Seller here. I don’t demand friends and family of my customers, but I thought I could add some transparency here for buyers. Trust (or lack thereof) goes both ways. There is a buyer scam running around that pops up every now and then where a customer will order a snake, pay through PayPal, get the snake shipped in, then dispute the order saying that they never received a snake or whatever. Often they would get the snake and the money back too. The seller gets nothing and is now missing the animal, something they put their blood, sweat, and tears into producing. It’s really crushing when it happens. It happened to me once. It was awful, and I felt like there was nothing I could do. There are bad people out there. One solution sellers came up with was to demand “friends and family,” thus taking away the option to dispute from buyers. It doesn’t sit right with me because I would rather sacrifice on my end as a business to treat my customers with more respect, but it is what it is, and every seller has their own policies. I thought I would add this piece because I didn’t see it mentioned. Even if a buyer is telling you “friends and family” is to save on fees, that could be part of it, but it’s more likely that they want that layer of protection against scams for themselves.
I have had good luck with PayPal. At a show I always use friends and family. The one time I used it for a snake I had shipped came out fine but it didn’t feel good. Going forward I will offer to pay the fee if a shipper wants friends and family.
The problem of trust is really hard. Any payment option that gives sellers 100% protection from being scammed generally means buyers are screwed if scammed and vice versa. So far, knock on wood, I haven’t had an issue with Paypal. I don’t ask for friends and family because as a business, that is actually against their TOS, but I do appreciate it when buyers chose to do so. As for when I’m buying, I generally send as a goods if I don’t really know and trust the seller and use my credit card. If I trust the seller extra and I’ve asked them a favor, such as a payment plan, I make sure to pay friends and family, since they are already bending some for me, so it seems fair to take the fee myself.
As someone who sells snakes and is happy to be paid via PayPal, I would never ask someone to pay by friends and family. The fee that gets charged is a small price to pay to give someone the piece of mind when they spend money online. I have also seen sellers telling buyers that they will charge the buyer back the fee which I also think is bush league.
This is a great point. It’s a shame, really. Someone who buys a snake, I assume to eventually breed and sell themselves, seems pointless to do this. We are all buyers and sellers, aren’t we?
I agree. There are always going to be those people who only look out for number 1. It’s a shame.
Right on, I’m more focused on my business activity is expressly prohibited by Paypal. Square has no mention of live animals in their TOS.
I have not been scammed to date, knock on wood. So I don’t know how Square would handle it.
But I have taken to using a GoPro to video the packing and shipping of a snake to anyone who is either completely unknown or sets off the spidey senses. It’s pretty easy to keep a constant feed going that way. I don’t know if it would help but it makes me feel better.
I only accept paypal sent as friends and family. Paypal doesnt care about the seller and always sides with the buyer. I send all packages with Signature Required and even a tracking number showing the customer signed for the package isnt enough for paypal to side with the seller. Customer claimed somebody used their credit card without their permission… they had ordered a snake from me a few weeks before with no issues. Both snakes delivered to the same person/house. If a customer wont send it friends and family then Im fine not selling to them… this is how I make a living, my reputation speaks for itself, if they cant trust me then I cant trust them anyway.
Absolutely true! Sellers have zero rights. I stopped using PPal for payment unless it’s someone I know and then F&F only. For all of you that disagree, goods and services protection is great for “things”… Not great for animals. Buyer can get their money back at any time, for any reason, and ship your animal back after it’s been exposed to who knows what, which you will have to quarantine, and take that money back that you’ve already used (since it was a month ago) PPal will take it from any transaction until it’s satisfied. Ive been through it. It’s a nightmare.
All is this makes me wish I was more saavy and could actually make a business like PayPal but for the reptile industry.
I actually made it to PayPal from that post,. I was going off of that and then reading about what is not approved (acceptable use) . Seeing that it’s not listed as prohibited it can listed as a product or item.
Site that post if you have it, couldn’t find that forum again.
**Was playing keyboard warrior that night,. I have no past knowledge about PayPal. Eager for better answers. And a better way to use PayPal for seller and buyer.
I’m confused by the term Regulated Transaction,. That is the only place I see animals listed,. It doesn’t say forbidden. (These are the non covered items and they don’t list animals,. I’m looking to see where it says animals are not aloud)
Just for those sellers that think buyers always win; PayPal took a month to finally decide that I won my case against a seller that sent me a sick snake. If I didn’t have a vet statement and all of the proof needed to support said claim, they wouldn’t have ruled in my favor and would have sided with the seller (they told me that themselves). If you prove your side, they side with you. If you can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, then they likely won’t. I don’t trust anyone, not even the top sellers in the industry, enough to not screw me over if I were to send a payment via friends and family. Maybe as sellers actually have proof you have sent animals outside of just history of a package being delivered. Protect yourselves using photos/videos instead of giving your buyers reasons not to trust you (a go pro strapped to your chest when packaging/taking the animal to or having Fedex pick it up). If I received an animal from anyone that I used friends and family for and it was injured/sick/DOA they could easily just ghost me and not do anything about it and I would be SOL. On top of the fact that you are selling a product (even though it is a living creature) so receiving via friends and family actually breaks one of the rules on PayPal and could get you suspended. Using friends and family for businesses is a no-no.