eBay

[IRL]

Hi
What are your thoughts on buying koi online or on eBay. I've seen some 12-14" fish on eBay for around $125 with shipping which sounds like a great deal. I know buying a fish without seeing it in person is risky, but I don't really care if it is show quality at all. I don't have $300 to spend on fish like this at the pond store. So, has anyone had experience buying koi online, and do you see any major problems in doing so?
Thanks a lot.

 

[fishin4cars]

I've used a few ebay online Koi places, In my experience, For larger fish, Kodama Koi is by far the best, mostly standard only. NextDayKoi-NDK, and KoiToTheWorld-KTTW both have had great fish, minimal issues, all but one fish arrived safely and the one I had a problem with I followed the intructions and got refunded the next day.
Dealers to be aware of PrettyKoiFish,Happyfish. I won't use or recommend either of them, In fact told them both if anyone ever ask I would tell them to stay away. HappyFish even told me to do what I needed to do!

 

[IRL]

Thanks, have you heard of royalkoi?

 

[noobfisher]

Why prettykoifish. They are local to me and really cheap. I wish i would have read this sooner i just got two fish from them 1 died 2 days later they refunded my money fully but i asked them about testing and this is what i got back

Our fish are VHSV, SVCV, IHNV, KHV and IPNV certified and we have the inspection document as well. Let us know if any question.

What was the problem with them i still have the other in qt.
They are actually sugar creek fishery from lima ohio. Hope i can get this other one in the pond in a few months but now i dunno.

Thanks for the review i will know better next time.

 

[fishin4cars]

Thanks, have you heard of royalkoi?

I've seen them but I have not used them and have not heard of anyone that has.

 

[fishin4cars]

Why prettykoifish. They are local to me and really cheap. I wish i would have read this sooner i just got two fish from them 1 died 2 days later they refunded my money fully but i asked them about testing and this is what i got back

Our fish are VHSV, SVCV, IHNV, KHV and IPNV certified and we have the inspection document as well. Let us know if any question.

What was the problem with them i still have the other in qt.
They are actually sugar creek fishery from lima ohio. Hope i can get this other one in the pond in a few months but now i dunno.

Thanks for the review i will know better next time.

For someone that is VHSV, SVCV, IHNV,KHV, and IPNV, certified. They need to get certified on how to ship fish. I won two med. size fish and three small koi, They packed a 16" koi, a 14" koi and 12-5" koi all in one medium size box. I ordered on 16" one 10" and 3-5". Out of all those only two koi survived. One I ordered, one I didn't, they just sent extra's and one ugly one lived, none of the small ones I actually picked out survived. Way too many fish in the bag, they used straight pond water and appeared no oxygen were used in the shipping bag. They refunded the cost of the fish I ordered that died but I still paid the shipping cost and the cost of the fish. Ended up costing me $77.50 for one 14" koi that was suppose to be yellow and 10" but the one they sent was orange and a ugly orange at that and 14". They have a bad habit of substituting fish that are not specifically ordered. IMO that's not good business.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Fishin, Did you ever give them a negative rating? I know you were thinking about it. It would probably help other people to know there have been problems.

 

[fishin4cars]

No I didn't, I was given a refund, the seller worked with me and stayed in contact. I felt like they tried to resolve as much as they could. Leaving a negative was not appropriate but I did leave a feedback that there was a issue. I'm a seller on ebay also, Leaving a negative when the seller does everything they can to fix a problem just isn't the right way to handle things. I just won't use again and if anyone ask I let them know what happened.

 

[lovinglife]

I ordered from Next Day Koi, love my fish and would recommend.

 

[fishin4cars]

My one problem with Next day koi, I always seem to want to buy to many! LOL

 

[lovinglife]

I had a hard time with that as well. It seemed like the fish I wanted always went reasonable until I started bidding on them, he must like me, I know I bid up a LOT of fish!

 

[The Real McKoi]

I ordered a 15" koi from Kodama Koi on ebay. They shipped it for free and the pictures of the fish matched up to exactly what I was sent. I would definately recommend those guys.

 

[fishin4cars]

Please post a introduction in the appropriate thread.