I have a store that bought my first clutch for $25.00 a piece and now that my second clutch is here he is telling me that I should be selling them for $10.00 because of mating season. I am not in this to make money but to hopefully break even! Is this really the going rate that breeders sell their bearded dragons to stores for? I just don't want to get scammed. I know that they sell them in the stores here for $80.00 a piece so that is one heck of a profit for him. I have 22 babies right now and of course I don't want to get stuck with all of them and I would love for them to go to good homes....but I don't want to be made a fool of either!! Sooo...looking for some friendly advise from the breeders out there. :study:
Before I make my comment, what types of beardies are these? Any special color mophs or traits or just normal dragons? Are you selling to local pet shop, or shop online?
They are normal beardies...mom and dad are both citrus (according to what I was told by someone on here). They are going to a local pet store where they are being sold at $70-80. The babies are almost 4weeks old. I know that's young, but I am not a breeder, we just tried this out with her first 3 clutches.
You can always expect a huge mark up on any you sell to pet store and cant really go by the sales price. Thats a large drop from $25 to $10 per but from what Ive seen $25 is on the higher end for a local pet store for "normal" dragons, $10 being low end unless they are indeed citrus. On average I usually see wholesale lots at $10 - 40 depending on the dragon, normals being $10 - 20 on average, prices ranging for color morphs and any het characteristics. Considering youre not "a breeder", youre selling in bulk, and past prices Id say try to meet him in the middle somewhere. Id look at $15 per for selling in bulk.....do they have a nice citrus color to them or do they look normal?
I have a small pet store i sell too locally, and sell to a few online. Occasionally Ill make an ad on craigslist, and seller higher end morphs off website. youll get more selling one at a time but normal dragons can be harder to move and peo sell them all at once often just to get them gone.
Now im the other side of the coin. My wholesale price is my wholesale price year round. To drop from 25 to 10, I wouldnt do it. You spent more in food than that by the time they reach 4 weeks.
Thanks for all the advise. I'm of course liking toms side of the coin.
I don't expect to make a living out of this but I really don't want to get low balled either!
Well youre definitely getting low balled, even if they are "normal" dragons $10 is pretty low and to drop because of "breeding" seasons thats a new one. Remember that when breeding seasons over and you double your sales price or even triple for christmas .
If you're not in a huge hurry to sell them can seek out another buyer, sell off one at a time, or try to negotiate a higher price from the pet store.
I only paid 10 bucks for Draco from a local pet shop but that is because they bred the parents and that is extremely low from a pet shop. They just had a overabundance of baies from the 3 females they have. They normally sell their babies often times to other shops at about $20-40 per.