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good idea or bad idea?
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by Venomjunkie on April 29, 2007
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Hey guys,
My friend and I were at the Western PA Reptile Expo today and we noticed that a lot of the snakes seemed to be underpriced. I was thinking it would be a cool idea to buy some of these underpriced snakes and then try to resell them at regular prices. Please understand that I don't mean take them home and throw them in an inadequate cage an improperly care for them. For the short period of time that I have them they would be in the best of care. That being said is this a good idea or is it something that is frowned upon?
Thanks,
Dylan
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RE: good idea or bad idea?
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by ChuckHurd on April 29, 2007
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if you have the investment capital...its a great idea....but do not invest more then you can loose. there is always the chance you can buy $1000 worth of animals and they all die. and be sure you are really buying under priced animals. just cause you see an animal priced on the net at a certain price, does not mean is will sell at that price. for example, look at the albino western hog nose. they show up for $1200 to $1500 all of the time, but they NEVER move at that price. people who do this for a living at pretty sharpe and if they are selling an animal at a certain price, they are pretty sure that is all the animal will bring.
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RE: good idea or bad idea?
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by Venomjunkie on April 29, 2007
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Well I'm only talking about very low end animals here. I don't intend to make very much money at all by doing this. In my case it would be more of a way to get to work with a wide variety of species considering my parents won't allow me to have any more snakes permanently but they have agreed to let me do this if I want to. Here are a few examples that I saw at the show today that I felt could have been sold at higher prices:
Baby ATBs: Were priced at $30. I could try to sell for $50.
5-6' BCI: Was priced at $80. I could try to sell for $150.
Baby Irian Jaya Carpets: Were priced at $80. I could try to sell for $100.
So as you can see from those examples, I would hardly be making much back at all. However, it would allow me to work with those species for at least a short period of time.
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RE: good idea or bad idea?
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by timberrattlesnake89 on April 29, 2007
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It also will depend on how common the snake is. Sometimes people lower them just to get them off there hands when they are very common.
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RE: good idea or bad idea?
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by LarryDFishel on April 29, 2007
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You would also need to look into the laws in your area. I'm not familiar with PA laws, but in much of the country a state license is required to sell animals or you may need a business license or both.
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Something i see you are not including
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by JungleHabitats on April 29, 2007
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Baby ATBs: Were priced at $30. I could try to sell for $50.
5-6' BCI: Was priced at $80. I could try to sell for $150.
Baby Irian Jaya Carpets: Were priced at $80. I could try to sell for $100.
Ok is that a feeding or non feeding ATB ? for $30 ? if its feeding great. If its non feeding are you going to get it feeding then sell it ?
On the BCI 5-6 ft ??? male or female ? common normal .. anything special about it ? feeding / non feeding? $80 is a common breeder males price I would be hard pressed to pay$150 for a male unless its awesome !!! females might be the $150 range if there NICE or atleast proven if normals .
same question on carpets ...
reason im asking them is being realistic lets say you had bought these animals, you then bring them home feed them ( making sure they eat ) then your responsibility is to make sure there clean from mites etc etc . then you have to at best quarintine them from your present animals and treat them as if there possibly have mites by pre treating the cages etc etc. then if there not feeding your time getting them feeding or getting them clean of mites if they turn up having them. If you sit on the animals for several weeks etc or months then you have lost money on " flipping them" and have as much money in them as when you bought them and planned to sell them for.
You figure in food costs , heating lighting bedding etc your profit margin just went bye bye and you are basically paying ppl to buy your snakes.
And you cant count on moving them at the show all the time because remember the guy you boughtthem from is there selling $30 ATB's , $80 BCI and $80 carpets ... and your selling $$50 ATBS that ya have $75 in ...
just make sure you think it through and pic the NICE healthy and best looking flip animals you can ... but then there normally not cheap ... goodluck
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RE: Something i see you are not including
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by kacz on April 29, 2007
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What you have expressed is two solutions to overcome a restraint. The restraint is your parents limiting of your permanent collection. Your first solution is to become an entrepreneur and move the stock for a profit. I suspect that this is an attractive excuse (not stated in a derogatory sense). The other objective that you expressed was to obtain snakes on a temporary basis and learn as much as you can. This is a fine and noble endeavor, but it sounds more like a plan to expand your parents limitations. It is also problematic. If you cycle these temporary additions it will increase your head count no matter how you look at it. Also, even if you make a small profit on each snake, the energy, feed and other care costs could reduce or eliminate these gains. A couple deaths and you’re in the hole financially.
If you keep the down-side in mind there are advantages to what you suggest. It’s a great way to learn about the market as well as the animals. You’re gonna get burned on occasion, but you will also develop a knowledge of the “tricks of the trade”. Who knows, you may be good enough, and dedicated enough, to turn a profit after a while.
I would suggest that you and your parents agree on a total head count, or cage count. You should give yourself a budget that you can afford and that you must work within. Remember that time is also a consideration, both for caring for the animals and wheeling and dealing. You must also be honest in identifying each animal as either personal (a keeper) or business (a seller). Even if you are quickly disappointed financially, the knowledge you gain about the animals and the business will be permanent.
Paul M. Kaczmarczik
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RE: Something i see you are not including
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by Venomjunkie on April 29, 2007
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Thank you for pointing that out. You made some very good points in that post that I had not considered before.
I didn't think about whether the snake is feeding or not. However, I would be sure to ask that before making any purchases. If it wasn't feeding and I bought it anyway, I would most likely get it feeding before reselling it. Remember, I did say that I would like the experience of keeping a variety of species, even if it is only for a short time. I don't have to make a profit to be satisfied.
I would also try my best to avoid any snakes with mites, simply because I do not have experience in treating them and I don't want to have to learn the hard way.
When I started this thread I was mainly talking about healthy, CB animals that people were trying to sell cheap to make room for other projects. I apologize for not pointing that out. All of those examples I mentioned appeared to be healthy and CB.
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RE: Something i see you are not including
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by Venomjunkie on April 30, 2007
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Paul,
From what I can tell, my parents don't seem to be worried about the head count, so long as most of those heads disappear pretty quickly lol. I figure I could try it a couple of times and see how long it takes me to resell the snakes and then decide whether or not to continue doing it from there. Like I said before, this wouldn't be all about making money. I would really like the chance to work with a larger variety of species and I think this may just be the way to do that.
Does anyone else have an opinion on the subject?
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