Pet Pricing vs Purebred Pricing

[JennyLea]

Qualifier: I have yet to sell any bunnies. This is based purely on observation in my area.

We have several rabbit breeders of various breeds in our area and I've noticed that a pedigreed rabbit, depending on the breed, tends to go for $75-$100. Most breeders sell their pet stock ("culls" if they don't terminally cull) at $25-$50. The pet stores are selling their rabbits at $120+ and not having any issues moving them.

If the pet stores are charging so much and not having any issues moving the bunnies, why are breeders selling their bunnies at such a discount? If people are willing to pay more, shouldn't the breeders prices reflect that as well? Why are the pedigreed purebreds, not worth as much as the pets in the actual market? (Actual market = price people are willing to pay for rabbits) Is this because breeders value their rabbits differently and wont pay what pet people pay?

I'm seriously trying to wrap my head around this because it just doesn't make sense to me...

The "Cull" or pet stock rabbits have to potential to sell for more to pet homes, why aren't breeders doing it? I would think that their rabbits even if off-type or off colour would be higher quality than the pet store rabbits since reputable breeders take pride in their bunnies. Who even knows where pet store rabbits come from?

Breeding stock and Show stock would be even higher quality than any pet stock so why isn't that reflected in selling price?

 

[golden rabbitry]

I sell pedigreed pets for up to 100, but if its a mix then no more than 20. Pet stores mark the prices way up and just scam people plus the breeder they buy from gets money too. As a breeder, I wouldn't feel ok selling a low quality rabbit for more than 20. Yet there are plenty of "quality pets" that are unhealthy and only labeled quality to sell them from breeders. It happens alot around here. For breeders, there is no point in selling for more because, i at least, don't need to. It also depends on the breeder but chances are the pet store is just bsing the price and lies about the rabbit. In california, we are trying to pass H.R. 5715:
Petfax Act of 2020, stating that petstores need to give out real information on the pet and breed because so many lie. (but this is for cats/dogs since its illegal for petstores to sell rabbits now)

 

[SableSteel]

Petstores overprice. If you try to sell a pet rabbit for that price, nobody will buy it. The only people paying that much money for a pet rabbit from a pet store are people who don't do research and/or buy them on impulse and so don't look anywhere for a better price.

 

[hotzcatz]

It seems once you ask a high price for something there's a certain segment of folks who prefer the higher priced whatever it is because they think it's more valuable. They paid more for it, after all, didn't they?

 

[JennyLea]

It seems once you ask a high price for something there's a certain segment of folks who prefer the higher priced whatever it is because they think it's more valuable. They paid more for it, after all, didn't they?

That what I am seeing here. People, mostly the urban people, start ask what is wrong with the lower priced bunnies. Even on kijiji, the higher priced bunnies move first.

Would it be a bad thing to ask higher prices (with proper vetting), for the pet stock in this kind of market?

I love my bunnies and have a hard time letting any of them go if I'm perfectly honest. lol

 

[hotzcatz]

I think a lot of the pet shop sales are semi-impulse buys. Also folks are pretty much trained to go pay retail anymore. Going to a breeder is also looked down on these days because there's a loud outcry to 'rescue' animals from a shelter. There's a lot of factors as to why breeders don't ask top dollar.

I suppose if the folks posting the lower priced rabbits on Kajiji or Craig's List were to mention why they were selling the rabbit, i.e. 'too many bucks in the herd' or 'too many black ones', some reason that the pet buyer wouldn't care about, then their bunnies would sell quickly. In angoras, a white toenail in a colored bunny is enough to disqualify them for a show. A pet owner probably wouldn't care about a white toenail on a black bunny.

As a breeder, dealing with 'pet' owners is a big PITA. The bunnies here are English angora, they should go to homes who will want the fiber and not a pet home. I'm not going to sell one of these bunnies as a kid's pet, they don't have the manual dexterity to maintain the coat and unless someone in the family is going to spin the wool into yarn the bunny isn't worthwhile because of the coat maintenance.

A friend of mine who raises Netherland dwarfs and Holland lops tells me crazy stories about prospective pet buyers.

I'm selling bunnies at pretty low prices, but my island isn't the expensive island and by the time the additional shipping costs are added into the price of the bunnies, they end up costing the buyers on more expensive islands about the same as if they bought the more expensive bunnies on their islands. I'm not trying to make money from bunny sales, either, the bunnies here are to provide fiber for Hula Bunny yarn which is the moneymaker.

The bunnies here are also sold because they don't fit in with the herd here so selling them helps me just in herd maintenance. I'm not advertising them, though, so if any advertising were done, then they could sell for more.

As for letting them go, when there's forty of them, they won't all be your favorites. I've kept a few just because they were a favorite bunny, but usually the needs of the herd as a whole is what drives who gets sold and who stays here. And in the case of the bunnies here, the sales of yarn is what determines which bunnies we need to keep. I'm sure it is different for everyone who keeps bunnies.

 

[ladysown]

I sell for what the market demands. If prices are high, I'll sell higher, but have zero issues dropping the price down if bunnies don't sell for my first asking price. Doesn't matter to me if pet or breeder. What matters is how much I want to keep a particular rabbit. The more I want it for my own herd, the higher the price rises.

 

[golden rabbitry]

also people who want a good rabbit will pay extra. I make sure to give all my costumers the best possible experience and many just tip me twice as much because of it. I never expect it but it sure does help. Once you build a good reputation as an established and reliable breeder prices can be raised with people still saying your cheaper. So many rabbitrys sell low quality rabbits and overprice so if you don't overprice and constantly build quality, people find you without you needing to try, it just takes a few years. I can charge more than I did last year because people advertise for me.
The breeders around here that do overprice do sell rabbits, just not as easily. Often times if people charge extra for a pedigree or just the name of the rabbitry it isn't worth it. I never charge for the pedigree because whether they pay extra or not the rabbit is still pure and a sheet of paper for a rabbit often times doesn't mean anything

 

[hotzcatz]

It may be good to have several different prices for the rabbits, depending on the rabbit, perhaps.

The buns here have been mostly bred from a foundation stock of six rabbits bought in 2009, but they were getting too inbred so an outside buck and doe were brought in. Now there's more variety in the litters, some of them different sizes, some of them with different angora coat characteristics. I'm thinking of either selling the not quite prime ones for the 'standard' fee and then increasing it for the better quality animals. Although with an angora going to a 'wooler' home (folks who keep angoras for their fiber and not breeding) it may not matter how quality they are.

Just because you ask one price doesn't mean you can't change it later.

 

[Ducklove74]

Pet stores charge more because firstly, they can...they have already paid the breeder to get animal but that's ok because every little kid and half the adults that walk in there to buy dog food, look at the fish or for whatever are seeing these cute little bunnies in a pen so when the little kid is in middle of store trying to convince someone to get them this bunny the whole time it's looking at you with it's sweet little eyes...before you know it you are convinced even you want this sweet little ball of fur ...they don't have to get product out there to offer the way a breeder does..they get customers day in and day out also...so it's a numbers game...for every customer that says no we can find a better rabbit for more reasonable price there's 2 or 3 others that will unknowingly pay too much for a lower quality animal.

 

[LionheadBuns]

I think a lot of things come into play. Personally, I feel as if you get what you pay for. How much time have you put into your buns? Are they friendly? Working on potty training? Healthy? We've not been breeding rabbits long and are actually getting out of it. But for the short time we have been, it seems like people want to pay more! For example, I've seen lionhead kits posted at $50-80. I've had lionlops starting at $100 and older lionheads at $180+ Good pictures and descriptions help. But why not get them to a good pet home that sees a bun as an investment, rather than an impulse buy?