That's my problem precisely, Luke - because I don't drive, going anywhere to collect an animal is a pretty big production - I have to arrange a ride (difficult - our only friend with a car lives in Wigan and is not available at a moment's notice) or take the train. Train fare's not always cheap (I once spent £80 in train fares to pick up £20 of snake) so I'm already thinking "I've spent X just to come SEE this animal... "

If the person has to pick you up from the train station, you've got another kind of pressure too - help, I'm in a totally new place, and if this goes utterly pear-shaped, I don't know how to get back to the station! You don't WANT to say "well, actually, that animal is not what I wanted to spend £300 on... it doesn't look anything like what I had in mind."

Add to that, if you're going to collect an animal you're likely to have cash in hand rather than paying by Paypal or credit card - so there's going to be an immense amount of pressure to just hand over the money and pay for the snake so you can get home even if it's not 100% what you want.

Which is why, though I might buy sight unseen for money I can afford to throw away (I wouldn't say I can afford to throw away more than £120 on a single animal - if I spend £50 on something and it's almost what I want or not quite what I want, and it isn't the genetics I was buying, it was the appearance, at least it's not that much money down the hole and it's potentially recoverable if someone ELSE likes him/her)... when it's a significant amount of money, I want to KNOW that when I get to where I'm going I'm going to be happy with what I get.

Having something delivered is another kettle of fish - you've paid for the animals sight unseen, you've paid to have them transported to you... and when they arrive, if you're not happy you can hardly say "No, sorry, this isn't what I wanted at all..." because there's not much the transporter can do about it. No matter what, you've lost at least the cost of the delivery.

And when you're thinking of making a substantial investment into an animal - as in "more than a month's wages" - I don't think I would personally do it without photos unless you really, really, really trust the seller to provide the genetics you want. For me, that kind of trust would take prior positive transactions - or a lot of people, at least one of whom being somene whose opinions I respect and trust, who are vouching for the seller. There are some folks on here who I would quite happily buy something expensive from sight unseen because I know I'm going to get something I like.

Of course, in this day and age of digital cameras and even mobile phone cameras... how hard is it to get a quick photo of something you want to sell? It doesn't have to be ART... just representative of the animal you're selling Granted, if you've got thousands of animals you're selling and thousands of enquiries daily about them, yes, I suppose sight-unseen purchases are the easy option because you don't have to show the people who aren't picking based on appearances as well as genetics what they're getting. I can guarantee that if/when I start selling royal morphs a photo will be made available to anyone who asks if not immediately when I place the advertisement stating the animal is available.

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- Ssthisto





Lizards: 2.1 E. macularius1.2 H. caudicinctus1.0 R. ciliatus0.3 A. fragilis0.0.1 T. gigas ssp1.1 T. merianae1.0 V. niloticus ittibittiusColubrids: 6.8.6 P. guttattus1.0 P. guttatus X E. climacophora1.1 P. o. rossalini1.0 P. o. lindheimeri0.1 E. anomala0.1 C. radiatus0.2 Lamprophis spp1.0 L. g. nigritus0.1 L. g. californiae1.0 H. n. nasicus1.0 P. m. melanoleucusBoids: 1.1 E. c. maurus 0.1 E. conicus10.14.4 P. regius1.1 A. maculosa
Member 1606 ... We HAD a three-bedroom house... Current lodgers: 1.0 E. c. maurus, 0.1 P. regius