Another point of view, one I've thought about many times. Not saying right or wrong, just something to think about.
With freighting, how do you know how its been stored/treated/handled - how easy is it to be left in the sun too long, dropped or whatever. On one occasion a container I received was covered in red splatter - can't work it out if it was paint or what - and it was not under the shipping label from AAE when I removed it, therefore it occured whilst under the care of AAE - who knows what or how it had been treated to get this splatter on it. The simple fact is that no freight, let along live animals should be in a position for this to happen. You are putting the welfare of your (sometimes expensive) animals, that have fairly sensitive care needs with the guys at AAE. How many stories do you hear of parcels not arriving, going to wrong states, being left on the tarmac, or that AAE don't even know where they are. It doesn't happen rarely, it seems to happen regularly - how many more do you think we don't hear about?. Most of it is computerised and parcels labelled. How hard can it be for those who do it day in, day out? Enough said.
With the individual you sent them to - especially if you don't know the person well or their knowledge, experience (or common sense) with herps, how do you know it hasn't been treated badly, whether purposely or not. What about having been left in the car on the way home while they 'quickly' pop in to get Maccas (we all know how quickly a dog or child can die in a locked car), or dropped/escaped/over stressed when transfering to an enclosure. Think of some of the stories about the not so fantastic people now and again that pop up on here or on petlink/other forums from time to time - are you still confident that you would be happy to refund/replace, especially from a complete stranger?
Why should the seller take all the risk? 99% of us are selling our pets, and NOT making profit and absolutely not as a commercial venture, Its not like buying an overpriced $2000 'designer' breed puppy from a pet shop and they are making $1500 profit (got those figures out of thin air - probably not far from the truth).
Just chucking in something the think about. Remember there are a lot of possible variables not controllable by the seller.
Oh, I'm not referring to animals (such as the odd one that pops up in forums from time to time) that arrives obviously in bad body condition (weight etc) or infested with mites/lice - obviously there are exceptions and some bad sellers who knowingly ship bad animals (not referring to anyone in particular or even thinking of anyone as an example) - one would expect a full refund in these situations.
I'll add I have never sold nor purchased an animal that has died soon after the transaction. I am not talking as a dodgy seller here. :shock: I would like to think that if one of the 25 or so herps I sold this season dies that I know about it.