Hi,
I happen to work in one of the few NSW stores allowed to sell reptiles since the retail laws came into effect, so might be able to offer some insight.
Regarding pricing: Yep, the prices are generally higher than what the more experienced keepers are used to. These are full time businesses with staff wages and overheads etc to pay for, not a side-business/hobby from the garage. We strongly urge all customers to research any reptile they are considering, often using the line "I wouldn't sell you a parrot/dog/ferret without knowing how to care for it, reptiles are no different". I'm happy to hand out our caresheet on the species considered that gives them basic care and urge them to check online forums such as this one for more information before deciding on the species. There's no point trying to hide the customer from the internet and the variation in prices on different species, in most cases it works in our favour as there are too many bickering/conflicting opinions on how to do things. Shops can only sell 15 species, if someone wants a Woma or an Olive- I send them to APS or similar! They often come back grateful and happy from the animal sale, and will still buy food accessories for it later from us.
Regarding the laws: We must comply with the many standards in place for the retail sale of reptiles. We worked hard to be amongst the first to be granted this licence, we would be nuts to let our standard of care slip and risk losing it. There's a simple reason there's only a handful of shops in the state with the licence- they won't allow shops with poor standard operating procedures and inexperienced staff to sell them. All the enclosures are cleaned daily and water bowls cleaned and topped up daily.
The staff: The standards ask that the licensee has kept the species being sold already for a while, so the basic care is fully understood. Aside from this I personally am a keeper/breeder of 18 years, founding member of the local herp club, also work part-time as a reptile keeper at a zoo, longtime APS member that reads the forum daily and authored reptile husbandry articles. My co-workers are a fellow part-time reptile-keeper at the zoo and the others are vet nurses or long-time breeders. The other shops also employ staff with zoo qualifications, or are families respected in the hobby that have been breeding reptiles for a very long time! Shops have nothing to gain by giving out crap advice, social media does a lot of damage quickly these days! It's disheartening to spend 15 minutes with a customer explaining UVB globes, showing the price of $35 or whatever, then have them walk out cos they saw it online for $25+$5 postage- but what do you do? From what I hear all the stores are doing well with the introduction of live reptiles, I think of these stores as the 'entry point' into reptile-keeping before hitting the internet to look for more advanced species as they research and learn more about them.
If I could change one thing to improve the system, it would be to bring back the (approximately) 14-21 day wait period for the paper copy of the licence, it seemed people had the motivation to read up on what species required as they excitedly waited for their licence in the mail, as opposed to the speedy online transaction, then ringing the shop every second day asking why its refusing food and looks silvery etc.
If you've read this far, thanks for taking the time to read
