I've read through this whole thread. I didn't have time yesterday, but 12 pages in one day, wow, a nerve was hit! I now have a better appreciation of what a breeder goes through and a sense of their priorities. I may not have walked in your shoes, or spent a day doing your work, but I think I have a clue what it would be like now. A lot of hard work.
As a customer in general I'd like to make a few observations I've had over the last couple of years. I have another hobby, that includes mostly sideline businesses similar to yours. Not reptiles but live, that must be cared for daily, worry over heat and cold in shipping, out growing the space, etc.
I can give examples if you want them. I'll put them as suggestions rather than complaints. These mostly come from nonreptile shopping attempts, some successful some not. None of them are from people here. So here it goes:
Make it easy for me to give you my money! If you have an ad, please give an e-mail address and maybe a phone number. Don't have one of those stupid forms you fill in on your website to contact you. List an address to reach you at. Your name. It isn't Cheers, not everyone knows your name! Say all the ways you can take payments and try to be as flexible as possible. Have preferences, but have alternatives other than PayPal (please, please, please).
If you have changed focus and are not selling what you were known for, say so on the home page! If you sold your breeding stock to someone else, point shoppers there.
If you leave your website up, even though you've gone out of business, say so on the home page. "We have gone out of business, but are leaving the website up so past customers can research pedigrees, crossings, sources etc. Also we feel the information here is of value and it is our gift to the community. Thank you for your past patronige."
If you aren't keeping your website up to date, say so; "We are still in business, just too busy to keep available listings up to date, please feel free to contact us at xxxxxxx with your wants and we will let you know if we have it or when we expect to have it."
If it takes you awhile to respond to e-mails, say so! "Depending on the time of year it may take us up to a week to respond to your enquiry. If it has been longer than that, please send a follow-up in case your first e-mail got caught in a spam filter, some how overlooked or forgotten in the rush."
Finally, please don't make me open an account on your website to buy something from you. I don't want to join your "club", I want to give you money to get something in return. (I think this is one mainly for the non-hobbiest seller).
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I l know I'm a new guy here and not part of the "in" crowd. None of you know me and I hope I didn't come across as critical - that's not how I meant it. I wanted to vent a little bit and this seemed like a good thread to do it in. If any of it is useful to you, great! If not, well thanks for reading.
Thank you all for listening.
Pugs
p.s. I spent so long on this, the system logged me out! Thank the gods for cut and paste.
I'd probably keep more than I sell lol. XD End up on Hoarders. XD