Keeping Reptiles: You’re Using MorphMarket Incorrectly — How To Get Cheaper, Healthier Animals
We have to begin this article in the tradition of Medium articles with a meme of Morpheus: “What if I told you that you you could pay less for healthier animals?”
Let’s first explore what MorphMarket is and then we’ll get right to the list to help you find healthier animals without wasting a lot of money.
What Is MorphMarket?
MorphMarket was created in 2015 as a place where people could specifically list reptiles. It was a new, fresh, updated version of established models like FaunaClassifieds (released in 2000). Hopeful buyers and sellers could use the site to contact each other as well as leverage the forums for helpful advice. Faster, easier to use, and built on newer software, MorphMarket now features their own forums (using Discourse) and is much easier to use with modern features that users expect. The work put in to the platform is certainly commendable.
How Is MorphMarket Used Today?
You can use the site to browse many different animals across several countries that are available for sale. Browsing requires no special account.
Individuals with animals to offer for sale have an option to choose several different paid plans to promote their animals.
A buyer can send an inquiry to a seller to coordinate the purchase of an animal. All transactions, agreements, and further communication are independent of MorphMarket as a whole. Users familiar with sites like Craigslist will recognize the entire process. Purchasing an animal over Instagram or even Facebook are no different. MorphMarket isn’t much different than social media sites.
That’s it. That’s all there is to using it at the most basic level.
It is entirely optional to register, rate buyers, rate sellers, the Discourse forums, and other features. It took me years to register. Save yourself the headache and just use browser bookmarks instead of wishlists — there’s nothing else of value.
(Updated) A Small Note That This Is Banned Reading
I didn’t know this would be, apparently, controversial. After sharing this to several ball python groups it has mysteriously started being silently removed.
It seems some individuals are unaware that Medium tracks referral sources for stories. A sudden spike in daily referrals from MorphMarket on the same day that the post was removed makes it pretty clear there was a community brigade.
C’est la vie. On to the tips!
Tips To Using MorphMarket
After that short introduction let’s get straight to the point. These are the best tips for using MorphMarket as a buyer.
- DO NOT register with an account as a buyer
- DO NOT infer any value from MorphMarket ratings
- DO NOT complete a transaction that feels sketchy
- DO use MorphMarket only as a search engine
- DO locate that seller outside of MorphMarket
- DO use their social media presence
- DO ask what else they offer
- DO consider haggling
- DO ask about health guarantees
Let’s break these down further to help understand the value.
The MorphMarket Account
You don’t need a MorphMarket account if you do not intend to use member restricted features. Browsing and locating sellers can entirely be done without an account. Using MorphMarket to inquire about animals has no value and can actually be detrimental.
At its core the features on MorphMarket are the exact same features as a social media site. Any user can add animals to a wish list and any buyer/seller pair can inflate ratings together. This leads to problems analogous to services like Yelp.com — it’s well known that most normal transactions resulting in a happy buyer and a happy seller net few reviews. Yelp.com quickly turned into a site where angry people would bomb businesses they aren’t happy with while others would artificially inflate ratings using friends, family, and coworkers.
Browse reviews for sellers if you want to see for yourself. There’s a healthy mix of ridiculous and gushing reviews, reviews that make no sense (“ball python won’t eat” when purchased 1 week ago), and the usual social media shenanigans.
Skip the registration.
User and Buyer Ratings, Sketchy Sellers
When faced with issues the staff at MorphMarket are very quick to repeat “We are not Facebook” but when you get to questions of liability they’ll also repeat “You wouldn’t hold Facebook accountable” — contradicting signals on whether or not they want to be Facebook. It is best to remember MorphMarket is like any other social media site. You need to make appropriate decisions for yourself.
If you get a seller that refuses to let you send payment as anything other than a PayPal Gift you’ll end up with a fat negative review. Never do this. This is an indication that they do not have a PayPal Merchant Account, they do not have significant volume to get one, they are not conducting any sort of legal business, and they’re most likely attempting to avoid allowing you to file a claim against PayPal (it’s a scam). Offer to pay the fees PayPal would charge — if they still refuse then they’re a scammer.
Further, MorphMarket suggests that you do your own research on sellers to avoid being scammed. Most sellers redirect you to Facebook. Their Facebook directs you to their MorphMarket. MorphMarket suggests finding sellers’ websites but staff of MorphMarket that are also sellers don’t even have their own working websites. It’s a circle. Remeber: It’s just another social media site.
There are plenty of scammers posing as buyers as well. It is up to you as a business owner or part time breeder to make appropriate decisions to protect yourself.
MorphMarket — The Search Engine
We’ve covered that the account is unnecessary and relying on buyer/seller rating features still requires you to do footwork you would do anyway.
Use the site as a search engine if you’re looking for something very specific and do not have rapport with any sellers. This can also help you find other networks of enthusiasts.
MorphMarket itself has created a scenario where buyers and sellers (sometimes artificially) inflate and deflate prices of animals. In the usual seller behavior some sellers will inflate the price expecting someone to low-ball them later. Some buyers will assume sellers inflate their price for the same reason. It’s a bit of a vicious circle of price wars.
Pay attention to the seller’s name on MorphMarket. There is no proof-of-business required to create a listing. Businesses with someone’s name are often (but not always) at-home do-it-yourself businesses that use specific local and federal laws to do business with that name. LLC’s must include an indication that they are an LLC. Fanciful names, of which there are many, like “UltraGeniusMorphBallsBallsBlueBalls” or some other odd ball python joke are most likely individuals. All the more reason to use MorphMarket as a social media site and leverage other avenues such as Googling for legitimate businesses, locating their online presence, etc.
Since you’ll be doing all this footwork later there isn’t a reason to trudge through nonsensical user feedback provided by MorphMarket.
Locate the Seller Outside of MorphMarket
There are two primary reasons to locate the seller outside of MorphMarket:
- To establish their credibility
- To establish a rapport
As covered in the sections above the actual user reviews on MorphMarket are not very good indicators. Having a working website with a domain name that matches your business is all around generally good advice — and also a suggestion to avoid scammers in MorphMarket’s own tips to avoiding scammers.
If they do not have a website of their own they may have a social media presence elsewhere. In general you will find more animals listed on these sites as they are free to post (with some restrictions to the post content). You may also get a glimpse of the way the animals are kept, the keeper’s facility, and other valuable information.
A social media direct message usually includes links to your profile, a profile picture, and other information that can help you introduce yourself to a buyer. It is much less “cold” than the Inquiry feature of MorphMarket.
With an introduction sent to the seller you might find you are able to purchase the same snakes for cheaper and you can better judge which animals are healthier by comparing separate breeders!
You may also find that a breeder you’ve located is a content creator. You should absolutely support your content creators by watching their videos and reading their articles. :)
Haggle
Just do it. Sellers with any time selling anything will be used to this approach and should be able to respectfully decline any offers.
Unique to MorphMarket and often appearing on their forums is the topic of price bombing, gouging, inflating, and manipulation. If a seller is in a position where they cannot decline a sale at a price they do not feel is fair then they are not in a position to sell animals.
On the upside to taking the steps above you should already have a rapport with the seller and be able to judge if your haggling is offensive or not. You may also just be offered specially priced animals — so get to know your breeders!
Ready to Purchase (but not through MorphMarket)
There is a small misnomer above. You can’t actually purchase anything through MorphMarket. On the positive side for MorphMarket they do have a small section for health guarantees.
Your buyer and seller protections are absolutely no different compared to something like Instagram. MorphMarket is just another social media site. You will be asked to file claims with PayPal and use your local avenues to resolve disputes including contacting law enforcement. Purchasing an animal through Instagram is no different. Personally, I would like to see sellers with beautiful websites, which aren’t exactly inaccessible or difficult to afford, than scraping through social media sites — but here we are.
Read the health guarantee on MorphMarket. This will pretty much let you know if you need to immediately avoid this seller. If it’s missing then you should skip them. If it has language that suggests you cannot get a cash refund then you should skip them. If the language says there is only a 24 window to make a complaint then you should skip them.
Health
When it comes to ball pythons, the bread-and-butter of MorphMarket, there are pervasive diseases coupled with dense collections compounded by new breeders entering MorphMarket as hopeful millionaires.
Professional breeders can judge a healthy animals behavior. They’ll know healthy weights. They also should have an idea about nidovirus. Nidovirus is pervasive in collections, highly contagious, and terminal.
It is a very contentious topic. I’ve watched breeders suggest animals contracted nidovirus during shipping (extraordinarily unlikely, there is an incubation period like other viruses — the animal was already infected). Breeders will dismiss it as common respiratory infections introduced by the shipping process.
The average MorphMarket breeder will try to downplay or even insult you about nidovirus. I’ve had MorphMarket fans suggest that I’ve had a “bad experience with nidovirus” — but if you ask them if they test for the disease they either refuse to answer or state that they do not. The pervasiveness of the disease implies they are having a good experience with nidovirus which is extremely concerning.
MorphMarket Staff (remember: social media site) have even created posts suggesting they have 200 snakes to test (they had 9 listed), that testing was extraordinarily expensive (it’s $25–75), and other nonsensical claims. Others chimed in that they would “Just Know” if they had it.
Let’s be clear: the cost of the test is cheaper than shipping the animal and less stress inducing. It’s purely ignorance.
Another user who alternates from telling people the snakes he bought last year from multiple sources for the cheapest price he could find addressed his depression (remember: social media site) currently carries the lead on posts on their forums.
These “breeders” are a fast track to unhealthy animals. If an animal tests positive for nidovirus or other diseases MorphMarket will not remove their listing or take any action to help re-mediate the problem. The exact same animal will go right back up for sale even with proof of the virus — and staff will do nothing to prevent it. MorphMarket is just another social media site that does not engage in any form of assuring animals, breeders, or buyers are behaving in responsible ways.
If you or anyone you know is still confused about just how much effort is going into MorphMarket Staff and users trying to hock snakes and subscriptions by suggesting the virus is not widespread or somehow the customers fault, please watch this video:
That’s All!
To get the most out of your experience with MorphMarket use it only a search engine. You’ll save time, money, headaches, and end up with healthier animals.
