# Online betta buyers: 2-3 day shipping vs. Overnight?



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Hello all! I'm going to be buying a dumbo in the next two weeks through a breeder using the transhipper Koo Yang. I've read good reviews on this transhipper and they were very quick to respond to my inquiries. They even gave me the cost of shipping which was very helpful to know ahead of time! This brings me to my question... How many of you have went with 2-3 shipping? The betta will be shipped with a 72 hour heat pack and he's only traveling roughly 16 hours to get here. The cost in shipping for overnight is $50 which was a lot more than what I was expecting, unfortunately.. which is why I'm leaning more towards the 2-3 day shipping option. Advice or opinions would be lovely


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

This time of year I would do over night as it is so cold in Pa. I used Koo Yang for 2-3 day priority (in the fall when it was not so cold-low temps were in the 50s) as well as his over night shipping (for my husband's fish as I did not want to risk her being in mail long). The overnight is via fedex instead of USPS which is why it costs more. If you do priority mail the fish could freeze to death before it gets to you. Even with a heat pack-if its cold enough it deactivates the heat pack and renders it useless.

Plants can survive shipping the cold (as long as they do not freeze) better than fish, so I personally won't buy fish online until it gets back into the 50sF.


----------



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Aqua Aurora said:


> This time of year I would do over night as it is so cold in Pa. I used Koo Yang for 2-3 day priority (in the fall when it was not so cold-low temps were in the 50s) as well as his over night shipping (for my husband's fish as I did not want to risk her being in mail long). The overnight is via fedex instead of USPS which is why it costs more. If you do priority mail the fish could freeze to death before it gets to you. Even with a heat pack-if its cold enough it deactivates the heat pack and renders it useless.
> 
> Plants can survive shipping the cold (as long as they do not freeze) better than fish, so I personally won't buy fish online until it gets back into the 50sF.


Next week it looks like it's supposed to be up in the 60s, so I guess I'll wait and see what it looks like closer to the date of shipping. Do you know how cold it would need to be for the heat pack to deactivate?
edit: Feb 15th-17th (days of shipping) is predicted to be 65 degrees. Would that still be too cold?


----------



## Bobioden (Dec 23, 2015)

Is it coming from Thailand to the transhipper? If so that means it will have spend a day at least flying from Thailand to Koo Yang. The shipper then separates each fish and ships on to the buyer. Not sure if he changes water or not, but it could be another day before they ship out to you. The transhipper I got mine from had hundreds of fish she had to re-ship to buyers. She also changes water and adds conditioner to every bag before shipping on. So now we are looking at 2- 3 days. Overnight would be to you after 3 days in a small bag. If you choose 2-3 day shipping it could be 4-5 days from when it was shipped out from Thailand. 

What is the cost for 2-3 day shipping?


----------



## Zhylis (Nov 4, 2014)

Generally, I try not to buy/sell during winter. The odds are not in your favor.

That said, if the low is below 35°F at any point the week of shipping and/or there's snow between shipper and shippee, overnight is less risky. If there's an usually warm week like last December, then priority 2-3 day usually works out OK. Also, the extra time in shipping can cause the long fin betta to shred themselves; plakats less so. Personally, I would overnight a dumbo.


----------



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Bobioden said:


> Is it coming from Thailand to the transhipper? If so that means it will have spend a day at least flying from Thailand to Koo Yang. The shipper then separates each fish and ships on to the buyer. Not sure if he changes water or not, but it could be another day before they ship out to you. The transhipper I got mine from had hundreds of fish she had to re-ship to buyers. She also changes water and adds conditioner to every bag before shipping on. So now we are looking at 2- 3 days. Overnight would be to you after 3 days in a small bag. If you choose 2-3 day shipping it could be 4-5 days from when it was shipped out from Thailand.
> 
> What is the cost for 2-3 day shipping?


He does change the water!  He has a picture of an oxygen tank on his page with the caption "I'm not sure how other trans-shipper does it but I re-bag all fishes with new water and new oxygen for their journey to their new family." 

The 2-3 shipping costs $10


----------



## Bobioden (Dec 23, 2015)

I guess it is all up to you. $10 or $50 is a big difference.


----------



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Bobioden said:


> I guess it is all up to you. $10 or $50 is a big difference.


It is a big difference @[email protected] I have $60 set aside to use for this kind of purchase but I'd need probably another $30 to be in the clear (since the fish alone is $30). My wife is going to take a few art commissions to help me out. 

I'm going to wait until the date is closer before making my decision; if the weather is looking good, I might go with the 2-3 day shipping. If it's going to be colder out, I'll definitely do the overnight.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I'd advise looking at the date and next week past it, the last time I bought bettas from Thailand the plane was held up for several days before they came to the US.


----------



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Aqua Aurora said:


> I'd advise looking at the date and next week past it, the last time I bought bettas from Thailand the plane was held up for several days before they came to the US.


Yeah, I definitely will do that! Like I said, I have the money for it and will most likely pay for overnight shipping just to be safe. I just wanted to get some outside insight on it because I know some people have used priority shipping


----------



## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

Personally I don't do anything longer than overnight, I don't want the Bettas in that box longer than they need to be. Overnight may be more expensive, but it's completely worth it.


----------



## Olivia27 (Nov 26, 2015)

Chiming in: even USPS charges more or less the same price for overnight (welp depending on where you are that is) except that they're more likely to delay delivery if you're not on Priority Express. So even if I'm a bit bummed Koo Yang uses FedEx for overnight (would've cost a tad less via USPS since we're pretty close) at least I know the package won't be 24 hours late - which is totally common in USPS Priority 1-Day


----------



## vaetki (Jul 7, 2015)

Seren27 said:


> Chiming in: even USPS charges more or less the same price for overnight (welp depending on where you are that is) except that they're more likely to delay delivery if you're not on Priority Express. So even if I'm a bit bummed Koo Yang uses FedEx for overnight (would've cost a tad less via USPS since we're pretty close) at least I know the package won't be 24 hours late - which is totally common in USPS Priority 1-Day


I agree @ DangerousAngel!
Also, thank you so much for telling me this, I had no idea! This definitely makes me feel better about getting him shipped overnight with Koo Yang!


----------



## SydneyA (Jan 17, 2016)

Mine is coming 2 day cross-country. Luckily we are experiencing a thaw in several states and he has heat packs. It's going to be in the 50s here today!


----------

