BaseballBeardies AkA Mac Watkins

I sell my dragon to who ever buys him first. You said a week ago that you were going to pay for him. Yes I do offer my dragons to multiple people. There is no since in getting mad at me becuase you didn't buy him in time. I am not obligated to sell him to you because we were working out the shipping problem. I never said I was going to hold him for you. Just becuase you live in cold weather doesn't mean I should hold him for you. You shouldn't have wanted bearded dragons if you can't take them in yet. If you wanted me to hold him for you then why didn't you ask? The other people who bought him offered more money for him as well. I didn't want to really sell him to you for $200 but I was willing to because I just wanted a quick sale. Hints to why I didn't immeaditly reply to your question about if it was the right paypal address. I didn't want to back out becuase I already agreed so I said yes. You never replyed in time so it was to late to send him out. Plus it's not the smartest idea to send the money just hours before shipping. I was frustrated at this point so you weren't on my top priority to sell to. It seems like you are just mad at me becuase you didn't get the dragon. I mean posting "Buyer Beware" on my ads. I don't have to sell to anyone I don't want to. I am aloud to sell to whoever.

The other people who bought him offered more money for him as well. I didn't want to really sell him to you for $200 but I was willing to because I just wanted a quick sale. Hints to why I didn't immeaditly reply to your question about if it was the right paypal address. I didn't want to back out becuase I already agreed so I said yes.

While I agree that you can sell your animals to anyone who is willing to buy them (is that list shrinking yet?), backing out for a better price AFTER you agree is kinda sleazy. If you agree to something, you need to honor it.

Originally Posted by laterob

While I agree that you can sell your animals to anyone who is willing to buy them (is that list shrinking yet?), backing out for a better price AFTER you agree is kinda sleazy. If you agree to something, you need to honor it.

But it appears to me that he was waiting on payment and the first to pay just happened to be a higher price.

Buyers have to realize that often (more times than not it seems) the "I'm sending the payment on XXX day" money never arrives. I see no problem with the policy of selling the animal to whoever pays first.

The whole "you are trying to sell your animal to multiple people at the same time" comment made earlier is just ridiculous. Negotiations very rarely take place one person at at time. If there are multiple people inquiring about an animal you would reply to each email in the order it was received and the first to pay gets the animal. I know others have a policy of you inquired first so you get first shot and that is another perfectly acceptable way to do business. HOWEVER, choosing to use the first to pay method is not bad business either in my opinion.

Also, in reference to asking paypal payments as a gift. What is wrong with this? As long as the buyer does not have to pay the fees, whats the big deal? Some sellers actually add a 3% fee for paypal transactions. Most people just take that fee as the cost of doing business but, again, choosing to try to avoid (or offset) the fee is not bad business either. It is something that may cost you business (add the fee to the cost that is), but that is something that each seller has to evaluate for themselves.

The only thing that concerns me about mac is his shipping practices... The bearded dragon that i rescued from him was shipped via usps....( i paid $40 + 250 dubia that i shipped) so it would be shipped via ups or fedex.... well i get home at 4:15 the day the dragon was supposed to arrive and there is a note in my mailbox saying "sorry we missed you" from the mailman... so i made it to the post office at 4:29 and they luckily had the package.... my thought is that if you are shipping a live animal overnight, use fedex or ups...much more reliable.... i think using usps as your shipper gives the impression of either being cheap or not caring very much... .. craig morel

Originally Posted by scaledverts

Also, in reference to asking paypal payments as a gift. What is wrong with this? As long as the buyer does not have to pay the fees, whats the big deal? Some sellers actually add a 3% fee for paypal transactions. Most people just take that fee as the cost of doing business but, again, choosing to try to avoid (or offset) the fee is not bad business either. It is something that may cost you business (add the fee to the cost that is), but that is something that each seller has to evaluate for themselves.

As far as I understand it, you can't get a refund on money sent as a "gift", ever. You can't file a claim or request a chargeback. If the animal is never shipped, or is DOA, or is unhealthy, if you sent the funds as a "gift" you're SOL and PayPal won't do anything for you. It's a technique scammers sometimes use, so it makes some buyers worry. (I am *not* saying Mac is a scammer here -- just that some buyers consider someone wanting funds sent as a "gift" to be a red flag.)

Originally Posted by dheideman

As far as I understand it, you can't get a refund on money sent as a "gift", ever. You can't file a claim or request a chargeback. If the animal is never shipped, or is DOA, or is unhealthy, if you sent the funds as a "gift" you're SOL and PayPal won't do anything for you. It's a technique scammers sometimes use, so it makes some buyers worry. (I am *not* saying Mac is a scammer here -- just that some buyers consider someone wanting funds sent as a "gift" to be a red flag.)

Exactly! I'd pay the seller's fees before I'd send as a gift...and I walk whenever asked to pay the fees. Once I agree upon a price, don't expect me to add 3%...but now I'm venting about others!! lol

I also do not hold animals for someone without a 25% non-refundable deposit. I used to do it, thinking that I was being nice, but I ended up being a sucker and missing out on real sales.

Yes I totally respect the fact that he was first to come. He told me he was going to pay and then he never did. What would I do if it turns out that he backs out at the last second? That's why I do first pay first get. Then when I sell him to someone the guy gets totally mad. He sent me emails telling me about how he was going to post this and it would bring out who I truly am. I will put it on her tommorow but to me it sounded a like a threat. I offered him to buy as a gift or he could just send some extra money. Someone else told me to do it this way so I had no idea. Either way he said he was going to send extra money to cover paypal fine. Craig Fedex would cost me about $70 which no one who is buying a dragon wants to pay an Ups is allegal to ship. Atleast for me.

Originally Posted by BaseballBeardies

Craig Fedex would cost me about $70 which no one who is buying a dragon wants to pay an Ups is allegal to ship. Atleast for me.

Have you looked into using Ship Your Reptiles? They offer, essentially, discounted FedEx shipping. I've never seen a SYR quote over about $45 for something like a beardie, at least back when they were with UPS. I haven't gotten price quotes since they switched to FedEx, but they're still cheaper than going to FedEx directly.

It is legal, though, to ship lizards through UPS -- just not snakes.

Originally Posted by dheideman

As far as I understand it, you can't get a refund on money sent as a "gift", ever. You can't file a claim or request a chargeback. If the animal is never shipped, or is DOA, or is unhealthy, if you sent the funds as a "gift" you're SOL and PayPal won't do anything for you. It's a technique scammers sometimes use, so it makes some buyers worry. (I am *not* saying Mac is a scammer here -- just that some buyers consider someone wanting funds sent as a "gift" to be a red flag.)

Ah, I did not know that you could not get a refund if it was sent as a gift. I always use a credit card through paypal so I don't worry about that very much. In THAT case, I agree that this could be a red flag is someone has bad guy threads already posted! But because of my method of payment, I *personally* would not worry about it.

Also, I the reason that I choose to use a credit card through paypal is that even when I have sent a payment for "goods" they still told me I was SOL when I did not get the snakes! Because the buyer protection only applies to ebay items! So we should all keep that in mind too.

Originally Posted by dheideman

Have you looked into using Ship Your Reptiles? They offer, essentially, discounted FedEx shipping. I've never seen a SYR quote over about $45 for something like a beardie, at least back when they were with UPS. I haven't gotten price quotes since they switched to FedEx, but they're still cheaper than going to FedEx directly.

It is legal, though, to ship lizards through UPS -- just not snakes.

their rates are higher than my rates. Better to get your own fedex account than rely on 3rd parties