[quote=“rmleone, post:16, topic:2290, full:true” I always ask questions about an animal not just put out a wad a cash i think its like when i did loss prevention long ago one sign of a potential shoplifter is did the just grab the clothes without looking at the size. It may need more caution if a customer never asks about the animal. Sure maybe they are really experienced but im sure even they ask questions before they buy.
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I’ve actually had a breeder who seems mad at me for asking questions and it wasn’t some small nobody breeder it was a pretty big breeder, they then sold the animal out from under me to someone who was willing to send them the money no questions asked and never told me. I had to look back at the ad to find out
Sadly some of the bigger names dont have as much time to deal with alot of questions, and as a more established business, the policy is usually sell to the first person to pay, if a deposit hasnt been put down, then it isnt reserved.
While your questions were likely to protect you and to ensure you get what you want in the animal and are fully satisfied, you have to understand you arent the only person contacting them, and a lot of inquiries do not result in sales. They are called tire kickers, where they are interested, but keep asking more and more, and then eventually arent interested. Because of this, they cant just hold onto the animal for the first person to message them and go in that order, they go with whoever pays first, otherwise other buyers may find a different seller while they wait for the conversation with you and the seller to maybe fall through.
It sucks, but it is good business practice when you are selling hundreds of snakes. However, it is common courtesy to let the person asking questions know the snake has been sold.
This is why if its a trustworthy seller with lots of good reviews, i pay for the animal outright, then ask any questions i have. Most listings will tell me if it has genes i want, and the pictures will show the quality. As for lineage and parent morphs, thats a curiosity, i can ask for that after the sale.
With smaller scale breeders, id likely ask questions before hand to see if they are legit
An example, here is a snake i had questions about for price as it seemed very underpriced. I also couldnt recieve right away. But instead of asking “can you hold it?” Or “is the price correct” i phrased everything with my intent to buy if they could meet my requests, so there was no mistaking my intent, as well as adding shipping info to show i was already serious so long as everything was accurate.
"If that price is correct I would be willing to buy and pay for this snake right now. I live in Connecticut, so it likely isnt safe to ship yet, and i wouldnt be available for shipping until about 3 weeks from now, but am willing to pay the full price in advance so you know im not kicking tires so to speak. Let me know!
Shipping would be to a fedex facility at 3 dominican drive norwich ct 06360"
(Its a fedex hub, not really personal info for me, so i left the address in the example)
The price was correct, they were willing to hold it the 3 weeks, i sent them payment and now the animal is mine :).
I had a person message ask a ton of questions which i answered and then they ghosted me for 2 days. I sold the animal they inquired about during those 2 days and received a message from them cursing me up one side and down the other for selling an animal they had inquired on and was clearly interested in. Told me how i made their kids cry because they were so excited to be getting this animal and called more colorful names.
I don’t think a lot of people coming into this hobby realize, even small breeders get a good amount of inquiries during the day on a single animal, and more so if it is a highly sot after gene. An iquiry does not mean you have laid claim to animal which seems to be what some people think. If you are truly serious on purchasing an animal my best advice is have all the questions you want to ask in the first email and then go from there and be prepared to pay quickly.
I never make inquiries about an animal im not prepared to purchase immediately but i do need certain questions answerd that are not listed in the description after that my next question is can you send me an invoice.
I had one seller essentially ignore me for a week then they finally replied i sold it already, they wasted my time for a week when they should have been straight forward to begin with.
I have disposable cash i get monthly as i really have no bills except rent and food. I buy whatever i want that makes me happy whether its going out or buying clothes or buying animals . When i go shopping im prepared to make a purchase otherwise i wouldn’t waste my time nor theirs. I have never gone to a cash register and then given half the stuff back like i see other customers do, i don’t put it in my basket unless i want it and im sure about it. The same goes with my animal purchases if i ask a question i fully intend on buying it right then, but if a seller ignores me then its their loss, ill go elsewhere. Im not some wishy-washy 20 something im grown and i know what i want. I also don’t have any financial obligations, growing up i was very poor with a very large family so i didn’t have much so now i never deny myself anything that i want.
The very big thing about this post is the term “I”. The sellers dont know you like you know you. And you arent the only individual contacting them. The amount of people out there who say they are serious but arent isnt a low number. The best advice i can give is that as a buyer you need to do whats best for you, because the sellers are also going to do whats best for them. If you REALLY want the animal, be ready to pay up front or at least put down a deposit. If you want it, but wouldnt be heartbroken if you dont get it, then ask the questions you need and hope nobody else pays first. I always put my questions in the same message as my intent to pay immediately if i get the right answers. The next message after my questions are answered is “where do i send payment”
Here is an example of a message ive sent as an inquiry that may match up with your invoice requirent, again, this is an animal i suceeded in getting.
" Very interested in this snake. I am in NC for 2 weeks and away from my home, so waiting til he is a higher weight is not a problem at all. If you have any questions for me, please ask. As for me, id rather not miss the opportunity by kicking the ball so to speak. So if you are willing to sell to me, please send an invoice to (my email) for the amount if the snake plus shipping. Zip code for shipping est is (redacted).
Once i see the invoice i will submit payment :)"
Instead of asking “can you send me an invoice” i simply said “send me an invoice”. If they cant do an invoice they will say so, and if they can, boom, invoice sent, pay, you get your animal
in this case I asked for clarification on a question that they seemed to be trying to avoid by insulting my question witch took them 2 days to reply to and then seller ghosted me the question was if the would be able to give me discounted shipping as they wanted $75 flat rate but if you went through ship your reptiles it would be 35 or 50 if you went through fed ex but if not no worries I even gave them the info to send the invoice to with the second message but I never received the invoice or a reply I hope this helps clarify what I meant by my post
If they were already being insulting after 2 messages, chances are you dont want to deal with them anyways. If thats how they act when making a sale, how do you think they would act if there was an issue? Sounds like that problem sorted itself out
It’s so difficult. It can go both ways. I got burned from a seller who was banned from this site to the tune of 3700. To make matters worse is nothing could be done. I had his name and full address. But because he lived in a different state I was burnt. Be careful
I used Venmo. Literally no one gave a damn. I had all of the information. His address, full name, picture of him ect. Literally stupid. So you can scam anyone as long as they’re in a different state. If he ever gets pulled over in CT they’ll arrest him . But it’s not a extraditable offense.
Now that I’m looking to sell some of my animals, this is suck a valuable post! But also, looking back on my purchases as a keeper i feel a little embarrassed, lol. I don’t think i really know how to properly talk to a breeder about buying a reptile, lol. I always thought it was looked down upon to ask them questions about the care of the animals. Like, as if i was trying to buy something I didn’t do enough research to have any business inquiring about, lol. I do my research and i know what i want and so when i find it, that’s that, lol. I never really ask any questions, i ask the hatch/birth date, any pictures of dam&sire, any paperwork of lineage, and payment plans if needed. Maybe nido testing if applicable I don’t know. How is that conversation supposed to go down? Like I’m a legitimate keeper, but like i don’t haggle prices, i don’t ask too much about care because i already know how they need to be cared for by the time I’m looking to buy, i like to keep it short and sweet, here’s my money, give me my animal, thank you sir/ma’am. That’s it.
Multiple options are good for this! I live alone and dont have a car and can only reach a hub by bus. Luckily live animals are allowed in our public transport (or I just haven’t been scolded for it yet). But sending to a home adress isnt always sketchy. I would always happily provide my id, and my card I’m using.
Has anyone considered a waiting period as a tactic to avoid being scammed by buyers? Scammers seem to want to buy snakes as soon as possible to avoid being found out, so making someone wait a few days might be a good way to avoid being scammed. It could also help buyers that need home delivery or don’t want the snake shipped to the address on their credit card, so people like @rmleone and @lokibp could get a snake while the seller still feels protected.
I moved to a rural area last year and I need at least a day to prepare shipping labels and schedule pick-up now. My nearest hub is over an hour away and I’m not spending hours on the road and $10+ on gas when a pickup is only $5. It takes several emails to close a sale and get all the information I need, and since I have a day job that can take a few days too. On average, I’d say most of my sales take 3-7 days to complete (excluding weather issues, holds, and other setbacks).
I typically lose out on sales from people who are in a rush to buy a snake, but I’ve never been scammed by a buyer. I’ve gotta say, after reading this thread I wonder if some of those ‘buyers in a rush’ weren’t legit. Maybe I accidentally stumbled into a good fraud prevention method.
Thank you for the post. I never thought about the fact that a fraudster would not ask for a payment plan. It’s also good to hear the sellers side of what happens. I have worked in banking previously but only dealt with the customer side of things. We were told that the bank absorbs the loss - sounds like that isn’t the case
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been selling at shows for a couple years now and have so far only had one sketchy payment incident, but i know something will happen someday, especially as I am starting to sell on MorphMarket, I want to be better prepared to avoid such transactions if I can.
