How much should I sell my dubia roaches for?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm getting ready to put my dubia roaches up for sale but i'm a little confuse on the pricing. I been searching around what other people sell their roaches for and the prices seem to be all over the place.

So here's what I was thinking:
- Small .25 cents per roach
- Medium/large .50 cents per roach
- Adults $1.00 per roach

So what you think? My prices good?
 

ComicBookMama

Sub-Adult Member
It seems a bit high to me... that's $12.50 for 25 medium roaches. Are you selling sexed roaches to people who plan to set up colonies of their own, or are you selling them as feeders? You're right that the prices are all over the map, but you might want to price them by the number people are buying rather than by the individual roach... say, $8 for 25 mediums, etc. I think people would be more likely to buy that way, than to try to calculate out how much 25 roaches are at X amount per roach. (People are math-lazy by nature, imho...)

Good luck with your sales! I know I'd be more willing to buy from a local producer, if there was one near me. :)
 

PogonaSlave

Member
Original Poster
When you say "sexed roaches" I assume you mean full grown adults? But yeah i was gonna do that and the feeders. What price would you recommend for the adults and the small ones? From what I've seen on other websites adults sell for like $22 for 10 females and 5 males.
Thanks!
 

ComicBookMama

Sub-Adult Member
PogonaSlave":17snltou said:
When you say "sexed roaches" I assume you mean full grown adults? But yeah i was gonna do that and the feeders. What price would you recommend for the adults and the small ones? From what I've seen on other websites adults sell for like $22 for 10 females and 5 males.
Thanks!

Sorry for the delayed reply... been crazy busy! :oops: $22-25 for the breeding colony starter sounds like a good, fair price to me, based on the work you'd need to do in sexing them and raising them to adult size. I haven't priced breeders out personally, as I'm not interested in starting a colony, but that's just my 2cents worth. Maybe someone else will chime in?

As for the smaller feeders, I think what you need to weigh is how much people pay the bigger online retailers vs. how much they'd be willing to pay you, if you're charging for shipping or selling locally, and the work you put in to maintain your colony. If you're thinking of shipping, you're definitely going to need to compete with retailers like dubideli and dubiaroaches.com - and it will be hard to beat their prices, because they have (presumably) much bigger operations. If you're selling locally, you can price your feeders to account for the savings in shipping and the added value of going with a local, known breeder. For example, I just paid $18 for 100 medium dubias at a reptile expo. It was marginally more than I usually pay dubiaroaches.com, but I didn't mind because I was saving on shipping.

Hope that helps - and hope this bump gets others to chime in, too! I'm not an expert on this by any means.
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
PogonaSlave":3gnwynpy said:
I'm getting ready to put my dubia roaches up for sale but i'm a little confuse on the pricing. I been searching around what other people sell their roaches for and the prices seem to be all over the place.

So here's what I was thinking:
- Small .25 cents per roach
- Medium/large .50 cents per roach
- Adults $1.00 per roach

So what you think? My prices good?
Do you mean $0.25 per small roach? That's $25.00 per hundred. I just bought 2 dishes of smalls for $5.00 per hundred (which turned out having about 200 instead of 100) at a reptile show, and in looking for more mail order, I'm finding them as low as $6.00 per hundred.

And that's for legally organized businesses. If you're just a private individual selling off extras without being a business (with all that entails) ...
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
ComicBookMama":2ec1c49i said:
$22-25 for the breeding colony starter sounds like a good, fair price to me
At one of the shows I recently attended, Dubia Starter Colonies were selling for $15. That may have been a show price, but I agree that...

As for the smaller feeders, I think what you need to weigh is how much people pay the bigger online retailers vs. how much they'd be willing to pay you
I still think it comes down to whether the OP is contemplating starting a legit legal business, or just selling off her/his surplus.

This has been discussed here before. I'm in a time crunch or I'd find the thread, but it should be in Similar Topics below. IMO, people selling off surplus would be better to establish a co-op among folks that can't justify starting their own colony, and sell to co-op members at a price near cost to avoid getting a business license, taxes, insurance, etc.

IMO, Operating a business illegally isn't worth the risk.
 

PogonaSlave

Member
Original Poster
I appreciate all the feedback!

I'm not trying to start a business. I just want to sell off some of my roaches that i don't need. I started a colony a year ago and it just got HUGE over time, if i had to guess i probably have between 2 and 4 thousand. The colony is getting expensive to feed and there's no way my bearded dragon is going to eat all of them lol. Honestly i think i bought too many adults when i started.
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
PogonaSlave":3o63gqzs said:
I started a colony a year ago and it just got HUGE over time, if i had to guess i probably have between 2 and 4 thousand. The colony is getting expensive to feed and there's no way my bearded dragon is going to eat all of them lol. Honestly i think i bought too many adults when i started.
That's exactly why I decided not to try to start a colony with only one (baby) dragon. The consensus here & elsewhere (multiple threads & articles) is that--economics aside--it doesn't make practical sense to start a colony for 1 BD. Once someone has 2--or several species that will eat them--it becomes both practical and economical.

I've been trying to acquire a few hundred from other folks in a similar situation. I had a reorder schedule worked out, but as is wont to happen, life got in the way (unforeseen medical stuff) and I lost a week. I now have a variety of feeders on order from dubiaroaches.com but aside from confirming they got the order, they're not responding to emails or texts regarding status (shipped, ETA, etc.) so we're left with that sinking "not knowing" feeling.

I don't think you'll have any trouble finding takers if they feel they're getting a good deal. Lots of folks are on scheduled delivery programs, and lots prefer to keep dealing with companies they've had good service from.

[Edit]
Just got confirmation our feeders have been shipped. Somewhat funny story, but not for here. :roll:
[/Edit]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank
Taking my beardie for a walk

Forum statistics

Threads
155,852
Messages
1,255,166
Members
75,935
Latest member
Carsed
Top Bottom