advice for buying herps from unknown party

What are some safety precautions for buying high end herps online from unkown parties? Thanks

Here are a few steps...

1.Click my coins and become a paying member to support the BOI

2.Check out the person on the BOI

3. Document every exchange do it all through emails

4. Pay with your credit card through pay pal (you are double protected that way)

5. In the notes section of paypal detail the transaction ex. "paid $xxx.xx in full for one __________. To be shipped to such and such adress on such and such date."

6. Cross your fingers

Good Luck! It kinda sucks that in this day and age we have to be so paranoid.

From what I understand use a postal money order, if the perons rips you off it then becomes mail fraud. (Source from a breeder/dealer I actually talked to yesterday about the same thing) Mail it priority mail or at least with sig reqd

Originally Posted by Kingetula

From what I understand use a postal money order, if the perons rips you off it then becomes mail fraud. (Source from a breeder/dealer I actually talked to yesterday about the same thing) Mail it priority mail or at least with sig reqd

I agree, covering yourself with potential federal charges if the person doesn't hold up to their end of the bargain will often stop a scammer in their tracks (not always, they could send dead/near dying/misrepresented animals still this route, but getting completely stiffed/ignored is less likely to occur.)

Thanks to all who answered my post. I like the postal money order idea, But is there more security with the credit card/paypal option?

Thanks, Ryan

Ryan,

Did you get results from your BOI research?

When purchasing with a credit card you can always dispute that you never recieved the item if some one rips you off by not sending you the animal you purchased. You are protected by visa at that point.

Originally Posted by kellysballs

When purchasing with a credit card you can always dispute that you never recieved the item if some one rips you off by not sending you the animal you purchased. You are protected by visa at that point.

It also depends on who issues the VISA card and the amount. I have one bank who is great to work with while my other bank really stinks! I had a company tell me he would make a service call for $60.00, I talked him down over the phone to $40.00. They billed me for $60.00 and played the card that they didn't know what I was talking about. How could I prove this to the bank? I tried and I won, they refunded $20.00. However I got scammed out of an XBOX game on EBAY, Paypal wouldn't cover it (I wasn't the only sucker by this person) so I complained to my bank and they denied it as well because it was Paypal (3rd party). Just depends I guess.