• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Bad Guy Sellers Beware of John Franco!

Snake-Queen said:
Then those who do are wrong, I have crested geckos, if I think one is female, I state "Possible Female" IT has no pores showing. IT fires beautifully.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That is probably the best way to go about it. But it didn't happen.

If I was responding to that ad I wouldn't let the words get in the way of my understanding of the situation.

Just look at this situation.
It's a 15 grams gecko - impossible to sex. Would you ever let someone's words "mislead" YOU into thinking a 15gm gecko is guaranteed a female? I wouldn't. Especially if it's mentioned within the ad.

They are both at fault in different ways, I'd like to see "poss female" or "possible female" in the title instead on the first sentence and I see the negotiation within the conversation as minimizing risk, understanding the gamble being taken. Guaranteed females are $1000.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
vitog123 said:
If I was responding to that ad I wouldn't let the words get in the way of my understanding of the situation. ...

Just look at this situation.
It's a 15 grams gecko - impossible to sex. Would you ever let someone's words "mislead" YOU into thinking a 15gm gecko is guaranteed a female? I wouldn't. Especially if it's mentioned within the ad.
Click to expand...

Are you freaking serious? You would not let "words get in the way" of understanding what is being represented?

Give me a break! You see the ad, you see the FB posts, you see that gecko being represented as female from the ad, throughout their correspondence, and in the damning FB posts that have been brought here. Puleeze!

Next time you want to buy a gecko or whatever animal you desire, please don't let mere "words" get in the way, lol.

Seller owes the buyer every cent back. Period. She needs to learn how to properly represent and advertise whatever she has to sell.

Yeah, it stinks she came here to post a Bad Guy thread that backfired. Funny that she has disappeared when mature, intelligent and unbiased viewers do not side with her ... outside of lame FB, that is.
 
Oh, and let's not bring up the buyer paying her PP fees .... yeah, that is ethical, too.
 
Exactly the second payment should have already been refunded. That portion was refundable and she DOES NOT have that tied up in the PayPal claim. He then should also get the other $150 when PayPal rules in favor of him for the first payment. Pretty sure goods or services have to be exchanged for any transaction. Not to mention her only argument is "poss female". Thus returning all $300 to him.

I imagine she wants to wait on the PayPal claim to see if he is awarded $150. If he is she probably won't refund him the second payment. If that is the case I still consider that theft. He deserves that second payment regardless of the outcome on the PayPal claim.
 
BillZ said:
There is zero wrong with that. Seller did not ask buyer to circumvent PP fees nor did she ask the buyer to pay for them. This was something the buyer had offered and probably due it it being a payment plan. I have, on numerous occasions, covered PP fees when I was the buyer. I was not asked to and PP received their fees as they should have. I have also covered cost of feedings when an item was held for me due to weather or on a very few occasions, a payment plan. There is no difference between the two. If im not mistaken, PP has an option for sender to cover the fees. I would just normally send a few extra $ to cover additional costs a seller may incur.
Click to expand...

The PayPal TOS seem to say that sellers CANNOT add the transaction fees to the sale price for a goods and services item unless they do so in ALL transactions, whether funded by PayPal or not:

Here is what I noted on the PayPal web site:

"4.5 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions."

There are other ways to do the same thing so that the net funds received are the actual amount desired by the seller, obviously, but to me the TOS section quoted above means that sellers should not state blatantly that "PayPal users should add 3%" to the sale price of whatever item they wish to buy.
 
Excellent point. So if you're correct, the buyer added that "tip" as a courtesy? Too bad the kindness wasn't reciprocated. My do not buy from list keeps getting longer and longer.:NoNo:
 
You seem to be either putting words in my mouth or misinterpreting my intent, BillZ. I said nothing about the OP and her specific transaction. All I was doing was pointing out the fact that sellers in general should be careful how they word their ads since your statement could possibly have been misconstrued by some sellers, and that attempting to pass the fees on to the buyers is frequently done just as I stated in my post.

That is all I meant. Just trying to warn other sellers to be careful.
 
vitog123 said:
Criticize the use of femine nouns/pronouns all you want, its a common occurrence out there in the classifieds.
Click to expand...

Seriously? Do you really not comprehend what doing this can create? Especially in the manner that was done here?
There is a difference on how some people/seller's do it vs. how it occurred in this case.

Okay, so let's put aside all the feminine terms (she, her, etc.), that are/were repeated over, & over, & over again (which is/was quite suggestive in itself).

Let's also put aside the fact that, even if unintentionally done, the abbreviated word "possible" (poss.) is the only, & sole, word that shows a possibility, in the Ad, that the gecko's sex could be questionable. It is also well placed, in the Ad, where it could, easily, be missed. Maybe not by everyone but some people could miss it.

Now, what about this.
How about the OP actually referring to the gecko as female? Not as a poss. female but as a factual female.
With such a comment of "I imported the female when she was a baby".
This was stated before receiving payment.
Only after payment, and questioned on certainty, did the OP state "almost positive" and "hard to guarantee female but pretty confident".

Heck, even the Ad is titled as female. Not possible female.
Also, a posted general comment, that the OP made re. the gecko for sale, referred to the gecko as girl.

The OP should give a full refund and, hopefully, learn something from this (although, from the OP's behavior, I fear that may not happen).

....
 
Ms. Peterson,

I am completely torn on this issue. You clearly state that deposits are non-refundable. But on the other hand, you did misrepresent the animal. It was a huge mistake. The buyer did fall for this misrepresentation. He should have known what he was buying with out depending you for all the information. The ad does clearly state possible (poss.).

So we are down to two people making mistakes. And from the first read of this, minor mistakes. If this is the worst mistake you guys make this month, you are better people then I am.

I get the commenters on this seem to be abrasive and hard. But honestly, they are just placing themselves in both your shoes and the buyers shoes.

Here is the bottom line. Mistakes happen. People are not perfect. You screwed up, he screwed up, some of the above commenters screwed up. It happens all the time.

If I were you, I would ask if 150 dollars is worth it.

I would come here, apologize. I would refund all the money. I would rack this one up to experience. I would then move forward. Remembering that you did your best after you found out that you made a mistake.

Because it is times like these that reveal to the rest of us the type of person you are.

“We learn from failure, not from success!”
― Bram Stoker
 
Hard situations don't build character they reveal it!!! People come here on fauna every single day to research sellers that they are interested in purchasing from. You keeping this $150 will cost you more than you realize in the long road.
 
I don't know the girl but feel she didn't intentionally write a misrepresenting ad. But after having someone fall for the poor wording and him handing over money, she then realized the mistakes in her ad and decided that this was her chance to move the thing before it positively turned into a male ; basically took the money and ran. Couldn't do this face to face at a show could she ?

She wrote a bad ad and took advantage of someone not as experienced as herself. Not refunding ALL of the money is just a rotten thing to do.

Maybe now she got her feet wet in deception she'll follow her reptile career up with one in politics.
 
John Franco contacted me earlier today: Screenshot (108).png
 
Wow, what a week! I spoke with PayPal last night and they do not cover payments so the payment has been returned into my account. I haven't responded to this thread because I was waiting to get PayPal resolved. The ads were posted multiple places and, if any of you here read through them, you can clearly see they said possible female. Most of you even copied the text back. Yes, I could have done a better job of representing the animal and in the future I will clearly state Male, Female, or It, but it is also NOT my responsibility as a seller to make sure you read my clearly stated TOS. They are listed multiple places on both here and Facebook and it is your responsibility as a buyer to know the product your buying and the terms you're agreeing to before you send payment. I've tried to work with John on this but he has done nothing but ignore what I've said and treated me with total disrespect so at this point I can't do anything more. I'm sorry we couldn't reach an agreement.
 
UPDATED TOS

Current Terms of Service (02/15/16)

By sending payment, the buyer agrees to the Terms and Conditions listed below. If you have any questions or inquiries you can reach me by PM or by emailing me at: [email protected]

Any transactions before 02/15/16 will follow my “Previous Terms of Service” which can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Payments and Holds

Any gecko can be held with a 25% NON-REFUNDABLE NON-TRANSFERABLE deposit via Paypal. I accept payments only via Paypal or cash.
By default- a gecko must be payed off 1 month after the date on which the hold was placed UNLESS you have made other arrangements with me via private message. I prefer to conduct business via Private Message (PM) so as to have an easy record of all transactions however i also respond to personal emails. I am happy to entertain payment plans. However, once we have reached an agreement on a payment plan, it is the BUYER’S responsibility to stick to the payment plan. Late payments when on a plan can and will result in any amount paid being turned into credit and the gecko in question being put back up for sale. At that point the 25% deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE and NON-TRANSFERABLE no matter what. At anytime if you change your mind about wanting the gecko(s) on hold, any amount paid will automatically be turned into a credit. If the buyer loses contact for over 60 days without notice, geckos may be relisted for sale and sent payments will become store credit. Geckos will not be shipped, or able to be picked up, until fully paid for. Animals over $150 in value are eligible for payment plans.


Shipping and Health Guarantee

Shipping is not included in prices unless stated so. I'm able to ship to the lower 48 states, shipping cost depends on where you are located. If weather is too extreme to ship, geckos can be held until safer weather at no additional cost as long as arrangements have been made beforehand. Heatpacks/Coldpacks will be included if temps require them.

I offer a 48 hour health guarantee on all my geckos (unless you insist to ship during extreme weather). The health guarantee does not included injuries like: tail loss, attacked by an animal, or any other bodily injury. This is guaranteed for towards your gecko falling ill within the first couple days of being at their new home. In the event of your gecko falling ill within the first couple hours/days of being at their new home, please try to contact me ASAP. If I am not able to respond right away, feel free to do whatever necessary to help your gecko (posting in a group, asking another gecko breeder for help, etc.). Depending on the situation, the health guarantee may be extended. If the gecko is DOA please message me ASAP with proof of the deceased gecko(s) and I will send you a replacement or refund you your money if necessary.


Local Pick-Up & Meeting Arrangements

People that are willing or able to meet in Colorado Springs, Denver, or Pueblo, CO are more than welcome to pick up their purchase. I just ask that the purchase is fully paid 24 hours in advance.


International Shipping

Shipping can be arranged to the Hamm show in Germany if the buyer has shipping arranged with DDI. In general, shipping to Hamm is available for the spring and fall shows. I cannot ship to the December Hamm show due to winter temps in Colorado. Shipping to Hamm is handled through Dutch Dragon Imports and based on their ToS live arrival guarantee cannot be provided on international shipments. International shipping is done at the BUYER'S risk and VOIDS my live arrival and health guarantees. Geckos over 10 grams may be eligible for international shipping. Geckos purchased for international shipping are still eligible for payment plans but due to the fact that there is a higher minimum weight for shipping, a 25% NON-REFUNDABLE NON-TRANSFERABLE deposit is required to hold the animal.


Sex

I sex all my geckos using a digital handheld 200x loupe that plugs into my computer and is able to capture screenshots for future viewing. It is about 99% reliable so I am pretty confident when sexing my geckos. When labeling geckos I often use the following terms:

Unsexed- means that I have louped the gecko and it is not showing pores but too small to call in either direction.

Probable male- means that I have louped the gecko and have seen 1-4 possible pores. The gecko is likely to young or highly patterned to definitively tell.

Probable female- means that I have louped the gecko and have NOT seen pores on the animal but this does NOT in any way guarantee the sex of the animal. Any animal marked probable female is NOT guaranteed as female.

Animals marked as Male or Female are guaranteed to be the sex they are marked as. Animals sold as proven have produced offspring.








Previous Terms of Service

Any transactions before 02/15/16 will follow the predetermined terms listed below.

Terms & Conditions of Sale

~Payment~
Payment only through Paypal. Holds for a gecko can be arranged and the terms are listed below.

~Holds~
Geckos can be held with a 25% NON REFUNDABLE deposit. This helps ensure you are 100% committed to purchasing the gecko(s) in question. In the event of a deceased/injured gecko that had previously been sold, deposit may become refundable.

~Payment Plans~
Only available if the gecko is over $100. I do require a non refundable deposit and the gecko must be payed off within 48 hours of shipping.

~Pick-Ups & Meeting Arrangements~
People that are willing or able to meet in Colorado Springs, Denver, or Pueblo, CO are more than welcome to pick up their purchase. I just ask that the purchase is fully paid 48 hours in advance.

~Shipping~
Shipping is not included in prices unless stated so. I'm able to ship to the lower 48 states, shipping cost depends on where you are located. If weather is too extreme to ship, geckos can be held until safer weather as long as a deposit is placed beforehand.

~Health Guarantee~
I offer a 48 hour health guarantee on all my geckos (unless you insist to ship during extreme weather). The health guarantee does not included injuries like: tail loss, attacked by an animal, or any other bodily injury. This is guaranteed for towards your gecko falling ill within the first couple days of being at their new home. In the event of your gecko falling ill within the first couple hours/days of being at their new home, please try to contact me ASAP. If I am not able to respond right away, feel free to do whatever necessary to help your gecko (posting in a group, asking another gecko breeder for help, etc.). Depending on the situation, the health guarantee may be extended. If the gecko is DOA please message me ASAP with proof of the deceased gecko(s) and I will send you a replacement or refund you your money if necessary.

(*All geckos for sale are first come, first serve. I will do my best to respond back to messages ASAP. To make that possible, please send me a PM if interested in any of the for sale geckos. Please do not comment an inquiry (this does not include questions) on the picture as it might not be seen. I have the right to refuse sale as I see fit. *)
 
Mislabeling/Sexing

seanleigh said:
Sex

I sex all my geckos using a digital handheld 200x loupe that plugs into my computer and is able to capture screenshots for future viewing. It is about 99% reliable so I am pretty confident when sexing my geckos. When labeling geckos I often use the following terms:

Unsexed- means that I have louped the gecko and it is not showing pores but too small to call in either direction.

Probable male- means that I have louped the gecko and have seen 1-4 possible pores. The gecko is likely to young or highly patterned to definitively tell.

Probable female- means that I have louped the gecko and have NOT seen pores on the animal but this does NOT in any way guarantee the sex of the animal. Any animal marked probable female is NOT guaranteed as female.

Animals marked as Male or Female are guaranteed to be the sex they are marked as. Animals sold as proven have produced offspring.
Click to expand...


Also for those saying i mislabelled, its not like I'm an inexperienced keeper and he was getting an itty bitty 5g unstable gecko. I am fairly good at sexing geckos and the loupe I use is really good so I can normally tell the sex at a young age. That being said as a buyer he also should have known that being 15g he was taking a gamble of it being female.
 
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