Jeff
09-30-2003, 03:21 PM
Adam asked a good question as to pricing of discus. It was simply "why so expensive?" in regards to some 3.5" leopards I'm selling for $65. I wanted to share my response with everyone so you can all see how I and probably most sellers set our pricing. Any comments to my response is welcomed positive or negative.
My reply was:
1. Commonality of the discus. The more common it is the more pairs that are producing and the lower the price is. New strains always cost more.
2. Difficulty to breed. Some strains are just more difficult to breed i.e. the Goldens.
3. How fixed the strain is. If you have 200 fry, but only 50 will turn out to be what you are looking for the price will be higher.
4. Quality. There are different levels of quality. Shape, Size, Color, Eyes, Fins, Spots etc. all are taken into consideration in this judging. The higher the quality the higher the price.
5. Imported vs. Domestic breed. If it is imported there is shipping and import fees that are added into the cost of every discus.
6. Size again. The larger the discus meaning the older it is the more it will cost because it has been under someone’s care and they will want to be compensated for that care.
7. Simple markup. Every seller has a markup that they must make to be profitable and pay the bills. For some maybe as little as a few dollars a fish over their cost while others may double their cost. What the market will bear is also taken into consideration.
After all of these things are taken into consideration then a price is put on the fish.
Just comparing the size of leopards to what 3 other sites have listed on the internet I found prices ranging from $50-$110 for the same type/size.
My reply was:
1. Commonality of the discus. The more common it is the more pairs that are producing and the lower the price is. New strains always cost more.
2. Difficulty to breed. Some strains are just more difficult to breed i.e. the Goldens.
3. How fixed the strain is. If you have 200 fry, but only 50 will turn out to be what you are looking for the price will be higher.
4. Quality. There are different levels of quality. Shape, Size, Color, Eyes, Fins, Spots etc. all are taken into consideration in this judging. The higher the quality the higher the price.
5. Imported vs. Domestic breed. If it is imported there is shipping and import fees that are added into the cost of every discus.
6. Size again. The larger the discus meaning the older it is the more it will cost because it has been under someone’s care and they will want to be compensated for that care.
7. Simple markup. Every seller has a markup that they must make to be profitable and pay the bills. For some maybe as little as a few dollars a fish over their cost while others may double their cost. What the market will bear is also taken into consideration.
After all of these things are taken into consideration then a price is put on the fish.
Just comparing the size of leopards to what 3 other sites have listed on the internet I found prices ranging from $50-$110 for the same type/size.