So, I have a little story to tell you. True story, for once, this has nothing to do with chinchillas... though I will, of course, relate it to chinchillas.
So I had someone message me about a dishwasher I have for sale. The dishwasher is a portable countertop one, and retails for $300 new. This one that I had was in pristine condition, worked great... I just never hooked it up (and for how long it sat around, probably never would). So I put it up on fb marketplace for $125.
The first offer for it was $20, which naturally, was simply no.
The second person messaged me, told me their name, asked if it was interested, and said they had a couple questions. Ok, so I asked what the questions were. His first message was basically, "well, there's one for sale for $50, yours is $125." So I responded, saying, "why don't you get the one for $50? I'm not sure what your question is." He responded by saying that he lived near me, and the other one was in downtown Chicago (30 mins away) and he'd rather get the closer one. So I responded saying that I wasn't going to drop the price to $50, sorry. He responded, "get used to people going and buying the cheaper ones." Ok, whatever.
Here's the thing though -- this guy wanted me to drop the price $75... for his convenience. The only benefit to me was that I would sell the item, albeit at 2/3 off. But he wanted the discount, simply because it would be more convenient to him.
I looked up the ad for the $50 dishwasher, and there really was one. It had a picture that looked all dingy and dinged up, and absolutely no description. Did it work? Who knows? Did it include the inside racks / trays? Who knows, cause it only had one pic of the outside. What struck me is that, yes, it was cheaper, but without messaging the seller and asking more about it, you have no idea what you're getting.
The same goes for chinchillas. I occasionally get people who will message me and say, "well I really like this chinchilla you have for $200, but I can find one on craigslist for $75 and that includes cage and everything with it." And I have no doubt they can. I have actually asked people in the past... if it's such a great deal on craigslist, why are they messaging me? Well, as you may guess, there is a reason for it. See, these people like my health guarantee. And they like the way my animals look healthy, versus the animals on craigslist that, well, don't always. And they like the variety of colors. And they like that they're babies, and the one on craigslist is 8 years old. And they like the fact that I describe what the personalities are like, versus on craigslist, they don't, at all. But... for some reason, they think that, despite the fact that I have all these additional things to offer, I should offer the chinchilla, with everything, at the super cheap price. Sorry, but no.
It's simple... you want additional benefit, you will pay for it. Not just here.. anywhere! You buy airline tickets... if you want those refundable, they cost a bit more. You buy a used car, if you want the extended warranty, it costs more. Sure, you can get it cheaper, but if it breaks and you don't have that warranty, well, you get the idea.
If you've followed us for any length of time, you know that we have sales, periodically. So I'm not above lowering prices, at times. Nothing wrong with that. But I won't be price-matching people on craigslist any time soon, and just like for the dishwasher guy, I won't lower the price just because there's a better deal elsewhere. People are welcome to shop wherever they like. This isn't Walmart, where the margins are sky high. I'm not sorry about any of that, because this is a small business / small rescue, and it all just is what it is. That is all.
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