Austin S.

I bought an A. Moorae sling from 03Arachnids and also was given a 3” A. chalcodes female juvenile and a 1” M. balfouri as Freebies alongside the sling. He was extremely helpful as I wanted to use the freebies as gifts to friends as a first easy tarantula and he helped come up with a list of his stock that best fit that description. He was very quick with communication and I received all my spiders very much healthy and alive.

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.

It seems like some people had bad experiences buying from Austin pre-import. From forum posts, it sounds like some issues were outside of his control, and that he had suffered his own bad luck as well, but I could be wrong. Since I wasn't buying pre-import (and it seems like he's no longer doing these due to the problems that occured), I was willing to try his shop out.

I bought some slings and an AF A. Chalcodes, which unfortunately died before shipping due to a stuck molt. I was quickly informed of this and the order was very generously upgraded. Communication was prompt and clear throughout the process, and the spiders arrived well-packed and healthy. Great experience, I'll be buying from him agian in the future.

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!

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.