Petco online

[Saltyanimals]

In-store is hit or miss given a local store's aquatic department's care for the animals. I've seen really good well cared for salt departments and others that should not even sell betta in a jar. In the past, I've positively commented on Petco's in-store special orders appear to come from a large wholesaler (QM). On a recent petco.com direct online order, I did noticed now that they started shipping 'UPS Next Day Saver' which is by end of day. As fish keepers we know this adds unnecessary stress and increases chances of loss. I've reached out to Petco sharing my experience and shared my concerns with this practice. Quite literally stating that I can't shop there online anymore as I find it irresponsible until this policy is changed.

Hopefully this policy will change as the fish selection is improving as well as the prices are fairly good. Of course QT everything no different than from LA or any other non-pre-QTed fish.

Sharing my $0.02 as a cautionary tale for those that want to take this gamble. I did.. and lost my entire 3 fish order the first time. Reordered and now my order is one day late as of this morning's tracking effectively putting shipping 2 days all-on.

 

[blaxsun]

Honestly, I don't see shipping times improving anytime in the next decade. We are simply short too many truck drivers in North America, Europe and the UK.

 

[Saltyanimals]

That may be true, but the point is the seller opted to ship at a slower rate for the cost savings and margin over the responsibility of the lives of the animals. Next Day Priority before 10am vs Next Day by end of business 5pm. This is 7 additional hours in a box and additional risk of late packages as mine was today. Resulting in a 2 day shipping. I don't expect great healthy fish when I open my packages tomorrow after being in a box for 48 hrs.

 

[polyppal]

I didn’t know people were crazy enough to buy livestock online from Petco in the first place

they can’t keep in store fish healthy - how are they gonna ship them healthy?!

 

[Saltyanimals]

I didn’t know people were crazy enough to buy livestock online from Petco in the first place

they can’t keep in store fish healthy - how are they gonna ship them healthy?!

Not the first time I've been called crazy. lol Actually petco doesn't package and ship from the stores. What you order actually comes from Quality Marine which is a major wholesale distributor. Same one that ships for LiveAquaria. The fish come in individually pack blackout bags with labels direct so it actually never touches a Petco. I've actually ordered from the store's local weekly list several times and they just call me when the bags arrive. I just pick them up and it never touches the petco water. The selection is hit or miss by the store and weekly list, but I've found some really good gems in the past. i.e. $35 orange should tang, $25 lyretails, etc.

I'm actually a fan of ordering from petco as my last order was 5 fairy and flasher wrasse. I called in for credit due to loss after 20 days no issues. I would have continued to order if they would change their shipping policy to next-day-air before 10am which is why I started this thread for awareness and hopefully encourage petco to change their policy.

The important thing to understand here or with any online order anywhere is the importance of QT in whatever degree you're comfortable. Ordering from petco is the same as ordering from LA which means you should definitely QT. Diver's Den is a different story as they unpack and QT in ionic copper themselves yet they still recommend you QT orders from them.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Reef beauty's recently sent me a box. Arrived on time next day. Same side of the country. Water still warm when I removed the livestock from the bags. Lol

I would order from petco online just to see. I have np buying from petco either as they are the wallmart of fish stores for sw ppl. Lol.

Emergency needs! Run to petsmart. Nope. Petco. Yup. Lol.
Also I agree they are hit and miss in store. Some are good and some bad. They are working this.

Back in the day one of the local.club members was a petco worker and got them going good with corals. Well I've heard he's moved on and went up and is regional now so that's a +1 imo is just having ppl who actually know something making the decisions or guiding at least.
D

 

[BZOFIQ]

I'm just lucky to live next to ones that get decent stuff. The manager told me he can order anything for me and call me on arrival so I can pick it up without acclimating it to Petco water (and parasites)

Outside of several species that are crazy overpriced, most everything else is actually very reasonable.

 

[doubleshot00]

I didn’t know people were crazy enough to buy livestock online from Petco in the first place

they can’t keep in store fish healthy - how are they gonna ship them healthy?!

This. Like every Petco fish I’ve ever bought has died. Even the snails died within a week.

My man here sending emails upset with the company.

 

[RichReef]

Our Petco at The Christiana Mall in Delaware is pretty good with their livestock.

The lady who runs that department is a reefer.

 

[undermind]

This. Like every Petco fish I’ve ever bought has died. Even the snails died within a week.

My man here sending emails upset with the company.

Reading his followup post pretty much negates the need for your piling-on post and emojis.

Pretty well explained here (over a week ago):

Not the first time I've been called crazy. lol Actually petco doesn't package and ship from the stores. What you order actually comes from Quality Marine which is a major wholesale distributor. Same one that ships for LiveAquaria. The fish come in individually pack blackout bags with labels direct so it actually never touches a Petco. I've actually ordered from the store's local weekly list several times and they just call me when the bags arrive. I just pick them up and it never touches the petco water. The selection is hit or miss by the store and weekly list, but I've found some really good gems in the past. i.e. $35 orange should tang, $25 lyretails, etc.

I'm actually a fan of ordering from petco as my last order was 5 fairy and flasher wrasse. I called in for credit due to loss after 20 days no issues. I would have continued to order if they would change their shipping policy to next-day-air before 10am which is why I started this thread for awareness and hopefully encourage petco to change their policy.

The important thing to understand here or with any online order anywhere is the importance of QT in whatever degree you're comfortable. Ordering from petco is the same as ordering from LA which means you should definitely QT. Diver's Den is a different story as they unpack and QT in ionic copper themselves yet they still recommend you QT orders from them.

 

[stevolough]

Reading his followup post pretty much negates the need for your piling-on post and emojis.

Pretty well explained here (over a week ago):

Unfortunately slow shipping isn’t just about drivers. It’s about waiting and cramping as much as u can in a trailer before u ship it. Everyone scrambling to keep prices down and survive

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Our Petco at The Christiana Mall in Delaware is pretty good with their livestock.

The lady who runs that department is a reefer.

We have a couple excellent ones in the Houston area too.

 

[doubleshot00]

Reading his followup post pretty much negates the need for your piling-on post and emojis.

Pretty well explained here (over a week ago):

Thank god your here.

 

[BZOFIQ]

This. Like every Petco fish I’ve ever bought has died. Even the snails died within a week.

My man here sending emails upset with the company.

This NOT!


Either your local Petco happens to be terribly bad or the problem is between your monitor and the back of your chair.

I lost 2 out of maybe 12-15 fish I've bought in recent years. One jumped (leopard wrasse) and one got sucked to my powerhead (tiny filefish)

I don't blindly buy anything they have. I observe what arrived in the system above and below.


THIS.

You're either killing the fish or are knowingly buying specimens that are in very poor health.

 

[muffinmanXL]

Thank god your here.

Well, someone with reading comprehension needed to step in