Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been breeding leopard geckos for a few years now. Most of you old-timers know me or have some of my leos. It's been a while since I've bought any stock on line from anybody that I don't have some sort of working relationship with so it was a surprise to me that there seems to be those nowadays that are asking for NON-REFUNDABLE deposits.
The weekend before 9/11 I bought leos from Kevin Hanley. He never asked for a deposit, in fact, there was so much confusion those days that Kevin sent my order out on my word alone that I'd already sent his money order.
Are those days gone? The last person I remember that took NON-REFUNDABLE deposits was Tim Rainwater. Have we forgotten? Why should we as the buyer willingly obligate ourselves to a seller?
I'm not pointing any fingers I just want to know what you guys think.

Thanks,

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Rick-Geckoland USA

I imagine the answer that breeders will tell you is that they've had enough of the following 2 occurances:

1) Someone just doesn't pay, rips off the breeder is he takes the buyer's word and sends the animal when the buyer tells him he has sent the money, rather than waiting for the money to arrive.

2) People feigning interest in an animal, just to disappear and essentially have wasted the breeder's time. If someone is going to put down a deposit they know they are going to lose, then they are obviously a serious customer and the breeder and spend time and wait on him accordingly. Imagine how much time breeders waste trying to organise a transaction for a specific animal and then the seller just vanishes. The breeder could have taken that time and effort into finding another buyer, cleaning tanks etc...

Comes down to a lack of trust, most likely brought on by experience rather than fear.

Joel
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2.5.1 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but wouldn't you prevent buyers form vanishing with a refundable deposit as well? Maybe you could even have them include a self addressed, stamped envolope with the deposit, then if something came up and they had to cancel, you could simply put the check or MO in it and drop it in the mailbox. Then if the purchase went through it would just be applied as a payment. Maybe charge a processing fee if you need to recoup something for the time and effort spent on the deal. Anyway I guess each breeder seller needs to do what they think is best, and each buyer needs to make a choice on what they will accept.
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Cheryl

Well, a few years ago Paypal didn't charge people for receiving money. Would that have anything to do with it?
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chickabowwow