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    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....

Good Guy Reptiles Express

FedEx has the same release of liability when it comes to shipping animals. No delivery method guarantees that your animal will arrive alive but I don't agree with the fact that the buyer should suffer and eat the cost of the animal. It should be the seller who re-imburses the buyer should the animal die in transit. especially if not packaged correctly but I've used ReptilesExpress and had no problems with them. I guess this can be a debated topic. Just package correctly and you shouldn't have any problems with this unless your package gets held up by UPS in which case neither the buy or seller is at fault. This could happen with FedEx as well though.
 
I'm not even talking about the cost of the animal here. Should MY buyer decide to sue Reptilesexpress, I would have to eat the cost of the legal defense, and if that happened, I would think the cost of the animal could very quickly become small in comparison. Or so I read it wrong?
 
exactly, ReptilesExpress is the seller. If you have a snake die in transit you shouldn't charge your buyer because you should at least guarantee your snake to make it into their possession, which takes away any chance of anyone getting sued. This is just a release of liability making sure that you know ReptilesExpress is not liable for anything. They only sell the service and provide the waiver.
 
Thanks Dustin :) UPS and FEDEX basically have the same exact Terms saying that the person shipping the animal is responsible if the animal does happen to pass or be damaged in the process. YOu take a risk shipping live animals because you never know what is going to happen to that box once you hand it off to the company you are using!
 
And by using their service, I am agreeing to reimburse them for legal costs in the event they should get sued. So if MY buyer decides to sue reptilesexpress, I am agreeing to pay the money to defend them.
 
Yeah.. I read them and if you ship an animal through any company and your buyer tries to sue that company you will be held responsible as well so they are using the same terms. I got the point and I'm trying to clarify that you will be responsible in any event when you ship an animal. If your buyer tries to sue UPS or FedEx it would come back to you as well. YOu are taking all the risks for shipping a live animal across the country or right down the street... It's not Guaranteed except by the person doing the packing and shipping!!
 
Everybody takes risks by shipping, thats just the risks that are associated with the gamble. But if you don't chargethe buyer in the event that something does happen then what grounds would there be for anyone to get sued? You would just be out a snake. Like Catherine said FedEx has the same release of liablility as UPS or ReptilesExpress.
 
It's the agreeing to pay someone elses legal fees I don't like. The rest of it II understand. By using UPS, I'm not consenting to pay their attorneys if they get sued, I'm just acknowledging that they don't' guarantee live delivery. The two things are very different.
 
Yeah but you can't use UPS unless you go through ReptilesExpress. I understand your concern with paying someones legal fees but there shouldn't be any legal fees if someone isn't charged for a snake. I've shipped MANY times using multiple companies, SYR when they were able to ship snakes, RE, and FedEx and I've never had any issues on both recieving and sending except when someone decided to send me a snake using an illegal route which is a different topic. Your original question was does anyone else feel uncomfortable with these terms. I don't because if I had a snake die in transit I would refund my buyer his/her money and there would be no reason for a lawsuit. If you don't feel comfortable with the terms just go through FedEx or deel locally. FedEx has similar terms they just don't make it as black and white as RE.
 
pakinjak said:
It's the agreeing to pay someone elses legal fees I don't like. The rest of it II understand. By using UPS, I'm not consenting to pay their attorneys if they get sued, I'm just acknowledging that they don't' guarantee live delivery. The two things are very different.
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Then just dont ship. Its the same with any service you use. If you as the shipper refund shipping cost and the cost of the animal there is no grounds for a lawsuit.
 
Really anyone you ship a reptile with is going to have something like this. When you think about it reptiles are still that strange pet that people are not quite sure of. And snakes make people even more unsure of them since there are so many different venomous and nonvenomous species out there. Naturally people will be afriad of what they dont know and that might cause issues. Reptiles Express is just covering their assets which any good business should. The reason (I think) they are doing this is while they can somewhat control what people ship through their Terms of Service, there's always going to be someone who will try to sneak something in. Im not saying anyone here would do it but theres always joe schmoe out on the web in internet land just thinking about it.
 
Thanks, Tom and Dustin, for actually answering my question. I really appreciate it. Like I've said, I have emailed Debbie about this, and have heard the WHY of it from their end. In fact, she responded again after I posted the question here to try to explain a little more. I have nothing but good to say about Reptilesexpress in their communication with me. They have been very prompt, courteous and patient, and I still may sign up with them, I just wanted to hear what others thought about it.

I hope all my questions have come across as a new guy to herps just trying to get his sea legs, so to speak, because that's exactly what they are. The funny thing is that I would be shipping geckos, and the whole liability language is meant to cover them for snakes...
 
This is in our TOS not for the time a snake/lizard would die in transit or if something is damaged. Both FedEx and UPS do not guarantee arrival of anything perishable. That goes for a reptile or flowers. This is the same if you ship with ReptilesExpress, SYR, UPS or Fedex. If a animal dies in transit it would be up to the seller and buyer to resolve the issue. Most people have there own TOS that would include "Live Arrival". Some people guarantee live arrival if there is not a problem in transit. If there was a problem like a major weather delay and a animal died. The seller has a live arrival guarantee except when the carrier had a delay. Then it would be on the buyer. To prevent problems pack your animals correctly and do not ship when there might be bad weather outlook at your location and your buyers location. This could include to hot, to cold, heavy rains, snow..... You can check 10 day forecasts anywhere in the world with a few clicks of the mouse. The main reason for that section of our TOS is for the extreme cases that someone would violate RE or UPS policies and major damage or lose was a result. Example: a very irresponsible person ships a Cobra, The package is damaged in transit and the snake gets out. The snake bites a innocent UPS forklift driver. Who would be responsible? Who would UPS and the family of the UPS Employee file a lawsuit with? Example #2. Someone ships fireworks with RE and UPS. The firework catch the UPS truck on fire. Everything in the truck is destroyed. UPS pays claims out for all damages. They will then try to collect the money/damages they had to pay from the responsible party. Who would be responsible? Most likely they would go after RE for damages since then item was shipped under our account. As for a "Live Arrival Guarantee" from ReptilesExpress.com. There are some big things coming in the very close future. We will have a first in the reptile shipping business that will solve most concerns about "Live Arrival"
 
It can't get any more cut and dry then that. Thanks for the clarification on that Brendan. :thumbsup: The promise of a future guarantee on live shipment is pretty exciting. That could be the deciding factor between someone choosing between FedEx and RE. I know I would never use another carrier again if there was that type of guarantee in place.
 
I registered for membership for RE on Friday and by Sunday I was approved (I took a day to get the paper signed and emailed back). I shipped my first package out yesterday which arrive perfectly this morning with out any issues or delays.

The service was awesome and responses were fast. I will defiantly be using them for any future shipping. The website is laid out very well and very easy to use.
 
coldbloodedcages said:
This is in our TOS not for the time a snake/lizard would die in transit or if something is damaged. Both FedEx and UPS do not guarantee arrival of anything perishable. That goes for a reptile or flowers. This is the same if you ship with ReptilesExpress, SYR, UPS or Fedex. If a animal dies in transit it would be up to the seller and buyer to resolve the issue. Most people have there own TOS that would include "Live Arrival". Some people guarantee live arrival if there is not a problem in transit. If there was a problem like a major weather delay and a animal died. The seller has a live arrival guarantee except when the carrier had a delay. Then it would be on the buyer. To prevent problems pack your animals correctly and do not ship when there might be bad weather outlook at your location and your buyers location. This could include to hot, to cold, heavy rains, snow..... You can check 10 day forecasts anywhere in the world with a few clicks of the mouse. The main reason for that section of our TOS is for the extreme cases that someone would violate RE or UPS policies and major damage or lose was a result. Example: a very irresponsible person ships a Cobra, The package is damaged in transit and the snake gets out. The snake bites a innocent UPS forklift driver. Who would be responsible? Who would UPS and the family of the UPS Employee file a lawsuit with? Example #2. Someone ships fireworks with RE and UPS. The firework catch the UPS truck on fire. Everything in the truck is destroyed. UPS pays claims out for all damages. They will then try to collect the money/damages they had to pay from the responsible party. Who would be responsible? Most likely they would go after RE for damages since then item was shipped under our account. As for a "Live Arrival Guarantee" from ReptilesExpress.com. There are some big things coming in the very close future. We will have a first in the reptile shipping business that will solve most concerns about "Live Arrival"
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How will you as the "middle man" for the shipping process be able to police a live arrival guarantee? I mean it would not be difficult for that to be missused real fast. Are you going to require the seller to photograph each step of packing their package and then the party receiving the package to photograph each step in opening? Are you going to have a rule that you enforce of you have to use X box X insulation X tape X deli cup/bag and X type of padding in each package? I just see to many possible problems with you guaranteeing the live arrival of an animal that you have no hand in seeing or packing. What if someone ships a animal on its last leg (like many of the guys with Bad Guy threads on the BOI have done) are you going to require a necropsy of each animal that dies prior to backing up your guarantee?
 
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