Aqua Bid Questions

[missigfunk]

hey guys!

haven't been on here for a while!


i wanted to ask a few questions about aqua bid...

im from australia, and while most people ship to australia, would the fish get through customs? im sure theres a site that would give me the answers, but im sort of hoping theres a few fellow aussies here that could help me out and tell me their experiences.

i also wanted to ask about the actual sellers. a lot of the sellers have absolutely beautiful fish, but some of their accounts are under investigation
obviously that would be a red flag in itself, but i was just wondering if others could share their aqua bid experience with me.
there is one seller in particular (enjoy_aquatic)
they have the most beautiful female bettas, but there account is under investigation.


if anyone could answer any, or all of my questions i would really appreciate it!

 

[ReMz]

Well if they ship to Australia, I don't see why there would be a problem. Package is just a package. Unless I'm missing something.

Aquabid tho. Aquabid is sketch. Buy at your own risk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. . Kinda sucks when you can pay $50 for a betta and just cross your fingers

 

[missigfunk]

thanks remz


i only ask because a while ago i bought a plant from the UK and a few weeks later i got a letter from some quarantine place saying it was destroyed. i would hate for that to happen to my lil fishy


i guess i would take the risk if i knew for certain that the fish wouldn't get destroyed through customs for some reason.

sure id be p!ssed that i wasted my money for nothing, but atleast its a lesson learnt

 

[azulfire24]

well if you do chose to try aqua bid you HAVE TO USE A TRANSHIPPER!!!! a transshipper is a person legaly ok'ed to recieve animals from another country to you threw the mail. if a seller say oh dont worry about it, i never have any problems,, dont buy from that person! the fines are huge and can be in the thousands of dollars < usa > if an account says underinvestigation dont buy, check the sellers references, if they have bad stuff, buy from sombody else.
to import a fish to another country you first have to bid and win, then you pay the seller for the cost of the fish and the packaging to the transhipper. then you have to pay the transhipper to recieve the fish and then they send it to you. it can be quite expensive. i would only use a system like pay pal so if you get a bad deal, like the fish never shows or is dead, its eaiser to get your money back, dont use bank to bank transfers or money orders. good luck

 

[missigfunk]

thanks heaps for the info.

the few sellers i would consider buying from have a transhipper in australia, funnily enough it is the same person for each seller
is that weird?

i think ive found someone in customs i can contact, so ive sent them an email just to be sure.


there is one guy that sells the most stunning female bettas, but he doesnt ship to aussie

oh well

 

[ReMz]

thanks heaps for the info.

the few sellers i would consider buying from have a transhipper in australia, funnily enough it is the same person for each seller
is that weird?

i think ive found someone in customs i can contact, so ive sent them an email just to be sure.


there is one guy that sells the most stunning female bettas, but he doesnt ship to aussie

oh well

a lot of the time the same transshipper is used for a lot of sellers. That is not uncommon, especially if the area is not common for shipping. Use your judgment.

Def use a transhipper. don't trust to ppl that say "will guarantee arrival" when they ship straight to you. Forgot to add that bit.

 

[missigfunk]

i have the transhippers email so i might send her an email too.


as for the seller with the account under investigation, im not sure why it would be because they have perfect feedback.
28 positive feedbacks and no negative

i sent aqua bid a message too, but after you submit the message it says "Thanks for your email. We will read it but not necessarily reply"

 

[ReMz]

i have the transhippers email so i might send her an email too.


as for the seller with the account under investigation, im not sure why it would be because they have perfect feedback.
28 positive feedbacks and no negative

i sent aqua bid a message too, but after you submit the message it says "Thanks for your email. We will read it but not necessarily reply"

aren't you going over and above on this question

right on

 

[missigfunk]

mmm are you having a dig at me?

i cant sence the tone of your comment

 

[ReMz]

mmm are you having a dig at me?

i cant sence the tone of your comment

nononononono

not at all. that was meant to be a really good compliment.

sry for the confusion. just good to see someone helping out so much without incentive.

 

[missigfunk]

ok well in that case....

thanks a lot remz! now i have a big smile on my face


now i just hope i get a reply from someone lol

 

[Deagan182betta]

The aquabid thing confuses me as well. Im in south africa and id love 2 get some CT bettas. Bt there arent any here. I got me a paypal account but im trying to get as much info about shipping and costing etc. And i have send number of emails to 'the sellers' bt apparently my email address picks up as spam on their side. So i used the aquabid email (the ask the seller) function. Next im goin to speak to cape towns biggest pet product importer

 

[missigfunk]

yeah it would be harder for you deagan because you arent one of the 'general' countries

i hope you are able to import them to your country, or even just a reply to your emails!





i received a reply from each and every person i contacted (sorry if im flaunting it in your face deagan, not intentional)

seems like its all good to go for bidding on aqua bid!

i have 3 beauties that ive got my eye on, 2 are from the same seller. should i bite the bullet and buy both fish from them to save on shipping? and see how it all goes, and if all is good, maybe buy the other one later on?

lucky for me, shipping seems to be cheaper to sydney then any other place in australia!

im so happy!!!!!!!

 

[missigfunk]

i have a few more aqua bid questions i wanted to ask....


* how often to they update the auctions with new fish?

* has anyone ever had a DOA?

 

[Bubblenester]

Usually each person will transship for many sellers. That's good for you because you can often buy from multiple sellers and have all the fish shipped to you together. Transshippers get their shipments from all the sellers on the same day (the one I usually use gets a shipment every 2 weeks) so just confirm with each seller that they will be shipping on the same date and you're good to go!

I never import bettas anymore unless it's at least 4 of them. Otherwise it's just not worth it to pay the shipping... so if you like two and can afford them, definitely go for both!

I also noticed a couple of sellers "under investigation" even though their feedback was perfect. In years of using Aquabid, I've never seen anyone under investigation so I have no idea what's going on with that! I think there are forums on AB so maybe you can poke around there and see if anyone is talking about it.

The betta categories (especially halfmoon) are popular so new fish are usually added at a pretty quick rate. During good shipping months, anyway... during the winter it's dead. Um, northern hemisphere winter that is.

I've ordered 20-30 bettas over the years, most of them imported, and never had a DOA. I've had two that got sick and died soon after arrival.

If Nicebetta ships to Australia, I would give her my highest recommendation. Absolutely beautiful fish, healthy, super nice, and really cares about her fish. Others on the forum love her too.

If you have any more questions about how transshipping works you can PM me, and the transshippers themselves are usually more than happy to explain it all if you email them.