I know this topic has come up many times, please excuse my attempts to raise this issue again.
I hope it can be DISCUSSED and not FOUGHT.
I am of the school of thought where I would rather grow the hobby by selling at dirt cheap prices as opposed to making oodles of cash. There is a common ground between the two.

I, personally am not wealthy and therefore money does tempt me but i still feel more passion for the hobby then for the things money can buy me. I do understand that i am 24 years old and do not have many financial obligations save for a few debit orders once a month which would allow me to keep my prices super low.
If i had a few breeding pairs of P. metallica's and M. balfouri's (Scarab, this is no knock at you just using these two T's as an example of valuable T's) I would much rather sell them at R300 a peice and get rid of my stock quickly then sit with a couple hundred "valuable" T's. My father likes to say that an item is only as valuable as what a person will pay for it.

If i have bred a certain specie, is it not MY prerogitive to sell it at whatever price I choose? I could put any spider up for any price I want to, of course i may not be able to sell a common spider at an exorbitant price, but non-the-less, it is my prerogitive to do so and therefore to do visa-versa.

If i choose to sell, say... H. minax at R120 a pop or A. versi at R75 a pop, who would object?
The way i see it, selling more for less guarantees more hobbyists and therefore more buyers, and to me thats a win-win situation.

Any thoughts/comments?

-P

I say, lets see how much you sell metallicas/balfouris for once you buy them at a high price, raise them for a few years with some losses and go through a few males before you have success.
Just my opinion.

Ceratogyrus wrote: I say, lets see how much you sell metallicas/balfouris for once you buy them at a high price, raise them for a few years with some losses and go through a few males before you have success.
Just my opinion.

Still, all the effort, money spent, sweat and tears is for the love of the hobby.
I would want everyone to feel the same excitement of tasting success.

By no means am I saying that I'm going to overthrow the hobby, I'm not that dumb and definitely not that vain.

And you will get the chance to cross that bridge if/when you get there.

Panama wrote: I know this topic has come up many times, please excuse my attempts to raise this issue again.
I hope it can be DISCUSSED and not FOUGHT.
I am of the school of thought where I would rather grow the hobby by selling at dirt cheap prices as opposed to making oodles of cash. There is a common ground between the two.

I, personally am not wealthy and therefore money does tempt me but i still feel more passion for the hobby then for the things money can buy me. I do understand that i am 24 years old and do not have many financial obligations save for a few debit orders once a month which would allow me to keep my prices super low.
If i had a few breeding pairs of P. metallica's and M. balfouri's (Scarab, this is no knock at you just using these two T's as an example of valuable T's) I would much rather sell them at R300 a peice and get rid of my stock quickly then sit with a couple hundred "valuable" T's. My father likes to say that an item is only as valuable as what a person will pay for it.

If i have bred a certain specie, is it not MY prerogitive to sell it at whatever price I choose? I could put any spider up for any price I want to, of course i may not be able to sell a common spider at an exorbitant price, but non-the-less, it is my prerogitive to do so and therefore to do visa-versa.

If i choose to sell, say... H. minax at R120 a pop or A. versi at R75 a pop, who would object?
The way i see it, selling more for less guarantees more hobbyists and therefore more buyers, and to me thats a win-win situation.

Any thoughts/comments?

-P

Interesting question that has been flogged to death.
Main points to consider - you a 24 year old that probably has a job, does not rely on breeding T's as a business. I am almost certain breeders make a living off it after years in the business. So their sales pay their debit order that your job pays. Lets continue with your analogy - So you cant really afford a few high value T's - yet you reckon if you were attain them you would breed them on a large scale to sell them for peanuts.
This makes as little sense as buying bread to sell it for cheaper.

Business ethics and logic affects the price you sell it for. My logic says that any person that invested, say for example R6000 for a few high value slings, months / years of his time and effort to eventually be lucky enough to produce offspring will try recoop their initial investment. This is not bad or evil because slings may still be expensive.

Saying you want to sell slings for cheaper because you love the hobby is a nice idea, yet it is a bit like saying that you love cars so you will sell your cars at less than book value, so other people may exprience the awesome drive.

I honestly dont even know where to start here with this one... Van has a valid point as does Cerat... But I think it all actually boils down to a business point of view - sell to cover your expenses and if possible even make a little on the side, depending on what the markets value for that T is at the time...