Reptster Error

[Wh00h0069]

It is not hard to get yourself certified. You just have to buy the boxes yourself is all.

Yes, but you do not save 40% if you do not go through their site.

[Wh00h0069]

Good news, the site is up. There was an error with their hosting company. I also ordered my shipment yesterday, so it is not true about them not shipping with FedEx.

[Freakie_frog]

Fantastic!!!

[Adam_Wysocki]

Yes, but you do not save 40% if you do not go through their site.

That's actually not true. Discounts can be negotiated with your FedEx sales rep once you have an account. It's a standard practice with FedEx and your sales rep has a lot of discretion with how much he/she can discount you.

All you have to do is call and ask.

This is in no way a commentary on Reptster ... I have no opinion one way or the other ... I just wanted to point out that large discounts are available for people that are just using FedEx directly ... I know because I have an excellent discount with FedEx and others I know do as well.

In my opinion, people should educate themselves as to what all of the available options for shipping are and choose what works best for them ... Reptster, Air Cargo, direct FedEx, etc ... and HAVE FUN!!!

-adam

[Wh00h0069]

That's actually not true. Discounts can be negotiated with your FedEx sales rep once you have an account. It's a standard practice with FedEx and your sales rep has a lot of discretion with how much he/she can discount you.

All you have to do is call and ask.

This is in no way a commentary on Reptster ... I have no opinion one way or the other ... I just wanted to point out that large discounts are available for people that are just using FedEx directly ... I know because I have an excellent discount with FedEx and others I know do as well.

In my opinion, people should educate themselves as to what all of the available options for shipping are and choose what works best for them ... Reptster, Air Cargo, direct FedEx, etc ... and HAVE FUN!!!

-adam

Thanks Adam, I will look into that.

[dprince]

That's actually not true. Discounts can be negotiated with your FedEx sales rep once you have an account. It's a standard practice with FedEx and your sales rep has a lot of discretion with how much he/she can discount you.

All you have to do is call and ask.

This is in no way a commentary on Reptster ... I have no opinion one way or the other ... I just wanted to point out that large discounts are available for people that are just using FedEx directly ... I know because I have an excellent discount with FedEx and others I know do as well.

In my opinion, people should educate themselves as to what all of the available options for shipping are and choose what works best for them ... Reptster, Air Cargo, direct FedEx, etc ... and HAVE FUN!!!

-adam

Well stated Adam!! I have never used Reptster, but I checked it out once............turns out, it was cheaper to ship on my own account with FedEx (I'm certified to ship reptiles with them) than through Reptster. I definitely encourage people to check things out first to find out what works best.

[yeahyeah]

Do they offer discounts because you ship so many packages?

[Tosha_Mc]

After someone mentioned that they were able to get a discount through Fedex because they weren't making claims on their reptile shipping account I called up my rep and tried to negotiate better pricing. He's thus far been really great with me but flat out told me that Fedex feels that they are extending their service beyond their usual scope to accommodate our niche -- therefore they don't offer such discounts. I'll probably try going thru another rep just to verify that I can't get better discounts -- but I only ship about 100 boxes a year so I'm no where near the volume that they want to see for huge discounts.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Do they offer discounts because you ship so many packages?

That's one of the reasons, sure ... but they also offer discounts to be competitive with the airlines that also ship snakes (before my discounts it was cheaper for me to ship to the west coast via air freight than FedEx ... my rep helped me fix that), they offer discounts because unlike the rest of their customers, you assume all the risk of shipping when you use their service and have limited use of their services ... they offer discounts because a lot of times shipping a $25 animal doesn't make sense if the cost of shipping is going to be $50 ... and lots of other reasons ... you just have to talk with your rep and see what he/she can do for you. I've always found FedEx to be very customer oriented ... at least in the corporate office ... some of the drop off locations can be sketchy.

For me, from day one when I signed up with FedEx (4 or 5 years ago now) it was important for me to develop a relationship with my sales rep ... back then because not a lot of people knew about the live reptile shipper program and he would help me out by contacting FedEx station managers directly whenever I ran into problems ... over time, he's helped me by getting me extra discounts when fuel prices went up and FedEx started increasing fuel surcharges ... when I wanted to ship higher end animals but couldn't afford use FedEx because they have no insurance ... and most recently when I started having FedEx pick up my boxes and incurred additional fees for the pickups.

And I would think now that UPS is about to open the door to live reptile shipping for the general public and since UPS is generally cheaper than FedEx ... FedEx will offer live reptile shippers even more discounts in order to keep their business ... but I could be wrong on that one.

-adam

[Wh00h0069]

After someone mentioned that they were able to get a discount through Fedex because they weren't making claims on their reptile shipping account I called up my rep and tried to negotiate better pricing. He's thus far been really great with me but flat out told me that Fedex feels that they are extending their service beyond their usual scope to accommodate our niche -- therefore they don't offer such discounts. I'll probably try going thru another rep just to verify that I can't get better discounts -- but I only ship about 100 boxes a year so I'm no where near the volume that they want to see for huge discounts.

Same here. I spoke with the fedex driver that picks my packages up about this, and he told me that there is no way that they will give me a 40% discount for only shipping about 30 - 40 boxes a year. He said that they would probably work with me some, but not nearly that much.