More rescue stuff-Questions please help!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ok, I am revamping the website as most of you know (and are probably sick of hearing about!! LOL ) and I’m finally posting about our services…Can you guys tell me what you think of the fees. I think, for our costs they are very reasonable. I think they (if used!) will generate some income for the shelter, which we need. I don’t know what to think, in terms of -are they reasonable. I guess economy and cost are factors.

Right now our economy is booming, cheap small houses are 300K. McDonalds hiring at 14$/hr. CDN dollar is less value then American dollar or Australian or European (Ok cheaper then pretty much anything as usual LOL) Hope that helps evaluate?

I am very open to suggestions and critisms so go hard!

 

Custom Bonded Pair -Service

Want a bonded pair of Rabbits but don’t see the pair that’s for you? We’ll do the work for you!

Choose two rabbits that you’d like. We’ll bond them for you. You get them as a spay/neutered bonded pair, that you custom chose yourself!

250$ fee includes:
                Adoption fee for both of the rabbits
                Spay/Neuter for both of the rabbits
                Bonding services
                A free vet exam* for both of the rabbits

Fees: Rabbit adoption fees are 50$ and Bonding Services are 200$. When you choose this option, you pay much less then that!
All fees go directly to food and vet services of our current shelter rabbits! (We have no paid employees)

Fee breakdown:
2 x 50$ -discount=80$ adoption fee for TWO spay/neutered rabbits with a free vet exam!
200$ -discount=170$ bonding fee for the bonding of two rabbits of your choice.

* Free vet exam is only offered with our vet, Dr. Marcia Waye.

**********************************************   AND

 

Bonding Service now being offered!

Rabbits typically do best in groups of two or more. However they don’t always get along at the start. Rabbits can fight fiercely and harm each other. It’s important to properly introduce and bond your rabbits if they are to live together.

Bonding rabbits takes time and patience, and with the right techniques you CAN bond your rabbits. Bonded rabbits must stay together after bonding. A bonded rabbit who is seperated will go through a grieving process so it’s a very important decision to make.

If you have two or more rabbits that you’d like to have bonded you have options!

1) We’ll give you information on how to bond your two rabbits by email and provide help,suggestions and resources throughout the process. Bonding can take days or months, but we firmly believe that any two SPAY/NEUTERED rabbits can be bonded. This service is free-donations are always appreciated. Just email Lesley@radrabbits.com for information or to start!

2) Whether your second rabbit (or first) rabbit is adopted from us, or elsewhere, we’ll provide bonding for you! Bonding services availability is dependant on our situation and yours. The cost is usually a 200$ donation (depending on how many rabbits need to be bonded), and typically entails us having your rabbits for a two week period of time. For more information on availabiltiy, or for details email Lesley@radrabbits.com 

Rabbit Dating

It’s a great way to start bonding! Allowing your rabbit to choose his or her new girlfriend or boyfriend makes things a lot easier when bonding. If you are considering adopting from us, we do allow “Rabbit Speed Dating” so that your rabbit can choose their mate! Email for details Lesley@radrabbits.com

[Beka27]

that’s great. the way you list the spay/neuter after the adoption fee makes it sound like it’s something you would normally charge for separately. that might confuse some people. can you put:

Want a bonded pair of Rabbits but don’t see the pair that’s for you? We’ll do the work for you!

Choose two rabbits that you’d like. We’ll bond them for you. You get them as a spay/neutered bonded pair, that you custom chose yourself!

Adoption fee (includes spay/neuter and a free vet exam for both rabbits!) $100
Bunny Bonding Retreat (we board your chosen buns for two weeks, and provide daily, supervised bonding sessions… ETC ETC ETC- whatever else you want to say to DESCRIBE what a bonding session is/does- remember not everyone knows what all it entails!) $200

i think the fee breakdown area is confusing… i had to read it over twice and i’m still not 100% sure i “get it”.

my thoughts:
i would not suggest you “discount” the rabbit adoption fees. that gives the impression that you’d be willing to accept less for the bunny itself, when really the bunny and care/alter is what they’re paying for. rather, you could discount your services by $50 *for a limited time only*. if you list the regular price as higher, folks are always going to think they’re getting a huge savings. even if your *limited time only* lasts forever…

edited:  btw… feel free to use “Bunny Bonding Retreat” or any variation of that if you want!  i think it makes it sound more snazzy than “Bonding Sessions”… that makes me think of bunnies in therapy… or marriage counseling…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ahhh Thanks Beka!! I like it!

[Sarita]

How much is your regular adoption fee? Is it the $50.00?

Is the additional $150 for the bonding sessions? I do have to wonder if you will find people who will want to pay this fee – it is quite expensive.

I do agree that you don’t want to “discount” the adoption fees. I think $50.00 for one rabbit is very affordable considering they are rescued and the expenses you pay. Have you looked around to see what the other rabbit rescues and humane societies adoption fee’s are?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Yes, our adoption fee is equal or less then other rescues, And ours are always spay/neutered- most rescues do if they can but not always;
I can’t find any Canadian rescues that do bonding services to compare with!

[Sarita]

I know on Saveabunny that they do bonding but it does not list a fee so I have to wonder if they charge one.

I never charged a fee for this because my goal was to find a home for the rabbits and I didn’t want to incur an additional cost to the new owner just find a home for the rabbit. Now if someone would have asked me to bond the rabbits they currently had (not any adopted from me) then I would consider doing this for a fee but only if I was successful in bonding the rabbits…this is just my opinion of course on this because I do know the cost of running a rescue and looking for ways to get funds creatively to keep the rescue going. I know too this takes time as well…which I didn’t have too much of since I had so many rabbits to take care of on my own that I never offered this service at all unless they adopted from me, but then I wouldn’t charge additional fee’s.

[Beka27]

oh, i get what you’re saying Sarita. from what i understand, rescues that do “bonding” charge the boarding fee (they keep the buns for a week or two) and the bonding is covered in that… but i guess if they are adopting two buns from you, they might think, well, you’re already technically “boarding the buns”, so just go ahead and bond them before i even take them home. that does free up the space in your rescue and you get two adoption fees, so it’s benefiting the rescue either way.

this is a tough call. she’s right tho that not everyone will be able or willing to pay that. will you be offering regular boarding to folks for the holidays or are you too full? that’s another way you could make some cash…

edited:  from http://www.saveabunny.com/?q=services#bonding

1. Basic Boarding
Your bunny (or bunnies) will be housed in a comfortable, spacious cage, and fed high quality pellets, fresh greens, and unlimited hay, or you may bring food of your own choice. Boarding bunnies get regular snuggles, kisses, and exercise, Bunny Bonding is also available. Nail trims, grooming, medicine administration, energy work, animal communication and acupressure massages are extra.

Cost:
Single rabbit: $25/day for members and $27/ day for non-members
Pairs: $30/day for members and $32/day for non-members
Trios: $35/day for members and $37/day for non-members

 

so it sounds like you’d pay the boarding fee for one or more rabbits and then they’d bond for you while they are there…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

We’re considering doing boarding starting in the new year, as we’re getting some volunteers. It’s hard as right now it’s just Nanci and I doing care and we don’t want to stretch ourselves too far and lessen the care each bun gets. But hopefully we can do that soon!

Soooo I have two questions then; One if the fee is 50 a rabbit and we have an already bonded pair and someone is adopting both is 100 fair or should there be a completely different price for an existing bonded pair?

Also, if you are doing the ‘choose your own bonded pair’ what price (again, with 50 for a fee, including vet check spay/neuter) would be a reasonable price?

[Beka27]

well, from save-a-bunny, (since i still had their page up…) it says $85.00 for a single rabbit and $160.00 for a pair. so you get a very small discount for getting a pair…

maybe if you did 50 for a single, and 85 or 90 for a pair? they obviously have to stay together, but i would not do “buy one get one”, they are getting two buns that are both speutered, vet-checked, etc.

it would be nice if you could do bonding from your apartment, that would be very specialized care and you could only do one pair at a time, but that’d probably be too hard with K&R&C running around, their smells, and so on…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Yes that would be the ideal for bonding, but Dave would go high-tailing it out of there! I need him paying his half of the bills and I’ve come to sort of like him too!

[BunnyMuffin]

I agree that the fee section is confusing. I understood the fee breakdown, it was this part that confused me:
Fees: Rabbit adoption fees are 50$ and Bonding Services are 200$. When you choose this option, you pay much less then that!

Because the fee is $250, and $50+$200 = $250 – so before I got the Fee Breakdown section I was thinking to myself “how is $250 ‘much less than that” but when I read the fee breakdown I understood that you meant if you adopted the rabbits separately and then paid for bonding it would be $300 – so a $50 savings.  So maybe change that to read more along the lines of:

The Custom Bonded Pair Service provides a $50 savings over adopting two rabbits and purchasing the bonding service separately.

Then show the Fee Breakdown section below to explain where the savings comes from.

Also – the $ should come before the numbers, not after, unless you’re french (minor technicality).

And a question – what happens if you cannot successfully bond a pair?  OR, with the regular bonding service, what happens if a person brings in their current rabbit that already lives with them to be bonded with a new rabbit they plan to adopt from you – and it looks good on your end – but then when they take the bunnies home the original rabbit gets territorial?

And one final suggestion – maybe use a gender neutral term like “altered” instead of spay/neutered just for ease of reading.  So “You get them as an altered, bonded pair that you custom picked yourself”  but then leave “spay/neuter of both rabbits” in the explanation of what the fee includes.

Hopefully that all made sense. (note my bolding of words that a I changed/edited)

 

[BunMumTiff]

If you were in Ontario I would pay for the bonding services……I having two buns are VERY nervous for the whole process and honestly might just skip it as it makes me really nervous to have my two babies together and one hurting the other. So to me would pay 250 ALONE just for you to bond my two girls.

[Cassi&Charlie]

I think that people who have never dealt with rabbits before might be LESS likely to pay the fee because they might think “how hard can it be?”. I would pay it in a second to bond a pair of rabbits cause I never want to go through the experience again.
Would I have paid it before bonding my rabbits? No, probably not. Half way through- yes!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

LOL I gotcha! Ok, I’m making some changes tonight to that and hopefully can get a bit more clear. Sometimes its hard to proof read your own writing so I really appreciate the help!

Can I beg out saying I spent the entire night working on the site and so was up for almost 53 hours…. LOL

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