DOA policy and priority shipping, no fish refund, no replacement.

[karpediem]

You're right Luimeril but most of the times, you will pay for shipping more than the fish himself, so i guess some of them just don't want to pay for any extra fee.

[Luimeril]

my issue was i couldn't pay express. so, i waited and watched the weather. thankfully, there was a small warm front, so i had them shipped then. both times. :V

but, as long as you have it written in your policy, the buyer can't do much. he should have watched the weather, got heating packs, or went Express. :I

[Pitluvs]

Honestly, I wouldn't have shipped the fish to him period if I personally knew it wasn't a safe option for the fish. I mean, it's kinda like breeding dogs, and selling one to an owner knowing he's going to neglect it. I dunno *shrugs*

[karpediem]

Originally Posted by Pitluvs

Honestly, I wouldn't have shipped the fish to him period if I personally knew it wasn't a safe option for the fish. I mean, it's kinda like breeding dogs, and selling one to an owner knowing he's going to neglect it. I dunno *shrugs*

Well, it is complicated. Most of my customers who buy my fishes live in place where it is cold during winter season and if i dont ship their fishes to them, i will loose customers and do less selling and also those customers will give me a very bad feedback and you know, they will say whatever they want.
So, i have my fish policy on, they are welcome to read it and if they dont want to take their time to read all the lines then, too bad for them.

[jasonh]

Originally Posted by karpediem

It doesn't matter what is the temperature in your area, what it matter is that those fishes are tropical fish, and like Olympia said, it may be warm right now where you live because you feel warm but not for those fishes, they are smaller size than you and more fragile. The trucks dont have heater in their trailer and samething apply to the planes.

well you mentioned it was cold and i corrected you.

you should be providing heater packs regardless and include it in your shipping and handling fees.

[Hallyx]

I am a little reticent in commenting on this thread. Please bear with me and accept my apologies in advance.

To start with, Betta are cheap. If it costs $100 to have a fish shipped to your home, it's a bargain. That caliber of fish is difficult enough to breed, let alone the painstaking (read: expensive) handling requirements of an aggressive species, added to the costs of shipping a fragile living animal.

Most people who spend more than fifty-dollars on a fish are not going to kep it in a two-gallon KritterKeeper with a bubbler and a Kmart plastic plant. My twenty-dollar fish just died, leaving me with $120 worth of unused tank, heater, filter, plants and decor.

My point is: any customer who can quibble about the cost of shipping, or chooses a cheaper slower method or declines safety measures like heat or cold pak, perhaps can't afford to keep the fish.

BettaUSA posits that the seller should, if he can, take precautions to ensure safe arrival, and pass along any additional costs to the buyer. That's the moral thing to do. But how much time and effort should the seller incur (and charge for); where does his responsibility end? Does he have to research the weather in thirty different cities around the world for his thirty daily shipments? Does he have to decide which get heat-paks and which ones get cold-paks.

And what if his decision is wrong, or what if conditions change. It's been over eighty degrees in the upper midwest this week. What if a heat-pak were included and killed the fish; who's fault is that? More to the point: whose responsibility should it have been to make that decision, the buyer on the spot or the seller thousands of mile away.?

The buyer gets dead fish and lost investment, the seller's reputation is damaged and, conceivably, he loses future business. This looks to me like a lose/lose situation all around.

Fortunately, thousands of fancy, expensive fish are shipped daily world-wide with no problem, and are received into healthy loving homes. The DOAs are a regrettable exception but, however sad, exceptions nonetheless.

[karpediem]

All comments are welcome N i am not taking anything personnal.

I ship betta fishes each week and between 30 to 60 boxes with USPS. I also ship once a month 70 pairs hm to Japan with Fedex air.

I think priority shipping is out of question doesnt matter the temperature outside and doesnt matter the location of the buyer. Usps does not guaranty priority anyway, only express, so it make sens.

[MrVampire181]

If I've learned anything from helping a transhipper and packing my own fish is that heat packs and proper insulation is needed from October to April. In the summer I use the same insulation as I do in the winter but of course minus heat packs. I am very cautious with my heat packs and I make sure there is quite a bit of packing materia between the heat pack and the fish.

However, if on a written policy, its is the fault of the buyer. I include heat packs in my $15 flat rate priority shipping and my $35 flat rate express shipping. Some sellers (and transhippers) list prices seperately.