Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found someone wanting to get rid of some ball pythons. The are not a "breeder" per say. They do have some babies and live way too far for me to just ride over and look at the animals before I purchase them. Now she said she will accept postal money order for payment. How can I make a purchase like this and be able to protect myself at the same time?

Yeah we just stumbled upon a similar situation on craigslist. No prices listed but when we contacted the person they were supposedly going to sell a pair of albinos(not hets) for 30 bucks and was willing to ship for free if we sent a postal money order. Then we mentioned overnight shipping is 50 bucks so the person agreed to split shipping. I don't know. Your situation may be different but situations like this always make me suspicious.
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BB
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2.3 Normal Adult Ball Pythons
5.5 Normal Baby Ball Pythons
1.1 Pastel Ball Pythons
1.1 Het Orange Ghost Ball Pythons
1.0 Albino Ball Python
0.2 Het Albino Ball Pythons
1.0 Poss Het Pied Ball Python
0.2 Het Pied Ball Pythons
1.0 Cinnamon Ball Python
1.0 Butter Ball Python
1.1 Bearded Dragons

The Albino deal sounds, too good to be true and you know what they say about that! I think, to the original poster, YOU have to make that call! How many animals? How much? At some point, you have to trust someone, if you're going to buy things on-line!

same post on craigslist... I thought it was too good to be true.

n/p

Contrary to popular belief paypal will only refund a purchase made through ebay. I am a certified paypal business user, and they don't even back me (certified small business with paypal) when I have been in sticky situations in the past. I bought an adult "female" pinstripe het. lav. alb. from the kingsnake classifieds and it turned out to be a male. So the seller was like, "Oh well I never probed it or popped it, just took the word of the person I got it from." I attempted to get the seller to refund me the money on the account that I would even take half of my money back upfront and the other half when he received the snake back. The seller refused, so I contacted paypal. I have an online business and use paypal as my primary way of doing business, and this is in no way saying not to use them, I love paypal. In the end paypal was not responsible, I understand that, but they told me even if I never received the snake for the transaction, paypal didn't guarantee any transaction dealing with live animals. They went on to explain it is their policy to only back transactions through ebay. You also aren't allowed to sell live animals excluding fish, and coral, shrimp, snails, other inverts etc. on ebay. So it is kind of a double loophole for bad guys on the internet selling bogus stuff. Sorry for the long message guys, but I too thought paypal was secure. Bottom line if it sounds sketchy then it probably is, check references, and go with someone you ultimately trust. Even if you have to pay a little more, who cares? You will sleep better at night.

I thought Pay Pal was more buyer friendly

I agree with Paypal.
Postal money order always sounded kinda sketchy to me.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Why is a Postal Money Order sketchy? All it does is eliminate the time it takes for a personal check to clear!

I know what they are, but they open you up for getting ripped off.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Unless they have changed their policy as of late - Paypal sucks for CYA when it comes to animals. They can ship you a rock and as long as they have a delivery confirmation you are up the proverbial creek.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
The Blog
nihil facimus sed id bene facimus

Postal Money orders are legitimate, they can also be called bank drafts.. Basically how they work is you pay upfront, and ship the money order (you keep a copy when you finish filling out the details on the money order, sending the other half to the seller). THe seller can take this to their bank and cash it...works much like a check in that sense but without the wait to have it cleared...since you can't get a money order without paying for the full value of the money order first, unlike a check). The cost of a money order itself, is usually pretty low...$2-4 bucks...been awhile since I bought one.

I have used them myself several times to pay for items I bid on at Ebay, finding it much easier than using personal checks. Email bank transfers are good too...

However, whether the balls this guy is selling are worth paying for...really depends on the ad and what information you can get from the seller. I would at least ask for current pictures...maybe requesting the snakes be on a scale or near a newspaper with the current date showing (this way you know its not just some picture they copied from somebody else, or 5 years old or something). Also you can get some idea on the snake's health, or at least spot any obvious signs of illness or poor care...like skiny, unshed skin, scars or open wounds (ask for belly shots too)
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PHLdyPayne

99% of credit cards have buyer protection at no cost to you.This also covers animals.If you have checks to write out that go against your card use them.Then pay off balance once you get items if its not what you wanted return them but call credit company first.I bought a ball that came dead on arrival from a small time breeder,she told me oh well,little did she know I called the credit card co.They withdrew the money back from her account,of course i had proof of death on arrival,pics date and time of day.Got my money back,then asked her what did she want me to do with the poor snake.
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1.0 100%het albino
0.1 100%het albino
1.0 pastel
0.1 spider
0.1 pastel
1.0 butter
0.1 albino hc
1.0 orange ghost
0.1 100%het pied poss het albino ringer
1.0 med pied
0.1 pewter
1.0 pinstripe
1.0 pastel