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Wholesaling questions/pricing

cobained

cobained

New member
This is the first year I'll be producing any real number of hatchlings, and quite possibly the last as we'll be moving again next summer and don't know where. My corns have produced quite a bit better than expected for first timers, and I have decided to try to wholesale at least half of the hatchlings to get down to a more managable/enjoyable number (about 30). I have found a local who buys wholesale, but his offers were quite a bit lower than I expected, even for wholesale. Can anyone fill me in a bit on general pricing and terms for wholesale animals? I'm expecting stripes (classic, anery, snow, ghost) and bloodreds (all with great hets, but i understand those don't matter wholesale).

I may try selling on here as well, but besides having to use SYR/RE, the weather in south Alabama isn't exactly good shipping weather for the next 4 months.
 
If you're going to try and retail them on cs.com, I doubt that you wanna be posting wholesale prices on this thread- it might undermine your future sales. Wholesale prices these days are down right insulting-lol. I've been watching ADULT Kingsnake morphs sell on FB for $20-$40ea... BIG adults...heck, someone spent more than that in mice to grow 'em that big.

Many breeders purposefully didn't breed (or slimmed down their production substantially) so they won't be stuck with a bunch of hard-to-sell babies.

Hopefully the market will begin to bounce back over the next few seasons.

Good news is, Stripes should sell easier than normal patterned corns.

Good luck!
 

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Everyone and thier dog breeds corns now, the market is and has been saturated for the last three or four years, like I have said in the past.. There is more supply than their is demand.. At some point people are going to realize the market has fallen out, even on high end morphs.. Cornsnakes have become to the reptile world as Convicts have become to the Cichlid World.. Cheap and now disposiable.. I am hoping and praying that people stop the insanity of heavy breeding...

Your going to be lucky to get $10 to $15 for any corn morph from a Wholesaler now..
 
I don't know about the US market apart from what I read here, but it seems that if you need to shift Corns in bulk, you should just be grateful that you're able to.

As others have said, it's very much a buyer's market - presumably your local wholesale buyer knows that you can't sell them to anyone else in your area. The morphs you list aren't that hard to come by generally, so I'm not sure selling over the internet would be viable. People might be prepared to pay shipping on those morphs from an established and reputable breeder like Kathy or Don S, but I doubt a buyer would pay the premium from an unknown breeder.

The bottom line at the moment, is that you take what you can get unless you're prepared to put the work into selling direct (which can take months). If that means you don't cover your costs, then I'm afraid, so be it. I finally managed to sell my last four 09s a couple of months back, and they were Caramel Mot and Butter Mot.
 
well I don't know about the wholesale market but I rather buy from you guys on the forum than anyone in my area right now.
 
TandJ said:
Your going to be lucky to get $10 to $15 for any corn morph from a Wholesaler now..
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$15 would be awesome... you might even be able to pay for mice at those prices. :) Alot of the big wholesalers that buy babies in bulk have been offering about 1/2 that lately for basic morphs...

I agree with ya 100% TandJ- the market is saturated. The economy is starting to knock breeders out. We've seen a few of the big names and a handful of us mid-sized guys drop out. With the economy at this rate it'll continue to happen... sooner or later enough people will drop out.

I used to see the same cycle (on a much smaller scale) with albino burms.... for a while everyone wanted them and going price was $125-$150.... alot of people would breed them... prices would drop ($65-$75)... people would drop out... demand still there...prices would go back up to $125-$150. Feeding a huge burm collection must kill those breeders (colubrids are expensive enough)...

I don't have a crystal ball to see our hobbys future but until things get better, I'm just going to work on line breeding my projects and improving my bloodlines...limiting my production of lower end stuff to just extras from projects...
 
Razz said:
well I don't know about the wholesale market but I rather buy from you guys on the forum than anyone in my area right now.
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The big corn names left- Don & Kathy- are both AMAZING people...don't ever worry about getting cruddy animals from them- they are top notch people with top notch animals. The same can't be said for other re-sellers/jobbers/etc. that buy & resale.

You're right- purchasing well cared for babies from dedicated forum members is always a great way to go- they produce way less and devote more time to establishing neonates and can usually provide you with an extensive background/genetic history on the animal....

It's well worth the shipping costs to buy off here (or from Don & Kathy) instead of a big chain store-- even if it ends up costing you alittle more. In the end you'll be thankful.

SORRY to get off topic again cobained!!!! I apologize.
 
Yeah, the market has been crashed for a while now. I cut back my breeding this year a lot. Only doing 4 pairings this year - and I'm only doing those as they're projects I want to see come to fruition. I'll hold back enough to continue the project, and will probably wholesale the rest.

Just not worth it to sit on them for months hoping for a buyer, even if they're (what I think) cool projects.
 
thanks for the input. i've spoken more with the resaler and he was agreed to pay a little more and take 3 meals as feeders (instead of his original 5 meal requirement). I will probably go ahead and sell about half my hatchlings to him, and try to locally sell the rest. If I wind up going to Daytona I'll probably put an ad up here for Daytona delivery only. I'd just really like to see some of these babies go to responsible owners who might like to breed them in a few years...most of them will have decent/multiple hets.

Do wholesalers usually have feeding requirements on hatchlings?

And I completely understand the markets way down...even compared to a few years ago when I bought the bulk of my corns. I thought I was paying low prices then! I probably wouldn't have bred this year either, but with moving it was possibly my only real chance. I may try to keep a few pairs by putting them on breeding loans for next year, but that's so scary too! Silly military lifestyle!
 
cobained said:
Do wholesalers usually have feeding requirements on hatchlings?
Click to expand...


Some do and some don't. I wholesaled a group last year at out-the-egg prices without offering food.... I'm sure 99% ate without any issues. The two wholesalers I contacted prior to the sell wanted proven feeders. I have trouble letting established feeders go for "below wholesale"/out-the-egg prices (hence cutting back drastically on production in this economy).

It sounds like you have it under control. CHERRY PICK the best and brightest to resale...wholesale the rest... at least this way you'll have less mouths to feed and can concentrate more on selling you hand-picked animals. Many of the people on this board and others will appreciate your cool multi het animals.... Try local pet stores too. They usually buy from the wholesalers you sell to (at an increased price) and are happy to pay $15-$20 (or give ya some good store credit) for a small group (5-10) babies. Heck, they are getting better animals DIRECT from the breeder! I have a few pet stores that usually take 10 lot mixed morph groups at a much better price than wholesalers offer...

Good luck buddy- I bet it won't be as bad as we think!
 
Last year the local pet store and I had a reptile show at the end of july. Was able to sell some of my normals. The store advertised and stocked up as well as got grab bags from exo-terra and another guy that does pythons in the area also was there. The store got traffic and had an awesome day.

You can also trade them at the dixie or west alabama reptile shows. Just expect low offers.
 
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