Pets4Homes deposit scheme - is it safe?

[Kahid87445]

After many had been scammed during the pandemic last year, Pets4Homes introduced a Deposit Scheme to make buying a puppy (or other animals) more safely and to avoid people being scammed.

How does the scheme work?

Is a video call sufficient proof to see if a puppy is real?

Is one supposed to ask the breeder for his/her address and other details?

If someone needs to pay a £350 deposit and then a video call takes place and both agree to release the deposit, what is stopping a breeder from simply stopping to contact the buyer after he/she has accepted to release the deposit money?

Does Pets4Homes carry out safety checks to verify a breeder's ID before the money has been released into his/her bank account?

Has anyone used the scheme?

The scheme is mandatory for anyone wanting to sell puppies. I must state that I haven't read any stories of people being scammed since the introduction of the scheme.

Thanks everyone!

@Wolfiefan

There are actually terms and conditions one has to meet you advertise a dog or puppies on Pets4Homes.

There are plenty of breeders who use Pets4Homes to sell puppies that have had "proper health tests".

Do you not think that the breeders on the Kennel Club and Champdogs are also selling because they want to make money? You can sugarcoat it however much you want to, but capital always plays a part, no matter what website the seller advertises his/her puppies online.

@Wolfiefan

The sooner Pets4homes is shut down for good the better. No one who actually cared about their animals would advertise to strangers over the internet. Rescue or contact the breed club.

Of course you're advertising to the general public. The wider the 'audience' the better the chances to find suitable owners.

Unregistered kittens/puppies shouldn't be advertised, in my opinion.

Of course it’s different to breed clubs. They don’t list every puppy available. They only lost those whose parents have had the proper health tests for the breed
Maybe your particular breed club.
That definately isn’t the case for all.
And if the club is any good at all they won’t list any breeder who doesn’t offer support and choose homes carefully
The key wording there being ‘ if the club is any good’
Websites like pets4homes are simply about money. Not about health or welfare or anything good
Is that why there are breeders on pets4homes who are both KC accredited and members of the relevant breed club who have health tested their dogs, paid attention to inbreeding COI, endorse the puppies and offer to take the dog back at any point etc ...?

But, a puppy from a puppy farm generally will look different to a puppy from a reputable breeder.
And you think you can tell the difference? That's great, but the vast majority of people can't.

That fact that your money is protected on this site says literally nothing about the provenance of your pup.

This won't end well 😬

I don’t have any knowledge of experience of this, but OPs posts are reading like an advert/good bit of PR for Pets4Homes

My thoughts exactly @RuggeryBuggery

Isn’t it Ruggery.
Who do you think checks those terms and conditions are met OP? No one.
And it’s not puppies that need health testing. Parents need breed specific health tests done. It’s not cheap and amateur breeders may not know or bother with it.
And antisocial decent breeders on Pets4homes who have done all testing and chosen parents carefully etc? As rare as rocking horse shit.

"OPs posts are reading like an advert/good bit of PR for Pets4Homes"

Thought same Ruggery

It's so predictable, somebody mentions 'pets for homes' and everyone piles on.
I have yet to see data, from a reputable source, that the majority of sellers are puppy farmers?

I'm not disputing that there will, inevitably, be dubious sellers on the site but it's unfair to criticise the site as a whole.

Our lovely dog was listed on pets 4 homes (the horror!) it was a local family who we visited several times, our puppy was with her parents until we took her and there was literally no way they were anything other than genuine.

Op, you're on Mumsnet, unless you foster a 14 year old retired greyhound, you will get nothing but patronising responses.

I advertise there. It doesn't make me a puppy/cat farmer. People buying animals need to have some common sense and do their research

^ This. I don't understand why it's always the breeders that are to blame.

Some people seek instant gratification from buying something like that cute little puppy or kitten.

Some people are naive enough to hand over cash on the basis of a cute picture.

No, it does not. But, a puppy from a puppy farm generally will look different to a puppy from a reputable breeder.

Why do you think they would look different? Most puppy farmed puppies are actually perfectly healthy things - you seem to be under the illusion that a puppy farmed pup is always going to be filthy, badly bred and covered in fleas.

Whereas most of them look like perfectly normal dogs. Some may even be KC registered. Most will be chipped and clear of worms and fleas. But none of that means they didn't come from a puppy farm.

I got my puppy from pets4homes. I had a very long list of requirements and this fitted the bill. There were lots of adverts that made me question them (no
Pictures of mum for starters) so I scrolled on by. My pup is kc registered. I met the mum before we paid any money. Breeder grilled us, we grilled her.
I think one of the biggest problems are the buyers. Some are just desperate for a puppy so just get one. This provides demand for the scammers/farmers. I think buyers need the education. If everyone saw the signs of a puppy farm then this would decrease demand.

No one who actually cared about their animals would advertise to strangers over the internet
Oh, nonsense.

I've known several home-bred litters be advertised in ChampDogs, out of much loved family pets, with considerable thought being given to the choice of stud and a puppy being kept by the family. Many of those puppies went to friends, neighbours and relatives, but some found their homes thanks to internet ads - potential purchasers visited and were grilled.

One of ours was from Pets4Homes. There was no doubt in my mind that the breeder loved his dogs, and he has kept in touch ever since.

Similarly, some years ago our puppy's breeder had someone pull out when the litter was about six weeks old. She advertised the puppy on her website, shock horror. Her dogs have fantastic lives.

I can’t help answer your question on the deposit process. I bought my dog from pets4homes and I did really careful research on the seller online and from day one she kept me updated, photos videos etc, and was insistent we visited at least once (which we did) and now 6 months later we are still in touch and she still gives advice and lovely updates on the mother (it was an accidental mating). As with all purchases you need to do your research and know what you need to avoid. I’m not sure you can slate one website based on some bad press and perceptions.... it would be like refusing to buy from Amazon because you read someone had a duff purchase.

Decent breeders don't need to advertise. They will already have a waiting list. Any breeder, KC registered or not, does not breed litters speculatively. That is all about making money, nothing to do with maintaining the line/improving the breed - which is the only reason anyone should breed from a bitch.

A breeder can show the same pup to 10 different new homes, and take every deposit.

Pets4Homes don't vet their breeders. Unscrupulous breeders know this, so it doesn't attract honest, genuine ones.

Any breeder, KC registered or not, does not breed litters speculatively. That is all about making money, nothing to do with maintaining the line/improving the breed - which is the only reason anyone should breed from a bitch

There is no such thing as the MN Doghouse altruistic breeder. Breeding and selling life animals is a business. Nothing wrong with that at all. Rodents, Fish or Replies - Nobody seems to worry who supplies the petshop....

Pets4Homes don't vet their breeders. Unscrupulous breeders know this, so it doesn't attract honest, genuine ones

Neither does the Kennel Club or sits like
Champdogs. Even the council issues license based on what they see on the day.
And breed clubs are just that, a collection of like minded people... often from the show ring. Their aim is not to supply you with a pet but to get the next showstopper.

@ArchbishopOfBanterbury

Wrong. Someone can only place one deposit on one puppy/kitten/etc at a time and the deposit only gets transferred to the breeder when both the breeder and seller agree together. The seller also needs to verify his/her details by two methods before Pets4Homes will allow the money to be transferred into his/her bank account.

@Shmithecat2

Who made you the person to decide when people should only be breeding their female dogs?

Do you go to pet shop owners and tell them that they shouldn't be putting male and female rats in the same cage in case they mate with each other?

Of course I don't think that a female dog should be bred time and time again without any time between the litters, but for you to claim that dogs should only be bred to maintain and improve the breed is absurd. In fact, that approach is pretty much a point of view advocating eugenics. Humans have kept dogs as companions for centuries and there will always be a supply and demand for dogs - get used to it.

@Shmithecat2

You posted, "Decent breeders don't need to advertise. They will already have a waiting list. Any breeder, KC registered or not, does not breed litters speculatively."

So, why, even before the pandemic, were there still plenty of puppies available to buy on the Champdogs and the Kennel Club websites?
Your claims are hogwash.

Who gets to define what a 'decent breeder' is exactly?

There seems to be no way for Pets4Homes to verify how many pups in a litter.

I don't give a monkey's about Pets4Homes. I'm not interested in giving the website publicity. Why would I? Pretty much everyone has heard of it. But, this thread has shown how ignorant people are about Pets4Homes and procedure of getting a puppy.

As I pointed out earlier, people scam on plenty of well known websites such as eBay. Should we all stop using those sites? No one seemed to be able to answer that question.

@sunflowersandbuttercups

I think your definition of a 'puppy farm' is different to the definition of it in a dictionary or on any website with regard to animal safety and preventing animal cruelty.

Puppies from puppy farms are generally brought up in poor conditions. The puppies normally have bad health. The puppies are normally not socialised properly. Etc, etc. Such signs should be obvious to anyone who has a brain that works.

But, you previously posted that the 'majority' of adverts are of puppies from puppy farms and when I asked you to provide a source for that claim you were unable to do so. I wonder why...

Yet, all I can do is find selected articles from newspapers about people being scammed.

Check out the reviews of the website. Why don't they overall conform with what you claim?

I think you have an agenda... do you think people should stop buying puppies and recuse dogs instead?

@ArchbishopOfBanterbury

Well that's easy to do if the puppies have been KC registered.

You need to remember that Pets4Homes doesn't sell puppies, it is an advertising website.