USPS update...sad news.

[David John]

Well. my spiders arrived 24-hours AFTER they were supposed to. The G pulchripes did fine, here she(he) is climbing on my arm.

However, my beautiful 4.5" B smithi arrived like this...

Here you can clearly see her abdomen caved-in...apparently it ruptured in transport.

The gentleman who sold me the spiders does NOT have another smithi, and he will not refund...only offer me another replacement spider. He said he would send me a "Pampho-blah, blah, Bloom-eater"?? I dont even remember what <EDIT -MrI> he said, but He did send me a photo...

However, its not what I wanted. I really wanted that smithi. So bummed...so very bummed!!

 

[xhexdx]

You should read the rules on cursing.

Whomever sent you that smithi did a terrible job packing it. Get a refund or leave them a negative review.

 

[Newflvr]

Shipping gone bad

I have shipped and recieved alot of T's and unfortunatly sometimes bad things happen for whatever reason. I ship and recieve 98% of my T' express which in about all cases comes with LAG ( live arrival guarenteed). In cases where something goes wrong for whatever reason other than not being around to recieve the package. If I have a T to replace with I will or refund monies paid for dead T. As a seller if the carrier I choose to ship with fails in some way it is up to me to make it right not the buyer. This is how I operate and it's worked so far. Good Luck Kevin

 

[codykrr]

yes, and also, that P. platyomma is a mature male

honestly though, most people dont recognize LAG when the carrier is responsible for delays.

So he was at least nice enough to offer a replacement.

 

[xhexdx]

The carrier was NOT responsible for that spider's death. Poor packing was.

 

[codykrr]

Maybe so, but, it was also delayed.

Also you cant judge the packing based on that picture. we did not see how that spider was packed originally.

The OP might have removed all the paper towels ect. If the spider was packed with that one piece of whatever that is then yeah bad shipping practice, But I would want to see the original packing job.

 

[Newflvr]

The carrier was NOT responsible for that spider's death. Poor packing was.

Joe from the looks of what came out of that pill bottle, I would have to agree with you. Plus don't ya think that smithi is a little big for that pill bottle?

 

[David John]

I dont believe the seller is on this board, but I've had many conversations with him via telephone and he's always been very nice...also, he seemed genuinely upset when I told him the smithi had died. He told me he has shipped many tarantulas this way and never had a problem.

The person who referred me to him is a well-respected member of this board (Orin McMonigle - aka: elytra and antenna), so I felt confident buying from this seller. There was a local seller who had an adult smithi, but for TWICE the price. I guess its what I get for bargain-shopping for a tarantula.

I must admit, I thought the packing was sub-standard as well...there was VERY LITTLE paper towel on the back side of that spider...and what was there was soaked in spider-guts and disintegrated when I tried to remove it. However, because of the shipping delay, the seller is blaming USPS...and he may be right, I'm no expert on spider-shipping.

The seller has already informed me that I'm not getting my money back...and if I want the replacement spider I have to come out of pocket another $40 because he said this one is a 7" adult worth $150-$200...so its either send him another forty bucks, or lose the $65 I gave him for the smithi. At least he's not charging me shipping again since he's getting a refund from USPS.

 

[xhexdx]

Have him refund you the shipping, since you're the one who technically paid for it, then leave a review detailing all of this. IMO the seller is responsible for the crappy packing, and any seller with any kind of backbone would have refunded you for the spider or tried to make it right.

As someone already said, if he's trying to sell you the actual spider you posted the pic of, that's a MM and is definitely NOT worth what the seller says it's worth.

Just my opinion...

 

[Falk]

A mature male Pamphobeteus sp. platyomma for $150-$200 bucks If you are lucky it will survive for about a year depending on when he did his last molt.

Dont buy from that seller again, i have bought a lot of spiders from sellers around europe and shippment sometimes takes more than a week and i have never had a single dead on arrival.
Spiders should always be packed for a worst case scenario and it doesnt really matter how long the shippment takes, if the box is undamaged but the spiders abdomen is ruptured it is a very clear sign of poor packing.

 

[codykrr]

yeah if thats all the paper towel he packed then that is on him. I just didnt want to go jumping into conclusions about the sellers packing.

Also a MM P. platyomma is worth around 100 to 120USD if its fresh. A female may be worth 150ish. but defiantly not a male.

And I can guarantee you 100% that if the spider he is trying to sell you as a replacement T is the one pictured it is male.

here is a picture of my male P. platyomma

Here is a picture of an adult female. See the difference.

write a review of the seller here. That way no one else can be had.

 

[tarantulagirl10]

Sorry about your B smithi. They are beautiful spiders. Saddens me to look at the picture.

 

[gmrpnk21]

Awww that sucks! The smithi was beautiful too.

 

[CAK]

DavidJohn, that really sucks!

I agree with Joe and Cody as well. You should get a FULL refund on both shipping and the critter regardless of who's fault it is... This is one of those situations where the buyer is always right. Sometimes as a seller you eat the costs due to the fragile nature of what we are dealing with.

Can you tell us if that B.smithi was shipped in the pill container that is shown next to it? (I didn't see a clear indication if it was... ) If it indeed was, then SHAME ON THAT SELLER!!!! That abdomen looked huge when it was shipped before it ruptured. I have shipped a MANY big bootied spiders and YES, you need to pack them extra careful and snug so they don't bounce around. Never had a DOA either! Just look at my review thread and you will see a couple of videos to see how I pack and I pack them BULLET PROOF!

Lastly, for those of us on the forum here, (and i'm speaking for all of us) please post a review so we all know who NOT to deal with. I rely on these reviews for future business endeavors.

On a much more important note.... I'm sorry for the loss, that was one pretty smithi!

Joe - CAK

 

[Mez]

Yeah, dont be buying anymore spiders from him, certainly not a mature male..what if the packaging is just as bad?!
Refund deserved IMO and a percentage of the shipping for that particular spider.

 

[baconmushroom]

sorry for the loss..

 

[Great Basin Ben]

I'm TERRIBLY sorry to see this as the result of your USPS dilemna. I've been following this thread for a while now, and am bummed to see the outcome was THIS.

Without question, you should add a post to the seller's Review thread, including as Joe said, all of your experiences that you've highlighted for us here.

As far as the "LAG REPLACEMENT" is concerned, you might just take what you can get for him/her, and take it as a lesson learned. Otherwise, you essentially paid almost triple for the (1) spider that did arrive safely. Perhaps negotiate your replacement, and make sure it arrives safely before leaving your review.

 

[Fran]

Not to be repetitive or a pain...But again;

Just in case some of you didnt get the memo, We are having lately a SPECIAL close attention to the whole shipping/importing/smuggling thing in the hobby.

Again, shipping tarantulas via USPS ia ILEGAL.. There are people constanly looking around this boards, since is basically the main site for the hobby in the US.

Talking about the way people hates USPS because their TARANTULA SHIPPING whent wrong, is EXACTLY what we need right now to even put some more gas to the fire.

Am I the only one thats sees this?

So please, for the sake of everyone,lets just drop the publicity. Ship what you want however you want it, but keep it to yourself and you will do us all a favor.

 

[LV-426]

im sorry for your loss but its illegal to ship arachnids through the USPS in the first place. i dont know why people send them through there in the first place, maybe its cheaper. i wouldnt trust the USPS, i would rather deal with a person who ships with FedEx or UPS. I would rather go with a more reputable person like Ken who it may cost more but you get what you pay for

 

[xhexdx]

Is there an echo in here?

The carrier isn't even part of the discussion. Fran may be right...keep the carrier part on the down-low, but this thread isn't exactly the place to be whining about it. I mean, how many FS ads mention who they're going to ship through? Maybe that's the place to have this kind of info...in a sticky in the FS section.

Even if there wasn't a DOA, because the package was guaranteed to be there the next day and wasn't, a shipping refund is quite realistic. I mean, if I shipped spiders to someone and they all arrived safely, even if they arrived later than their guarantee, I'd still go back for a refund and send it to the buyer. They paid for the shipping, they get the refund, DOA or not.