Deals you wish you had taken

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 :upside_down_face:

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Iā€™ve made that mistake several times. I regret them when I think about them, but I told myself in 2020 that I wonā€™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 wantā€¦ but donā€™t have the extra cash right now to get him :joy::sob:
Iā€™d love to make banana pieds in the future so heā€™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 childrenā€™s pythonā€¦corn was $15 and the childrens was $50ā€¦at the time Iā€™d always had lizards and wasnā€™t sure if snakes were going to be my thing so I went with the corn snakeā€¦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 insteadā€¦ Ouch. I donā€™t regret that girl though!

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@trnreptiles
I feel you. Iā€™m just starting but damn itā€™s hard when there are almost no breeders with anything else than normal and pastel in 300km radius and I donā€™t have a car. Getting my hands on quite literally any snake is hard and combined with low cash because dā€™uh - itā€™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! Iā€™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 canā€™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, definitelyā€¦ if heā€™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 theyā€™d probably be willing to work with me more since Iā€™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 Ā£200 and I just didnā€™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 didnā€™t ask.

He even shown me the animal and said ā€œIā€™m surprised Iā€™ve had no interest in this oneā€ā€¦ I was interested in that one and just couldnā€™t afford it :weary:ā€¦ but there are times you donā€™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 ā€œf**k it, Iā€™m going to message him and see if we can sort something outā€. I go on his profile and the snake is on hold :weary::weary::weary: I just wish I had the cajones at the time to ask about a payment plan :weary:

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Here is some STUPID mistakes Iā€™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 (thatā€™s now about $418 to ship)

WHY CRUEL WORLD, OH WHY :sob:

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YOU GOT THOSE??? :neutral_face: Lol. Oh I have no pity for you on those :joy::joy:

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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 Iā€™m far from delboy or the wolf of wall street :joy: 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 thatā€™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 Iā€™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 canā€™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. Iā€™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! :joy: :joy:

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@annakirby Iā€™ll bite, what are you producing with them? What are you going to produce?