty

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
16
My 2 cents..

Ok people... here is my 2 cents on this.

I just started to breed Tarantulas, and I'm finding the whole experience a great way to learn more about certain sp. of T's. I breed to learn and have fun and joy in helping to create new life. I have only gotten one sac from my P. ornata, and sold most of it wholesale to a dealer who has helped me through the whole thing. The rest was sold or traded. I plan on doing a LOT more breeding and hoping to get many sacs. If so, the same thing will happen. 50 to 75% will be sold as wholesale to dealers who I trust and that have helped and the rest will be sold or traded.

Now the dealer I deal with and who has been very helpful to me, has made a lot of good points when selling slinges... Since I'm not a dealer but have expenses, I don't want to undersell what I'm offering or basically I'm going to be spending more on supplies and cages and I'm not going to increase my experience in the hobby due to the lack of money to keep my beautiful T's healthy and well fed. I'm not going to be able to afford males to knock up my girls, and basically not going to be doing what I enjoy. So he proposed that I sell just a little lower then retail... That way I can move them and not lower the overall cost. Sorta like a sale. Plus it will get my name out there.

Ken as a dealer has a huge amount of stock that needs to be maintained, not to mention the price to package a single tarantula. If you all notice he has a general price when shipping 1 to 6 T's (depending on the size) The cost is overnight shipping and that's it... (If I'm wrong Ken just slap me) He pays for packing, th hot and cold packs, the drive to the post office, and so on. His overhead is huge compared to mine. So his prices to me are fair. (although I wish some were lower, {D )

I know how much time it takes to care for a large amount of slings and adult T's. I know how much of a pain it is to feed a couple of hundred, plus slings. I know how easy it is to sell at wholesale, and I know how hard it is to sale multiple slings to multiple people.

We need dealers... They have hundreds of different T's, they have the advice, and they have the contacts to other breeders... Selling T's way below retail cost to help the hobby is a good jesture, but in the long run your screwing yourself, and everyone else by chasing the dealers out.

I hope this made sense...
 
Top