Skip to main content
Blue decorative layer
Orange decorative layer

Buying a Pet Safely

What we check, and what we do not

A seller marked Email verified on Pet Listings has clicked a link we sent to their email address. That is the whole of it, and it is worth knowing before you read anything else on this page.

  • We do not check anyone's identity. Nobody shows us a document.
  • We do not check breeding licences, and we do not visit anybody's premises.
  • We do not confirm the animal exists, or that the photos are of that animal.
  • A business name on Pet Listings cannot contain certified, verified, accredited, licensed, official, USDA, APHIS, AKC or UKC, because we have not checked any of them. An absence of those words is not modesty.

The checks below are yours to make. This page is how to make them.

Before you start looking

The price is the smallest number involved. Work these out before a photo makes the decision for you.

  • Food, vet care, insurance, grooming and boarding, for as long as the animal lives.
  • How many hours a day they would be alone, and who covers the weeks you are away.
  • What your lease or your HOA actually allows, in writing, including breed and weight limits.
  • What the breed is really like to live with, and what it tends to get ill with. Read that somewhere other than a listing selling you one.

Ask the seller these

  • Can I meet the mother, and see where they live?
  • How old are they, and when did they leave the litter?
  • What vet care have they had, and can I see the records?
  • Have the parents been health tested for what this breed is prone to?
  • Why are you selling them?
  • What happens if it does not work out once they are home?

A seller who is glad to answer all six is the one you want. Vague answers to the first two are worth more attention than a good price.

Stop if any of this happens

These are not warning signs to weigh up. Any one of them is a reason to end the conversation and report the listing.

  • You are asked for money before you have seen the animal, in person or on video.
  • You are asked to pay by gift card, wire transfer, crypto, or a payment app's friends and family option. None of those can be got back.
  • A video call is refused, or the animal is never in shot on one.
  • The photos turn up on a reverse image search under somebody else's name, or on a breeder's site in another state. Do that search. It takes a few seconds and it catches most of this. The same photos on the seller's own Facebook or Craigslist listing are just cross-posting.
  • You are told to decide today, or the price drops only if you commit now.
  • The price is far below every other listing for that breed, with a story attached to explain it.

Slow down and ask more if

None of these means somebody is lying. Each one means you do not know enough yet.

  • Answers about the parents stay general however you ask.
  • There are no vet records at all, for an animal old enough to have some.
  • You are never allowed to see where the animal lives, at any point. Meeting somewhere public first is sensible and not a flag; refusing ever to show you the animal at home is a different thing.
  • The story changes between messages.
  • You are being moved off Pet Listings to another app before you have met.

Seeing them in person

  • Go where the animal lives. What you can see of the conditions tells you more than any answer.
  • Meet the mother if there is one, and watch how she is with them.
  • Take somebody with you, and tell a third person where you are going and when you expect to be back.
  • If the animal in front of you is not the animal in the photos, leave. Do not pay for a different one on the day.

Paying for them

  • Use a method with a dispute process behind it, and send it as a purchase rather than to a friend.
  • Get the health guarantee and the return terms in writing before money moves. A promise in a chat is better than nothing, and a signed line is better than that.
  • Take a receipt naming the animal, the amount, the date, and both of you.
  • A deposit is money you will probably not see again. Treat it as a decision, not as a way to hold your place.

Once they are home

  • Book a vet within a few days, whatever the seller said about a recent check. It is often what starts the clock on a health guarantee, so read yours for the deadline.
  • Keep every piece of paperwork you were given.
  • Keep the messages. If you report a message, a moderator sees that message and the five before it, so report the message that shows the problem rather than the seller in general. Pet Listings also holds the sale itself once the seller marks the listing sold against your account, and the review you leave. None of that is a contract, and none of it replaces your own receipt.

Where to go next

Buyer and Seller Safety covers meeting somebody safely, and what to do when a member will not leave you alone. Community Standards sets out what a listing and a message are allowed to contain, and what happens when somebody breaks that.

Something wrong with a listing or a seller?

Report it from the listing or the conversation itself, which sends it straight to a moderator. If somebody is in danger, or a crime has been committed, call your local authorities first. Tell us afterwards so we can act on the account.

Report a problem