Most of the time sales of hatching eggs go well. Occasionally shipping damage will occur even when the eggs are packaged well. I can only remember one incident when an egg I shipped was even cracked upon arrival. My luck as a buyer has been mostly positive except for the time I received rotten eggs, and another time I received eggs that were shipped parcel post, took weeks to arrive rotten in a leaky box full of bugs! Most sellers are honest, courteous, and reputable people who do their best to assure you get your hatching eggs in good condition. That was not the case with my most recent transaction. I sold six of my precious blue Isbar eggs online. The person who bought my Isbar eggs happens to have cream legbars. I have been trying to find these eggs so we agreed that, in lieu of payment for the Isbars, he would send me an equal number of cream legbar eggs. At his insistence, I shipped the eggs to him Express Mail instead of the usual Priority Mail and he agreed to do the same with the legbar eggs. I packaged my eggs in foam blocks with foam plugs to shield them from injury. They were pushed down into the holes and the foam plugs inserted. Once encased in foam, they were placed in a form-fitting cardboard box which was then placed into a larger shipping box surrounded by packaging material. Short of being run over by the USPS truck these eggs were safe. I delivered them myself to the main post office and drove home to await the arrival of my eggs from the buyer the next day.
Little did I know it would be a long wait. He received mine the following morning and reported that they arrived in perfect condition. I received nothing. Tracking of the eggs he shipped to me only indicated that a shipping label had been printed but the package was never received by the post office in Georgia. A day later the tracking showed the package was in California but in San Jose, not Sacramento. It took an extra two days to arrive but it finally did reached it’s destination in Auburn this morning. I drove the the post office to pick it up as soon as they called. I got home, eager to unpack my cream legbar hatching eggs and get them in the incubator. I opened the outer box to find it packed with styrofoam packing peanuts. Good sign! I dug down to the smaller box inside. As I removed it from the outer box I felt liquid on my hand. Goo was leaking from the small inner box. My heart sank. I knew I wouldn’t be setting cream legbars for hatching.
I removed the egg yolk soaked bubblewrap and opened the inner box. I was surprised to find that the seller had simply rolled each egg in a small strip if bubblewrap and placed them in the box. The bubblewrap wasn’t taped and the eggs had room to roll around in the box, which evidently they had. They eggs were all broken except one, which when candled, revealed a scrambled yoke and detached aircell. I picked up the phone and called the man who shipped the eggs to me.
His response when I informed him of the condition of my eggs was shocking to say the least. He told me that he had secured a refund from the post office for the shipping delay and that he would put that $30 in my PayPal account. I asked what he planned to do about the broken eggs. He stated that the box was insured for $100.00 and if he could collect on a claim he would give me the money. Have you ever met anyone who has prevailed on a damage claim against the post office for broken eggs? NO! I asked him re-ship more eggs to me and he refused. His position is that I took a risk with shipped eggs and lost. It is now between me and the post office. I told him that had the situation been reversed I would have immediately shipped fresh eggs to him. It fell on deaf ears. To add insult to injury I now find out that the transaction had been a scam all along. I won’t go into those details here but just wanted to post my experience as a cautionary tale for anyone involved in buying and selling hatching eggs. If you are reading, this and you sent these eggs to me you should probably research “karma.” My guess is you have been on the receiving end of karma already.
Stacy says
I know this blog post is a little old, but it truly resonates here. I have been scammed buy a wily buyer who knew how to manipulate egg sellers. In the end, I was out shipping and fertile eggs I could have put in my own incubator, had a negative feedback, and a big headache from it all!
In my case, they paid for priority. I shipped the eggs immediately so they’d be as fresh as possible. After two days in the mail, the buyer was concerned. After three days in the mail, frantic, and insisted I immediately ship more eggs on my dime, this time express. I smelled something fishy, so issued a full refund. After doing that, I got a negative feedback left. The eggs hadn’t even arrived yet!
The person knew how to manipulate the system in order to get two shipments of hatching eggs from one auction, though I didn’t play ball. In addition, I have a feeling they would have opened up a paypal dispute even if I did send the second shipment, getting a full refund.
Mary says
I am sorry you had a bad experience too. It is amazing what people will do over chickens. Most buyers and sellers are honest but every once in awhile you run into a bad egg. You did the best thing. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Dianne R says
Gaahhhh- some people are just terrible!
“To add insult to injury I now find out that the transaction had been a scam all along”- would love to know the details!
Karma- for sure!!
Kathy says
I hope the eggs you sent him don’t hatch.
Mary says
Pretty bad, huh? But I was the high bidder on two eBay auctions for cream legbar eggs so I will hatch some despite this guy.
Kathy says
This is horrible. I hate it when people do this crap. I am so sorry, Mary. Darn it!