I could make a lot of money selling rabbits last-minute to buyers.
I choose not to, for a variety of reasons.
1. These "last minute" people are typically impulse buyers. Impulse buyers have not done their research, and typically they are looking to get this pet for their child for whatever holiday is coming up.
2. Any animal purchased on an impulse is almost always abandoned in a shelter. I do not sell my rabbits to anyone who I fear would abandon them. That's why I will always take a rabbit of mine back if you can no longer care for it. However, many impulse buyers will not go through the trouble of returning the rabbit to me, and they will either sell it on craigslist or drop it off at their local shelter.
3. The holidays are a busy time for my family. I usually don't have time to respond to emails or spend a lot of time with a buyer at my house, when my family has festivities underway. Almost every year I have had someone come on Christmas eve or Christmas day to pick up a bunny, but this was a bunny they had already met, and already paid for, and just happened to be ready around Christmas. I have never purposefully sold rabbits around Christmas time just to make a quick buck.
If you have been waiting a long time for a rabbit from one of my special litters, and it just so happens that the one of your dreams is available around a holiday, I will sell it to you. But emails that I get the week of a holiday asking for a bunny for their girlfriend/boyfriend or child will be ignored or responded to with a "no".
Sometimes I raise the price of rabbits around the holidays. This isn't because I know I could make the money, because of "supply and demand". This is to dissuade impulse buyers because typically, they will not impulse-buy a $100 rabbit. And anyone who buys a rabbit for $80-$100 will think twice before abandoning it.
With my last round of litters, any babies I decide to sell will be ready to go to their new home the week before Christmas. I didn't plan this. It was a coincidence, they all looked like they wanted to breed on a random day in September, and it wasn't until after I knew they had all took did I look to see when they would be weaned and sold. It wasn't my intention to have them ready to be weaned and sold so close to Christmas! This is why these babies will most likely have a higher price than usual, or only be sold to people who have been on my notification list for a long time.
I hope you enjoyed reading this lengthy post. The holidays are coming up faster than I would like to admit. This topic is an important one that I think I write about every year. It's always a good reminder of my holiday policies to make a new post each year.
-Holly