Wringing hands not sure what to do!

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Caroline

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
601
Location
Renton, Wa
A girl contacted me about purchasing one of my chins that I was selling. I had reduced his price to $100. I told her that I had another female for sale as well and she offered me $80 each for both, plus could I deliver and she would pay a small portion of the gas. She said that she is a poor student with not much money. I agreed to that as I wanted to sell them to make room for other ones. I also agreed to the delivery terms because I was planning on going on a roadtrip to where she lives with my kids anyway. Since then though it has come to my attention that she is buying other chinchillas from other breeders, plus new cages as well. She has about 6 or more chins now and looking to buy more.
In the mean time my elderly father who lives on the other side of the continent needs to go into hospice care. So a trip across the country could happen at anytime.
I spoke with the breeder that I got some of mine from and she suggested that I ask the buyer for a deposit.
I contacted the buyer and she is unwilling to pay a deposit since I am not "a breeder", but is willing to drive down and get them.
I feel bad changing the terms but......
 
The trip would have been about 3 hours each way plus a border crossing wait that can be well over an hour this time of year. I would not be able to deliver for a few more weeks after my babies are weaned.
 
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Am I wrong in feeling like she is taking me for a ride somewhat in saying that she could not afford to pay more and wanted me to deliver at a reduced price yet is buying new cages and more chins at the same time?

I feel bad changing my terms but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about this.

Need advice.
 
Chin sale

It sounds like the woman is lying through her teeth and taking advantage of you. Since she is collecting chins so quickly she must be planning on breeding so she must have money for cages which cost more than the chins. As a breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs I know that even when I take a deposit if I found out something that made me uncomfortable with the prospective owner, I could return the deposit and refuse the sale. I mistakenly gave 2 pups to someone once who seriously neglected them until I found them new adoptive homes. The woman may be breeding for the fur trade which is fine if you are Ok with that. If the chins are tamed as pets it would be better to put them in a pet home. 21 years ago I bought a female chin that was a retired fur breeder. She was totally wild. I was never able to hold her without being seriously bit. After 2 years I gave her to someone who wanted a female to keep his female company. The 3 sister chins I have now are as tame as a puppy. They are such sweethearts and entertain us to no end.
 
sounds to me like she is just trying to barter down the price as much as possible. personally if someone told me they were a poor student and blah blah blah woe is me and then wanted to buy a second one plus was accumulating more at a fast rate, then I would think they were not really that poor of a student. Either way I wouldn't deliver a chin to her whatever her sob story. If she couldn't afford to drive to you who is to say she can afford to properly care for them once she has them in her possession? Plus as a buyer I wouldn't want to have one delivered. Buying is your best opportunity to talk to the breeder, see the living conditions the breeder had the animals in, and get to see the parents of the chin(s) you are buying. Maybe I'm assuming too much, but i get the impression she is trying to buy yours to breed with, and if so it looks to me like she may not care much about the animals background, and likely doesn't know enough to be breeding anyhow. IMO "poor student" likely doesn't have the money to be breeding.... I could be way off and out of line, but I doubt it.
 
If she's a poor college student, then she doesn't need chins to make her more poor. If they need vet care, who will pay for it.

I would tell her to take a hike.
 
I always go with my gut feeling, if circumstances are unusual or seem strange... If something feels wrong to me, it usually is.

I understand wanting to find a home for your chinchillas, but you want it to be a good home and where you feel they are best cared for in the long run. I personally would rather wait two years to find a good home, then spend five minutes even talking or associating with (let alone selling one of my babies to...) what my gut tells me may be a bad home. ;)
I personally don't sell to anyone who says they can't afford a chinchilla, reduced price or not.

If they can't afford a chinchilla and are poor, what will they do if the chinchilla should ever have an emergency or need food or something to chew on? Not afford that too?
 
If you have a bad feeling about it, just don't sell to her. Maybe you feel bad for not making this girl happy, but you will find a good home for the chin eventually.

I have to go through this all the time with people. Normally it's a sob story so that prices are reduced and only I and the chins suffer. Tell her you decided not to sell the chins. At least then you will have peace of mind and you won't feel like someone took advantage of your generosity and kindness.
 
Do what you feel is best for the chins, not for this girl. You will feel worse if you find out something happened to these chins because the girl didn't have the money to care for them or the means to take the chins to the vet if something should happen. This girl is asking a lot from you and I don't think it is your responsibility to bend over backwards for her.
 
I agree --Serena is right, go with your gut. And yes, it is OK to call her and tell her that you've changed your mind. You do NOT need to give her an in depth reason why, just that you "changed your mind".

I'll bet you can find them a good home right here on the forum. :thumbsup:
 
Exactly, first she tells me that she is a poor student, (It was really late and I was tired otherwise I would have caught that) . Then she was asking for discounts. Next thing I read she is buying new cages and more chins. Today was the last straw when she was asking my friend about purchasing one of her babies that she has posted in the classifieds. I called my friend and she suggested I ask for a deposit since she wasn't going to get the chins for a few more weeks after babies were weaned.
I told buyer about deposit and she said no, that I was changing terms and that she didn't want to be scammed.
 
"she doesn't want to be scammed"

To me it sounds like she is the one trying to scam you.
Personally, there are so many things that sound 'off' about this that I wouldn't sell/adopt out any animal to her.
 
I personally wouldn't sell a thing to this person. In fact id try to find the other places shes buying from and warn them to.

Poor student - then you cant afford a chin or the vet costs.
Poor but buying multiple chins - shes lieing somewhere then.
Simply buying a high amount of multiple chins - I have to seriously question their motives then.
And bartering down each price as much as possible - Getting a deal is one thing, trying to nickel and dime every little bit possible is another. And her not willing to cooperate with deposits; overall definitely not someone i would trust.

With this info, my first guess would be some idiot looking at the price of chins and thinking of it as a get rich quick kinda thing. I wouldn't sell to her.
 
Everything about this sounds off - just tell her you changed your mind about selling them to her and then say good-bye and hang up. I put in all my advertising that a person has to pass my interview before getting one of my chins. At any time during the sale I feel something is not right - I tell them I don't feel 'they are a good match' for my chin(s). I also mention that I reserve the right to refuse a sale if I feel they aren't a good match.
 
This is an easy one for me. Big fat NO. I would call and tell her you've changed your mind about selling them.

In the future, you should probably ask upfront for a deposit or payment in full no matter what the situation. I have had too many people tell me they want a chin and I've passed up other buyers in good faith only to have them back out. I also have clearly spelled out on my website I reserve the right to refuse sale to anyone I feel will not provide a proper home or care for my chins, and one of those reasons I use as criteria would be not having enough money to provide vet care.

DianKS, to your comment about this person potentially breeding for the fur trade I highly doubt that is the case if she's only got 6 chins. Those breeders working within the fur industry have to have hundreds or thousands of chins to even make it worthwhile. And breeding chins are not always wild. Some of my nicest chins who are breeders came from the bigger ranches.
 
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Well, it did seem at first like it would have been a good home, she had her previous chin about 17 years. She fed high quality food, used blue cloud, knew the right answers. At one point she even mentioned spending several hundred dollars a month on caring for her pets. Even her posts on this forum sounded "right". It was the poor student comment and then turning around and wanting to buy more chins so quickly that raised a red flag. Mental note to self, don't have conversations with potential buyers late at night.
 
I'm with everyone else. Go with your gut. I can't stand when buyers dicker down the price. If they are willing to pay full price at Tom, Dick, or Harry then they can certainly pay my price. I would just tell her sorry they are no longer for sale or get a deposit. If she doesn't send a deposit then sell them to someone else. There's been plenty of times where I've been screwed because I was nice and did not take a deposit.
 
She told me that the babies she got recently were a birthday present and that she had sold her old cages and bought new metal cages. Up front it sounded like a great home and perhaps I am wrong, but why so many so quickly? She has 6 right now. She had initially told me that she had no plans to breed either.
Now she is planning on looking elsewhere for more chins. She wanted two of mine and then planned on getting another one elsewhere.
 
Well, my gut feeling was dead on. A breeder up in British Columbia wrote me today. She and I have never spoken or met before. This buyer apparently contacted her after I first started this thread and accused this poor woman of contacting me and warning me about her. Up until today we never knew about each other.
Wondering if I should post what stories this girl has been telling her and other people?
 
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