Quote Originally Posted by blackcrystal22 View Post
Also, it's sometimes hard to check up on who they are buying from if they are a new seller. For example, who am I to reference when I start selling? People I bought from? Honestly, I'm not too sure, because we all have to start somewhere, and I hope that I can sell to good people as well as purchase from good people.
Jess, by your participation here, people are getting to know you - and you are more likely to get a sale from other members here. That's how you start building your reputation.

When someone joins here and makes their first post in the for sale section and you've never heard of them, and you click their post and see it's their only post, are you saying that your that naive (how you described yourself) that you would consider their ad without doing more legwork on them?

Is an animal that might interest you more important that protecting yourself by doing the extra work in vetting them?

My first major purchase after I had my first ball python was when I was still relatively new as well. I didn't know the seller, his site was very pretty and impressive. I loved his animals. I still checked BOI on him, and he had great references. I also asked Adam of 8ball if he knew of him and Kara of NERD if she knew of him. Kara told me that while she had not personally purchased from him, she knew people who had, and had nothing negative to say of the transaction.

The pretty snakes that I really hoped I could get were not enough to make me make the purchase. It wasn't until I independently verified their legitimacy before I ever contacted him (and have since made multiple purchases from and shared my experiences on Fauna).

That's my point. You recognize that you are naive - but you HAVE to protect yourself.