Austin S.

This missing spider was a gift for my daughter's birthday that was 8 days ago now. My last email received from Scott Spears at 03Arachnids was 9/28/19, where he promised to send a Hapalopus triseriatus ‘highland’ to replace the Columbia large, as the two he had died molting (per the email).

I gave him TWO WEEKS to communicate or send the replacement before making this review. In those two weeks, I've received advertisements from the website, but nothing in regards to my order our replacement.

I have also informed PayPal, although I doubt we will be getting our $25 back since I didn't use a credit card.

If we'd received even an email regarding the delay, the review would have been MUCH better. Spiders were healthy, plus freebies! But we received nothing from him since his promise on 9/28 to send the missing spider. I'd say 2 weeks is enough time to at least communicate. I work in specialty pharmacy where we ship sensitive packages by the hundreds daily, I know businesses get busy. 2 weeks is more than enough leeway to give him time to email or even send a package.

placed an order with Austin @ 03arachnids.com and got an order confirmation. Here we are 17 days later and about 10 emails and he will not respond. If you can't ship what was ordered then don't take peoples money, that is screwed up. So now I sit and wait for my refund. a lot of people taking up for him saying he is really busy, well stop selling spiders if you can't offer anything better than piss poor communication and customer service.

Unfortunately I have to fudge my purchase "Date" because it took almost 6 months to get my spiders, instead of getting my spiders I got an email telling me to more or less, well y'know, anyway.

Went to buy a really rare centipede on pre-import, paid for the order, and just like that, my money is gone and I have no idea when I'll be getting my order. Or if it'll even occur. Centipede is probably dead by now. Austin made up some excuse about how his importer was stuck in maylasia. Maybe deal with a different importer then, because this seems to be a common experience across the board. Will not be dealing with Austin in the future regardless of his fine selections.

Was part of a large pre order. Received a fraction of what I paid for. Enclosures i purchased were clearly used. Never received the final 3 missing spiders (several hundred dollars worth). I gave up trying to retrieve either spiders or money.

BUYER BEWARE!

I have given Austin more second chances than I can count. What I got for it: Several DOAs across multiple packages, lies, excuses, broken promises, ghosting for months at a time, and delays delays delays.

Our original trade was almost 2 YEARS ago(sorry mods, but I didn't write this until his final promised date passed) and his communication has been horrendous the entire time(no response for months at a time, dodging questions about times and details), and at this point I doubt I’ll ever get what I was supposed to, or even a refund. I sent him one of my rarest prized females and hundreds of dollars, to be mostly ignored and be given offhand excuses(be it import channel changes, flight prices, never spending time with his daughter, etc) and dodgy answers. I went ahead and messaged the exporter- and it sounds like he never even reserved stock with the money I paid, but instead was trying to trade for the animals! And hasn't sent the exporter anything!

So if you want all that, and a wallet several hundred dollars lighter(or more), buy here. Otherwise PLEASE stay away, for the sake of your money, your sanity, and the animals involved.

On June 15, 2020 I purchased 5 Aphonopelma from 03arachnids. Among them was a confirmed female 1.5” Aphonopelma moderatum which was priced at $120. After ordering I did not see any confirmation email so I wrote to the seller to inquire. I later realized that the confirmation email had sent and was merely in my spam inbox but the seller did not respond to my email at all. When the Ts arrived, 4 out of the 5 were in stellar condition, but the Aphonopelma moderatum was missing three legs and had lost a pedipalp during shipping. The pedipalp was in the shipping container but the three legs were not, so I know they were gone before she was shipped. I contacted the seller to ask for, at the very least, some sort of explanation about the situation, but it’s been almost a week since my purchase and I’ve received *zero* direct communication from the seller. Furthermore, the packaging for the A. moderatum was loose at the top, which may have contributed to the loss of the pedipalp. I will not be purchasing from here again.

T arrived healthy no problems in shipping

Austin and I agreed to a trade a week or so ago. I shipped my end first (voluntarily) and I just received my end of the trade today. My babies are healthy and thriving...most ate as soon as they were housed! Packing was great and shipping was very fast! I recommend him to all and of course I will DEFINITELY be doing business with him again!

Thanks Austin!
............until next time...

Austin was great to buy from. He responded quickly to my requests. The tarantulas were packaged very well and arrived healthy. He was on top of things so well he messaged me asking how they did before I could open package and unpack it.

He was easy to work with and didn't even call me out when I opened the wrong box of Ts and thought one was missing(pay attention to box labels when you have several shipments coming in on the same day).

He is a great guy and you should buy from him. You wont regret it.

Completed a nice trade this week. Fast communication, well packed spiders, more then fair trade value with some nice extras on top. Looking forward to future transaction with some of the cool stuff he breeds, Thanks Austin!

I purchased a male blue fanged at from Austin and not only did it arrive sooner than expected but the price couldn't be beat ! He had all the info needed when your looking to purchase a MM T like last spermweb ect. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again!
James parks

I highly recommend Austin for anyone that is looking for a wonderful looking T! He stayed very professional and polite as well as kept in contact right up to and after delivery of the T. Austin truly cares about what he does and does not take any short cuts. Shipping was through FedEx overnight and the packing was one of the best I have received, you could tell he took his time with every step. I will defiantly be contacting him for more of his wonderful arachnids in the future. Great hobbyist and asset to us all.

I would recommend Austin as a seller. If you plan on buying his animals you will not be disappointed. Expect nothing but great customer service from him.

Shipped out a MM GBB to Austin and the transaction was silky smooth.. His communication before and after the transaction has been great.. I look forward to any future projects or sales from him in the future..

Austin sold me 2 captive bred mature female Aphonopelma hentzi and threw in a mature male to boot. He patiently answered all my noob questions with detail and a sense of humor.

Couldn't have possibly gotten things set up here without his help. They arrived overnight SOOO carefully shipped and in perfect condition. Further, he's continued to provide priceless counsel post arrival. Great seller, great resource, great guy!

Possitive A++ for Austin Spears received my mm b cabocla. Communication is perfect, his packaging is impressive very professionally packed! He even throw 1x C. Sulawesi sling for freebie! All spider arrived safe and sound. Wouldn't hesitate to do business again in near future. Great person to deal with. Thank you brother pleasure

Austin was helpful and knowledgeable. I had a zillion questiom he was very patient abou answering, even though I am sure I asked a few repeatedly. Provided the tracking numver right away and when the spiders arrived they were secure and comfortable both settled in right away, a very healthy female I. mira and healthy female A. hentzi

I would definitely buy from Austin again

Austin has helped me and other hobbyists with any info on general keeping or breeding for years, I took some years off but I was glad to see Austin still around doing his thing.
Recently we have swapped some breeding materials for our projects, in between we discussed breeding tips/info on other species and he is very helpful.
He is very passionate about tarantulas. Almost OCD like haha
he packs very well, spiders arrive healthy and active.
I will be purchasing more spiders this weekend and have already set up with him. Communication is very easy via text, facebook or on the boards no problem.
thank you again and good luck with future breeding efforts,

Austin sent my package out in a timely manner, prices were the lowest you can find for the species I bought (Balfouri, Regalis, Purpurea), packaging was above average, everyone arrived safe and healthy, even had a molt in transit and the little guy was perfectly okay. Austin was very generous with some extras, really warmed my heart that someone could be totally about the Ts and about customer satisfaction vs. money which was 120% the case. Makes you not want to buy from anyone else. Austin had a lot of orders and accidentally forgot to include one of my slings and immediately sent out another one and two free ones on top of it, you just wouldn't have that anywhere else. That was after already giving two freebies in the first package. Anyone else would have made you at least pay the shipping on the second package, he did not. I also had no video evidence that one sling wasn't in the package and I had no way to prove it, this is my first time doing business with Austin, I would have understood if he didn't believe me or anything like that, but he was so understanding and super apologetic and I didn't even consider it a mistake or anything like that, humans forget things all the time and miscount and things like that, totally not something to consider a mistake. "Satisfied" isn't even the word, I was extremely impressed and just plain shocked by his kindness, his professionalism, his attention to detail and customer satisfaction. Ts were all healthy and active. I'm actually going to be placing another order for some more Balfouris with him when I can afford it (lol!) and I can't wait. He's a good person. Even in regular conversation with him, it is obvious what passion he has for this hobby. I would and already have recommended him to everyone I know in this hobby.