Animal Sales Policy

Buyer eligibility and lawful ownership

The buyer must be at least 18 years old and legally able to possess the animal at the destination. Before payment, the buyer is responsible for confirming all state, local, building, landlord, permit, and other ownership requirements. We may decline a placement when we reasonably believe the sale, transport, destination, or proposed care is unlawful or unsuitable.

We review the destination and shipping arrangements before giving final approval. Subject to applicable law, we reserve the right to decline a sale or service, or cancel a placement before transfer, at our discretion. A listing, approval, invoice, or accepted payment does not make it lawful to keep an animal where it is restricted. Please give us accurate destination information. You may not use a forwarding address, intermediary, or different pickup location to get around an ownership, transport, permit, or carrier rule. If we learn before transfer that the placement cannot lawfully proceed because you failed to verify or meet the applicable legal requirements, we will cancel it and refund all money paid, less any reasonable, documented, nonrecoverable fees or costs directly caused by that failure, but only where permitted by law. We will provide an itemized explanation of any deductions. You are responsible for checking and complying with your applicable laws before paying. To the extent permitted by law, STP is not liable for losses caused by your failure to do so. This does not limit our own legal obligations or your rights under applicable law.

Animals are represented by the sex, species, morph, known genetics, identification, and condition stated in the final written listing or invoice. Prospective buyers should ask any material question before paying.

Secure electronic invoicing, deposits, and holds

We currently issue all secure electronic invoices through Square, our point-of-sale provider. Secondary payment options, such as PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo, may be available with our approval. We will confirm the approved payment method directly with you before you pay. Cash is accepted only for in-person purchases at formal events, such as reptile expos. For an ordinary local pickup, please pay in full through an approved electronic payment method. Payment must clear before the scheduled meetup. We do not take cash or collect payment at ordinary pickup meetups.

Submitting a placement request does not reserve an animal. A paid reservation is confirmed only after we receive either payment in full or the initial deposit required by a payment plan we have approved in writing, and that payment has cleared. An animal may be marked as pending while an approved invoice is awaiting payment; pending status alone does not establish a paid reservation.

We will talk through the placement with you before preparing a Square invoice or an approved payment link. Your invoice will show whether payment is due immediately or on dates we have agreed on. We review unpaid invoices personally and decide whether to extend or cancel them. An approved payment link requires payment when provided unless we agree otherwise in writing, and we may close it if unpaid. Written payment plans have their own payment schedule and default terms. Auction payments are due immediately, as explained below.

Full payment is standard. We consider payment plans case by case and must approve a plan in writing before you make the first payment. The initial payment, remaining payment amounts, and due dates are agreed on individually and listed in your written plan. Each payment is due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on its stated due date. An extension counts only if we approve it in writing.

If a scheduled payment is not received by the deadline, a 72-hour cure period begins. We will email a written default notice to your recorded email address. That notice does not restart or extend the cure period: it ends 72 hours after the original payment deadline. Please contact us during that time to make the payment or discuss an extension. We must approve any extension in writing. If the default is not cured, we review the placement personally and decide whether to extend the plan or cancel it and release the animal. We confirm that decision in writing. If we cancel a plan for an uncured default, you will be ineligible for another STP payment plan for 12 months from the default date. During those 12 months, we may still consider a full-payment request case by case, subject to placement approval.

If you cancel or default before transfer, STP may retain only the lesser of 20% of the total purchase price or $500, plus documented actual or incidental damages that may lawfully be recovered, without duplicate recovery. These may include commercially reasonable expenses from the hold, cancellation, care, or resale, after accounting for costs saved and any applicable resale proceeds. After a reasonable accounting, we refund any amount above what we may lawfully retain to the original payment method. If you request it in writing and we approve, a refundable amount may instead become nontransferable store credit. If we cannot provide the animal, or cancel for a reason unrelated to your cancellation, default, or failure to meet the legal requirements above, we return all money paid. No animal is transferred or shipped until the full balance has cleared.

Refunds are returned to the original payment method unless the buyer requests and we approve another lawful method in writing. Nothing in this policy waives a buyer's right to dispute an unauthorized or incorrectly processed payment, and nothing authorizes a chargeback for a disagreement that should first be addressed through the claim process below.

Payment plans are never available for auctions. An auction win is a binding commitment to purchase. The full purchase price is due immediately when the auction closes and you are confirmed as the winning bidder. Transfer or shipment takes place only after full payment has cleared.

Domestic shipping, hub collection, and local pickup

Shipping is limited to eligible destinations within the United States and is arranged by us through FedEx Priority Overnight to an approved local FedEx hub. As a courtesy, we cover outbound shipping for every eligible sale. The price listed on our website is the final total the buyer pays, and no separate outbound shipping charge is added. Complimentary shipping remains subject to destination eligibility, safe conditions, service availability, and our final approval.

We choose the carrier service and retain final authority over the shipping date. Shipment may be postponed for unsafe origin, route, hub, or destination conditions, service disruptions, holidays, or other animal-welfare concerns. A weather hold is not seller delay or grounds for a chargeback.

The buyer must collect the animal within four hours after the carrier first records it as available at the designated FedEx hub. Pickup after that four-hour window voids the limited post-arrival health guarantee.

We provide a link to the official FedEx tracking record, monitor the shipment from our end, and remain available to help with carrier updates, hub questions, and arrival concerns to the fullest reasonable extent. Carrier facilities and operating decisions remain outside our control.

The buyer must provide accurate contact information, monitor tracking, bring valid identification, remain reachable on the arrival day, and inspect the package promptly. Please let us know as soon as practical that the animal arrived alive and appears well. That confirmation does not shorten the seven-day guarantee period. Contact us immediately about a carrier delay, damaged package, temperature concern, or other transit problem.

Local pickup may be arranged only by prior written agreement. Payment must be made in full and cleared before the meetup. We will designate the pickup location and time with the buyer in advance. We do not accept payment or cash at an ordinary pickup meetup. Cash is limited to formal event sales, such as reptile expos.

Seven-day limited post-arrival health guarantee

Subject to every condition in this section, the animal is guaranteed against a substantial illness or injury reasonably shown to have existed at transfer for seven calendar days. For a shipped animal, the period begins at the buyer's actual, timely hub pickup. For an animal transferred through local pickup or a formal event, the same guarantee begins at the documented in-person handoff.

Before shipment, we provide sale-specific written husbandry requirements, including approved temperature and humidity ranges. The buyer must have the enclosure operating within those ranges before shipment and maintain them throughout the guarantee period. At our request, the buyer must provide reasonable proof, which may include timestamped enclosure photographs, thermostat or control-equipment details, temperature and humidity records, substrate and water setup, quarantine conditions, and a licensed reptile veterinarian's findings.

For a shipped animal, coverage does not apply after late hub collection. For every transfer method, coverage does not apply to harm caused after transfer by improper or unverified husbandry, overheating or chilling, dehydration, accident, escape, excessive handling, cohabitation, exposure to another animal or collection, unauthorized treatment, or failure to follow our written instructions.

Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing before the sale, temperament, ordinary feeding adjustment or refusal to eat, growth, coloration changes, fertility, breeding compatibility, ovulation, clutch outcome, and other reproductive results are not guaranteed. We review concerns in good faith and on their individual facts. To the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for problems caused by conditions or events beyond our reasonable control. This does not limit our written health guarantee, responsibility for our own acts or omissions, or any rights or remedies required by law.

Notice, documentation, and remedies

A dead-on-arrival animal must be reported in writing as soon as discovered and no later than four hours after the carrier first records the shipment as available at the designated hub. Initial photographs or video should accompany the notice; any additional evidence requested by the carrier or shipping service must be supplied within its applicable deadline.

A wrong animal, visible transit injury, damaged package, material temperature concern, or other substantial illness or injury apparent at receipt must be reported in writing with clear photographs or video as soon as discovered and no later than six hours after the buyer's actual, timely hub pickup or documented in-person handoff. A wrong-sex claim must be made within seven calendar days. Any other claim under our seven-day limited post-arrival health guarantee must be started in writing before that guarantee expires. A timely notice to us does not replace any separate notice or incident-report deadline required by the carrier or shipping service.

Email fernando@shorttailedpythons.com and include the animal ID, carrier-recorded availability time, actual pickup time, a description of the concern, photographs or video, and requested husbandry records. We may require a prompt examination, written report, or necropsy by a licensed reptile veterinarian. Do not dispose of remains or surrender the animal without written direction if doing so would prevent reasonable verification.

For a validated covered claim, the buyer may choose a return for a full refund of the amount paid or a mutually agreed replacement. We pay reasonable authorized return shipping when a return is required. Veterinary expenses are reimbursed only when we approved them in writing before they were incurred, except that a genuine welfare emergency should receive appropriate care and will be reviewed on its facts. No one should delay necessary humane care while waiting for a reply.

Except for a covered guarantee claim, a verified seller error, our cancellation, or a remedy required by law, animal sales are final.

Third-party advertising and written variations

STP may advertise available animals on paid third-party listing platforms, including MorphMarket and Kingsnake. These services are advertising channels only. STP is not affiliated with or endorsed by those platforms, and no marketplace listing replaces, controls, or amends these direct-sale terms.

Any animal-specific exception or change must be confirmed in writing by STP before the applicable payment, shipment, or handoff.

The policy version in effect when the invoice is issued governs that direct sale. If one provision cannot be enforced, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent allowed by law. Nothing in this policy limits a right that cannot legally be waived.

We apply mandatory federal, state, and local consumer rights regardless of any narrower wording in this policy. If the buyer's jurisdiction requires a different notice, remedy, cancellation rule, refund treatment, tax treatment, or other protection, the mandatory rule controls. STP may decline a transaction rather than proceed under requirements it cannot responsibly satisfy.