Avoiding Scams when Selling or Buying Animals

Long Creek Farm
32 minutes ago
3 min read

Our experience with selling animals ranges from regularly breeding and selling Nigerian goats as part of our farm business, raising an occasional litter of kittens, selling registered Kune Kune pigs, selling litters of bunnies,selling chicks, ducklings and quail we ordered from hatcheries, and now we plan on breeding Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

Over the years we have seen our fair share of scams both when selling and buying.

In this blog we will discuss how people will attempt to scam you and how you can avoid it.

5 Tips for Sellers

If you are a seller you have a more difficult time than buyers, not only do you have to convince the buyers that you're honest but you also have to make sure they are too.

Set yourself up as a reputable and respected breeder
Being reputable does not prevent scams but since it is a very important factor when trying to sell animals and can help assure buyers that you are not a scammer.

A few things that will convince people that your animals are worth buying is having an up-to-date website, being listed on google maps and having several good reviews.
As far as advertising goes we have our website, www.longcreekfarm.net a mobile app, a Google maps business profile, a Youtube channel, business cards and we are also on websites like Craigslist and Farmish.

Avoiding scammers
Once you have set yourself up as a respected breeder you are likely to start getting a few potential buyers contacting you, but beware! Even though you have tried to show that you are reputable that does not mean everyone reaching out to you will be a serious buyer, quite the opposite.

If you advertise on CL (Craigslist) you are likely to get a text message a short while after posting that says something like this:

Delete these messages, no serious person sends codes, and no serious buyer mentions the entire listing title in their question.

Even if you are not listing on Craigslist every place has scam problems, we get scam messages sent through our website chat, scam phone calls, scam e-mails etc.

Beware of using PayPal, Cash app etc.

PayPal is a popular way to transfer money, but it has a major disadvantage with animal sellers if a scammer pays with PayPal and then tells them (PayPal) that the animal was "not as described" "dead" etc. PayPal will always side with the buyer. For similar reason we do not use any electronic payment methods except credit card "purchases" of deposits.

Signed Agreements
We have all customers sign paperwork stating our terms of refund/ replacement, it protects us and them from having to rely on spoken agreements. Signing paperwork also makes you look more professional, which will increase the buyers trust.
Breeding highly sought after breeds could increase your sales, but will also increase buyer suspicion due to a high number of scammers taking advantage of the breeds popularity.
Do not let People "Rent" Your Animals
Sometimes scammers will ask to rent an animal for a day or for an event and then never return it.
There are businesses that do rent goats for brush clearing, piglets for birthday parties etc. and are very successful but unless you go with your animal(s) and charge to cover the loss (before anything leaves your property) do not let someone take your animal.

5 Tips for Buyers

Never Pay in Full Before Receiving the Animal
Scam sellers will often demand full payment before pick up or before delivery. Small deposits are fine if you can trust the seller, but no serious breeder needs the full payment before you even take ownership of the animal.
Ask for Updated Pictures
Most people understand why you would want an updated or new picture... and not the same picture that the buyer already saw, if a seller refuses to send new pictures go somewhere else.
Try to Get a Hold of Referral Customers
If you are suspicious of a breeder but really want the animal, you can ask for the contact information of a past customer, this will usually reveal the truth about the seller.
Go out and Meet Them
If you are dealing with a seller who is listing on Craigslist, Facebook, livestock.com etc. and they do not have a website, or Google maps business profile, or referral customers just ask to come meet the animals. You can usually tell if they are trying to scam you if the animals do not look anything like they did in the photos.
Pass on Cheap Animals
If an animal is extremely cheap the seller probably does not value it very much or is trying to get a lot of people to fall for a scam by listing the animal for a very low price.