Kitty pricing!

[Devilness Chant]

I told myself I was going to stay out of forums, but it's so nice to see friendly respectful discussion. Sooooooo I wanted to give my friendly respectful 2L of thought.

Pricing and selling kitties has always been a nightmare. For me, I always tried to price at the mid range of what I've seen in shops. But when a kitty or a box sits on a shelf because the market has a million kitties that are similar to mine, I don't mind dropping the price down in the hopes that it sells. Not just for the money, but I want someone to enjoy breeding that line into theirs. Maybe that kitty is underpriced. But I would rather someone get enjoyment out of my work than see it collect dust on a shelf.

To me, (no disrespect intended, it's just my observations) They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, the same can be said about judging a box by it's price. Just an example. I was at an auction where a new trait was up for bid. People were bidding high because it was a newer trait. (yes I have been called a purist, but with good reason) When I looked into the pedigree I saw that the trait had been pulled with a more rec trait. The more rec trait is all over the market for the price of an older trait.
To me, (and again this is just the purist in me) When there is a hidden trait, and you or anyone after you, inbreeds for that trait, chances are, you are going to get the older rec trait. To me that decreases the value of the newer trait. Now you have an expensive kitty that you have to be very careful breeding. And when you sell the os to others, they have to be more mindful of those rec traits also. And a lot of times, those rec traits are back in the pedigree where you don't see them. Those lil buggers pop out when you don't want them too. (but when you do want them to they are suburn!) lol

I've looked under the hood of a lot of kitties, and seen some expensive duds. I bought those 5k and 10k kitties in the past and was disappointed many times. There were some that were amazing, please don't get me wrong.

I've looked under the hood of those less expensive kitties and while many weren't very impressive, some were works of art. Maybe an experienced breeder shared some of their babies with a new person, maybe the person selling the less expensive boxes just couldn't stand to see them collecting dust.

Some people feel that the price of their kitties reflects the value of their time and investment put into that kitty.
Some feel that the price reflects their want to share their work and investment with others that don't or can't have the lindens to pay higher prices. Or that they just don't want all the work to sit on a shelf collecting dust.
Some price because it is a huge competitive market and want money to help support their hobby.
Everyone has different reasons. We are a diverse community.

No matter what the reason is behind pricing. The one common thread we all share is the love of breeding and the pride we take in our babies.

*edit I wanted to apologize for using the term dud. I meant nothing by it was just tired when I posted this. No kitty is a dud.