Not covering the shipping cost on a DOA shipment?
 

I am just curious to see what other people think about this. I bought a Golden knee tarantula from a company called <snip>. The Tarantula was dead on arrival, and the seller refunded me the cost of the tarantula, but not the cost I paid for shipping. To his credit, his service with everything else was great, and I didn't ask if there was a full money back guaranteed before shipping. However, I didn't notice any terms page or anything that stated this either. So, I guess I just assume most people would cover shipping as well, as me the buyer wasn't provided what I paid for. I know when I have shipped and had a DOA I covered the buyers full cost, as I guess I just think that is the standard. I want to know what everyone else thinks though.

I agree that a DOA should be a full refund, including shipping assuming live arrival is guaranteed. Since they refunded you the purchase price, they should have included shipping charges as well in my opinion. Did they give any reason why that wasn't covered? Maybe it was an oversight?

I had shipped a boa that was a DOA. I went about it the long way and paid for them to ship the body back (so I could confirm it was the one I sold) and then once I confirmed, I refunded the the full purchase price plus the shipping charges.

Thanks for the feedback April. That is how I feel about it too. In 2011 I had an albino burmese python baby die during during shipping and I sent out a replacement for free as they were happy with that and wanted a replacement over a refund. Well, sure enough the replacement died too, and I refunded them every penny, even though I was out on two snakes and two shipping charges across the US. It sucked, but if it only happens once every 10 years I guess I can live with that....lol

I think a full refund, shipping included, is in order. Recently (within the past year) I sold a trio of yearling prasina ratsnakes to a customer and everything seemed fine until I got an email 5-6 months later informing me that the male had never fed and had developed scale blisters. Not only had the sale been over 6 months old but at the time I was going through a divorce that had me in financial straights. I certainly could have denied repayment due to the length of time that had elapsed however I immediately refunded the full purchase price plus shipping. Thankfully my life became much less complicated (still divorced but all is well) and the purchaser ended up selling me an animal at a wonderful reduced price due to our previous interaction. I would rather lose any amount of money in order to preserve my ethics and sometimes people see that professionalism and respond in kind.

Take care

My only thought is if the T was a LAG ... some sellers have an option of overnight shipping with LAG for increased fee ... or you can have 2 day with no LAG .. if you chose this than you are fortunate they refunded the cost of animal ... shipping would have been minimal with that option.

If it's standard Priority mail shipping, then we'll refund any DOA's. But if it's expedited shipping, there's usually some specific terms. But when it comes to expedited shipments, I'm usually discussing the shipment over the phone with the customer. And at that point, all conditions are known upfront. But expedited shipment doesn't usually have a risk because the live produce gets there faster. And incase it doesn't the post office will atleast offer a refund for the shipment (and sometimes a credit for the deceased product).

Here is some TOS info on MorphMarket. I am sending <SNIP> a link to this thread as well:

<SNIP>
Store Policy
All shipping is done through FedEx via shipyourreptile.com and is insured up to the value of the snake + shipping charges. Delivery will be by 10:30 am unless you are in a rural area or FedEx delays. Someone will need to be home to accept the package if not the insurance is null and won't be covered.

This was well over a year ago, but I'm pretty sure it was sent FedEx priority overnight. The shipping cost as I recall was more than the cost of the tarantula.

Ben I notified the company, who said you apparently were not home to accept delivery and according to the seller it sat in its box for hours.