Rodent Pricing

[wokka]

As you may be aware, three of the rodent Sponsors are unable to supply rodents, with two I believe having ceased production. As a result we are getting many enquiries which start something like:-
" Hi I used to get rodents from ABC Rodents but they cant supply, Can you match their prices?"
I dont think it is fair to compare Rodentfarm with a supplier who cannot and may never supply rodents.There is obviously a reason why suppliers stop, or are unreliable and if Rodentfarm uses similar perameters for pricing and delivery we are likely to join the failed suppliers ranks. We have been supplying from a position of reliabilty and quality for six years, which is a fair time in the rodent supply business in Australia. We supply hundreds of thousands of frozen food items to zoos,petshops and private breeders in Australia and try to survive with economies of scale which smaller breeders dont have. Unfortunately we also have many of the diseconomies of scale, which smaller breeders dont have like paid labour,borrowed capital and compliance costs.

Rodentfarm transport minimum is 1 box which is about 20 kilos. Sometimes we can reduce this if the delivery fits in with our delivery route and so delivery time is reduced. We travel fortnightly between Brisbane and Newcastle and monthly between Woolongong and Newcastle as well as using various road and air freighters.

I am posting this in the hope of reducing requests for small quantity orders which may be better suited to the local pet shop. I am happy to hear any constructive ideas.

 

[apprenticegnome]

I don't think it's an unfair question asking if someone is able to match price, I always believe in the saying "it doesn't hurt to ask", but as you are saying the person enquiring needs to understand that you have larger overheads and are running yourself as a business and not a sideline. It is annoying having to repeat yourself though about not supplying small orders and maybe if you are able to put a notation in advertising and at the bottom of your posts down where you put "regards, Warwick....", maybe something along the lines of "minimum orders of _ and prices as quoted/not negotiated" might eliminate some questions. Hope this may be of some help.

 

[Rob]

I agree with apprenticegnome, that a suitably worded message in your signature would likely be the best way to deal with this.

 

[Snowman]

People who want small orders should band together then place a larger order. Perhaps they could organise something with their local herp society and the society places a monthly order to be divided and picked up at meetings.

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

Personally i don't get why people do not breed their own snakefood, it's not that hard, of you can have snakes you should be able to breed rodents, obviously this becomes infeasible on a large scale but for small scale hobby snakekeepers and perhaps even small scale breeders this should do the trick, for large scale there are always rodent farms

 

[Snowman]

Personally i don't get why people do not breed their own snakefood, it's not that hard, of you can have snakes you should be able to breed rodents, obviously this becomes infeasible on a large scale but for small scale hobby snakekeepers and perhaps even small scale breeders this should do the trick, for large scale there are always rodent farms

For the same reason people don't want to grow their human food. It takes time, effort and space. I'd rather pay someone else to do it and stock the outside freezer.

 

[Ramsayi]

Maybe enquiries would lessen if you advertised your prices along with, as suggested above, something like "these prices are firm".I might be missing something but I have never been able to find them anywhere.

 

[wokka]

Personally i don't get why people do not breed their own snakefood, it's not that hard, of you can have snakes you should be able to breed rodents, obviously this becomes infeasible on a large scale but for small scale hobby snakekeepers and perhaps even small scale breeders this should do the trick, for large scale there are always rodent farms

For a few dollars a week most keepers would rather save the time for other pursuits. I find many keepers are relctant to spend a $100 on a freezer to enable bulk purchases, let alone the cost and commitment of setting up a few rodents.

 

[wokka]

I don't think it's an unfair question asking if someone is able to match price, I always believe in the saying "it doesn't hurt to ask", but as you are saying the person enquiring needs to understand that you have larger overheads and are running yourself as a business and not a sideline. It is annoying having to repeat yourself though about not supplying small orders and maybe if you are able to put a notation in advertising and at the bottom of your posts down where you put "regards, Warwick....", maybe something along the lines of "minimum orders of _ and prices as quoted/not negotiated" might eliminate some questions. Hope this may be of some help.

Just for the record our prices are competative with alternative supplies, however I am surprised that shoppers ask a surviving business to emulate the practices of a failed one. Its the old apples aint apples!

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I think Warwick has been the most reliable supplier of quality (or any actually!) rodents since he got into the game, and this is because he hasn't continually compromised his vision of the business to accommodate the fickle nature of rodent buyers, which seems to me to be the biggest reason why rodent breeders collapse into overworked unprofitability after a year or two. His formula obviously works. It's a difficult business for smaller breeders, who are constantly having to compromise to remain competitive against backyarders who dump varying amounts of cheap stuff onto the market when they have a surplus. With Rodent Farm, you always know you can get what you want when you need it, pretty much regardless of quantity, and that makes it a very important business for the hobby. I'm sure if anyone asked Warwick, he can give you a price list, and even let you know what quantities (roughly) of each size will make up a full esky of around 20kg.

This is totally unsolicited by the way.

Jamie

 

[wokka]

Maybe enquiries would lessen if you advertised your prices along with, as suggested above, something like "these prices are firm".I might be missing something but I have never been able to find them anywhere.

I have no idea how to post our pricelist on APS, but have asked one of the mods if they can do it for me.

 

[Stuart]

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

For a few dollars a week most keepers would rather save the time for other pursuits. I find many keepers are relctant to spend a $100 on a freezer to enable bulk purchases, let alone the cost and commitment of setting up a few rodents.

Each to their own, but i think i prefer the peace of mind i have from breeding my own, if i ever cap 20 snakes or so i will keep you in mind ;-), prices don't unreasonable to me at all, don't understand why people want to haggle over them :-S

 

[Ramsayi]

Thanks for that.Just a point is GST applicable to those prices?

 

[Venomous_RBB]

I think Warwick has been the most reliable supplier of quality (or any actually!) rodents since he got into the game, and this is because he hasn't continually compromised his vision of the business to accommodate the fickle nature of rodent buyers, which seems to me to be the biggest reason why rodent breeders collapse into overworked unprofitability after a year or two. His formula obviously works. It's a difficult business for smaller breeders, who are constantly having to compromise to remain competitive against backyarders who dump varying amounts of cheap stuff onto the market when they have a surplus. With Rodent Farm, you always know you can get what you want when you need it, pretty much regardless of quantity, and that makes it a very important business for the hobby. I'm sure if anyone asked Warwick, he can give you a price list, and even let you know what quantities (roughly) of each size will make up a full esky of around 20kg.

This is totally unsolicited by the way.

Jamie

+1, I totally agree with Jamie, even though I get Rodent Farm's Rodents from a pet shop, they are always wanted by my snakes, they dont smell (unlike another supplier I have used) and they look healthy.
Personally I would rather pay the extra for quality healthy rodents, to make happy and chappy snakes then spend a few dollars less and get cheap food (Not that Rodent Farm aren't cheap, the pet shop I get them from are expensive, lol)

Just my honest opinion!

 

[wokka]

Thanks for that.Just a point is GST applicable to those prices?[/QUOTE Yes , another diseconomy of scale. But for some-one like yourself, who i imagine would easily turn over 75k a year, the GST credit should offset it! Many of our customers are in that boat.

 

[Ramsayi]

Only reason I brought it up is because I thought that advertised prices had to have the price GST inclusive.

who i imagine would easily turn over 75k a year

Then you would have a very vivid imagination!

 

[wokka]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have asked Snipercap to link our orderform to our APS banner so our product range is more readily available. I think a lot of my frustrations, boil down to my lack of internet skills, and with the help from a few of the more capable members we have saved us all a lot of hassle.

 

[sd1981]

It's crazy why anyone would haggle over frozen rats.... My lacies smash a heap of rats and so are not cheap to feed... If I don't want to pay to feed them, I have 3 options.. Pay or breed or don't keep my babies.... I don't have the time to stuff around with cleaning the rat tubs, feeding them, watering them, inspecting them to ensure healthy standards are being met... So I sling a breeder (more than) a few bucks to deal with all that crap and hand over (more than) a few rodents instead... Easy....

 

[wokka]

Only reason I brought it up is because I thought that advertised prices had to have the price GST inclusive.



Then you would have a very vivid imagination!

Thats one for an accountant, but I think- if a pricelist is directed at non-household consumption, such as the wholesale market, then I dont think gst needs to be included in the price. I regularly see machinery and equipment for example advertised as +gst. I think you can still register for gst if turnover is less than 75K , which would still enable the claiming of credits. Like I said check with your accountant because i am not one.