Maybe the difference is that some people collect their own stallions at their farm and ship using their own containers and others obtain veterinary services for the entire process. It would also affect the price if those farms that collect their own semen didn't have or use an outside lab to test (and ensure!) the semen quality before shipping it to the mare.

The breeding center that I use charges a total of $325 for semen collection, analysis, providing an equicontainer and the FedEx services to: from their facility. This price also including the equicontainer rental fee (not sure what that is though, sorry!). Otherwise, they charge $100 to collect, $85 to evaluate the semen, and I'm thinking around $50 to AI and extra to the flush ($?) the mare at their facility. Other fees might include office visits, too...both for the mare and the stallion.

After experiencing how time consuming it was to get my older mare bred using AI, I think it’s fair to charge/pass semen collection/shipment fees as long especially if the facility that the stallion owner uses (whether their own or not) also has high standards and success rates. Even though it can be an expensive endeavor, the convenience of being able to "send for semen" combined with the added safety of not having to send your mare across the country, to me, is worth it.

Maybe just ask for specific details...which might be helpful in case you need to recollect for any reason. That happened to me when we were AI'd our older mare---she refused to go by the text book...