E-bay not the way to go

[Strader]

Ordered from two different people on E-bay and received (48) eggs. Out of these only had (6) hatch. Waist of space in incubator. These that hatched (2) were Delaware's and had black stripe on their heads ( Not purebred Delaware's by any means)and (4) were Barred Rocks. Sent E-mail to each person I purchased these from and no reply from one of them. I know its a very high risk to get from E-bay and deal with shipping issues, but thought I would have better luck than I did. $60.00 is to much for (6) new chicks. Buy from someone near you and that is on BYC and has a Valuable reputation.. If you know of someone on a trip get them to pick them up on their way home.
This was not a incubator issue. I had (80) other eggs hatch that I got from friends near me in town.

 

[sourland]

Sadly, shipped eggs are generally a crap shoot, and especially so when they come from unknown sources. I agree - buy locally or support the folks who advertise here on BYC.

 

[Tuhmu]

Sorry you didn't have a good hatch.

I did my first ever hatch with shipped eggs 3 ish weeks ago and only got 4 chicks out of 31 eggs, BUT I made a few human errors. If I wouldn't have made some careless mistakes I think I would have had close to 12 ish, still not the best odds but would have been nice. I have another batch in the bator (shipped eggs), candled on day 7 and it looked like there are 19 viable out of 32. So it really is a gamble one what you are going to get. I did make sure that all the people I bought eggs from had good feedback not only from their customers but also how they responded to their customers concerns.

 

[Strader]

definitely a gamble. Would be nice if you sent them photos of what didn't hatch and got some fresh ones sent back. We know that's not happening...LOL
I also want to say if your going to sell eggs please keep your nest boxes clean. I clean mine and change the pine chips every two weeks and my eggs are never dirty. Some that I got didn't look like there were any chips or beading in the boxes at all. Sheeesh ! is that a word?

 

[MargaretAnneHK]

As said, shipped eggs ARE a gamble. If I was buying them on ebay, I would pay close attention to the sellers feedback and even if there was one negative, I would take a look at what it said.
That still doesn't guarantee their eggs though. They could be the best egg shippers in the world and the postal handling could blow that all to h###.

 

[Tuhmu]

I received my first package from ebay (all my other ones have been from BYCers), all are intact. Will candle them and such when I get home from work, they are resting now. Not sure how its going to work since I'm giving them to my broody hen, hopefully she can do a better job than I can.

 

[One Chick Two]

Shipped eggs are always a gamble- wether it be here, on Ebay or a solid professional breeder's website. Sometimes it's shipping, low fertility, low vigor, who knows?
Look at a seller's feedback, ask detailed questions before buying whenever possible. If they don't reply, I wouldn't buy from them- period.

If they sent you wrong eggs, or chicks that look very wrong, you are right to question this, and within your rights to ask for a refund. Can you go into your My ebay, and into the conflict resolution area? There should be links there to this. Perhaps as a last resort you could do a payment reversal to get their attention, and then give a neg?

As a seller, you would think they would want to maintain their stellar rep, so it's in their best interest to work something out with you.

 

[hildar]

definitely a gamble. Would be nice if you sent them photos of what didn't hatch and got some fresh ones sent back. We know that's not happening...LOL
I also want to say if your going to sell eggs please keep your nest boxes clean. I clean mine and change the pine chips every two weeks and my eggs are never dirty. Some that I got didn't look like there were any chips or beading in the boxes at all. Sheeesh ! is that a word?

I keep my nesting boxes clean. However my ladies have started hiding eggs now that warmer weather is coming. In fact I had to crawl through a bunch of poison oak to go get eggs the other day, I cussed my 2 hens out that lay first because I know they start it, then the others follow. A pile of 14 eggs over there in all of that poison oak. About half of my girls had laid there.