Selling

As a newcomer to the fancy, your first agenda often involves buying foundation stock. The next stage revolves around showing and breeding. Lastly, there is the need to sell some of your cavies. Selling, much like buying, comes with its own set of unwritten rules, pitfalls and dilemmas.

This post covers five stages of selling cavies and is intended to help those who aren't sure where to start. As you may have noticed truly established studs don't advertise animals for sale at all. They have the liberty of good connections within the fancy and an established circle of trust. There is always someone within their inner circle keen to have their cavies. With hard work and determination you will likely find yourself one day, in that position. In the meantime, here are some tips and tricks to help you out.



STAGE ONE
Deciding which cavies to sell and which to keep. 

The main aim is to show your stock. There is no substitute for proper judging. Don't be afraid to approach a judge AFTER the show and ask for their opinion. Find out why you did or didn't place, what you need to work on and whether they believe your cavy meets the breed standard or not. Ask them what to be mindful of, if you decide to breed the cavy. Be prepared for honest answers. Show appreciation for the judges time, respect their opinion and consider what they have said to you.

What if your cavy didn't make it to the table? Maybe your Sheba chewed it's chops or your Texel got a tangle that had to be cut out. How do you decide then? Read the breed standard and assess your cavy as objectively and critically as you can. Additionally, seek the advice of those who are more experienced than you. Decide which cavies are your best, which ones are good but surplus to your needs and which ones aren't up to standard.

Typically breeders keep their very best stock to show and breed with. Their secondary stock is offered to their friends in the fancy. If you would breed or show with a cavy but don't need to because you have better, then it is fit to be papered and may suit someone elses needs. If a cavy is not good enough for you and you wouldn't offer it to your friends because it has an ear hem, very poor density or for whatever reason is unsuitable to use, then don't paper it. Rehome it as a pet.

STAGE TWO
Involving potential buyers.

The first and most golden rule of selling, is that of the "First Refusal". First refusal means, if you buy a cavy from a breeder and then decide to sell it, the polite thing to do is to offer it back to the breeder first. A brief email or text will do the trick "Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I have decided to sell Macarthur. He has bred me many lovely pups including some boars that I am retaining, as they better suit my current breeding requirements. I am going to list him for sale next week but if you would like him back, please get in touch with me before then to let me know."

If you don't offer first refusal the breeder may be offended and decide not to sell stock to you in the future. Furthermore they may discuss the situation with fellow breeders who may decide as a result of this rule being broken, not to sell to you either.

Are there any exceptions? If the breeder sold all of their stock because they were leaving the fancy, sold all of a specific breed because they were no longer focusing on them or sold the majority of their stock because they had personal circumstances meaning that they had to reduce their numbers, then you do have a technical exception to the rule. It is up to your discretion how you handle it. You can still send a simple message to say that you are no longer keeping the cavy but will find a good home for it and wanted to just let them know.

Once you have got this sorted take some good quality images of the animals you wish to rehome. These should be taken side on, with noses down and feet tucked under the body. If you have many cavies to sell it may be best to ask for expressions of interest. Something along these lines "I currently have two trios of pink eyed creams available and a pair of breed quality self blacks. Please contact me with your expression of interest." This can be posted on your stud website or Facebook page. You can then converse in private with interested parties and show them the images of the cavies in question. The reason for this is pretty pictures often attract window shoppers. Serious breeders will know your stud and your stock and trust your judgement. It avoids you having to deal with messages from random pet owners or backyard breeders because your advertisement indicates that questions come first, images and sale comes later.

However if you are a new stud you may have to promote your cavies a little more thoroughly. In this case you can post the photo and basic information. For example, "For sale - Six month old Peruvian boar not in coat. Proven breeder. $40 with papers. Please contact me for further details." If you are on Facebook you can post it on your stud page, as well as your cavy clubs' page or group. There are also some groups specifically designed for selling cavies in your area. If you are posting on one of these be sure to include your location.

Only use places like Gumtree or the Trading Post as a last resort. These types of online markets tend to attract a lot of opportunists and unscrupulous people. They also tend to be the offloading location of choice for registered studs who breed en mass and despite denying it, breed to sell for profit. Although you may be genuine and carefully screening potential homes, you may still be unfairly judged by others. So use it if you need to but hopefully before too long there will be plenty of breeders chasing your stock and you will have better knowledge and better quality stock resulting in less cavies being sold and hence no need to advertise.

STAGE THREE
Determining who to sell to.

Beware the buyer who leads with price. This includes those who start with "How much are they?", "Would you take $30?" and "Would you give me a discount if I bought all of them." Also steer clear of those wanting a personal delivery service, "Do you come to Logan often?", "I don't have a car so would you be able to drop them off?", "I'll take them but can you meet me at Caboolture on Thursday?"

Watch for sow hunters, window shoppers and snoops. To sell for profit you only need one boar, so these types of people are often trying to buy as many sows as they can, dubbing them the nickname "sow hunters". If they can get "purebred" sows, they know they can get more money for the pups. So they will try to get registered breeders to part with stock under the guise of being keen to join the fancy.

Window shoppers are frequently ambivalent, undecided and don't really know what they want. They tend to ask for lots of photos, want to know about all the animals you have available, ask a lot of questions and may even say they want to come to your stud and look at all of them before choosing. They are also notorious for asking you to "hold" the animal while they think about it or work out how to get the animal or enough money to pay for it. They are probably doing the same thing to several other breeders at the same time. Whilst they may be able to provide a good home and sometimes do actually buy, for the most part they just enjoy browsing and will waste your time.

Snoops are usually other studs wanting to know what you have, how much you are selling the cavies for and why you are selling them. They may be sizing up their competition, looking for gossip or just being nosy. Whatever their form, once you realise your interested party is more trouble than they are worth move them along.

A good buyer will know what they need, happily ask and answer appropriate questions, be keen to make payment and arrange prompt pick up of the cavy. If you want to suss your buyer out a little more thoroughly but don't know what to ask, the following are some examples.

- How long have you been in the fancy?
- What is the name of your stud?

- Where do you normally show your animals?
- Which club are you a member of?
- Which breeds do you specialise in?
- How many cavies do you have?
- Do you plan to start showing soon?
- Do you have a website or Facebook Stud Page?
- How do you house your cavies?

- Can you tell me a bit about your stud?
- How are you managing to keep yours warm this Winter?

You can also tell a lot by the responses you get to statements such as these.

- I enjoy seeing update photos.
- I would love to come visit your stud.
- I can meet you at the next COBS show, since you show there regularly.
- I prefer to sell to registered studs.
- It is important to me that any cavies I sell go to good homes.

If you decide you don't want to sell to someone, then handle the situation as diplomatically as possible. Politely tell them you have had a lot of interest and have chosen to sell them to someone else. Or if there is a specific reason that you can share without offense then let them know. This may include reasons such as because they are not a registered stud, the pup is too young for interstate travel, you don't like to use transport companies or you would prefer them to go to someone who is interested in showing them.

STAGE FOUR
Making the actual sale.

Start by arranging the basics. Agree on when and where you will meet the buyer, how and when they will pay. Purchases involving a transport company should cover the same aspects but will be further complicated due to the third party involvement. None-the-less the basic format is: payment made, papers supplied, cavy handed over. Ensure your cavy is clean, healthy and in the expected condition. If there is a variation from this let the buyer know in advance. Be sure to swap all necessary contact information to ensure smooth communication leading up to the purchase.

STAGE FIVE
Following through.

It is good etiquette for the buyer to send you a text or email once they are home with their new cavy to let you know that he or she has arrived safely and is settling in well. You don't have to become best friends but it is nice to occasionally communicate with the buyer. Don't consider selling more cavies to a someone who hasn't made any effort to keep in touch or to show you they have provided a good home for your animal.