• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH JONAH LAZICH!

A

AphroditeGeckos

New member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Stanton, CA
So I was scrolling through a group on Facebook and seen that this guy was looking for a off shore bred leachie. I didn't know her locality at the time because I was waiting for Guy @ Guyco Gecko to give me the info (I had bought her from a local guy who bought her from him) and he didn't want to pay $450 for a unknown locale which was fine with me because I understand that. So I gave him the price which included shipping and he said he would pay me on the 2nd of January. I asked if he could put a deposit down to hold her and he agreed. He made rest of payment last night and I paid for the shipping label this morning for a future shipping date. He messages me asking if he could have a refund because he needed to fix his car and I didn't want to give it back because I had paid $45 for a shipping label already. I told him no because I had bought the label and the deposit was non refundable. He then started to threaten me and he kept bugging me ALL DAY. Blowing up my phone! STILL kept threatening me so I refunded him the money minus the deposit and the shipping cost. STILL he was unhappy and STILL threatening me. I just finally decided to refund him the full cost and block him. So I got screwed $130.
 
Why is the shipping label non-refundable to you? Did you specify up front that the deposit on the animal was non-refundable?

I personally think you need to take a step back and realize that sometimes customers need to cancel purchases for very good reasons ie: if customer does not have a working car then they can't get to work and will lose their job.
 
How did you get screwed $130? You laid out $45 fpr a shipping label but wheres the other$95 you lost? Was it agrred upon before that the deposit was nonrefundable? If not, its not right to demand he give it up. If it was then he had no right to that. However if you didnt lose an alternate sale and he really is in a bind, its not the biggest deal to return the deposit minus your paid shipping cost.
 
Not sure which shipper you used, but I've had to cancel unused labels with both USPS and FedEx, and they refunded the label cost as a credit to my CC.
 
Britanny,

I googled your name and saw an Aphroditegeckos with some critters for sale. If that is you, I did not see a TOS.
Going forward, since you are just getting started, it is very helpful to have a TOS that spells out the rights and duties of each party, and whether and under what circumstances deposits and payments are nonrefundable. You can work on a TOS so that almost all parts of a transactions are in writing, easier for you and fewer misunderstandings.
If you do a search for TOS there are several very helpful threads on this site, some which even have sample TOS.
That doesn't mean you can't show mercy when a particular situation calls for it, but it gives each side an idea of what they should expect before the transaction ever takes place.
 
I agree that the saying "The customer is always right" wouldn't apply as a 100% true business practice in every situation & probably would not be in this case if the seller clearly stated TOS posted. (if that's the case, my search was less successful then Lucille)

Non-refundable or refundable - I'm not a seller of anything personally but believe if I'm buying a critter, I'm also buying the responsibility to provide the most healthy & happiest life I personally can provide for that bugger in return for his/her company. I understand enclosures, husbandry tools, environment creating gadgets aren't cheap but found making sure your prepared as best a possibly & having a few extra bills laying around is better then rushing for something your currently not ready to handle. True, that only my opinion & not a law & it is a decent example of why requesting a refund once a deal is made isn't the best business & can be frowned on.

One hand does wash the other though Emergencies do happen & I found when they do usually it is expensive. Even with a TOS is in place where you may not be responsible to refund anything it may be in your best interest. It's easy to get a bad name in business but can be hard to keep a good one. If the original buyer finds out the car repairs are not going to be as costly & they do have enough to proceed I doubt they would want to after sharing words. Even if the intended buyer doesn't have the money, people dont forget who treats them right & usually don't have an issue sharing that information with others who could be future customers.

Hopefully, the poster get the money back from the labels & both parties only lost/wasted time which might worth considering a cheap lesson for each on how they could of be smarter in future transactions.
 
Things happen.


IMHO, you "being the bigger person" and allowing that customer a full refund when he backed out speaks volumes of your character.

(Even if you complained a bit--I think you did the right thing. And saved yourself from an icky buyer. Any buyer who blows up in flames like that...sheesh.)
 
Although I always state that deposits are non-refundable, I think it should be safe to assume that is always the case. What on earth would be the point of someone giving a deposit to hold something if they still have the right to say, "On second thought, I don't want it."? That's called holding it for free.

I would still try to get that shipping label refunded. It seems like that should be possible.
 
Guy Castro said:
If you are using "Ship your Reptiles" or "Reptile Express",tell me how you are not paying for the label up front.
Click to expand...

You definitely pay for it up front. SYR was able to refund me for a label once though. The person bought more, so I had to make a label for a bigger box. I think the refund was there within a few days. That was the only time I tried to get a refund for a shipping label though. You should be able to contact fed-ex or whatever shipper you were going to use and explain the situation.
 
englishaussie said:
I use Fedex & you don't pay a penny until the package is picked up & scanned by Fedex. why pay up front for shipping label?
Click to expand...

Are you certified to ship through Fedex or do you just ship through them without them knowing what you're shipping?

As Guy said:

Guy Castro said:
If you are using "Ship your Reptiles" or "Reptile Express",tell me how you are not paying for the label up front.
Click to expand...

That would be interesting to know...
 
I purchase reptiles regularly and consider when I tell someone I am going to buy something it's sold. I certainly would never expect a deposit to be returned to me and I would feel shady backing out of a deal knowing that the person may have missed a sale with someone else only to have me change my mind. It's a shame the ethics of some people these days.
 
Back
Top