With the ever expanding use of the internet in sales and marketing these days, it comes as no surprise to find that it is now possible to buy your household pets online. Buying an animal online can be extremely convenient and save you lots of time and money. Another reason to buy online is that it will greatly increase the variety of breeds available to you and if you are after a specific breed that is hard to come by the internet helps broaden the area of your search.
As with buying anything online, care must be taken to ensure the right precautions are followed to avoid being scammed or ripped off.
Here are some things you should look for in a website before payment…
The site should have contact details for the seller, including a home phone number and a postal address.
There should be up to date, clear photos of the puppy and the seller should be able to provide you with more photos if you so desire when you get into contact with them. A handy technique is to send the seller your name and get them to send a photo of them holding a piece of paper with your name on it with the puppy included in the photo. This at least proves they have access to a dog (Some scams involve people pretending to have dogs they don’t actually have)
One useful option to ensure that you receive the right puppy and that it is healthy is to use the Escrow service. This service allows the seller and the buyer to agree on the terms of the sale, the price, the length of time allowed for having the puppy examined and the shipping information. The service leaves the payment in a temporary account until both parties are happy with the transaction and then transfers the money to the seller.
Before purchasing a puppy you should do the following…
Check the experience of the seller and find out their breeding history. Does the seller breed puppies for a living or is it a one off sale? How many different breeds does the seller breed? ( more than 3 is cause for concern) Does the seller own the mother and father of the puppy? Is so, what is the history of the mother and father?
You should make sure you have viewed a health certificate that has been signed by a registered vet. This should show that the puppy has had it’s vaccinations and it’s general health is good.
You should receive a written money back guarantee which includes the breed, gender, age, and health of the puppy and the time of delivery.
Another concern when buying the puppy is the environment it has been brought up in before you purchase it. Whilst a health check will confirm that the dog is physically fit, it may not be reflective of the dogs personality or behaviour. Some ‘puppy mills’ are out to make money and have no concerns for the animal’s well being and the puppy may have emotional problems.
The following are some things to watch out for…
Be especially wary of puppies for adoption, that ask you to pay for the shipping. This is a common scam (often ran out of African countries), and you should take every precaution you can to avoid being ripped off. This isn’t to say that all puppies for adoption are scams, but you should definitely be cautious.
Deep discounts. If the price sounds too good to be true then it probably is. However, an expensive price does not guarantee a good buy. As different breeds change in popularity so too does the average price for them.
You should always make sure to speak to the seller over the phone rather than just rely upon email as it is much easier to run a scam via email than it is over the phone.
Another consideration before buying online is the costs of shipping. Shipping a dog from within the United States generally costs between two and three hundred dollars. This, added to the cost of the puppy itself, equates to quite a high cost for a puppy. Another issue is whether you consider it morally right to ship a puppy. The puppy will be in a small confined place and by itself for the duration of it’s travel. For this reason many sellers have a pickup only policy. You should also never buy a puppy internationally, both for the dog’s well being and due to the fact that it is much easier to run a scam from overseas.
A puppy should be at least 6 to 8 weeks old when you buy it.
If all of these factors are considered whilst looking to buy a puppy online and you use some degree of caution, you should be the happy owner of a healthy new puppy.
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