Have any of you ever wished you jumped on a snake that was for sale and looking back on it you regret not taking the deal? I just wanted some people to share stories because a friend of a friend awhile back offered me several big proven breeder females for a really good deal and I for whatever reason turned down the offer (a choice I now feel stupid about). And no these animals were not cheap because they were sick. I just wanna know people made the same mistake as me 
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I’ve made that mistake several times. I regret them when I think about them, but I told myself in 2020 that I won’t pass up anything that might benefit me in the future.
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One of my local breeders has a banana het pied male for sale that I really want… but don’t have the extra cash right now to get him 
I’d love to make banana pieds in the future so he’d be perfect for that project!
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Years back I was looking to get my first snake. My local pet store had a really nice baby corn snake and a children’s python…corn was $15 and the childrens was $50…at the time I’d always had lizards and wasn’t sure if snakes were going to be my thing so I went with the corn snake…always regretted not getting the python even though I enjoyed my corn snake
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Once came across an albino pied boy at an expo for $250 as he was missing an eye, but I went with a breeder female instead… Ouch. I don’t regret that girl though!
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@trnreptiles
I feel you. I’m just starting but damn it’s hard when there are almost no breeders with anything else than normal and pastel in 300km radius and I don’t have a car. Getting my hands on quite literally any snake is hard and combined with low cash because d’uh - it’s just a beginning of a hobby - even those few chances there were, I missed. Like that bamboo clown someone had like a month ago, exactly when i was broke because x-mass presents. Or just 2 weeks ago when there was a fire enchi yellow belly but someone had already bought it like 3 hours before i saw it on local hobby pet trade site. Timing x distance x expenses suck.
BUT! I’m picking up queen bee next week if everything goes well!
(Edited to fix some typos)
I strongly regret not picking up some Madagascar ground boas from Boas and Balls back when they were in operation. Now I can’t find MGBs anywhere.
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I was offered the first T+ albino Snow Brazilian Rainbow Boas produced and I had the money for them. Now the price for an Albino (in the US) is the same as I would have paid for the Snow. Unfortunately the money had to go to repairs on our new house. I still kick myself for that.
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Yeah, definitely… if he’s still available next time I go in I might ask for a payment plan and put a deposit on him. I think my breeder does payment plans, and they’d probably be willing to work with me more since I’m a regular customer of theirs lol
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A while back my local rat breeder decided to retire. After purchasing feeders else were, I realized I was getting a great deal from her. Now I raise my own and had to build my own racking for them. I regret not buying some of her rack systems for my set up. On second thought, I should have just bought the whole running business and quit my day job.
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The one I wanted sold, but the breeder had another banana het pied in the back that I was able to put a deposit on. Woo!
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When I went and bought my Enchi the seller had a Phantom Spotnose Pastel Fire for £200 and I just didn’t have the money at the time (a wife and 5 kids at Christmas leaves you penniless) and as there was no mention of a payment plan on his profile I just didn’t ask.
He even shown me the animal and said “I’m surprised I’ve had no interest in this one”… I was interested in that one and just couldn’t afford it 
… but there are times you don’t mind seeming poor and there are times your stood in a extremely fancy house, in a really wealthy neighborhood, face to face with a upmarket dude.
I got home and strewed on if for a few days and though “f**k it, I’m going to message him and see if we can sort something out”. I go on his profile and the snake is on hold I just wish I had the cajones at the time to ask about a payment plan
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Here is some STUPID mistakes I’ve made and missed out on in the last week;
Going ahead and blowing $3k on a group of snakes from overseas
Missing out on three breedable females in my price range
Missing out on free shipping for a rack system (that’s now about $418 to ship)
WHY CRUEL WORLD, OH WHY 
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YOU GOT THOSE??? 
Lol. Oh I have no pity for you on those 
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There is nothing wrong with payment plans though. I do that most of the time when I buy a snake .
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If it was a option stated on his profile I would have asked about it, but when it comes to face to face conversations I’m far from delboy or the wolf of wall street 
I would have jumped at the chance to sort a payment plan out had he mentioned it or it been on his profile.
What length plans and payments do you make on average?
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Hmmm well it depends on the price of the animal. If the snake is below $500 I just pay in full upfront. But for a snake that’s like 1k plus it could be anywhere from a month to 2 or 3 months for me. I also dont buy snakes left and right if it sounds like I do lol. I save up for a particular morph or combo I want and then I’ll go shopping when I have the money saved or close to having the total amount. Being good at negotiating prices really comes in handy in the moments where I have most of the money but not all
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I usually offer my customers payment plans of up to 60 days, but during the winter when I can’t ship anyway I extend it to 90 days, or in one case, 120 days (that was an order of 4 snakes). I used to do payment plans only for orders of $500 or more, but I got rid of that policy and it has led to a lot of sales. I’ve only ever had two cases in which a customer was unable to complete a payment plan.
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Just and wait till you see what I produce though!
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@annakirby I’ll bite, what are you producing with them? What are you going to produce?