Shipyourreptiles.com, FEDEX Cert and other stuff

Hey all,

This post is mainly to bring to light how people feel about certain shipping arrangements. I've been reading a lot of different things out there on both the importance of getting FedEx Certified and the benefits of SYR. My main concern is that I've seen a good group of people say things like "If I knew a seller was using SYR I would cancel my transaction and move onto another seller".

I guess what I am trying to ask is which do you prefer and why? Would you be turned off from a sale because a seller uses one over the other and if so, please tell us your story.

To me it really depends. For the smaller breeder, who doesn't have the need to get fedex cert. it is more beneficial to ship through ship your reptiles, since you don't have to deal with the hassle of getting to deal with getting certified. That being said if you are doing more than 10 shipments per year, it would probably be better to get certified. I would say it doesn't really matter because it is all on the seller to ensure the animal is packaged properly for the environment outside. Both can be equally successful. I have seen some places that were fedex certified do terrible jobs at packing, and I have seen some SYR users pack their animals better than some of the big guys. So, therefore I think it is all on the person doing the shipping.

For me, I always ship using SYR because I like the insurance and also because I've found Robyn to be super helpful so I like supporting the company. If I'm buying I really don't have a preference between someone who is FedEx certified and someone who uses SYR. The animals go FedEx either way, and the packaging is still up to the seller to do correctly.

It took me a full year of run-arounds and lost paperwork to get a Fed Ex Cert, and although I am in their computer system as such, as of today, over another year later, I still have not received actual paperwork from them to verify it.

So, no...I am not concerned when people wish to skip that process, and simply use SYR. I did so myself whenever it was available, from the beginning. I use them now, even though I have the Cert., because they are much less expensive, and I feel my customers deserve the savings.