I was browsing and noticed a snake listed with an obvious physical defect but at a rather high price for that particular morph & (known) defect. I read the description and saw that not only is the breeder saying (incorrectly) that the trait is visual and not inherited, but also suggesting the animal be used for breeding. Should I be reporting this listing?
I would if the information is objectively incorrect
Thank you, it is.
Unfortunately I’ve seen that sort of thing posted before as well. Though the breeder had pointed out the flaws and had the animal listed for 2/3rd the price of the flawless sibling. It’s definitely frustrating.
Sometimes the rules allow some bending in ways I personally don’t agree with as well. But that’s more on me to be mindful when purchasing.
@chesterhf already got you on the reply and I agree there.
Personally I’ve seen a couple mislabeled ads and I’ll try to drop a message to the seller first and see if they correct it before sending a report. Usually it’s about a gene discrepancy and nothing too out there.
Normally I’d consider messaging, but I’m not wanting to wade into someone possibly getting upset at me for suggesting they’re decieving people.
It’d be one thing if it was a simple error, but this is a known issue with the morph and even the morphpedia points this out as well as noting the recommendation that any animal with the defect not be bred. Anyone who works with this morph is aware of this.
Oh yeah. Anything past a listed gene issue I report instead of message.
I reported one for having a group listing and then the individual animals listed for sale as well which is another no no.
The one I probably should have reported was a claim that it was incubation issues and not the fact that the genes are prone to it. Since they claimed incubation I couldn’t really justify reporting…and one of my own (a kinked super cinny) IS from an actual incubator overheat. The breeder actually had multiple clutches of varying morphs with issues like just straight albino, not caramel.
Another that I reported but was deemed fine was someone did a return on an animal, received it back in FedEx and put it back up for sale the same day. It was one that follows the rules, even though I think most people would want to monitor and quarantine before immediately returning to sale.
So I guess it boils down to if you’re concerned, report it and that’s the extent of what you can do at that point. After that it’s up to the mods to decide.
Yeah, I’ve only ever used the report once before, so I try not to do too much checking of other people. This one just stuck out as suspect because it makes other breeders look bad when people mislead to make a buck. By the time anyone who were to mistakenly buy the animal to breed was to realize they’d been lied to and that the defect is passable, between the seller’s store policy & MMs, there’s no recourse really. They’re out the money & without a breeding animal, if they’re ethical. Tbh I feel like this is a bit of a blind spot in the default store policy. There should be something about knowingly misleading re: morphs with known issues.
Never hesitate to report an ad for something, even if it seems silly to you. The CS team only have so many eyes and it helps them greatly to have others catch things they might have missed. Worst case, they will check, feel things are okay and close the ticket unchanged. That is still better than leaving something problematic unchecked
Though in general I agree, I did receive one very rude response from MM staff to one report I made that I was 100% confident about. That seriously put me off reporting and now I avoid it unless I feel very strongly ethically compelled or my point is irrefutable. I want to have as little contact with that member of the MM staff as possible, it was totally uncalled for.
(edit: this is in response to @t_h_wyman , sorry I forgot to tag!)
I find it really helps to just quote the rule number/subsection and why you think the post violates that specifically. If the response isn’t to your standard, there’s also the option to rate the reply to your report w/comment as well. Idk, I try to see it as, everyone has bad days and might sometimes react incorrectly or it could have just not been as clear cut as thought. CS tends to be a bit of a thankless position at times.
Can you tell I grew up with a parent working in CS?
Unfortunately, just reporting the mislabeled Corn Snakes I see constantly would be a full-time job. I can only imagine how this issue would grow when considering the entirety of MM!
I feel that one, my goodness. Two of the three listings I’ve flagged were in corns. I could spend all day correcting listings.
I never knew we could report things. Ive reached out to sellers via messaing when they post a hypo BI or another type of BI int the BC redtail section. They usually thank me and move it to the appropriate spot.
This is the number one way to handle it
Seller MUCH prefer a heads up from another person to tell them of their mistakes, over a official email from MorphMarket.