Buying from a DBSV seller
Some listings on FangTrack come from the Domestic Breeders & Small Vendors programme — sellers with no website, who post their own inventory rather than run a shop we scan. This page is about buying from those, and about what we do and do not do when you buy from anyone.
What FangTrack does, and does not
We track prices and show you who has what. We are not part of any sale. We take no payment, hold no funds, charge no commission, and have no role in a dispute. Money moves directly between you and the seller, the same as a sale arranged in a Facebook group. We do not mediate disagreements and we do not adjudicate them. If a pattern of complaints reaches us we may suspend a seller, which is us deciding who lists here — not a judgement about your transaction.
Paying
We do not recommend a payment method or rate them. Each provider decides what it does and does not cover, those terms change, and live animals sit awkwardly in all of them — so the only honest thing we can do is point you at what each one currently says.
Whatever you use, buying a live animal online carries risk that no payment method removes.
Ask before you pay
- The exact animal: species, size, sex, and how the sex was determined
- Whether it has moulted recently and when it last ate
- What day they ship, and what happens if the weather turns
- What their live arrival terms are, in their own words
- Total cost including shipping, before you send anything
Keep a copy of
- The listing as it stood — a screenshot, not a link, since listings change
- The whole conversation where you agreed the animal and the price
- The shipping label or tracking number
- An unedited photo or video of the box being opened
A live arrival claim usually depends on the unboxing being recorded, and on being raised the same day.
Live arrival, in practice
A live arrival guarantee is the seller's own promise, not an insurance policy and not something FangTrack backs. What it covers varies by seller and is worth reading before you buy rather than after.
They commonly exclude shipments held at a depot, addresses where nobody was there to receive the box, and weather outside an agreed range.
If it goes wrong
Contact the seller first, the same day, with your photographs. Most problems in this hobby are settled between two people who both want to keep their reputation.
If that fails, your options are the payment provider's own process and, where the amount justifies it, your local small claims procedure.
FangTrack does not mediate. You can still tell us — a pattern is the thing we can act on, by suspending a seller.
Nothing here is legal or financial advice. Provider terms change; the links above go to each provider's own current page rather than our description of it.