The Custom Lie

I love customs. I really do. And I am certainly NOT going to tell people not to buy them.

That said, there's an attitude on the site that you must have customs to make money. I don't know who started this rumor, but it must have been people who sell lots of 2nd generation wajas at high prices.

Consider, if you will, MATH.

A pair of silver normal tokens costs you 40 cwp.
The average price of a gen 2 waja is 4-8 mil, or 1-2 cwp.
You would have to sell 20 pups at 8 mil, or 40 at 4 mil to break even.

If the pair were gold tokens, that raises the number of pups you have to sell to 30 or 60, depending on how you price them.

Also, this doesn't take into account more expensive breeds like Earths, Waters, Africans, Divines, etc. Breeds that you have to buy expensive items to acquire, or tokens that are limited-release. And if you thrown on a dye or two, especially something like Hound, Ritual, Cheetah, or Dalmatian, you're only increasing the number of puppies you have to sell in order to start making money.

Example: My silver divine pair, Sunny and Connie, cost me 100 cwp and some spare change for two mud dyes. I planned to sell the pups for about 12 mil (3 cwp) each. I would still have had to sell 30 or so puppies to break even. I messed up even further by doing trades, giving pups as gifts, and having a discounted price for pre-ordering. I don't think I have EVER made back what I spend on custom wajas.

Some people do. Justice has a caveful of gorgeous customs that crank out pups, and she's never trolling for buyers. I suppose people who are shrewder businesspeople than me might have a chance at making back what they spend. One can always raise the price of one's sale wajas, but if you do that you also run the risk that people will be less willing to buy. You can market something as "Limited," but then you also limit yourself to how often you can breed the pair in question.

Its a delicate balance, the custom game. There are probably better ways to make money on the site than by breeding 2nd generation wajas.

~Melz