Labinnah
New member
About three weeks ago while clearing up some cage space, I sold a short-tailed python to someone through the Classifieds. This was an animal that had been in my care for several months, always ate well, had a normal temperament for the species, and was free of parasites or disease. I'd had literally had no problems with this snake from the moment I got it til the moment it left my door.
The buyer receives the snake on time and as promised, is extremely happy with his purchase, leaves me a Good Guy thread a week and a half or so later, etc. He reports to me that the animal appears healthy, has eaten for him without any issue, and he's very satisfied with the purchase.
A little over two weeks later, out of the blue, he's e-mailing me to state that the snake has died, and wants a full cash refund. This is after only positive feedback about an animal that, as far as I've known it, was hearty and healthy and eating well. As a matter of fact, it'd eaten just a few days prior. The buyer sounds upset, states that he's been breeding and caring for snakes for '17 years' and has never had this happen, etc. I ask him for photos of the dead snake.
Now, things get a little weird, and this is where I'm a little hesitant. It took him a bit to get the photos to me, but sure enough, there's my python, dead as a doornail in a plastic baggie. The photos are hosted on the buyer's MySpace page, which reveals to me that he's... well, 22 years old. A little young to be someone who's bred/cared for snakes for 17 years, but whatever, I've known folks who've been in reptiles a majority of their life, so why not.
He's very adamant about a cash refund, but I admit I'm a little hesitant to jump right on it. Had the snake been DOA, or had encountered some issues in shipping, or had been refusing meals, or had arrived with a disease/parasite, I would be offering my buyer a refund in a heartbeat, no questions asked. But in this case, he'd confirmed to me several times that the snake had been just fine, eating and was completely without issue for the first couple of weeks he had it. And then it just croaked overnight, no warning.
The situation feels fishy to me, and I'm just torn on which way to go with this. They say that they don't want another python, even after I offered to purchase one from a seller of their choice and have it sent to them as a replacement for the original. I'm kinda wondering if something happened to it accidentally, or maybe they weren't familiar with the Borneo attitude, etc, and decided it wasn't something they wanted. I'd like to be good to my buyer, but I also would like to not be out money unnecessarily.
Anyway, my question to you is, how would you solve this? What would you ask of the buyer, and what would you provide him in exchange? Any advice or feedback is appreciated, I've never had to deal with a situation like this before, and would really like some guidance.
The buyer receives the snake on time and as promised, is extremely happy with his purchase, leaves me a Good Guy thread a week and a half or so later, etc. He reports to me that the animal appears healthy, has eaten for him without any issue, and he's very satisfied with the purchase.
A little over two weeks later, out of the blue, he's e-mailing me to state that the snake has died, and wants a full cash refund. This is after only positive feedback about an animal that, as far as I've known it, was hearty and healthy and eating well. As a matter of fact, it'd eaten just a few days prior. The buyer sounds upset, states that he's been breeding and caring for snakes for '17 years' and has never had this happen, etc. I ask him for photos of the dead snake.
Now, things get a little weird, and this is where I'm a little hesitant. It took him a bit to get the photos to me, but sure enough, there's my python, dead as a doornail in a plastic baggie. The photos are hosted on the buyer's MySpace page, which reveals to me that he's... well, 22 years old. A little young to be someone who's bred/cared for snakes for 17 years, but whatever, I've known folks who've been in reptiles a majority of their life, so why not.
He's very adamant about a cash refund, but I admit I'm a little hesitant to jump right on it. Had the snake been DOA, or had encountered some issues in shipping, or had been refusing meals, or had arrived with a disease/parasite, I would be offering my buyer a refund in a heartbeat, no questions asked. But in this case, he'd confirmed to me several times that the snake had been just fine, eating and was completely without issue for the first couple of weeks he had it. And then it just croaked overnight, no warning.
The situation feels fishy to me, and I'm just torn on which way to go with this. They say that they don't want another python, even after I offered to purchase one from a seller of their choice and have it sent to them as a replacement for the original. I'm kinda wondering if something happened to it accidentally, or maybe they weren't familiar with the Borneo attitude, etc, and decided it wasn't something they wanted. I'd like to be good to my buyer, but I also would like to not be out money unnecessarily.
Anyway, my question to you is, how would you solve this? What would you ask of the buyer, and what would you provide him in exchange? Any advice or feedback is appreciated, I've never had to deal with a situation like this before, and would really like some guidance.
Let us know how it works out and I would like to see other peoples opinions on this too.
I would recommend that even hobbyist/sellers create one.
