Price Isn't Everything

[xenesthis]

Mr. Rourke and others:

"So, in your opinion (and anyone else's), can I expect sub-$100 subfusca in the near future, consistenly (in the US)?"

Yes, IF they are bred in the U.S.. I just can't see crazy $200 prices on subfusca if the adults were bred in the U.S. If somebody does it, they are milking it for all they can. The sad thing is they will get their buyers at that price.

When the P. metallica are bred and sold here in the U.S., I certainly hope the price will be under $200. If they aren't, well, I would not agree with that, but again, they will sell at that price too.

It's all about what hobbyists here get used to. I hate to see $2 spiderlings on the net and I hate to see $400 ones. I understand it's economics to a degree, but mixed inside is greed and the old standby truism, "there is a sucker out there for everything".

Let's hope prices come down on some of these over-hyped species soon.

Todd

[Immortal_sin]

I'm not sure not naming them is a good idea unless you aren't sure about it. If you know of someone that's definatly ripping people off you should try to make people aware of who it is. I know if I did business with them and got ripped off and then you said, "Yeah, they rip everyone off." I'd be ticked at them but a little upset with you too since you knew beforehand.

This person has been named, in the appropriate forum. EVERYONE thinking about buying online should check out the 'seller inquiry' forum FIRST.

[Andrew vV]

Well said Todd, and oh so true

[tkn0spdr]

This person has been named, in the appropriate forum. EVERYONE thinking about buying online should check out the 'seller inquiry' forum FIRST.

Thanks, being new to the forums myself I hadn't ever scrolled far enough down the list of rooms to even see those areas yet, I'll be sure to check them out.

[Pheonixx]

all the more i can say is now that i want to get into a buisness breeding these things...they become a tax write-off! buisness supplies are a write off, can you even imagine somewhat FREE T's? you'd still have to pay state sales tax and such but wooo hooo. IMO all it will take is time and saturation of the market for prices to come down. the more species available the more people will have and the chances more people will breed them. In my situation i cant house thousands of slings so selling them to SSW or swifty cheap is a great deal. because i get a good deal, they get a good deal and quite likely the buyer will get a good deal because the dealer got them at a good price from the breeder.
Selling spiders cheap is the same as Wal-marts clearance aisles, overstock that needs to be sold to make room for new stock.

[Washout]

Selling spiders cheap is the same as Wal-marts clearance aisles, overstock that needs to be sold to make room for new stock.

Oh man now your stepping in a big pile of <bleep>. Wal-mart and its business practices are horrible for everyone. Those kinds of practices cause a lowering of prices for the manufactured goods, thus setting off a ripple effect that then lowers the wages of the people making the goods, and at the same time lowering the pay of their own employees and lowering the overall quality of life for everyone involved.

Because wal-mart touches so many industries they cause a gigantic domino effect. That can eventually lead to many bad things happening to whatever they touch.

In theory super cheap spiderlings do the same thing to the spider market. You get less money for them so people become unwilling to breed them because it's not economically viable anymore. If it is true that the big breeders keep species going then anything they don't breed may be apt to disappear from the hobby.

However even saying all that the industry is probably still too new to know what happens when a big breeder stops breeding something like OBT's, curlyhairs, or Brazilian Salmon Hairs that easily produce tons of slings. And as far as I can see dealers still offer these species for sale and breed them occasionally.

[Wade]

However even saying all that the industry is probably still too new to know what happens when a big breeder stops breeding something like OBT's, curlyhairs, or Brazilian Salmon Hairs that easily produce tons of slings. And as far as I can see dealers still offer these species for sale and breed them occasionally.

If the big breeders stopped breeding or selling these species it would have little or no effect on their availability, because all the private hobbyists will continue to breed them and sell/trade them to each other. It doesn't take a full-time "professional" breeder to breed these species. I believe that most of these species being sold by the full-time breeders originated with hobbyists even now, after all why take time away from more lucrative projects to breed them when you can buy them in large numbers VERY cheaply from a private hobbysist who suddenly finds him/her self overloaded with thousands of spiderlings with no means to sell them?

Many aspects of the T hobby/business can be compared to other businesses, but some cannot. If I choose between buying a TV from walmart or from a local dealer, the transaction ends there regardless of how I choose. I can't use my TV to go home and start making more TV's and sell them back to the market! You CAN do that with T's however, and I think this has had a big impact on the market. I think dealers are already focusing more and more on the high end (meaning the harder to get species) and less and less on the low and middle level species, and leaving that market more to the private individuals. They may continue to carry those species to some degree, just to balance out the list so they have something for everyone, but they won't depend on them to keep the business going. This will tend to make dealer prices to be much higher than prices from private individuals, but then again the dealers will have the species the private individuals don't.

Long-term, however, anything could happen. If enough desireable species prove challenging to breed, prices on them will remain high and the dealers will continue to have a niche for themselves. If most species become bred widley among the private hobbyists, however, this could result in a marketplace dominated by trading or selling cheaply, leaving little room for the professional dealer. I'm not going to get into the question of wether or not this is good or bad.

Just some speculation from a private individual!

Wade