General online dealer question?

Has anyone ever recieved a follow up from a dealer about a possible mis-ID'd sale of a tarantula? At least to inform the buyer that they might have an aggresive specie as opposed to a doscile one or that there was just an old fashioned mistake made. Newbies have no idea what is being shipped to them especially when the T is 1/4" in size. They probably wouldn't know until the T goes through many molts. Any dealers out there are more than welcome to reply.

No takers on this one?

There was an infamous dealer that had developed quite the reputation for selling you G. aureostriata or L. parahybana as whatever species you requested. Needless to say, he's no longer in business and has pretty much been turned away by the hobby in general. Unfortunately I've heard he's apologetic for his past deeds and would like to return to the hobby, but I think it will be quite some time before he can return with his real name. Even at that point I know there will be many who will never knowingly deal with him again. He was responsible for a few other dealers selling mis-ID'd stock as he'd supplied stock to other dealers. If the reputable dealers knew to whom the stock had been sold, they corrected the problems.

It all comes down to reputable sources. Many of us dealers receive stock from the same sources. If a certain species is misidentified, it would effect most of the hobby. Since the importers generally work with the same suppliers overseas, the chances of an intentional problem are slim, but it could happen.

As a dealer, I can tell you that mistakes do happen. In most cases the dealer wouldn't know of the error unless he/she kept stock for breeding and was able to identify the species in question. I'm not sure if that answers your question, but I hope it helps to shed some light on the matter.

Botar

Charles summed up the topic thoroughly and accurately, so I have little to add. As he wrote, retail dealers receive much of their stock from a small number of wholesalers and misidentifications are likely to affect us all, not just one dealer. Please remember that many tiny spiderlings look the same and are, in fact, unidentifiable. In many cases, we sell these spiderlings and do not raise any and will not know of a problem until our customers give us feedback. Don't ever hesitate to contact your source if you have any questions and let that person do what is possible to rectify the situation. I can't tell you how many pseudo-pulchra, -ruhnaui, -klaasi, etc. I had to replace once my customers realized that the spider didn't appear as it should. In all of these cases the spider was actually L. parahybana and was sold to me by the person that Botar hints at in his post. There also was the infamous case of the "miranda" that were P. rufilata [same dealer :evil: ]. In this instance, I was holding back a number for myself and was able to discover the mistake much earlier. With my labeling and numbering system I always can track each spider back to its source or forward to its purchaser. As with many things, communication is of utmost importance. Always attempt to give a dealer the chance to make things right. Then if your source doesn't stand behind his or her product, post negative feedback and shop elsewhere.

Cheers, Michael