Page:The Golden Hamster Manual.djvu/61

 separates the sheep from the goats. Get your banker’s or lawyer’s opinion of any breeding stock sale and buy-back contract offered you before you invest. See if the terms stated legally mean what you think. Many now wish they had heeded this advice. Others are glad they did so. By no means are all buy-backs rackets. But it is a fact that, to the beginner, the crooks do have the smoothest sounding deals.

Remember, that to get any kind of really profitable and regular sales, one must go after them. With this fact in mind, one may more profitably start modestly and for the first six months learn about the markets that bring the best profits.

Several operators have been giving the impression that their pedigreed stock might be superior to most other, and thereby have taken 50c to $2.00 extra per animal so sold. Many innocent beginners have lost good friends by unknowingly misrepresenting the value of such pedigrees or animals sold with such pedigrees. Incidentally, while the catch of suckers hooked in this game appears to be lessening, too many of the financial failures among beginners in the hamster industry feel that they were misled in this fashion.

A “black market” turn of mind may collect excessive prices from those who are unaware of the usual fair prices charged by the average producer. Such mind may depend mostly upon placing his advertising in periodicals used by few or no other hamster advertisers. Some buyers admit paying double to triple prices for hamsters bought before they learned of any other places from which to buy the animals.

A kind of consultation or guidance service is offered hamster breeders under such names as club, breeders research, a dealer’s name, association, cooperative, etc. Most such services offer all sorts of information, but may carry a footnote “providing such information Is available,” or “according to availability of information.” Not to discount the possible value of general advice, but the average beginner signing up for such service may do so mainly for marketing advice, thinking that upon his request for names of places to sell hamsters he will receive by return mail a list of, or at least a few names and addresses of real people, laboratories or other users who will assuredly and regularly buy what he has to ship to them. He may learn differently, and realize that he must look up his own markets, advertise for them, etc. If he becomes resentful enough to threaten to expose their methods unless they immediately refund his money or furnish actual names and addresses to which hamsters have been sold, he may then receive such addresses. Upon writing them, he may learn that the buyer once did buy from the recommender, but has since found a more desirable source of supply. Upon writing the service again, he may be given the addresses of some dealers who live far away, and who may pay about one-half laboratory market price for stock prepaid to them, or who may be buy-backs requiring him to purchase some new breeding stock from them before they will consider buying any of his production. So, the dollar or two per year for such service or advice may be expensive and he may consider even his postage spent corresponding with them a distinct loss. What are the alternatives?