Dealing with Minors

The question... Was I wrong?

I recently told a 12 yr old I would need to complete a transaction with his parents, rather than him.

In my opinion, it was not worth the risk of sending an animal to a VERY young person, without his parents' consent.

Since it was a trade... I feel it would have been illegal to enter a contract with a minor without their parents' consent.

Agree? Disagree?

I sold a baby boa last year the person that bought it was 15 ... he emailed me wanting to know where tosend his $ he told me his age , i then asked him to give me a work number so that i could call the parents to make sure they knew what the kid was buying and if they were ok with it .. I called 3 days later so i felt sure no one would be by the phone waiting to say " yeah im the father" well when i called it was the father work place as there was a secretary answered the call i then asked for the father and he DIDNT know his son had contacted me to buy a baby boa ... however he did say that it was ok and he knew he was looking for one and it was ok with him ... so from this point on i made all contatc with the father because a contract even with consent with a minor can be voided and not leagal ( atleast in NC) so i had the son email what he wanted then forwarded it to the fathers work email , and phoned the father to make sure everything was ok with him ... the father sent the money and the deal went flawless ... the father did however tell me thank you for not just sending a snake to my door w/out him knowing about it .. .

so you did the right thing my opinion by doing the deal with the parents ...

I would agree with how you handled this. In most places it is illegal to sell live animals to minors without a parents consent. A trade is still a sale, you are just agreeing to take payment in the form of another animal. Even if is wasn't illegal, it would only be courteous to the parents since they are ultimately the ones responsible.

You were absolutely correct. I go through this often. Always deal with the legal guardian and ask for written consent. If it were to go on a credit card at worse they could reverse the charge and claim no knowledge. I won't go into the other reasons.. they are self explanitory... Or should be.

Thanks guys. I feel bad for having to tell the kid to pass me on to his parents... But I've got to cover my own butt here. I'm not about to put my own name and business on the line for a simple little trade.

It's been a few days now, and I still haven't heard anything from the kid's parents - So I have a feeling that's that.

Again - Thanks.

In these choices its always best to error on the side of caution.

The minor might not appreciate what you did, but his parents will, the animal might and you for sure will not have any repercussions from handling it this way.

Bergers!!!! [sorry couldn't resist]
You guys were absolutely right in your decision. I am sure if the juvenile wanted the snake bad enough he would have brought his parents to your table. You were at a show??? If so where were the kids parents. Was he let in without his parents??

Scary thought here

In Missouri, all contracts made with those under 18 are void from the outset. I have been made offers to sell to minors over the inernet in States where, it is my understanding, they were of legal age to enter into a binding contract. Even so, I never saw any individual sale worth enough to justify the possible headaches down the road.

I have enough headaches I can't avoid. I certainly don't need to be taking on any others unneccessarily!

You did the absolute right thing, in my opinion.

Bergers!!!! [sorry couldn't resist]

APPLE!!!

This was a trade - to be conducted over the internet. He wanted a female bearded dragon, and had a baby Sulcata tort that he was willing to trade. Sounded like a good trade to me. I have a nice little 70 gram female beardie was about to send to him.

But... Then he asked me "How do I ship?". So... After I went through each and every last detail about how to ship a tort, I decided to ask him how old he was.

At that point, I got a load of attitude from him, and he informed me how old (young) he was.

I still haven't heard from his parents - and at this point, don't care anymore!

I've stuck with my decision time and time again - I just don't sell to minors, unless their parents are the ones talking to me. I may just start getting written approval from parents if this comes up again - or just plainly state in EVERY ad I post - no sales to minors.

It's too bad, and it's difficult. We're working towards opening up a shop within the next two years... And I am uncertain how to handle all the minors that walk in the DOOR wanting to buy reptiles. Just ask for ID I guess?

Mark

A buddy of mine used to have a retail shop, and he had a sign on the door that said, "No one under 16 admitted without parent" to keep the kids out of his hair after school. He also had a sign stating: "No sales to anyone under 18."

But like I said, that is the law concerning contracts in Missouri, so it didn't cause too much of a stir for him. Personally, I wouldn't want to go into a store with a bunch of kids running all over the place, or do business with one that would sell all sorts of animals to kids without their parents' knowledge. That's really a couple of the big problems I have with most chain stores. So, I guess seeing such things in a shop wouldn't do anything but reinforce my decision to do business their.