aquabid

[danielryan]

does any body have any good experiences of using this site, and shipping to the uK?

just want to get some help on what i should be looking out for before i think about parting with any money.

Cheers

[MatsP]

First thing would be asking the seller if they are OK with shipping to the UK.

Next problem is to make sure that there are the relevant export and import paper-work in place - you may well have to do some of that, and it obviously needs to be sorted before you start the shipping process (or you may end up paying for a lot of dead fish).

I don't think the export license is too bad in most cases (if at all needed), but the import license may be a bit trickier - it is more involved to import something than it is to export it...

Also, you may well have to pay VAT and Import Duty on your purchase.

Edit: I should mention that I have never bought fish on mail-order, from the US or within the UK. I tend to prefer to see the fish first.

Edit2: And of course, make sure that you are SURE that what you are buying is what you think you are buying - it won't be easy to "fix up" the problems of "your ID doesn't match mine". It may be OK to complain (and get your money back from Aquabid or Paypal) that "this fish that I received doesn't match the photo you posted", but if the ID of the fish in the photo is not 100% clear, then I'd say it's your task to identify correctly that the fish is what you actually think it is (e.g. by asking for more photos by the seller).

--
Mats

[OldMan]

I have used the site and bought things for shipment to the US. In all cases I check the vendor's reputation / ranking to find out if it is someone I can trust. Much like E-bay vendors, a rating in the high 90s is not so hot because most people seem to be reluctant to post a negative rating. Anything less than 98% positive is someone that I don't deal with. Using that cautious approach I have been quite happy with my purchases. I have yet to have any real trouble getting all that I should expect from a vendor on that site. As others have already said, make sure you contact the seller before bidding on something you expect them to ship outside the US.

[apistomaster]

I have both bought and sold fish on aquabid and personally, all my experiences have been positive although not perfect.
The area I have been disappointed in had to do with the size of some SA Dwarf Cichlids I have bought. A few beginners are so proud of their successful breeding of a particularly difficult species may have seen their fish loom larger in their eyes than they actually described leaving me with a delicate species way too small to be shipped.
Weigh the minor disappointments like that against the times when a seller adds a few extra specimens or like some trial purchases of starts of Mosses, rare in the USA, from dealers in Bangkok where all it cost was $3.00 and most of that must have gone towards the postage as shipping was included. I was able to get Flame Moss started this way. I have received SA Annual Killiefish eggs from breeders in Eastern Europe, also just mailed, with excellent hatches. Laws were skirted, I'm sure but there was little money involved so if the package was seized it would be no great loss. Killiefish eggs have been mailed around the world for nearly 50 years with very few problems.
I have bought pairs of wild Bettas, B. mahachai and B. smaragdina from dealers in Bangkok but those transactions involved using a US broker who has the proper import license/permit. In these instances there were naturally fairly high shipping costs and the brokerage agent fees so a $35 pair FOB Bangkok actually cost $90 delivered to my door step.
I have sold pairs of Apistogramma so I have experienced both sides of the picture and all in all, it has been fun to do.
I am disappointed that I failed to be the winning bidder on a group of 8 Betta coccina on an auction that closed on 3-03-09.

One glaring incident of late and something to beware of involved the sale of expensive Sulawesi Shrimp and many $1000's of undelivered orders, delivery of the wrong species or DOA's were involved and has developed in to a legal case but such incidents are very rare.

I have bought more common tank raised shrimp species several times and was always very pleased with how everything turned out.