Shipping fish

[Ken Burke]

I’m looking at purchasing fish on Aquabid, but shipping is likely 3 days. It seams awfully risky/hard on the fish.  Anyone with experience on shipping fish other than over-nite?

[RovingGinger]

I haven't shipped fish but I've bought quite a few online and they've come healthy and alive. I pamper them when they arrive, make sure they get out of the bag as fast as possible, lights off for hours, etc. 

There is a risk involved, but when I weigh the cost of driving to a LFS in the cities (100+ mile trip, 3 hrs minimum travel) vs. the availability of fish online, it tends to be pretty even because so far the online fish have generally been equal or better quality.

[MickS77]

I just received a shipment of fish off Aquabid yesterday that was shipped on the 12th, so about 5 days in the mail. They were shipped from Florida to Pennsylvania. I had no losses. This is largely impacted by how well and experienced the seller is. I would only buy from someone with excellent feedback and a lot of it especially at a time like this. Also check to see if they are still guaranteeing "live arrival". 

[Daniel]

Quicker is better. Overnight is better. Overnight can be twice as expensive and I often choose that because I want the least amount of stress on the fish.

That being said, I have had plenty of 3 day shipments on Aquabid with about the same results as overnight shipments, that is, all the fish were in reasonably good shape.

I have had a couple of shipments that took 5 days from Aquabid and the fish were in reasonably good shape.

When there have been deaths, it was something like 2 died out 15 fish in transit. Or this week I got a shipment where 1 died out 20 fish in transit.

The biggest potential problem is that if 1 fish dies in a bag, its ammonia can quickly degrade all the other fish in the bag. Many shippers bag each fish separately. You would be shocked how long 1 fish can live just fine in a teeny weeny bit of water. I have plop and dropped fish that have been on the road for 3 days and 5 minutes later they are perky and eating food like nothing unusual just happened. Others take a couple of days to fully wake up after shipping trauma.

[Pete]

My White Clouds from Aquahuna came with a 3-day transit and did great. It shouldn't be an issue provided your shipper packs them correctly and they aren't a breed that's notoriously tricky to move. I'd wager most shippers on Aquabid know what they're doing when it comes to shipping and will do a good job for you. Just be sure to check their rating/history.

[Daniel]

The rating/history thing on Aquabid is very useful but you have read between the lines also.

What I mean is that there are some very good fish people who are good shippers that possibly have some crappy feedback.

Case in point:

• Shipper has 521 ratings
• Shipper has 31 negative ratings
• 4 of the negative ratings are in the last month
• Those 4 negative ratings are extremely harsh, "Guy is total rip-off artist" or "Complete scam, don't buy from this person"

Could be sketchy buying from this person right? Look more closely

• All 4 negative ratings came from 2 buyers
• Both buyers were 0/0 meaning they have never received any feedback good or bad, i.e. they were new to Aquabid
• Other buyers with say a 359/361 rating (long time well respected users) were very positive about their transactions

One the best indicators is that the seller has done many transactions. The fact you have survived over time speaks volumes. Anyone can be mad at you for any reason and when something goes wrong malice is suspected instead what is more probable which is just a mistake instead.

And one final thing. People who sell fish on Aquabid are an unusual lot. Treat them gently and respectably. No sudden moves and keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times. Pay quickly. Communicate with them constantly and clearly. Read the fine print on the ad 2 or 3 times. Maybe the seller only takes money orders and you only do PayPal. And if they do a good job but 1 out of the 20 fish you bought dies...don't harass them about it. Be happy about the 19 that made it and leave them good feedback.

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by Daniel

[Ken Burke]

Great perspective @Daniel.  Best advice is things to think about and questions to ask. 
 

seller has about 130 comment. 113 unique people.  One neutral, and none negative.  Not the largest sample but enough to get a feel.  Looking at 4 Apistos, so loss of one is 25%.  But maybe I can ask for individual bags.  I might pay a little more but worth it to reduce risk to the fish.

[Daniel]

And that seller has been selling fish on Aquabid since 2002 right? That was 4 years before iPhones were invented or YouTube was started? There was no Gmail and Google had just gotten into the ad business. That person has been selling fish on Aquabid since the 'before time'.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Daniel

[Cory]

My seller rating on aquabid isn’t perfect either. Nor is our current store rating. I believe I offered the best possible service back in the day and still do to this day. However, it’s easy to have something go wrong and have someone never forgive you for it. Imagine if we shipped something and it needed to land on Monday cause it was a birthday present. Instead it arrives Wednesday. We get the bad feedback even if it was lost in the mail etc.

[Ken Burke]

@Daniel can’t see member since but comments go back 10 years.  Since seller has no negs, I might buy if I can’t get locally.

@Cory Love, LOVE, what you are doing with Aquarium Co-Op. keep moving forward!

[Paul]

I’ve been getting my fish primarily from AquaBid since the COVID outbreak put a brake on everything and have had very good experiences with the sellers I’ve dealt with. I read the reviews of the seller before I bid to get a sense of whom I’m dealing with and their business practices. So if the vast majority of the reviews are positive I feel comfortable placing my bid. Even with the USPS delivery slowdown I haven’t had any real issues with the shipments.

[Casual aquatics]

honestly cant expect to please everyone. '' IN MY OPINON" people giving bias reviews based on emotion its kind of irrational if you ask me. sure if your product is 2-5days late with no rational reason. and no attempt to make it right refund money send new fish/plants. even lack of acknowledgement from seller owning there wrong sure put a bad review!  but @cory as you said a birthday gift etc. should be thought out and planned ahead once the item leaves the shop  ,warehouse ,then its kind of out of sellers hands tell it reaches destination or goes past tracking date. which then can be looked into an a solution can be had but if i live in Indiana and your shops in California  1-5 shipping is expected example 'so my girls birthday is the first of month i hypothetical want to get her some java fern water sprite for her bday tank i know i better get my order in by Tuesday next week to guarantee it makes it with a week for emergency delays the buyer should be held just as accountable for that review. just my opinion  

[Alexderfeii67]

I prefer to ship my fishes using shipping company. But you need to know that The box you choose is important. In most situations (or perhaps more accurately in nearly all situations) the box should be insulated. If not a fully insulated Styrofoam box, some sort of insulation should be provided. The rise and fall of temperatures during the shipping process is very harmful for most animals...humans too. It's the equivalent of walking in and out of air-conditioned building into the hot sun over and over or flying in an airplane with the cold air blowing on your neck. Mitigating the changing temperature is important and insulation is the best way to do that. 

[Nataku]

The last two shipments I ordered from aquabid (one November, one early December) I got with 'priority' shipping - which USPS at the time said should be 2-3 days. Both shipments spent a full 7 days in the mail before arriving on my doorstep. This is of course no fault of the seller, USPS does what it does and the sellers have no say in that matter. Both sellers knew what they were doing however, and despite a week in the mail and cold weather, the fish all arrived alive. The boxes were all well insulated, and despite the heatpacks having died days prior, they maintained enough heat to keep the fish from freezing. 

I still am not ordering  any more live fish for the year, holiday delays and cold weather is just too risky a combo for me to see how much further than a week fish can spend in a bag in a box.