If you (Or anyone for that matter) can make any of those things come true Andy (Other than 3b - But not sure who would stick to that anyway), I have a very nice expensive blue sling waiting for you.
We don't live in a perfect world, not that I think the ideas would make anything perfect anyway.

Answers to your answers:
1) Will never happen
2) Will never happen
3a) Will never happen
3b) Would be surprised if anyone had to do this

Then on a side note, @ Ashe. You might not have been in the hobby for very long, but seems you have a bright head on your shoulders. If only every new person to tarantulas understood things like you do.

Here's something my Dad taught me:

If you sell something for a high price, you will sell fewer

However, if you sell something for a cheaper price, you will sell more

You will either make the same amount you would have if you sold a few Expensive things or make a lot more.

Having said that, my Philosophy is to just grin and bear it. There's nothing you can do as if just one person has bred a certain Tarantula species, then they control the market. There's nothing you can do so just Grin, Bear it and stop making a damn fuss.

phew. Ok my turn.

What worries me is that I have not been in this hobby very long either, but since I joined it seems that the amount of people breeding and selling has gone off the chain and is completely unregulated or controlled as Cerat points out. People are breeding whatever they want in the hope of making big "easy bucks", and when they realise how much hard work it is to maintain the offspring, they do anything to get rid of all the slings and land up selling lower and lower just so people will buy and eventually give some away and maybe even send some to the freezer.

If every person out there is hoping to make bucks from breeding their tarantulas, very soon tarantulas will become like Bearded Dragon lizards, tons of people have them, and nobody wants them any more, you can't even give them away and they get left in a a corner of the garage with a cricket thrown in once a week. The final result is a completely saturated tarantula market with a collapsed economy, and only the very rare specimens will still be in demand. Profiteers will all slowly disappear and go find something else to skim cream from and eventually only the real deal T lovers, breeders and fanatics will be left to pick up the pieces of an hobby they helped build.

Unfortunately there is NOTHING that can be done about it, these are not cats and dogs. At least Cat & Dog breeders can control the breeding of their prime species by sterilizing the pups or kittens before they leave the kennel/cattery and prevents profiteering by unscrupulous breeders. Not quite possible with T's lol.

All we can ask or hope for from people that decide to breed, is that they ask fair prices and that the prices are market related, otherwise they themselves stand to lose out down the line, but as is very clear, you cannot stop anyone selling P.metallica for R50 if they REALLY wanted to.

This is all simply politics...

There are the socialists who feel all should have at the same minimal price, no matter how poor the product (usually also limited to little choice and you have to queue)

There are the capitalists who feel that if they have cornered the market for their product, everyone else should pay whet they want to charge, or starve.

Then there are the poor downtrodden masses who aspire to something nice and have rubbish fobbed off on them. If they were given the chance, what would they go for?

The one thing that everyone should remember, before they go badmouthing others and attacking those who dare to be different, is that if it was not for the few who try something different there would be no Tarantula hobby in the first place. The luxuries in life that we aspire to, to make our lives more interesting and different, that give them fullness and meaning - they are there because there was a need, not the other way around. Tarantulas are a luxury, and we need them. Would you rather have a 1 carat flawless blue white diamond, or a 1 carat yellow brown I3? They are both diamonds, arent they?

Breeders:Lets all name our spiders and sell them at whatever price we want. lalalalalosers
Collectors: Lets boycott them and become breeders :silly: Jeeehhhaaaa

There are so many views and most people have merit in both arguments. Since I have been a young boy of 5 (32 years ago) I have had a love of animals, especially spiders, snakes and scorpions and at that age I had a choice of keeping baboon spiders and brown house snakes and rock scorpions I had to catch myself and the only other snakes around were corn snakes and a few boas sold at the pet shops at prices nor I nor my parents could afford. Years have passed I have grown and I could finally afford a boa or two and much love and attention was given to those snakes. My baboon spider died after several years and I could not find any more as houses now stood on the koppies in northcliff where I once found spiders. Then the defining moment when my boas bred and I had a few babies. I gave half of them away to people who could look after them but not afford them and the rest I used to procure other animals I wanted by swapping with individuals and at pet shops. Today I have numerous exotic animals, all kept for the LOVE of these animals and yes I sell my chinchillas to cover some costs of food, housing and once again obtaining other specimens. Today many kids would like spiders but then it’s more difficult for them to first convince their parents that they may keep then just hitting the next hurdle – the price asked at pet shops. Now these same kids strip the koppies of the few remaining spiders, snakes and scorpions as they to have a love for animals but they simply cannot pay R200 for a small red knee tarantula. At least they have internet and can read about caring for these animals and it’s not trial and error like 35 years ago. The past is history and all I can do from the past is learn from it. Today I can give back my knowledge and experience to people and teach them the pros and cons of keeping different pets, making the correct selection and I relocate animals on a voluntary basis and I visit many schools and have the view of many kids. Sell some curly hairs at R20 each, let kids learn how to care for them, let the small wonders of nature reach them and soon they will be able to expand to more exotic (and more expansive) specimens. This way more people can be aware of what’s happening around them as well and kids won’t have to destroy what we have left as its far easier to pay R20 for a spider than spend hours finding one but destroying many habitats trying to do so.