Pricing Guides? How do you feel?

[Pannie Paperdoll]

Someone just came to my shop and handed me a pricing guide... lecturing me cause I was charging too little for a Fawn and a Fawn/White. I'm not sure how I feel about this, and I'm wondering how everyone else feels. On one hand.. I agree, nothing should be priced TOO low. It's plain rude to sell for less than a starter pack costs I think. On the other, am I supposed to keep bunnies that aren't selling forever because another store doesn't want me selling for less than they do? That sure doesn't seem right either. (Btw.. the person who told me my prices were too low wasn't interested in buying. He said he wasn't there to police me, but was a concerned friend. He also said that he was breeding the Fawns himself so was concerned about my pricing )
So.. what are y'alls thoughts? Here is the guide I was given.

"***BUNNY WHISKERS MARKET SUGGESTED BUNNY PRICING GUIDE***

**Newer Furs & Eyes will not be added to the list until pricing levels out on them somewhat**

NO BUNNY BELOW $100L

Base Price:
Classic $150 As Follows:
Dutch Amber $150, Dutch Black $150, Dutch Blue, $150, Dutch Chocolate $150
Dutch Cinnamon $150, Dutch Tortoiseshell $150

English Spot Black $150, English Spot Blue $150, English Spot Chocolate $150
English Spot Tortoiseshell $150

Harlequin Blue/Orange $150, Harlequin Chocolate/Orange $150

Havana Broken Black $150, Havana Broken Blue $150, Havana Broken Chocolate $150
Havana Chocolate $150, Havana Lilac $150

Holland Black/White $150

Mini Rex Blue Otter $250, Mini Rex Red $250

Dusky $600
Aphotic $600
Silky $800
Radiant: $800

(((((((((((Bunny Dips: $150))))))))))

****PLUS****
UnCommon Base Price:

Mini Rex Lynx $1500
Mini Rex Black Otter $1500
Mini Rex Chocolate $800
Mini Rex Castor Unestablished Price

Harlequin Fawn Magpie $1000
Harlequin Black Magpie $1000
Harlequin Black Orange $500

Holland Lop Opal $1500
Holland Lop Fawn $1500
Holland Lop Fawn White $2000
Holland Lop White $3000
Holland Lop Chocolates $800

English Spot Opal $1500
English Spot Lilac $1500

Havana Black $800

Mini Rex Chinchilla $2000

**** PLUS ****
Only 4 stones considered to be Precious Gems are
Diamond $800
Sapphire $800
When and if they are released Ruby & Emerald will be considered Precious Gems.

All other Semi-precious gems should be priced with a base of $600

**** PLUS ****

Lop Ears Add $800 to Base

If it is an extremely uncommon "higher priced" bunny you should add $1000 for a lop.
*************************************************************************
Base prices, eyes and ears are stackable for example:
Mini Rex Black Otter/Alexandrite/Lop/Dusky would be:
$1500L +$600L +800L+600 = $3500L


This is not an official Ozimals price guide and the prices are merely suggestions...if you feel that the numbers may be slightly off, based upon your sales experience...by all means insert your cost into the suggested price. But we feel the stackable format makes it an easy way for you to calculate the cost of your nests and reduces errors in pricing. Plus if we all stick to these suggestions we will all make a reasonable profit an therefore a stabilization in the market. Though you may be tempted please try to refrain from buying from undercutters, they only bring the market down.

***Join Bunny Lovers United Group to be kept up to date about Dakota's Mass Auctions and Visit Bunny Whiskers Market for all your Market Buying and Selling needs. Join the following groups for all your advertising needs Ozimals- Buy Sell or Trade Bunnies, Ozimal Advertising & Trading and Ozimal Ads (new group)***

Credits: Pantherotica Inglewood & Caspian Blaisdale owners of Bunny Whiskers Market
Also a group effort by: Dakota Delicioso, Tmzasz Luminos, Maleficent Farshore and
Karrie Woyseck"

[Tapanga Topaz]

I don't agree with the price list. We each breed our bunnies on our own.. We each pay for our bunnies, to feed them, buy new ones, ect.. I think we each should have our own say on what we charge for them. I do agree if they are priced to low it hurts the market and is bad for people trying to sell their bunnies for more then most. Hopefully when this new update comes out and the Bunnyburry program, things with start to even out a bit and we won't ever have to worry about who is selling what for what price. The problem with this "game" as most call it, is that there are hardly any customers out there and everyone is breeding trying to make a buck.. its not balanced at all. It like if everyone in sl created one pair of shoes that all looked alike and everyone was trying to sell it.. doesn't work! So you have to price low in order to sell yours while others keep them high dollar.

[Tristan Carthage]

I do agree that the super-cheap bunnies do hurt the market....when they are -consistently- being sold at ridiculous prices. Someone who is mass-producing 200 nests a week and selling them at $25 each is very damaging. However, the recent drive to police prices has gotten a bit out of hand.

Case in point: I was recently ejected from what appears to be the main advertising group that is so intent upon policing prices. The reason for this was for selling an ES Chocolate with diamond eyes and radiant fur for less than their "suggested" amount in the price guide. I was told I was undercutting and given the ominous message "you have been warned."

Yes, said bunny was being sold VERY cheap ($350)... This bunny had been in my shop for an extended period of time, had been used for breeding, and just wasn't gaining any interest. If anyone out there is consistently selling straight eared English Spot Chocolates for $1000+, I would love to know your secret.... I can't give them away. And even during my sale, people bought all sorts of other bunnies, but no one touched this supposedly WAY underpriced ES Chocolate. Not a soul. Mind you, while I'd love to say that I would never sell a bunny below X amount, some of us depend on bunny sales to pay for their food. If the food supply gets low... uh oh, we need to have a sale!

After trying to explain to said group manager about the difference between a limited time sale and consistently underpricing/undercutting, I told this person that if they were going to send people out to police bunny markets and shops, and if they were going to threaten people for pricing below what they deemed "fair" in a free market, then they needed to put it in their group charter that their "suggested" price guide was in fact, MANDATORY. His answer was to tell me not to tell him how to run his group and, 15 hours later, after my sale was over and all bunnies were priced back in accordance with said group's normal price ranges.... He ejected me from the group without a word of explanation.

As Tapanga said in the previous post, we all breed our bunnies. We pay for them. We pay for their food and we put in the hours to check on them, to put them together to breed, to study the genetics, etc. This is a free market and, while I think the SUGGESTED price list is a great idea, I think that a few people are turning it into a bad thing by trying to forcibly regulate the market.

Ozimals is doing a grand job, implementing changes to slow down breeding and mass production, and I'm sure we will see things start to balance out a bit better after this new update. However, by attacking small breeders who can't afford to hold out for big prices, the very people who believe they are helping the market are only harming it further.

This group of do-gooders needs to realize that no one pinned a deputy badge on their chest. While they can do what they want with their own group, coming into someone's private shop and lecturing them about not following their price guide ideals is harassment and is a violation of SL's TOS.

[Sandra Kirkland]

I refuse to price anything under $250 simply because I don't see the point in feeding the bunny mills more cheap bunnies so that they can further manipulate the market. (YES, my sales have practically stopped) BUT this is my personal opinion and I feel it is up to the individual to charge whatever they want for the bunnies. I don't agree with the pricing on the list you gave. I wouldn't pay those prices for most of those bunnies. People also need to concede to the the fact that now that bunnies are overpopulated prices will adjust. I've had Fawns and Fawn/Whites reasonably priced, below the suggested on your list, for two weeks now and they aren't moving. I listed them for what I felt they were worth. If they don't sell, they don't sell. I think people are looking to make a fortune off of bunnies... someone else's work. Yes, I made a decent chunk at first... I certainly did not expect it to last. In my opinion the bunnies simply paid for their own food etc for their lifespan. I'm happy enough with that.

At what I've observed in the market, the prices listed would not sell bunnies.

[Yuvi Robbiani [beta tester]]

(03-13-2010 09:41 PM)Pannie Paperdoll Wrote:  Though you may be tempted please try to refrain from buying from undercutters, they only bring the market down.

The way I see it, people should be left to set their own prices. Low, low, low prices usually are given to classic bunnies with upright ears and common fur- I don't even try to sell those types and I would rather get starter bunnies from the Ozimals store to infuse my warren with new genes. Also, haven't you noticed that vendors who sell these dirt-cheap nests also sell more desirable nests for thousands of dollars in the same shop? Meh. I just do not give them my Lindens.

If I undersell a bunny that has special traits then I would be letting someone else make money from all the time I spent marking down pedigrees and all the red bunnies I bought to make the little buggers breed! That's something I would rather not do. However, if something is not selling after a couple days of course I have to mark down the price to stay competitive in the market.

[Pannie Paperdoll]

*just want to point out.. thats not MY list. I was lectured because I had two Fawns for sale at 700 and 600 after theyd sat several days with lots of shoppers coming through. ( one of them has pink eyes and people dont LIKE that in fawns from what I can see. ) I was taken aback that he came into my place and said anything to me about it. while he was there, I priced them to what he said I should and told him that he was duty bound to buy them now -=) .. he said something to the effect of.. I'm not that kind of fool, I already have lots of fawns. I breed and sell them. .. hello!

[Tristan Carthage]

Well said, Yuvi. That's my exact thoughts on it... If people are selling for ridiculous prices, they are actually cutting themselves short and will, in time, burn out on this. I have a selection of classic nests that are gathering dust on my shelves and the majority of "plain-jane" nests I've been getting lately have been going straight into a folder marked BUNNYBURY in my inventory - the same with a lot of bunbuns that have been used for quite a bit of breeding. I'm really looking forward to being able to try that new program... I'm really hoping it will help encourage people to deposit bunnies there, rather than flooding the market with uber cheap buns. <3

[Qudex Coronet]

i priced all my bunnies at the prices in that guide and have not sold a single bunny on my shelves (although i did auction a bunny which sold but as that is nothing to do with the price list it is irrelevant)

i dont mind the idea of having a minimum price for the bunnies i.e. dont undercut the main producer (ozimals) but i feel that some peoples hard work (as in the creators of the price guide) shouldnt be forced on others, especially as it doesnt seem to be helping sales, as it is i will have to start lowering my prices soon, and i imagine alot of people will object...but as was stated before in this thread...i pay for food, stat boosters and everything else for my bunnies therefore i decide what is a fair price to sell them at, not other people, they can voice their opinions by not buying

[Sapphire Weatherwax]

I think a pricing guide is and should be just that, a guide. It's very handy for getting a rough idea of what people consider a reasonable price, and especially as a guide to the most desirable traits/bunnies for new sellers.

However, there are a number of things it doesn't consider. A bunny with a full pedigree, purebred back to its grandparents, is worth significantly more (IMO) than a bunny with no info beyond its stats. And obviously a bunny with 7 generations left is worth less to most people than one with 15. Aphotic and Dusky look gorgeous on some bunnies, less so on others.

It's all very well to say "this is what bunnies should be worth", but when it comes down to it, if no one's willing to buy at those prices, they're not really worth that. By this price guide, I have a bunny that should be worth 3000L. That's what I originally had him up for sale for, too, but no one bought. I bred him, put him up for sale again, no buyers. He's been sitting at 100% love for a week now. I've been gradually reducing his price, and I really don't want to sell him for less than 1000L, but I need the prim space and the lindens for food, so what am I supposed to do?

I do think prices will start to rise when Bunnybury starts and the new update is out, and I hope that the price guide will more truly reflect the market at that point, but at the moment I'm finding it very optimistic, because people just won't buy most bunnies for those prices.

[glennasano [beta tester]]

i find it strange these people are not on the forum defending this action......
Seems people want to control the market in more ways than one, same thing happened with the "other" pets a while ago the pricing was policed then as well. Same thing is happening here, If i want to sell a lop for 1L$ to someone i know wants it then who has the right to tell me that's wrong when i have paid for it to be bred?
Especially when they are only suggesting these prices so they can still sell theirs at X amounts and to keep their future generations of bunnies at higher cost!