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Aquabid...reassure me?

3K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  Badjer 
#1 ·
I blame you all. I really do! All these pretty Aquabid babies...I'm not sure how much longer I can resist! I have an Aquabid account, but I still need to set up a Paypal account which will have to be done with my mom's credit card as I don't have one. She's fine with this, so long as I pay her back. But...the whole thing just makes me nervous. What are the odds of something going wrong? It's cold here right now, and a DOA terrifys me. Shipping is never refunded right? Is shipping from Thailand really complicated? Does it matter which transhipper you choose?

I need help haha. Any answers to these questions and some reassurance is highly appreciated! I've never bought anything LIVE online before.
 
#2 ·
DOAs are pretty rare if you choose over night shipping. They can happen. I don't think shipping is refunded, but I think it could be up to the individual seller.

As far as transhippers--choose the one that's closest to you, they will have the least amount of shipping. Or just choose one you think is professional and kind. I keep hearing good things about Linda I think.

Shipping worked like this for me:

I won betta fish, and I emailed the seller. He told me to pay the price of the fish+the transhipping fee which was 5 dollars. So that added up to 30 for me, he was a 25 dollar fish. I told him the transhipper I wanted.

He told me he was shipping them out that weekend to the transhipper. I emailed her and let her know she was going to have a fish of mine. I paid for shipping and the box fee which was like 30 something dollars. (overnight shipping) It's the shipping in the US that really costs the most if you choose overnight. She waited a day or two while holding him to make sure he was healthy and then shipped him to me and he arrived the next morning. He arrived pale and grumpy, but within an hour of being in the tank had brightened up!


My frog came to me this morning as well from shipping! :)
 
#3 ·
Alright I feel better already! Only issue now is that everyone thinks I'm crazy to consider buying such an expensive fish. Ironically, those people are my parents who paid for a much more expensive dog who only lived for three years...a shorter life than most of my bettas! Guess a lot of people consider a dog more lovable than a fish!

Ooo what type of frog? :)
 
#4 ·
Aquabid is great. The sellers know how to pack fish as do the transhippers. I have heard some bad things about a few of the transhippers, so going closest might not be best. Jennifer and Linda I always hear good things about though. I had Jennifer as my transhipper when I bought my boy. In the winter, the fish get heat packs. They stay warm for days. They are not in transit very long and DOAs are quite rare. Shipping is a lot less complicated than I thought, that made me nervous too. You just buy the betta and inform the seller of which transhipper you want. They will ship to the transhipper. You should e-mail your transhipper telling them to expect your fish. They will e-mail you when they receive it. You pay them with paypal and they'll ship your fish.

The thing that eased my worries about buying from Thailand was that even pet store bettas get shipped. That's easy to forget. And they are shipped a lot less carefully by people who don't know or care as much as these people do. And one more word of advice- buy from a seller with lots of good feedback! They are the ones who do this all the time and have nice, healthy fish. People like Chard, Interbettas, Bangleanbettas, Aquastar71, Hopdiggity, MartinsMommy, and others (those are just ones off the top of my head I've heard good things about). And honestly, the fish isn't super expensive, it's the shipping that makes it expensive :p
 
#6 ·
I think I'm going to email a transhipper and figure out how much this could cost me, then go from there. The fish I want still hasn't been bid on, and I've thought about it and I still want him...so he's worth it to me. :)

Tikibirds- If I had been looking to buy...I would have looked only at American fish. But I was browsing Aquabid for fun, and found a particular fish I want. So now I'm stuck. XD
 
#7 ·
shipping is almost never refunded but if you take a picture and email the seller within an hour they'll refund the fish itself.

If you're worried about cold you can wait a couple months and order when it warmer.

Just make sure you read the comments people leave about the sellers, some are good and some are bad(sending fish that aren't the ones pictures or sending sickfish and so on).

overnight is generally something around $30 i think? the sipping from thailand to the US transhipper is only like $5 or so, so you're really not much more then buying from a US breeder. also, to make shipping worth it, most people will buy a pair or a few fish to be shipped in the same box.


Another option is looking for bettasclubs or shows in your area. When bettas club meet up members will often sell or auction their fish, and at shows there's some for sale as well.


also a note on Aquastar71, they've been known to sell deformed and blind/partially blind fish and tend to jack up their prices.
MartinisMommy has some lovely fish though when you can find some for sale. I believe she specializes in multi's.
Hopdiggity sells fish that have been shipped from thailand.
Chard56 is a member her and i love his betta's colors <3

Can't wait for pics of the baby you chose.
 
#8 ·
Good to know! It actually hasn't been too cold here lately. Nothing like our usual blizzard-y winters! But if it was super cold, I would wait. Not worth the risk! I refuse to even consider a seller with bad reviews. This makes me nervous to begin with so that would make me a nervous wreck. XD I'd love to order a few fish at once, but I only have two places for fish at the moment. I have two empty 2.5 tanks, but mom says I can't run any more at the moment. We have no fish clubs around here...unless you count the Fish & Game club which is sort of a different concept haha! Aquastar71 is too expensive for me anyways and I don't want to take a chance of dealing with any deformities. Thanks for the advice!
 
#9 ·
Bought a fish!

So I just purchased my first Aquabid fish! I'm excited...and nervous. I have a few questions. Does the breeder contact me first or do I contact them? Can someone give me a Paypal walkthrough? My mom and I set up an account, but neither of us has ever used it before. When do I contact the transhipper?

This is the boy I purchased...I can never say no to anything turquoise and yellow! XD
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwbettashmp1326280703
 
#11 ·
Thanks Pitluvs! I can't wait to see him in person. ^_^

The credit card is on the account...it just confuses me on how to use it. Can anyone answer me questions? I'm scared that I'm supposed to email the breeder first... XD. Gahhh who knew these fish would lead to such stress? :D
 
#12 ·
All I know is there is a "send money" option on the top tab in PayPal, click that. Then you click on "Goods" and enter the email and the amount your sending... and click send. At least that how I did it when my sister wanted to use hers. If there is a Pay with PayPal form, you sign in and it should be all right there for you to complete.

I've never purchased from Thailand, but with my Carnage I got from a breeder in Canada I just emailed the breeder as soon as the auction closed to set everything up and waited for his reply.
 
#16 ·
Pretty sure she's my choice in transhipper, so that's great to hear! She's not the closest, but everything I've heard about her has been positive and she has a whole Webpage on transshipping information which makes me feel very comfortable using her. :)

Edit; I considered one of the long finned females from her (appears you have one!) but chose this guy. If she ever has any like that again, I might have to buy off Aquabid a second time! Such gorgeous fins for a girlie!
 
#19 ·
Keep us posted!! I never buy from AB overseas but hope to in the future. Thankfully my local breeder will handle it all for me and combine shipping when she orders next haha I just send money and wait. Good luck!! BOTH of your guys fish are gorgeous. I want them both <3
 
#23 ·
My guy ships to me on Monday...kinda nervous that no one will be home, as I'm a Highschool student. I might be able to bribe my mom into staying home that day so she can at least get him into the house and make sure he's not a DOA, but I don't trust her to properly acclimate him. Is there any way to target when the fish would arrive exactly?
 
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