I’m not one that likes to ship if it can be prevented, but in the case of me selling one of my animals to someone in a different state, which method would you say is better for the safety of the animal? I’m starting to lean more towards shipping to a hub. Not only for safety but for legality reasons as well. One being because they have to be who they say they are to pick the animal up since I’ve learned that FedEx doesn’t care who signs or doesn’t sign for a package if it’s delivered to a house. Which do you prefer and why? I’m wanting to know to better understand and acquire knowledge for future transactions. 
2 Likes
I think hub is definitely safer. They spend less time on the truck and there’s no chance of the driver missing the person and being left at the door or having to spend more time on the truck. I always ask for my shipments to be delivered to the hub.
4 Likes
The hub is best due to quicker time, less exposure to extreme temperatures, no missed or stolen packages, no wrong addresses, no animals getting in a package, etc.
5 Likes
FedEx has been incredibly unreliable with 10:30am and 12:00 residential (to the house) delivery since COVID began. At the beginning of the mess I shipped two snakes to two separate addresses and they didn’t arrive until after dark. For that reason I ship to local hubs only now. Until/unless FedEx brings back their guaranteed early AM delivery to residential addresses, the risk just isn’t worth it.
3 Likes
Shipping to a hub is always preferred, in my experience, because the hub receives the package and it stays there, and you just go pick it up. (If you’re like me, by then, you’ve watched the tracking updates and know exactly when it’s there and ready to pick up) As opposed to it being loaded on a delivery truck and having to wait within a window for it to arrive, and having to be there to accept it, this is much simpler, and safer for whatever is being shipped. I’ve always had my reservations about shipping living things, but it’s not as bad as it seems. And if you don’t have any shipping options in mind yet, try checking out ShipYourReptiles.com.
5 Likes
There are other companies too, I personally use ReptilesExpress because they’re relatively local to me and tend to have the best pricing for my area. Reptiles2U is also a good service. Those are the three main reptile shipping companies.
4 Likes
I’ve only had animals shipped to me during covid. I’ve had them shipped both to my house and to a hub.
To House: (all of them didn’t ask for signature and didn’t knock)
- Delayed
- Delayed and arrived cold, but she was fine
- Delayed during colder weather, he wasn’t cold at all
- No issues
To Hub:
- No issues
- No issues
- No Issues
- Sent to the wrong hub, but was seller’s fault and he wasn’t too far away. He was also cold despite it being good weather outside.
None of my experiences with shipping to my house were terrible, but they were all stressful. I’ll only ever do hub shipping from now on
5 Likes
With my experience as a buyer, I will say that hub is better. It is easier to get there around my work schedule. My first purchase off of MM, the seller shipped to my apartment. I had to request the day off, and even then, Fedex never showed up to my apartment, and just filed that I wasn’t home to accept delivery even though I was sitting by my door patiently waiting for them. I called, and forced them to have the driver search for my apartment to drop off the package. My apartment isn’t the easiest to find as google maps will lead people to the managers office. My second purchase I just had the seller ship to the hub, which they even preferred and had no issues picking the package up after work.
4 Likes
As a buyer, definitely to a hub! For all the reasons above. Plus the looks on people’s faces when they see that its a live animal. I had someone come to the truck and ask to see my A.chalcodes when I opened her up.
4 Likes
Hub, hub, hub. If you want safety, hub is the way to go. No chance of being left outside in an uncontrolled environment. No risk of porch pirates, not being loaded into delivery trucks where it can be crushed potentially by poor planning. I have only bought so far, but have received 0 DoA by always using hub, i would never trust an animal to be delivered to my house, it is a chaotic environment, and the drivers are on a time limit to fi ish their route, that may not include gently placing the package.
3 Likes
I usually always ship with SYR, but I’m starting to decide against shipping to houses at this point. One of my store policies is for the client to send me proof of the animals condition via a short video of them taking it out of the box or sending a picture within 2hrs of it being marked as delivered. The issue I incurred as of today was the guy allowing someone else to get the snake since he wasn’t home and eventually he informed me that she arrived and was fine, but he still didn’t send me a picture. This voids any chances of a refund, but it makes me paranoid because who’s to say they won’t file a claim later? Of course, things like that can happen even after they’ve been picked up from a HUB, but I feel safer knowing it was picked up there with more proof honestly.
3 Likes
I always ship to our hub. I’ve never had a problem and no chance of missing the delivery.
2 Likes
Until Covid I never had a problem shipping to a house. Now that there is an exponential increase in other shipping traffic, I only ship to hubs unless it’s a hardship (100 miles of travel one way for example). Even then in 2020 I didn’t have single snake that went through Memphis arrive next day. Plan for it, pack for it, and you’ll be fine.
2 Likes
I’m New and just getting started, but from everything I’ve read and experienced so far, Shipping to a FedEx hub is by far the safest for the animals and for the Seller.
When I ship anything, I qualify or define MorphMarket’s 4-hour period of time to make a “claim” to have started the minute FedEx scans the package Ready for Pick Up. This means the package/animal is considered “received” because I make it clear that the Buyer is responsible for monitoring and tracking the shipment throughout its delivery process. This way the Buyer knows its arrival time and when it has been made ready for pick up, thus, it can be considered “received” according to my definition. If the Buyer dose not pick up their package with in the 4-hour window after being “received” at the hub then I make it clear that I can not be held responsible if something has gone wrong. We all know how vital it is to both send and receive anything “Live” in as short a period of time as possible. With weather fluctuations and careless package handlers, the animals go through a lot of stress without adding unnecessary delay in getting them safe in their new home.
5 Likes
I don’t know if that is viable though because as the animal is still boxed, you don’t have a way to verify that the animal is actually fine. It’s like Schrodinger’s cat. It’s neither alive nor dead.
Personally, I would never agree to purchase if that’s the case. And I would never ship with a policy like that, only that they are picked up on the day they are available for pickup. I’m fine with a seller dropping a PM to say they’re available to pickup, which was great with my last purchase… But not everyone is able to sit twiddling thumbs at a hub and wait.
Every seller’s tos can be different, but I don’t know if that will actually stand up to a customer complaint to MorphMarket if picked up the day of delivery. Especially when we all know about the black hole that is the Memphis hub. Maybe @eaglereptiles or another staff member can pop in for comment.
6 Likes
You cannot override MorphMarket’s default store policy to lessen the time to make a claim (as far as I know), and by starting the timer when the package is marked “ready for pickup”, this does that. Often times packages delivered to hubs are marked as “Ready for pickup” before the hub is even open to the public, sometimes by an hour or more. MorphMarket’s default store policy requires buyers provide proof that the animal is sick or deceased to make a claim, they can’t do that if they can’t even access the animal. Not only that, but if you’ve packaged the animal correctly, a delay on pickup should not have any adverse consequences unless FedEx mishandled or improperly stored it.
7 Likes
@noodlehaus you are quality 
Yeah the 4 hour Claim Period window start from when the buyer picks the animal up, not when it is at the hub.
Default Store Policy - MorphMarket Support Center
Claim Period: Time period which Buyer has from delivery to contact Seller and make their claims. Evidence should be included with the claim or provided upon instruction from the Seller.
A seller should prepare for delays, so 4 hours at the hub is nothing in the grand scale of things, with the correct packaging materials.
9 Likes
Thanks for that clarification. When I got my blood python shipped to me, I understood it to mean I had 4 hours from when the package was received at the hub, not from when I picked it up. I took the day off work to ensure I would be available to pick her up immediately when she arrived. Good to know I wouldn’t have to do that in the future (although I still might choose to take the day off, I think I’d be coming unglued knowing an animal was ready for pickup while I’m at work 
).
Regarding the topic of the thread…shipping to a hub just seems so much better and safer for all involved, especially the animal. Less people handling the package, less opportunity for delays and human error, and less chance the animal would be exposed to hot/cold weather for an extended period of time. Even if a seller gave me the choice (these days it seems most will only ship to hubs), I’d feel much better about the animal being held for pickup at a hub.
8 Likes