Buying Safely

[trianglekitty]

I've now had TWO sellers take my money and disappear while trying to buy trumpet snails. One was on aquabid and strung me along for weeks, then told me she would refund my money only if I did not leave bad feedback. The other was on ebay and just never contacted me.

But I'm not here to talk about bad sellers...my question is how do I find good ones? Are there any trusted sites you visit for fish or plants? Have you had good luck on auction sites?

I just want some nice snails to shuffle my sand about.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Look for sellers with good feedback

 

[trianglekitty]

Look for sellers with good feedback

They both had all 5 star feedback is the thing. So it doesn't seem like that's a guarantee of good behavior. Or I just have extraordinary bad luck (which is certainly possible)

 

[Man of fish]

Well the one that said no refund if you left a bad comment I can see why shed have 5 stars, so you should go give her a bad comment.

 

[trianglekitty]

Well the one that said no refund if you left a bad comment I can see why shed have 5 stars, so you should go give her a bad comment.

Oh, at that point I told her she could keep the eleven dollars, so I'm her first bad rating. But I would have rather have had my snails. There have to be good, reliable dealers or websites out there.

 

[Man of fish]

Drsfostersmith.com seems reliable but here in the states it's minimum $30 purchase on live creatures and $36 shipping.

 

[CezzaXV]

Well the one that said no refund if you left a bad comment I can see why shed have 5 stars, so you should go give her a bad comment.

Oh, at that point I told her she could keep the eleven dollars, so I'm her first bad rating. But I would have rather have had my snails. There have to be good, reliable dealers or websites out there.

How did you pay? If you paid by Paypal (which I'd recommend you do if you don't already), you can file a claim with them for a refund if the seller isn't giving you one willingly.

 

[Liquid skills]

I've now had TWO sellers take my money and disappear while trying to buy trumpet snails. One was on aquabid and strung me along for weeks, then told me she would refund my money only if I did not leave bad feedback. The other was on ebay and just never contacted me.

But I'm not here to talk about bad sellers...my question is how do I find good ones? Are there any trusted sites you visit for fish or plants? Have you had good luck on auction sites?

I just want some nice snails to shuffle my sand about.

i would just send you some for nothing if i had any youve had some bad luck

 

[sausagewinkle]

Well the one that said no refund if you left a bad comment I can see why shed have 5 stars, so you should go give her a bad comment.

Oh, at that point I told her she could keep the eleven dollars, so I'm her first bad rating. But I would have rather have had my snails. There have to be good, reliable dealers or websites out there.

How did you pay? If you paid by Paypal (which I'd recommend you do if you don't already), you can file a claim with them for a refund if the seller isn't giving you one willingly.

+1 to that, claim through paypal and ebay.
Were all the messages to each other sent through ebay? if so then the other person dont have a leg to stand on, even if it was for a small amount of money it doesnt matter, no one should be treated that way

 

[the_lock_man]

Well the one that said no refund if you left a bad comment I can see why shed have 5 stars, so you should go give her a bad comment.

Oh, at that point I told her she could keep the eleven dollars, so I'm her first bad rating. But I would have rather have had my snails. There have to be good, reliable dealers or websites out there.

How did you pay? If you paid by Paypal (which I'd recommend you do if you don't already), you can file a claim with them for a refund if the seller isn't giving you one willingly.

+1 to that, claim through paypal and ebay.
Were all the messages to each other sent through ebay? if so then the other person dont have a leg to stand on, even if it was for a small amount of money it doesnt matter, no one should be treated that way

+2

Triangle, are you UK or US? Or indeed, somewhere else in the world?

 

[micko]

Find them, hunt them down.

where in the world are you? KittyKat sells them on here although i don't know if she has any for sale at the minute.

 

[Fishy friend2]

i found some on another website i will pos up the link in a sec

 

[Asteria]

You got any good LFS? if so go in and ask them see if they can order you some in.
I know my LFS does this, if you want it, they will order it, save one back (if its like test kits and equipment) and you can go pick it up when your ready

 

[Bignose]

How did you pay? If you paid by Paypal (which I'd recommend you do if you don't already), you can file a claim with them for a refund if the seller isn't giving you one willingly.

More +'s. You gotta be smart about these kind of things. The security of using PP and paying a few % for that security has got to be worth it -- or accept that you run the risk of what happened in the 1st post.

 

[trianglekitty]

How did you pay? If you paid by Paypal (which I'd recommend you do if you don't already), you can file a claim with them for a refund if the seller isn't giving you one willingly.

More +'s. You gotta be smart about these kind of things. The security of using PP and paying a few % for that security has got to be worth it -- or accept that you run the risk of what happened in the 1st post.

The first one was through aquabid and the seller requested a money order. So yes, lesson certainly learned...I thought because of the good feedback it would be okay. I will never do that again.

The second was with Paypal, and I am going through procedures to hopefully get that refunded. So at least even if I didn't get my snails, I hopefully won't be out money.

My LFS is huge and has a great stock-- expect for any livestock that I actually want. For some reason, they NEVER have a single fish that I go looking for in. As I mentioned in another thread, I swear I could go in and ask for a dirt common fish like neon tetras and they'll be mysteriously out of them. They don't have trumpet snails (they said they used to, and no one is sure why they don't carry them anymore). They also don't do special orders.

I'm located in Southern New Jersey.