FINCHforum

Okay so the pet shop near my place sells lady gouldians for about 170$ each (that includes quebec's insane taxes) and I was wondering if 170$ is the average selling price of a gouldian or is this pet shop overcharging?

If the shop is overcharging, what is the actual price of a gouldian, and does anyone know of any montreal-based breeders I could possibly get into contact with? I'd like to eventually get a gouldian but the ones at this pet shop are just... really ugly. And way too expensive for me at the moment -especially since I don't even know how old the birds are.

WOW. Thats expensive.
In the Phoenix area normals are anywhere from $40-70 from a breeder.
Markets are obviously regional so that could be the norm for Montreal pet shops. Generally, I think that pet shops are priced at twice what a private breeder would charge. They do have to pay staff and rent.

Have you tried on-line ads like craigslist or I think one called kijiji up there? Also look at ebayclassifieds.com All of these have local ads.

Just for the hell of it I went to kijiji. There are several recent ads for Gouldians in Montreal. Not cheap but much better than pet shop prices.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-oiseaux/ville-de ... nFlag=true

I don't read french but the pix are of red headed normals and another of white breasted RH.

Market price is very regional, and depends on the color.
Also retail vs. wholesale.
Bird show prices are closer to wholesale price.
Example several years ago this is what I saw in the San Francisco Area at the bird shows:
- green back = $60-70. split to blue were a bit higher.
- yellow = $90-120. WhiteBreast were on the upper end of the price range.
- blue = $150-200

About 5 years back, I recall a bird shop selling a pair of GB for about $360.