Pricing for Budding Breeders

[Neon Aurora]

I have 6 eggs in the incubator now (all looking fantastic) and more on the way, so I'm starting to think about how to go about selling the little ones when they're ready to go. I'm still struggling finding a name I like, so I think for now I will just sell them under However, I'm awfully confused on pricing. Initially I thought I should go pretty low since I have no reputation or anything. However, I read an article that said new breeders shouldn't go too low if I have stock from more reputable breeders so as not to undercut them.

I don't have any babies yet, so no pictures. I would really appreciate some tips on understanding how a new breeder should price. Here is what I'm expecting this season:

1) Eclipses het rainwater with varying amounts of tangerine and spotting
2) Tangerines with varying amounts of spotting het eclipse and rainwater
3) Colorful rainwaters with varying patterns (sire is a raining redstripe) with no hets

I'm not necessarily looking for someone to tell me "this is how you should price these" but rather someone to explain how and why they should be set at a certain price.

 

[acpart]

It's kind of an instinct with me by this point. I do tend to sell on the low side because I want my geckos to go. At the extremes, my geckos that don't look that unusual --maybe they could be classified as regular albinos or high yellows-- go for $25. The ones who are something special --tangerine eclipse, supersnow with paradox spot, Raptor-- go for $50-65. I once sold a supersnow eclipse for $100 and will do so again if I get another one. In between, I just look at each gecko and decide whether it's going to be $30, $35, $40, $45 based on my subjective opinion of how interesting it looks. To me, what increases the value is good tangerine color/carrot tail, pale Mack snow, bold or distinctive stripe pattern, eclipse.
I hope that helps.

Aliza

 

[Neon Aurora]

I see. I am willing to go on the low end as well. I actually think it was one of your articles of Gecko Time that I read that said not to sell too low if the hatchlings are from big name stock. "Breeding on a Small Scale", maybe? Is this not really much of an issue after all?

I think I understand how you do it, but I will probably be back with pictures in the few months. If someone helps me price a few and tells me why they think they should be priced that way, I think I could gain the sort of instinctive feel you're talking about.

I was also hoping to get some opinions on something else. In my city, there is a locally run pet shop that I really like. They take really good care of their reptiles and often get their stock from local breeders. They have some very high end ball pythons for sale all the time (in $1000 range). I've often thought about reaching out and seeing if they were interested in a locally bred leopard geckos, but I also feel reluctant at the same time, like it would be irresponsible. Like maybe if I only sold them online, than they would have better chances of ending up in good homes/with other breeders because people need to pay shipping and whatnot. I really want to be as ethical as possible as I venture into the world of sales, so please any opinions on this would be very much appreciated. I'm honestly leaning towards "no", but I thought it was worth asking about.

 

[acpart]

I have sold to pet shops before. I go into the shop and check out their setups before I even offer. The few I've chosen to sell to have kept the place clean and kept their geckos (and other reptiles) well. I have no problems with it as long as they have a reputation for providing decent care info to their customers. I sell any gecko I've priced up to $40 to pet stores for $25 and then add the difference for geckos above that price (i.e. a $45 gecko would go to the pet store for $30).

Aliza