How would you feel...

[jknudson]

A check wouldnt work bc they obviously wouldnt ship until the check cashed... Put it this way... do you know any breeders that would ship the snake first and then have the buyer send the money after they get the snake? ... yeaaa prolly not.

You have to have the snake immediately? I'm sure if they're reputable they'll hold the animal until the check clears. Generally thats how a transaction works, you pay for the item, then you get the item shipped to you, not vice-versa.

If I were in the breeder's shoes, I too would wait to be paid before shipping out one of my hatchlings to insure that you're good for the money, not saying you aren't, but thats also a "what if". Whats a few days wait?

[JoshJP7]

I'm not sure if you read the whole thread or you are just missing my point... actually you just proved it. Someone previously suggested that a check is the same as pay pal bc you can cancel the check... my point was you cant cancel the check when they dont ship the snake until it cashes... how are you supposed to know yove been scammed? You dont until its too late...

My point with the whole breeder ship first was proof that you all wouldnt trust me to send you the money after I got the snake so why would I trust him to send me the snake after I paid him? Other breeders have given me reasoning to trust them and I paid them(plenty more than this would have been) and the transaction went smooth... this guy has avoided the one question, several times, that would get me to trust him... why wont you accept pay pal?? He continually dodged the question and previous posters say "he doesnt have to give you an reason" yea no duh but that obviously isnt gonna get me to send him the money and furthers my reasoning to believe this ad is a scam.

If it wasnt a scam why would he be so fishy and just say "sorry dont accept pay pal?"

[West Coast Jungle]

Did you do a background check on him or know of ant referrals?
Shopping via internet definately can be scary. I will admit that years ago I sent someone $ for a great deal and ended up with a missexed animal.

If you dont trust him hold on to your $.
I use paypal and never had a problems but I have heard of people that had some "I got burned" experiences.

Actually the snake I just mentioned was purchsed through paypal.

Bottom line only deal with people you can trust. I have purchased animals sight unseen because of trust and have been more than happy.

[JoshJP7]

Raul I did find some info on fauna on the breeder and it wasnt good... it did involve pay pal and it was a month ago... what made it even more eery was the fact that this lil issue happened a month ago yet they had "heard of horror stories"... If you were just involved in an issue with pay pal why would you say "I've heard?" I understand he probably doesnt want to bring that situation up but I would have had more respect for them if they came out and said I got ripped off through pay pal (which is questionable) over saying "I've heard" horror stories. After reading the thread on fauna you get the impression that they were the scammer who got busted, realized pay pal wouldnt work for their scam and now they wont take it bc they cant get away with it.

The crappy thing is everyone says "so dont give your money to him" well obviously but its not like I can go down the street and pick up the same thing at walmart... unfortunately some snakes are a 1 of a kind and there isnt always the same thing available... It would have been way cooler if they took pay pal, it wasnt a scam, and I got the friggin snake!

[Freakie_frog]

heres my question you send the money paypal. He doesn't send the snake where do you go from there?? Are you any worse off than if it was a check??

[NightLad]

Ultimately it is up to you, the buyer, to do what you feel most comfortable with. If that means letting this purchase go, than that's what it means.

However, in defense of business owners who may elect not to use PayPal...

PayPal works like a credit card; it is free for you to send money, but the person receiving it is charged a % on sales AND a % when transferring money over $100 to a bank account. That can add up. Many small business owners don't want to deal with that, because it would mean ultimately raising their fees to offset their own expenses.

Now, that said;

If this seller is legit and known in the herp industry, I would assume that they would be listed at Fauna. Read the reports from other buyers and see if they are all they seem to be.

Hope that helps.

[Freakie_frog]

I think the real issue here is that you found a snake you can't walk away from for a price yo can't turn down and now your starting to think it's not all its cracked up to be.

[JoshJP7]

Freakie - pretty much the same situation happened with this breeder a month ago with another customer... they got the $$ via pay pal and "shipped" the snake... Tracking showed delivered but the person receiving the snake said they never got it... they went to pay pal saying I never received this and got their money back....

This could be the reason this breeder does not want to use pay pal because they feel they got screwed but why not come out and say it from the start?... Someone in that situation is the scammer... is it the person who didnt get the snake? or is it the guy who never shipped the snake? Its up to the reader to decide whose wrong so its a sticky situation. Either way after reading the fauna thread and reading their emails they definitely gave me the feeling they were the scammer.

Freakie your kinda right... that and the fact that the snake is X amount of dollars and I'm not in the situation where I am ready to take the chance of losing X amount of dollars... Again a lot of it has to do with his responses... he wasnt willing to take my initial offer but then comes back 3 days later and goes OK ill take it? I dunno too much wierdness for me to think its not a scam

[jknudson]

heres my question you send the money paypal. He doesn't send the snake where do you go from there?? Are you any worse off than if it was a check??

Bingo! Could have issues with either check or paypal. But like I said in my first post, if the breeder is REPUTABLE, then sending the money via check shouldn't be an issue!

[Freakie_frog]

Josh if you want to PM me and I'll see if I can put you in touch with a breeder that is trust worthy and will treat you fair and have the snake your looking for.