My rabbits cost too much?

[JessicaR]

As you all probably know selling to people can be a pain in the rear :x I was told that I charge too much for my kits! I have been in contact for 5 weeks with a woman who wanted to buy 2 does off of me. I told her I would sell her the 2 of them for $30 since she is buying more than 1 normaly I charge $20 a peice for kits from that doe since she doesnt have a pedigree. About once a week the woman would email and ask how much I wanted for the 2 rabbits, me starting to get annoyed after the 3rd time put 30 for the both of them again! So she asks if I will go down to $25 for them, I reply no I am already giving you a discount, she says ok just let me know when they are ready. So I email her and said they are ready Friday, we set up a time and place to meet (she doesnt want to come to my house) she then says she wants a buck and a doe and how much do I want for them again :explode: I tell her she origanly wanted to does all the bucks are spoken for and I still want 30 for them! She then tells me I charge too much that she can get 2 show quaility rabbits for cheaper than that.

I realy didnt think my prices were unreasonable considering the pet store charges 30 for theirs and they are mostly mutts. people like that make want to just give up!!

 

[Thundrr]

a lot of people down here are selling rabbits for $10 each... i think mine are worth a little more than that and im not afraid to say so.. people that dont have rabbits have no idea what it takes to actually take care of rabbits or breed them and raise them up... a bag of feed costs me $15 and i feel every single one of my rabbits should be worth a bag of feed lol... the people that are serious about rabbits will pay your $15 - $20 price... of course that just my opinion lol

 

[MaggieJ]

People like that are a pain. When someone tells me they can get whatever I am selling cheaper elsewhere, I smile and say: "What a good deal. You should definitely buy it there." End of story. Either they buy or they don't... but at least they shut up.

 

[eco2pia]

I agree, a rabbit should be worth at least a bag of feed! I am a meat breeder, so I sometimes consider how much it would cost me to replace the same rabbit with some kind of meat from the grocery store...I should at least get that much and if not, well, I don't have to sell! People around here sometimes sell accidental kits for $5...If that is the kind of quality people want, then they should go to that person and buy that rabbit...but MY rabbits are worth their price.

 

[ladysown]

I think we probably all have our stories of people wanting us to match the price of the $5 rabbit down the street. If my rabbits are worth $5, I sell them for $5. if they are worth more...well then gee... I charge more. I'd rather eat a rabbit then sell it for nothing to a someone who is being disrespectful about the value I put on something.

 

[KatzNetherlands]

I have paid for rabbits anywhere from free to $85 but I have yet to ask anyone to lower their price. If it is out of my price range, I will either save up, or find someone else. I am not against bartering, but I don't do it, and would never do it if I was already given a discount!
That being said, I have seen people post rabbits that I KNOW are not worth the price they are asking(not peoples pets, but show breeders selling non showable/non pedigreed rabbits for over $100) but I just look at them, say to myself "they are not worth that price to me" and find a rabbit that is.... It must be to them, and maybe some people pay that, but I wouldn't. I also wouldn't haggle them down unless I absolutely couldn't live without the rabbit(but Netherlands are not a rare breed, so it works better for me to just keep looking)

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I have paid for rabbits anywhere from free to $85 but I have yet to ask anyone to lower their price. If it is out of my price range, I will either save up, or find someone else. I am not against bartering, but I don't do it, and would never do it if I was already given a discount!

I think you mean "haggling" or "dickering". Bartering is like trading, for example, I give you a rabbit and you give me a basket of tomatoes, etc.

 

[KatzNetherlands]

lol.... yeah, that is what I meant...

 

[ilovehome]

I just saw Champagnes for sale at a local feed store for $5.00 each. They looked about 12 weeks old. I would use them for my own freezer before I would sell them that cheap. I think a breeder/seller should look at their local market, and the quality of the bunny for the purposes intended and price them accordingly. If they do not want to spend that, too bad! $30 for two rabbits does not sound bad in any market!

 

[ladysown]

what annoys me is...you offer a rabbit at a certain price. Someone asks if I can lower it. And then says, after you have settled on a price, But all I have is ____ dollars. Can't you sell that rabbit for that amount? (usually less than half of the original asking price).

My response is generally to say no. (I find it rather insulting to have people devalue your stock that much). and then I tell them "If you are looking for a cheap rabbit I can find you one, or possibly sell you a cheap rabbit. BUT know that if it's cheap there is generally a reason for that".

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I am going to Dallas in a couple weeks to pick up some Altex and NZW. Those are $35 and $25 respectively and that is a GOOD price! I mean, I am really excited to be getting them for that price. People just don't realize that you get what you pay for, and if you pay "feed store" prices you will get "feed store" quality rabbits. Which is fine, if that is what you want. But don't expect a reputable breeder to match that...we aren't Walmart, for goodness sakes!

 

[Random Rabbit]

we aren't Walmart, for goodness sakes!

Love that thought !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

 

[ottersatin]

Guess what Jessica,
when I get hagglers and whiners I just tell them "That's my price"
and I nicely tell them goodby and safe trip home. When they Cry that
the cost is too high and they can purchase for much less, I tell them
good luck and happy shopping. They start to walk away but usually
come back and pay the price. This is because they know they are
already getting a good but they are just playing the game.
Sometimes I remind them that I was born at night,
but NOT last night! If you believe in your product, stand by your guns
you will come out ahead even if you happen to lose a sale or two.
Ottersatin. ldtimer: :bunnyhop:

 

[mi_ku]

My grandfather owned an army/navy surplus and gun shop and people would tell him all the time, "I can get for $X cheeper at Walmart." His response was always, "well stop bugging me and go to Walmart then." From everything that preceded her telling you they are too much, I think that's just an excuse. If she found show quality rabbits much cheaper somewhere else, why is she still calling you? Next time she calls tell her they're $20 each and the discount expired.

 

[curlysue]

Shes full of crap.Show quality Netherland dwarfs are $50 and up.Anything showable in any breeds at least 25 or more for one.anything with legs is 50 too$ 250. Two hundred and fifty dollars.

 

[JessicaR]

I tried asking her were she got her show rabbits so cheap but she never answered me back! I am not opposed to giving people deals but I dont want to give away my rabbits. I have sold rabbits to 4-h kids for cheap just because I think its great that they are a part of the organization. But I am not going to go down that low for someone who already has 70 rabbits that is just looking for a cheap deal.

 

[eco2pia]

70?! She should totally know better...for shame!

 

[Artios]

Only on one occasion have I told someone their prices were too high, but I did it as courteously as I could. It's someone who had a "new breed" that I was interested in. They were basically small champagnes that they were outcrossing to lots of other stuff. No COD, no standard yet, no nothing. I was wanting to buy 10 rabbits out of the 50 they had for sale, and they seemed like they were in a hurry to dump them. I was thinking $20-30 or so each, with a max of $50. When he came back and told me he wanted $100 each and that was discounted because I was buying so many, I had to politely decline because that was more than I was looking to spend. It wasn't anything personal and I didn't get snarky about it. I wished him well, and he came back with how people wanting cheap rabbits are ruining this and how people who pay $100+ per rabbit are the good people. Excuse me, how is not wanting to shell out $100 each for mutts automatically meaning anything?!? He sure assumed an awful lot about me based on that one line.

The more I read about selling to the public, the more I think I decide I'll just eat them rather than go through the hassle. This is supposed to be fun for me, a hobby, and it stops being fun when I'm dealing with the stuff I got tired of dealing with selling reptiles. At least rabbits I can eat.

OP, your prices sound incredibly reasonable!

 

[mi_ku]

I tried asking her were she got her show rabbits so cheap but she never answered me back! I am not opposed to giving people deals but I dont want to give away my rabbits. I have sold rabbits to 4-h kids for cheap just because I think its great that they are a part of the organization. But I am not going to go down that low for someone who already has 70 rabbits that is just looking for a cheap deal.

The thing is, you don't have to give anyone a deal. You are being nice by doing so and people should be appreciative and polite whether they take the deal or not. If she thought your prices were too high, she should've said so, when you first said $30 for both, and not wasted anymore of your time. There's nothing wrong w/ saying, "That's more than I had in mind, but thank you for your time." She could've even thrown in a "Please, let me know if you come down on the price."

 

[JessicaR]

That is what made me mad! I am willing to work with people but for 5 weeks she never said the price was too high, only the day before she was to pick them up.