Aquabid shipping

[Jill90]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, so I was not sure where to post this.
I was interested in buying a betta fish off of aquabid. The ones that I want to buy I believe are from Thailand. I was wondering if you have all had good experiences with doing this and how much shipping costs would be. I live in the USA. I really would like to buy one from there, but if the shipping is too expensive I won't be able to.
Thanks!

[purplemuffin]

Overnight shipping is expensive--for me it's like 30 dollars, for others it can run as high as 50! To get a fish from Thailand, you'll need to pay an extra 5 dollars or so. The fish is shipped to the transhipper who then ships it to you! :)

My first and only betta was an aquabid baby from Thailand. He arrived safe and happy. :)

[vilmarisv]

Here's the information directly from a transhipper: http://bellsouthpwp.net/J/e/JennViv/...taTranship.htm
For one fish is about $10 just for transhipping fees plus shipping.

[Jill90]

I actually looked at that page and that's why I got confused. It says $28 for express shipping of 1 or 2 bettas but then some other fees. It also says $150 for cargo inspection and then $40 for air cargo or something...I'm not familiar with any of this as you can see. Sorry!

[purplemuffin]

Okay, here is a simple description. To buy a fish from Thailand directly it would cost a LOT of money! To save the individual money, the breeders will get a big box of 100+ bettas that they are selling to the US..That box will end up being about 150 dollars..But between all the bettas in there--it ends up being about 5-10 dollars a person depending on how many bettas are in the box and all that.

If you buy one betta, you add your average of 5 bucks to the shipping amount.

Then the betta makes it to america, and to your transhipper's home! The transhipper has certain things they have to deal with and they will ship the fish to you. Things like the heat pack, shipping, box, etc. will be charged to you so that your transhipper can afford keep shipping those hundreds of bettas each time!

So you pay for the fish--as well as your part in the transhipping. Then you pay for the actual shipping and handling fees in america! So the transhipper's fee is the only real extra thing added to buying a fish from Thailand, other than the fact that there are now two times the fish is shipped, risking a DOA at each place--though for a healthy fish, this is very rare!

[Jill90]

Oh wow you are amazing thank you so much for the description it helped a ton! Just waiting to get a reply to the emails I sent out now :)

[purplemuffin]

No problem! I remember being lost and confused as well :)

[nel3]

ive gotten myself into another Thai betta but id like to know the risks for this certain buyer. i got Nelliel from Embettafarm on AB. im looking at a CT from Sirinut betta farm. the price is decent as far as Thai betta go, the shipping bag not so much. its about 2' square shipping bag. Nelliel had ammonia ppm of 8 when i acclimated him. would it be even more dangerous with a bag of 20-30 ml of water? is it possible to ask for a slightly bigger bag to limit ammonia accumilation? Nelliel had twice the amount of water than the bag most sirinut betta are shipped in.