Exotic-Pets.co.uk - Feedback Please

[retri]

just had another look at the site and am quite concerned that you have CF08 royal pythons mesuring 30cm and CB07 royals mesuring 40cm.

also you have (not guarenteed to be feeding) and (assist feeding) what is the difference, does this mean that one is being assist fed and the other not being fed atall?

[braund09]

Hopefully around mid August i should be getting an albino pacman from you, do you get them in regularly? and because i am local am i still able to meet some where in chesterfield for it?

Thanks ALEX

[ian14]

I have not bought from you as I have been put off by the poor reputation, and the constant "out of stock" labels on virtually everything!

I have just had a look at the site and it is still the same, although having a current stock list as you now do is a good idea.

A couple of observations though - with most species, if you click on them there is no care sheet, just a request for people with experience to contact you (incidentally some time ago you had saharan sand boas on the site, I submitted a care sheet for you to use, yet it never went on the site!)nSurely if you are offering these animals you should have at the very least basic details such as size, temperament, temperatures etc.

Secondly some of your prices are truly extortionate. £143 for a WC mangrove, which can be picked up direct from most wholesalers at around £20. £255 for a WILD CAUGHT carpet python???? Womas at around £1300, yet you could pick them up for around £600 elsewhere. Hatchling corns at £50+, and the most confusing was the angolan price. On your current stocklist the price is put as £3070, yet if you click on it, it takes you to another part of your site where it lists them as £1999 (rrp £3070). So which price is correct?

Out of interest, South Coast Exotics have CB07 womas at £850, and CB07 Angolans at £1300. Crystal Palace have CB07 angolans at £1695 and CB07 womas at £695. I paid £125 for each of my mangroves from Ameyzoo, difference was these were CB08 and feeding on defrost pinks. So you can see, you pricing yourself out of the market.

All of the suppliers with intenet sites only list what they have in stock. Surely you would be better off by changing the site so that only your current list is on there of what you physically have in stock, and offer a service of locating animals for customers that you don't have available. This would make the site far more user friendly and I would imagine increase sales.

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by ladybird

Why is there so much wild caught stuff? It might be more appealing to have more captive bred animals. A lot of people don't want to support animals being captured from the wild. Species such as White's tree frogs shouldn't be wild caught, there are plenty captive bred in this country, so why are you still doing it?

Hi ladybird, the WC stuff is what is currently available to us (and most other pet shops). Karen is passionate about this subject too - this is why WC/CF/CB is stated on the site - so you know what you're buying.

Originally Posted by retri

Great to see something being done, always nice to see people trying to improve, this shows great business sense

Thanks Retri - everything has been listened to and acted on, obviously some of things will take longer than others to code.

Originally Posted by retri

just had another look at the site and am quite concerned that you have CF08 royal pythons mesuring 30cm and CB07 royals mesuring 40cm.

also you have (not guarenteed to be feeding) and (assist feeding) what is the difference, does this mean that one is being assist fed and the other not being fed atall?

Karen is writing an article about it (not finished, but this is a bit of it) - basically, while in our care (on site):

Not Guaranteed:
An on site snake hasn't taken any food while in our care and we are trying to assist feed it. If it continues not to feed, then it's taken off the site.

Assist Feeding:
Snake fed when we placed the dead mouse into the snakes mouth and held it there until it starts eating.

Guaranteed Feeding:
These feed with no assistance i.e. strike or fed on dead mouse when left in over night.

Not sure about the sizes of the other snakes, I'll ask Karen to check the details - they're from a supplier (not on site). Cheers, Phil

[weelad]

i asked about this as i may be buying a royal next month and got this email

We have tried several times to assit feed these snake, but they have not taken anything as of yet.
If we feel they do not look healthy ie skinny or in poor condition, we will not send them.
Regards, Karen

bit pointless adding this now but my internet messed up and couldnt post it befor phil posted

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by braund09

Hopefully around mid August i should be getting an albino pacman from you, do you get them in regularly? and because i am local am i still able to meet some where in chesterfield for it?

Thanks ALEX

Nice one, yeah you can arrange to meet. We're looking into a way we to offer a collect in person option. Cheers, Phil

Originally Posted by ian14

A couple of observations though - with most species, if you click on them there is no care sheet, just a request for people with experience to contact you (incidentally some time ago you had saharan sand boas on the site, I submitted a care sheet for you to use, yet it never went on the site!)nSurely if you are offering these animals you should have at the very least basic details such as size, temperament, temperatures etc.

Hi Ian, not sure why we didn't use your caresheet - I'll look into it. Our goal is to have a basic caresheet for every pet listed.

Originally Posted by ian14

Secondly some of your prices are truly extortionate. £143 for a WC mangrove, which can be picked up direct from most wholesalers at around £20. £255 for a WILD CAUGHT carpet python???? Womas at around £1300, yet you could pick them up for around £600 elsewhere. Hatchling corns at £50+, and the most confusing was the angolan price. On your current stocklist the price is put as £3070, yet if you click on it, it takes you to another part of your site where it lists them as £1999 (rrp £3070). So which price is correct?

The latest list is a list directly from one of our suppliers. Karen manually updates all the stock weekly. I can't comment on the prices, to my knowledge they all reflect what we've been offered them at. I'll ask Karen to double check the ones you've highlighted.

Originally Posted by ian14

Out of interest, South Coast Exotics have CB07 womas at £850, and CB07 Angolans at £1300. Crystal Palace have CB07 angolans at £1695 and CB07 womas at £695. I paid £125 for each of my mangroves from Ameyzoo, difference was these were CB08 and feeding on defrost pinks. So you can see, you pricing yourself out of the market.

Will get Karen to look into it, I think it was suggested by another member that Karen probably doesn't have a grasp on the market value of some of the animals offered and is just putting some stuff on, making us look expensive.

Originally Posted by ian14

All of the suppliers with intenet sites only list what they have in stock. Surely you would be better off by changing the site so that only your current list is on there of what you physically have in stock, and offer a service of locating animals for customers that you don't have available. This would make the site far more user friendly and I would imagine increase sales.

I see your point, this has been raised before mate. I think we may be able to make this clearer by changing some of the wording on the site. All stock that can be purchased is available to us. Very few go out of stock before we can reserve them. We're doing some about pages, hopefully these will help explain how the business works.

Thanks for the feedack Ian.

Cheers, Phil

[Mason]

Phil - internet at home is broken.

I'm on 07976618895

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by Mason

Phil - internet at home is broken...

Thanks Mason, I'll be intouch - I see from your site your Sami is into Axolotls ...me too! Speak soon. Cheers, Phil

[ian14]

Something else you could consider is changing your supplier. You may already be using these, but companies such as Fauna Import and Thomas Halvorsen are importers, rather than companies who have bought from an importer, and selling on for a profit. This would reduce the cost to you, and so lower the price that you sell on for.

Also, given that the majority of your stock list appears wild caught, do you hold the animals for a period of time to get them feeding and have them wormed etc? I have no problem with WC, but would not pay premium prices, and as would seem to be the case the same as for CB, when it is not guaranteed to be feeding on defrost rodents and has not been wormed.

Having been involved in reptiles for some 20 years now, and having had dealings with numerous companies, I think that your reputation would be greatly improved by treating WC for parasites and getting them feeding. Alternatively, in the case of non or poor feeders, let them go cheaper and make ot plainly clear to the buyer that this is the case.

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by ian14

Something else you could consider is changing your supplier. You may already be using these, but companies such as Fauna Import and Thomas Halvorsen are importers, rather than companies who have bought from an importer, and selling on for a profit. This would reduce the cost to you, and so lower the price that you sell on for.

Karen has loads suppliers, they range from importers, wholesalers to breeders - maybe it's time to relook at which one's stock we promote.

Originally Posted by ian14

Also, given that the majority of your stock list appears wild caught, do you hold the animals for a period of time to get them feeding and have them wormed etc? I have no problem with WC, but would not pay premium prices, and as would seem to be the case the same as for CB, when it is not guaranteed to be feeding on defrost rodents and has not been wormed.

Having been involved in reptiles for some 20 years now, and having had dealings with numerous companies, I think that your reputation would be greatly improved by treating WC for parasites and getting them feeding.

We've suffered with mites in the past, so most (if not all) snakes are treated for such parasites. We hold the animals for a few days, feed and water them etc. ...and, Karen is looking at worming as standard.

Originally Posted by ian14

Alternatively, in the case of non or poor feeders, let them go cheaper and make ot plainly clear to the buyer that this is the case.

Non and poor feeders do go cheaper (to my knowledge) and Karen is writing something regarding Assist Feeding and what it means. Hopefully this will help. Cheers, Phil