Fertile eggs on ebay

[BuChix]

I've actually had great hatch rates from shipped ebay eggs -- except once. When I cracked open a couple of the non-developing eggs at day 5, the blasodisc was degraded and the yolk flat. They were not fresh eggs and I was lucky to get 2 out of the 24 to hatch. The 22 others never developed at all and I kept most until day 18. This was a seller that was in-state so I thought travel time wouldn't be so harsh on them. Oh well.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

A positive rating that honestly states whether air cells were damaged or eggs hatched is perfectly fair. Buyers deserve to understand the reality of attempting to hatch shipped eggs. My own experience has been that even well packed eggs often fail to hatch. I've actually received eggs that were quite porous as well as unclean, and the seller lost nothing by sending them. Buyers assume all the risk and deserve to understand that money spent is easily in exchange for nothing in the end.

You must be a seller of eggs.

 

[Ms Biddy]

You must be a seller of eggs.

I am not.

 

[Ms Biddy]

I actually believe most shipped eggs are overpriced considering what buyers often end up with in the end. I recently set 23 shipped eggs. I ended up with 1 poult, 2 healthy chicks and 2 genetically deformed chicks. So, 3 healthy babies out of 23 eggs.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

I have bought eggs on eBay and had great hatch rates - I think it's important to look at the sellers ratings because that's usually a tell all.
Just my two cents
Judy

 

[RainForestBird]

Most Ebay listings for fertile eggs state the risks involved with buying shipped eggs. Reputable sellers will include it in the description. Buyers don't need feedback to understand the risks of shipped eggs. The advantage to buying shipped eggs is that you can obtain a breed that isn't available in your local area, or add new blood to your flock. Its a risk buyers take. Damaged air cells and low hatch rates are not necessarily the seller's fault because anything (including a novice buyer frying the eggs w/high incubator temps) can happen to the eggs after they are carefully packed and shipped, fresh from a healthy, clean flock. Most buyers are wonderful, but its that small 1% that will ruin a good breeder's reputation just for spite.

A positive rating that honestly states whether air cells were damaged or eggs hatched is perfectly fair. Buyers deserve to understand the reality of attempting to hatch shipped eggs. My own experience has been that even well packed eggs often fail to hatch. I've actually received eggs that were quite porous as well as unclean, and the seller lost nothing by sending them. Buyers assume all the risk and deserve to understand that money spent is easily in exchange for nothing in the end.

 

[Ms Biddy]

Most buyers are wonderful, but its that small 1% that will ruin a good breeder's reputation just for spite.

That can happen when selling any item on EBay, but hatching eggs are the only item I know that can be ruined during shipping and the buyer accepts all loss. I believe the most damage occurs from high altitude in unpressurized cargo holds during air travel as well as rapid and extreme temperature changes. Since I hatch my own eggs along with shipped eggs, it's easy to compare hatching rates. My preference now is to buy from the same state or an adjacent state and although I'm tempted to ask sellers for candled photos of the eggs, I can only assume this would be frowned upon. I was unhappy to receive high priced porous eggs since shipped eggs are already at a disadvantage and porous eggs are more susceptible to bacterial contamination. From that group of shipped eggs, I hatched one out of twelve.

 

[Sprayanimal]

Sold some fertile eggs online and today i got a message saying that not one egg hatched. I attached my item description to this... i'm not sure what they want or if they just wanted me to know... but i guess we'll see...

Ive heard of post office xray practices and who knows if buyers knew what they’re doing. If you get bad feedback all you can do is comment to it. I hatched two batches of eBay eggs a few years back. First batch was 10 outta 12. Second was 3 outta 14 but eggs looked old and dirty. I sent sellers an message. Offering to pay shipping on new eggs. But they refused. So my feedback wasn’t so nice.