Irresponsible Buyer

So I just sold off my baby rabbits today, and one of the buyers called on their way back home that the bunny died. Now, I didn't realise this before, but the lady was buying it for her 6 or 7 year old. When they came to pick up the bunny, the way the lady handled him made me nervous (she held him like a baby) but I had told her before to make sure he rode in a carrier on the way home and not in someone's lap so I didn't think much of it. However, like I said they called and she was hysterical, they had left the bunny in the car while they ran into the pet store to get some more supplies. :evil: Well they come back and the bunny is dead. I would never sell a bunny I thought was sick, so I don't think there was anything wrong with him... I never want this to happen in the future. I even have a policy that after the bunny leaves my property I won't refund the money, but she is hysterical and I can't just refuse her, would she think I am ripping her off??

How do you guys handle stuff like that? What kind of policies do you have?

I would ask more questions.

1. temperature of the vehicle.
2. how long they were gone
3. where bunny was being kept
4. was bunny was by a window

I can't tell you want to do, but I would ask a lot of questions and I would say no new bunny without having the old bunny brought back. It's important to get the old bunny back.

when i sold rabbits, i was very clear, once you leave this property, this rabbit is yours, the responsibility for its health is yours, - it will not be coming back on my property for any reason. So look the rabbit over all you want , before you leave here...

I would offer my apologies but point out that no animal should ever be left in the car alone, many things can happen. Maybe the rabbit freaked out and accident occurred, maybe it was the temp, maybe it was an air issue....I would *not* sell or give her another one. I would upon return of the dead rabbit, give her the purchase price of the rabbit back. If the rabbit has been taken care of already, I'd swallow it ONCE and return her money. I have come to a point of no rabbit to let me look and take back then no way I am doing any thing. I have had too many bad buyers.

I have not sold any rabbits for a couple years now. I have purchased a pair of HLs for showing after selling out, but my living situation is not allowing me to do much of any thing (so they are going to be sold until I *own* my own house it seems unless I get super lucky finding a new place).

Stuff like this is why I no longer sell rabbits as pets

This is all very helpful! With my next batch of pet kits, I think I am going to go over all the steps of checking a rabbit for disease before you buy one ON the rabbit they are buying.

(Just as a side note, for those of you who have sold pet rabbits, have you noticed how few people actually check the rabbit for disease before they buy it?) Hopefully that will let them know it is not because the rabbit is sick.

Mini...that's because most have no clue or they assume your honest. Neither is a good; I'm not saying any one is bad but I have been burned by trusting and not looking myself.

I do not plan to market "pet" rabbits when I do have some thing. Unfortunately, it is no longer safe to imo. IF some one chooses to purchase a rabbit and keep as a pet, that's on them. I am no longer going to extra lengths though; ie guides/guarantees/unlimited support/etc. I will hold to my look it over, buy on sight seen or don't, and no guarantees unless it is absolutely my fault the rabbit dies (then I need said rabbit back for proof).

Mini Lop Fan":v97fosz7 said:

This is all very helpful! With my next batch of pet kits, I think I am going to go over all the steps of checking a rabbit for disease before you buy one ON the rabbit they are buying.

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I did

Always eager to educate, I would go over, step by step, what I look for in a new rabbit (or any new pet actually) in the hopes they'd do the same if they ever bring a second rabbit into the home.

I've too many horror stories of bunnies I've bred catching Upper Respitory Infections, ear mites and one that got E. cunniculi

Dood":1pnlyt78 said:

Mini Lop Fan":1pnlyt78 said:

This is all very helpful! With my next batch of pet kits, I think I am going to go over all the steps of checking a rabbit for disease before you buy one ON the rabbit they are buying.

Click to expand...

I did

Always eager to educate, I would go over, step by step, what I look for in a new rabbit (or any new pet actually) in the hopes they'd do the same if they ever bring a second rabbit into the home.

I've too many horror stories of bunnies I've bred catching Upper Respitory Infections, ear mites and one that got E. cunniculi

Click to expand...

:x

Mini Lop Fan":1ovohk85 said:

This is all very helpful! With my next batch of pet kits, I think I am going to go over all the steps of checking a rabbit for disease before you buy one ON the rabbit they are buying.

(Just as a side note, for those of you who have sold pet rabbits, have you noticed how few people actually check the rabbit for disease before they buy it?) Hopefully that will let them know it is not because the rabbit is sick.

Click to expand...

not to be terribly negative , but I also stopped selling "pet rabbits" ,it seems to be an emotional problem, that is hard for me to work with..

I have no problem selling pet rabbits. I educate if people want to learn more, happily answer emails (unless they get excessive -had one lady do 20 emails in the course of the day, many of them repetitive because I wasn't answering immediately).

I tend to assume the positive, and let people know they can always bring a bunny back if needed. But rabbit needs to come with all it's stuff to facilitate rehoming and care.

I get jerks every Christmas and Easter who try to rile me with "I want to eat that bunny, or I want to feed it to my dog/ferret/cat". I just tell them if they want to spend 50-70$ to do that, it's entirely up to them, but I'd need the money emailed out immediately. Puts a stop to it fairly quickly. Persistent jerks get a phone call and a "should I call the cops for harassment?" question.

I refuse to stress out about what people MIGHT do. I've sold rabbits to breeders and found out they sold that bunny on to a new home within three months.. when they had told me said bunny was going to be the start to their new program. So even if you think you have a perfect home, it's not guaranteed, and other times you get emails 8-10 years later telling you what a great bunny you sold them. You live for the latter and work to not be bothered by the former.

Selling rabbits for pets gives you loads of smiles and happy people, and helps promote an excellent hobby.

ladysown":1znvacvd said:

I just tell them if they want to spend 50-70$ to do that, it's entirely up to them.

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:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

^^^^THIS is super important when it comes to selling pet rabbits. While it's not guaranteed, a much higher percentage of people willing to spend real money on an animal will treat it different than *some* people who want cheap animals.

From my experience, the "disposable toy for my child" crowd always seems to want bottom dollar rabbits. Check your local adds and make sure you have have your bunners priced above the local "meat mutt," or "mixed breed pet" price to winnow that chaff.

(Yes, even if your rabbits ARE meat mutts or mixed breed pet buns!! Those are all perfectly acceptable to sell as pets.)



In your place, I'd probably just swallow it, refund the money and refuse to sell another.

ladysown":1dnjvrhr said:

I get jerks every Christmas and Easter who try to rile me with "I want to eat that bunny, or I want to feed it to my dog/ferret/cat". I just tell them if they want to spend 50-70$ to do that, it's entirely up to them, but I'd need the money emailed out immediately. Puts a stop to it fairly quickly. Persistent jerks get a phone call and a "should I call the cops for harassment?"

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I suppose most "trolls" don't do there homework to figure out would really rattles a rabbit seller. I find it funny that an a-hole would think, talk about "rabbit eating" would rattle a rabbit breeder. This talk may disturb teen-aged girls working at Petco, but not actual breeders. Quite the opposite, I have heard of many rabbit pet owners do anti-breeder rants about feeder/meat rabbits.

How old was the rabbit when it was sold? Federal law says eight weeks, I think, but I'll usually wait at least several weeks past that date to so the babies are stronger. A ten to twelve week old or even four month old rabbit is much stronger than a baby and able to handle a new home easier.

Yeah, I've noticed a trend with bunny buyers to want instant responses to emails. I'm thinking they're getting the emails as texts on their cellphones. For bunny emails, all those get sent to the computer so I don't get bothered by excessive emails. I don't even give out a phone number until it's time to take the bunny to the airport or go meet the buyer somewhere for a bunny drop off.

Anyone wants to eat one of these bunnies, fine with me. At $50 to $75 each, I don't suppose they're gonna be eating very many of them.

There was someone at quilting group who wanted a pet bunny for her grandkids who visited all the time. These are angoras, no way are they pet bunnies, I don't care if her grandkids like 'my little pony' and want to brush hair or not. Kids don't have the dexterity to shear a bunny and I doubt their parents or grandparents is gonna do it unless they want the fiber from the bunny for something - which I knew she didn't. Also, as noted, the pet bunny folks don't wanna spend much money on the pet, she wanted a rabbit for $20 or less.

She had asked me one Easter and fortunately we had no rabbits available to anyone. Then the next year when she asked again (and we did have rabbits but none I'd sell around Easter time), I did find a free bunny on Craig's List for her grandkids. Told her I knew nothing about the rabbit, I'd gotten it for free on Craig's List, but here's your pet rabbit. Her grandkids got bored with it within a few weeks and it bit one of her grandkids so she had to start taking care of the bunny herself. So, it came back to me, I gave it to someone else I know who gets all my unwanted rabbits that I don't want to sell for whatever reason. He said it was very tasty.

I used to get a lot of folks asking the same questions over and over so now we have a webpage which has the answers to all their questions on it. Makes it much easier when selling rabbits. Most folks ask a zillion questions before they get the rabbit, once they get them, though, most times I'll not hear from them again. This has been since the webpage so perhaps they're getting what they need to know from there or perhaps from some other online source.

anyone else getting heavy karen* vibes? entitled buyers are always a true joy.....I started selling rabbits at age 12 and some lady thought she could get a free baby because she claimed i was to young and couldn't even handle my 2 rabbits, yet she wanted 1 for her 7 yo or something. It's people like this you pray for and send on their way (thus add the right to refuse service in sales policy) and just learn from after calming down with a cup of tea and a good movie. Hope your next costumer is better!



*A “Karen” describes a kind of person, generally, stereotypically an upper-middle class blonde white woman, who has most or all of the following traits: A belief that the world revolves around them, and that everyone should bend over backwards for them (especially retail workers). {thanks google}

Mini Lop Fan said:

(Just as a side note, for those of you who have sold pet rabbits, have you noticed how few people actually check the rabbit for disease before they buy it?) Hopefully that will let them know it is not because the rabbit is sick.

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Yea most people who buy pets don’t even examine them they just pick out the “Pretty one”!

I honestly though... I would have refused her. Leaving a bunny in a car while she went shopping? That's a no brainer. I MIGHT have offered an older bunny at a discount as a replacement though.