• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Blown off

DAND

DAND

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I just did a show where someone was supposed to pick up some animals he requested me to hold for him. Now this has carried over from the previous months show too. The previous months show he only picked up 3 of the 8 he said he wanted, due to his claim his car was impounded and he didn't have the funds for them all. A few days prior to yesterdays show he called me and he said he would probably only be able to pick up 2 or 3 of the remaining 5 I was holding. He showed up at the show early but never came by my table. I later find out he had been in contact with another vendor and requested him to meet him in the parking lot because he didn't want to pay to come in. He picked up a few snakes from this other vendor and bailed. Well needless to say this person is now on my list, the "add 25% percent to what price is marked" list. I ended up selling most of what I was holding for him for more than what the break in price I was giving him since he had previously bought a number of animals from me.
 
That sounds frustrating. I probably would not deal with someone who has dishonored his word that way unless it was a one time extreme emergency.
As far as holding animals; one response would to simply require and immediate non refundable deposit and a definite time frame, after which the deposit becomes yours and you are free to sell the snake to anyone "option contract".
 
You should post his name on the BOI, so no one else will "hold" snakes for him.

That sucks. :(
 
ms_terese said:
You should post his name on the BOI, so no one else will "hold" snakes for him.

That sucks. :(
Click to expand...

I agree, put him up there so everyone can see him for the lying sack of snot he is.
 
This is not an uncommon thing to have happen. I've seen at shows myself and also when people are negotiating a sale across the net. What they will do is tell everyone who has something they are interested in to hold them for them saying they are definitely going to buy them. This is just a way for them to hold down everything they are thinking about buying until they can decide which one they are REALLY going to buy.

At shows, I have had people come to my table, pick out a few items, and then ask me to hold them while they look around the rest of the show. I tell them, "Sure, as long as you pay for them first." Invariably they will say "But I haven't seen everything else here yet!". Well duh! What are you telling me? You're saying to me that you may not come back to buy these, so why should I remove them from the possiblity of being bought by someone else if YOU are not committing to buying them? Some will pay then and some won't.

As for the earlier situation with internet or phone related "holds", if someone isn't willing to commit with a deposit or full payment, then keep the animals up for sale. It is not reasonable for someone to expect YOU to commit to holding the animals for them if they will not make a solid, binding commitment to take them.
 
LOL...at the 25% bit...I do the same thing...on the bottom of my receipts, there is a byline called "A-fee"...when someone is a pain, I tack on a percentage...works well!
Sorry to hear you had such a frustrating experience...what is the old line...? "talk's cheap, takes money to buy whiskey".

greg
 
Not a very nice think to do, as it is the epitome of the dead-beat buyer. It’s similar to the one that tells you on an e-mail “consider it sold, the money is on the way”, but the money never shows up. How many of those have you had in the past? Luckily you can counteract that by soliciting a non-refundable down payment. A couple of years ago we discussed about making up a list of dead-beat buyers in the BOI for everyone to see. After a long and heated debate, we decided that as much as it sucked, it would not be a good business practice to do so. Regrettably you will find that kind of individual frequently. It’s your decision how you want to handle the situation though.

Best regards.
 
I'd think you would at least want a last name before you'd hold anything anyway.
 
Definitely if you get additional info, post this guy so we can put him in our deadbeat buyer list.

I think there is also another issue here that is being glossed over. Maybe it is common practice and I'm the only one who sees anything wrong with it. That being the involvement of the other vendor.
Is it common practice to sell outside the expo, so a customer can save a few bucks? I would think it was even against some kind of policy, maybe one you have to agree to when you sign up for a table.
Firstly, I wouldn't hold a bunch of animals for somebody who was to cheap to pay the $6 or whatever it is, if someone is to cheap to support the venue, then you wonder how they feel about spending the money to properly feed the animals. Secondly, the ethics of the vendor bothers me. It's a slap in the face to all the other vendors who paid to have a table, and to those attendees who feel it is worth it to pay the small fee to be able to see all the vendors, as well as to the people who are putting on the show, who pay for advertising, etc.
Just wondering if I'm the only one who see's anything wrong with this, maybe it's no big deal.
 
reptilebreeder said:
I think there is also another issue here that is being glossed over. Maybe it is common practice and I'm the only one who sees anything wrong with it. That being the involvement of the other vendor.
Click to expand...

It seems the buyer had made plans to deal with this vendor also. He either didn't have enough money to buy from both of us or he changed his mind about wanting what I had. The other vendor didn't do anything wrong as far as I'm concerned.

reptilebreeder said:
Is it common practice to sell outside the expo, so a customer can save a few bucks? I would think it was even against some kind of policy, maybe one you have to agree to when you sign up for a table.
Click to expand...

The other vendor didn't sell him anything outside the expo. The buyer wanted him to meet him outside so he wouldn't have to pay to get in and to avoid having to see me. The buyer came in early and made the puchase from the vendor's table.

reptilebreeder said:
Firstly, I wouldn't hold a bunch of animals for somebody who was to cheap to pay the $6 or whatever it is, if someone is to cheap to support the venue, then you wonder how they feel about spending the money to properly feed the animals.
Click to expand...

The buyer had not done this in the past. The reasoning behind this was most likely he made arrangements with myself and he obviously doesn't have the stones to be a man and tell me he was backing out of the deal.
 
Sorry to hear you got shafted like that. It also makes it that much more difficult for the rest of us to conduct any kind of business on a verbal agreement and trust alone.
 
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