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Payment Plans Good Idea/bad Idea Views

2K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  oakelm 
#1 ·
Seen this alot lately on classifieds subject arrising do you offer payment plans, just wondering individuals thoughts on the subject from both perpectives, breeder and buyers,
i always counted myself lucky enough to be able to aquire any snakes ive wanted, within reason, and have never bought anything i couldnt afford.
not everyone has dissposible income,so would say payment plans are good for certain individuals, specially if they wanted to get into higher priced morphs, doesnt mean the snake would be any less cared for than by someone who had the funds to buy it straight off, i would hope,
but sellers wouldnt want £20 a week for a year for a snake that cost £1k (i wouldnt anway) ,and i think asking for payment plans on a £100 snake is a little cheeky,
there is/would be probs people going into dept,people having a snake then selling it on for immediate money etc,what would you say is a resonable time scale per cost,
i personally wouldnt offer payment plan, but have and will hold snakes for people for months till they have cash ready, coz im a nice person,
but if bobs gonna offer me a lucistic retic for £20 a week till im 90years old i might take him up on the offer,
your opinions and thoughts please,
stew
 
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#2 ·
i would say that payment plans arent the best of ideas for any party involved . unless you are personal friends with them and the parties involved have full trust with one another .

money can put stress on the closest of friendships and can start all sort of arguments ..

the only way id see it working is if you broke the cost into two or three and paid monthly . anything else would be too much hassle for a breeder to get involved with .

the buyer would be better putting it into a high interest account until it was saved up or give it to a relative (mother or OH )
 
#4 ·
I don't think payment plans are great unless from a shop to be honest.

I mean especially if you do payment plans from the internet without ever meeting the people!

I would love to have a payment plan for a killer bee axanthic but in all fairness i would want the snake upon first payment (As you do with stores, you put the deposit you get the item) but no breeder or person on here would EVER do it that way (and rightly so i mean, they don't have much come back if the other person simply stops giving them money right?)
 
#5 ·
If i was selling and someone wanted a payment plan they would do it like this:

Buyer pays X for Y weeks then pays the final payment the day they collect the snake, so i have all of my money then they get the snake, I'd make sure that they understood this would be non-refundable, that way the only person loosing out because of no sale is the buyer
 
#7 ·
Depends who it is really, some people e.g. Scott W from Captive Bred i'd have no problem doing a payment plan with as i've bought enough from him to know he wouldn't run off with my money, so it all comes down to trust really as i have a friend who's sold up his royal collection and as a result i have 3 adult females and a male pastel which i haven't paid for yet but he knows he'll get his money as soon as i get it myself. I wouldn't just setup a payment plan with anyone unless it was say 25% non-refundable then rest is paid upon collection/delivery but again i'd still be cautious.

Rach
 
#10 ·
its not exactly credit as such .

more like a saving up scheme .. it would also act as a deposit for a snake that you want that might get sold before you had the funds .
 
#9 ·
All depends on how the plan works, I have been doing payment plans for 2 years now and overall they work great for the buyer, not quite so good for the seller, heres why.

With my plan I require a 25% deposit, followed by 3 monthly 25% payments, so you get a 4 month term. In those 4 months the snakes remain in my care and you are given the choice between being fed on my feeding schedule or one of your choice. Also during the whole 4 months the snakes are guaranteed by me, so if one drops dead or has a problem then it's down to me.

The plus side for the buyer is they get the snake they want, looked after with a guarantee and it's grown on like it would be if they had paid cash there and then. So all they have lost is 4 months of watching them grow (but not lost the growth itself).

Now why it's not good for the seller (ie me) is because I have to look after, feed, house, heat and obviously guarantee it, all for no extra money. I recently had 6 snakes go out and because one had stopped feeding I traded it up for a breeding size snake of the same morph Free!

The only downside for the buyer is that due to fluctuations in prices of some morphs, occasionally the snake they have bought may be a little cheaper had they of waited the 4 months then bought (although this is rare).

I offer the Payment Plan as I know how hard it is to find the money for certain morphs so it opens up my excess animals to more people plus it allows me to really get the snakes going and well grown on.


BTW, thanks Rachel, just read your post.
 
#11 ·
lmfao scott wanna trade my cinny for a breeding size female? In al seriousness though anyone debating Royal Morphs i would say my honest opinon of Scott is his stuff is more expensive than most peoples most of the time but it is also a lot better than a lot of animals and they are well fed and well started animals, i have 5? royals from Scott and 3 of them are giving me grief feeding at the moment but so are royals from other places too so if looking at payment plans on royals i would reccomend Scott for a breeder that isn't a shop, there are lots of others too i'm sure but i will reccomend Scott because he's the only one i've dealt with apart from my pied from Midge Piasco who was also very good too. As said it's down to trust and people like Midge and Scott who i've PERSONALLY bought from i can't complain at all and would recommend both.

Rach
 
#13 ·
Paying for my Green Anny on a payment plan.

I have enough money for my animals and so on, and any given month i could stretch a few hundred quid of free cash (tragic i know).

So why am i paying with a payment plan?

The animal is CF, i would prefer they got it going just to be safe as the farming methods vary. This also gives plenty of time for ex semi wild stock to show signs of illness.

If i threw 200 quid at anything at once, sods law dictates another thing will need the vets, or i forgot about a bill.

I didn't have the money at hand when i first saw it, and by opting into this scheme, for a small reserve the animal is held, rather than saving up and maybe liking the next one a little less.

Not everyone is on a payment plan JUST to get something out of their budget. Some just want to play it safe and not stretch it at all. Regardless of your budget, life can do horrible things to you at times.
 
#15 ·
Most payment plans are in essence saving up. Just with the particular animal held for you. I wouldn't be doing it if i hadn't taken a liking to a certain snake as i could get a green anny all year round between 200 and 300.
 
#16 ·
if they can not afford how ever much, in one go to buy the animal, then will they have a large enough amount of money if something goes wrong and it needs the vets/treatment?
I'd want to do a credit check on them before i sold any of my animals (realistically or not)
I understand some people do as an insurance so if something goes wrong, the seller can not get away with a unhealthy snake and all the money, but thats the risk you take if you buy offline and don't know where the person lives/ been there regularly (friends etc) so you can burn their house down if they do rip you off.
 
#18 ·
I do like payment plans, i think they work well most of the time.

I have offered both sorts in the past, 25% down on snake already hatched, rest over max 3 months paid in whatever amount at whenever you like in that time frame. I have done a pp for a corn that was only worth £25 before (was parents making their young lad save up and do odd jobs to get it and i charged £5 for keeping it that long but all worked out in the end and he came back and brought again the following year, but saved up first)

And then back when corns were popular I would do a save up plan on a couple of nice clutches, anyone that didnt get the morph/sex wanted was simply refunded.

Then from the other side of things I did a pp with Scott W (getting far to many mentions:lol2: )tail end of last year as on the run up to xmas it doesn't pay to leave yourself short. It was something relatively new in morphs so an opportunity that just couldn't be passed up and couldn't be happier with comms and most importantly snake.

However I definately wouldn't deal with unknowns unless I had visited the address before hand so you at least have a door to kick down if need be :lol2:

Im normally one that agrees with buying outright but pp's if used right work out well. I have had a few cancelled mid way through but this has never been a problem, i only keep the deposit and return anything else paid, I purposely dont plan to use the cash until the snake has gone.

Common sense and putting terms down in writing(email) keep everyone on the same page.
 
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