Be aware when dealing with Andrew Blesh...

Originally Posted by Wilomn

Perhaps you missed a post.

The guy who askes is the one who sees the same animal for sale for more money after being told there was another buyer at a higher price.

It seems pretty obvious to me and I'm far from the sharpest tool in the shed.

We may be emphazing different parts of the same post:

(one which said "btw I was just offered 300 bucks for it but I will keep the deal w you since you were first") we had a deal. We got the shipping figured at $102.00 FedEx and I sent him a verified paypal payment of 302.00. All was good to go....

Doesn't seem to me as if he meant to do what some suspect for the reasons suspected, but I could be wrong. Because your perception of the incident is just as valid, he COULD have been paving the way for the refund later to sell higher...who knows? I can't read his mind.

Originally Posted by deborahbroadus

I can't read his mind.

Indeed, you cannot.

Knowing such, perhaps simply sending a pm or asking in the thread WHY would have been better suited to the pursuit of justice than the approach you chose to take.

I came very close to posting this here right when this happened and decided to let it go as I take this forum seriously and I didn't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Also I know there is always someone ready to flame you back when you are just trying to do the right thing. When I saw the snake was up for sale again, especially at an elevated price, I debated about it but felt obligated to at least let folks know what happened to me. I believe that's what this forum is for afterall. It hapened just as I described. As to why it happened the way it did, well that is my opinion as I stated and now it's my opinion he is back pedaling to save face on here.

If you search online for exotics in ohio, you will find the Governor has a workgroup set up to lay out legislation in Ohio regarding exotics and that is what the executive order was about. You may check the ODNR website under Dangerous Wild Animals to view PDFs of the meeting notes about what they are talking about. There have been NO LAWS PASSED to date and if it proceeds as past attempts have, hopefully there won't be in regards to these snakes. Large dangerous mammals really are more the problem here and many of us, including USARK are fighting to make sure the snakes are not included. There is also a separate proposed bill in the house, but again nothing has been passed.

When this thng went down, I called right away and made it very clear to his wife I was unhappy and he should have called me before negating our deal as he was mis-informed. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing the seller was so sound asleep shortly after making a paypal refund that he couldn't have talked to me and cleared this up. I also texted him right away. He never responded to my text or phone call to find out more info. Why would anyone walk away from a sure sale if all he had to do was contact me to clear it up? Well, if he didn't clear up the situation with me, he potentially stood to get 50% more for the animal selling it to someone else.

Of course now after I post on here and another deal he had worked out apparently fell through, he is willing to listen about the legality issue and go forth with the deal. Honestly folks while I still would kinda like to have the snake, I don't trust the situation now and would not feel comfortable re-instating our original deal. Would you? At this point, this post is just to inform others about what happened to me, I am not trying to still get the snake.

As I stated I got the refund, I am glad for that, and it could have gone much worse. I did not acuse him of ripping me off. He did not. I do not trust his business practices for the reasons described in my first post and I just feel others should know about it.

As for the paypal thing, I have not yet pulled the money out of my paypal account. Everytime I have transfered from paypal back to my bank account in the past they have kept a percentage. If that is not the case in this situation, I apologize for that part of the statement as I have never actually gotten a refund from paypal before.

Indeed I do have the animal listed for a higher price now than I did before. I had lots of interest in it. There is nothing wrong with listing it at a higher price a week later. It's called capitalism. I am unfamiliar with the market price of 'condas and was informed by my friend who is that I was selling a breedable male for the price of a cbb hatchling. He told me that 10 minutes after I posted the INITIAL ad. I did have an offer for more money and still honored the first persons claim to the animal. I cannot know the laws for every state and when I read an article about a gov enacting an executive order banning the importation of the animal I was selling I am not just going to take the word of someone that I don't know saying that there is no such law. I am not about to take the chance of getting arrested for $200. I refunded the persons money with an explanation why. I do not need to explain this but when I go to bed my wife doesn't disturb me. Period. Unless its an emergency. This was not an emergency. He sent me a text that I got 2 days later (I don't have cell service at home). I don't feel I needed to give more explanation. I had already explained to him in the message I sent with the refund why I was refunding the money.

What is wrong though, is refunding and not discussing with the buyer first. The buyer would have known if it was legal in his state. You should have just said, "I am a little worried about if the snake is legal in your state, after reading an article on the internet. Could you clarify for me whether or not it is indeed legal to own one in your state?"
While it is good that you did not keep the money, it does raise a question of "will you do this to other buyers, who know the legality of an animal in their state just based off an article you might read on the internet?" There are alot of things on the internet that are not actually set in stone laws.
I'm not trying to be a jerk or attack anyone, but I'd like to know why you didn't verify whether or not the animal was legal or not before you cancelled the sale? A misunderstanding?

A little common courtesy on Andrew's part would most certainly have cured the problem. Unilaterally refunding the money without prior discussion and explanation is, at best, very poor business practice. The rest of the argument is just window-dressing to make Andrew look a little less self-serving and underhanded.

If you are not prepared to take the word of a resident of the state in question, and you don't think you can be expected to know the laws of all the states.....how are you going to be able to sell in ANY state? If you don't know the laws, you'd assume that they're illegal in all states but yours! I think it's a bit unreasonable to not take anyone's word as to the legality of ANY animal in ANY state. I don't imagine the article said for sure that there was DEFINITELY going to be a ban on giant snakes there. If there is a law you'd be able to find it.
I would have, when I read that article, begun looking for laws that already existed about it. Or I would have taken the buyer's word.

Originally Posted by kingsnake1

A little common courtesy on Andrew's part would most certainly have cured the problem. Unilaterally refunding the money without prior discussion and explanation is, at best, very poor business practice. The rest of the argument is just window-dressing to make Andrew look a little less self-serving and underhanded.

I agree wholeheartedly with this!

I'll disagree about the "the buyer would know if it was illegal" statement. We see plenty of people all the time who don't have a clue it's illegal to own *insert X species* in their state or city. Also, plenty that do know, but claim they don't care, the authorities don't care or the infamous 'everyone does it'.

The seller would be liable if he shipped a illegal animal into the state.

And for Paypal, yes, to transfer the money from Paypal to your bank account there's a fee. If you leave it in Paypal to use buying a snake from someone else, you won't have to pay anything. So the Paypal fee isn't due to a refund, but due to you wanting to remove the money back to your bank.

That was why I said that either the seller should find out the laws first, or ask the buyer. Personally I think it'd be better to actually look up the laws yourself.
I found out that laws are different from town to town in the same state. Like in Omaha you can't have iguanas or any snake over 8 feet. But in many other towns you can. Each place has different laws. Buyers should always know the laws where they live so they can give sellers accurate information.