Kitty pricing!

[Kayla Woodrunner]

To me the variance in pricing is a lot like cars. You can buy a car for a $100 if you look but it's going to be a clunker. It may run for a while but you're probably going to be putting money into it fairly soon --- but you probably factor that in because you're willing to buy a car for a $100 and deal with repairs. This car is not a status symbol -- quite the opposite and your friends will have to already love you to get in it.

And you can buy a brand new Delorean which costs a hell of a lot more but I doubt you'll have to deal with repairs. Plus there are are a lot of people who really look up to Deloreans so you're probably going to impress some people and make some friends -- shallow though that may be.

Both are cars. Both should get you where you're going (although I have my doubts about the clunker) but the Delorean will get you there a hell of a lot faster.

It's fairly easy to see the parallels. I have bought $50 and $100 kittens but they are loaded with genesis traits or mysterious/plush. Usually I get them for one trait (I collected eyes and furs until I had all of them). With them, when I did pull them out, it took me awhile and a lot of kibble and several generations to get them uptraited to the point that I liked them and could show them off to my friends. With those I paid not so much in lindens but in kibble and time due to it taking generations to get where I wanted. Since I don't have much money, sometimes time and kibble is all I have to spend and that's ok too. I am a breeder -- meaning I like to breed -- I like the geneology, planning who goes with who and uptraiting a kitty.

I have paid quite a bit more for kitties. The cats I paid $500 to $5000 for saved me time. The $500 to $1100 cats were the purchases I was happiest with. They were close to where I wanted to go so I wasn't spending generations getting them to where I wanted. But I still got to do some work (again I like breeding). These prices seem stable fluctuating between $500-$1100 even up to 2k.

the cats over $1500 up to wherever, they are more like Deloreans. Honestly they are the status symbols. They are the hot new fads. Like in RL, if you see in the beginning of new fad, you are the ones to make money. But fads change and as another hot new fad comes in, prices drop on the older one. These are the cats with the newly discovered traits and these cats even get away with having genesis traits. And if you're paying anywhere close to $1500 for a "new" trait, it's already passing in fashion so you'll need some other traits to back it up. Some breeders make a name for themselves and so you pay a little more for their kitties in general. Some people are good sellers and you'll pay a little more there too -- that's ok. Selling is a skill that some people have and others are not so great at so they should get paid for that skill. (I am not a good seller so I do appreciate good sellers)

A teenager getting their first car often gets a clunker. When I was new at breeding, I did the same. Lots of gen or very dom traits until I learned -- the hard way. As I learned about furs and eyes, I started wanting them and found something too dominant made it hard to pass something else. Then I learned about traits. So gradually my needs changed in what I wanted from cats. A grown up established in their job with a good credit rating will often buy a new car. They are very unlikely to buy a cheap clunker. As you get more knowledgeable about breeding, you "grow up" in breeding and you tend to pay more for cats because you have more specific needs.

I am ok with the wide variance in pricing.

I am not ok with people using the term 9T as if it is a meaningful term. A 9T cat can be $100 because it could be a clunker. A $75 or &100 kitty is good for newbies because they are learning to breed and it's better if your beginning mistakes are cheap ones because you'll stick with it. As you get better at breeding you're not going to care if someone says 9T --- because you're going to look at the traits. What are the traits? Are they ones you already have? Are they a pleasing combination? I'll pay more than 1k for kitties because it has traits I want -- who cares that it is 7T. I seriously do not care about pupil size, shape or shade. Those are not important. I've seen 9T cats that I thought were horrible. Seriously the cat has mysterious tail, curious ears, white mysterious whiskers and you're mad because they're selling it for 100L? Of course they are. That's what those traits are worth because it will take a lot of kibble to uptrait them to anything else. To me those traits say you haven't put any work into it or you're a new breeder or someone told you all 9T cats were created equal and you believed them.

Talk about what the traits are -- instead of just counting them -- that is far more meaningful. I'd like to see someone selling a dreamy, rounded boo boo, flame, dreamy on the same cat for $100 -- ain't going to happen --- because if you can do that you know how hard it is to put those on the same cat and your pricing will reflect that. And the person who makes that cat, if she buys a cat, isn't looking for mysterious so won't be buying $100 kitties. Knowledge is what improves the value of kitties and opens wallets --- not 9Ts.

And if you can't tell the difference betwen a $100L kitty and a $10,000L kitty, use Tad's build-a-cat (http://tad-carlucci.com/Build-a-Cat/) to create your dream kitty, and buy the 100L. You are not ready for the 10k kitty. By the time, you spend the kibble and time to create your dream kitty, you will probably have started going to auctions or stores and bought more kitties to get you there and you'll know the difference between the 100L kitty and the $10,000L kitty. You won't be buying 100L kitties any more and probably not the 10K either but somewhere in between. And if you buy the 10K kitty, you will know why and you will be thrilled to death that you got it. Learning about how to breed comes first though.

Anyways that's my humble 2L worth