Shipping and DOA Policies

 Shipping Information and DOA Policies 

  • Fedex Priority Overnight: WE NO LONGER USE THIS SERVICE

  • We do not ship to any countries outside of the USA. No exceptions. 
  • WE WILL NOT SHIP YOUR LIVE VERTEBRATES (Frogs, Tadpoles, etc) UNTIL WE HAVE  A CONVERSATION. CONTACT WILL BE INITIATED VIA EMAIL OR PHONE NUMBER DEPENDING ON WHAT INFORMATION YOU GAVE OUR SYSTEM. LIVE VERTEBRATES CAN BE SHIPPED TO A UPS CUSTOMER CENTER OR TO A BUSINESS / RESIDENCE.

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INFORMATION BELOW AS IT APPLIES TO EVERY SINGLE ORDER PLACED AND IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO READ.

  •  WINTER shipping is here! We use insulation and heat packs on your orders to protect your products and animals. Please understand that our shipping rates reflect this. Currently, temperatures are plummeting across the USA, especially in the north, midwest, northeast and northwest. Please be aware that live plants, live invertebrates, and live vertebrates are NOT guaranteed when transit profiles are below 32 degrees for lows for USPS priority mail or UPS ground, and highs of 86. UPS 2-day air allows for guarantees lows of 28 degrees or above, and below 90, and finally, UPS next day air and USPS express are guaranteed down to 22 degrees, or 92 degrees. Anything under 22 degrees or above 92, regardless of transit speed, is NOT guaranteed. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS BEFORE ORDERING. WE DO NOT ACCEPT REFUNDS ON LIVE ANIMALS FOR ANY REASON IF OURSIDE OF DOA POLICY, AND DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS FOR ANY REASON, BY ORDERING YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS.

  • Delays are very common at this time. ANY ORDER, REGARDLESS OF SERVICE USED AFTER 2 DAYS IN TRANSIT IS NO LONGER GUARANTEED. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR DOA, REFUNDS, OR REPLACEMENTS AFTER 2 DAYS OF TRANSIT TIME. ORDER AT OWN RISK OR CHOOSE EXPRESS OPTIONS (Priority mail express, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS Next Day Air). Please contact us if your package is delayed and we will work with you. Most often we will be able to compensate / assist you in some way. Customer service is our #1 priority, and we will do everything in our power to make your experience with us a good one.

  • We only ship live organisms (frogs, feeders, plants) Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and sometimes* Thursday. Frogs will only ship after coordinating with the customer, and will only travel UPS NEXT DAY AIR. Other non frog orders that contain live organisms will ship by Wednesday each week, usually without customer contact. If you place an order after 12:00pm on Wednesday, your item(s) may not be shipped until the following Monday (contact us if needed).

  • *As stated above, we may attempt to ship on Thursday, pending tentative delivery times and weather conditions.  Local customers within a 3.5 hour radius of Bessemer City, NC may be shipped Thursday for delivery Friday via UPS ground. Dry good orders to anywhere in the USA may also ship Thursday and potentially even Friday.

 

  • We have been notified that our system typically displays inaccurate shipping speeds and delivery estimates. DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO DELIVERY ESTIMATES GIVEN AS THEY ARE INACCURATE. THE SHOP APP DOES NOT, WE REPEAT, DOES NOT GIVE ACCURATE DELIVERY ESTIMATES OR DELIVERY NOTIFICATIONS. PLEASE USE YOUR OFFICIAL TRACKING NUMBER ONLY VIA THE CARRIER WE USE THAT IS LINKED TO YOUR ORDER NUMBER. Here is a list below for choosing the proper shipping method: 

  • USPS PRIORITY MAIL: Not an ideal option unless you are West of TX, MO, WI, etc. Zone 6-8 (west and west coast - FrogDaddy is on the east coast) and beyond should pick this option, as ground shipping via UPS cannot get there faster than 4-5 business days. USPS priority mail will NEVER be faster than 2 days, as it is physically impossible unless you are within a 30 min radius, and UPS ground is still a better option for you. DELAYS IN PRIORITY MAIL ARE RAMPANT AT THIS TIME. Heavy items / large boxes for zone 8 customers (CA, WA, etc) are almost impossible to ship. WE MAY CANCEL AND REFUND YOU IF WE BELIEVE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FILL YOUR ORDER. Heavy / large boxes carry a dimensional weight surcharge - which means our system doesn't calculate accurate shipping as it can't understand the box size and weight sometimes. Therefore it may cost us double or triple what our system charges you, and we may contact you for additional funds.

  • USPS EXPRESS MAIL: An express option for zones 6-8 (west and west coast). 1-2 day transit time, but typically you will pay a heavy price tag for the speed, and having it take 2 days is not ideal for the price. UPS next day air is best. DELAYS ARE NOT AS COMMON WITH THIS SERVICE SPEED.

 

  • UPS GROUND: Typically a good option for heavy shipments, or shipments to the east coast out toward MO, eastern TX, and the midwest. After passing Missouri westward, we no longer suggest ground for live organisms as it will usually take more than 2 days, voiding our live arrival guarantee, but for dry goods we definitely recommend ground regardless of zone. UPS ground has been quite reliable for us. For much of NC, SC, southern VA, eastern TN, and northern GA, this service can achieve a 1-day transit time. Ground will often not ever be faster than 2 days if you are not in said above states. For the rest of the USA, 2 days, up until MO, upper NY / NJ, central TX.  If you are further west than MO / central TX, or further north than NY / RI / NH area, and need things in 2 days, we recommend UPS 2 day air.

  • UPS 2 DAY AIR: A fantastic service. A good bit more expensive than ground but very reliable 2 day service. Most applicable to customers west of central TX and MO, or in northern NY / MN / RI etc

  • UPS NEXT DAY AIR: A beast of a service. This service guarantees next day delivery. Almost never has delays. This is our go-to method for extremely fast transit times and the service we use for ALL FROG ORDERS.

 

  • Fedex Priority Overnight: WE NO LONGER USE THIS SERVICE

 

  • IMPORTANT*** YOU MUST READ BELOW***

  • When we print your order out, you will receive a notification via text or email depending on what you used as a form of communication. This is dubbed a "shipping" notification. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOUR ORDER HAS SHIPPED. We regularly print labels Monday morning and Tuesday depending on when you placed your order (orders from the previous week placed on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are printed on Monday, so on so forth). Just because we printed your order, again, does not mean it actually shipped, even though the fulfillment email says it is. The tracking will say "Label Created, or Label not yet in system," when you follow the link. Like we explain below, we fill orders usually in the order we receive them, but also by complexity. Simple orders are usually prioritized, as well as live orders with fruit flies and feeders. Remember, if your order contains any frogs we will contact you before shipping your order, we will never print your label before contacting you as we must coordinate when to ship. ALL ORDERS SHIP BY WEDNESDAY, EVERY WEEK. We fill orders Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will have ALL orders out, again, by Wednesday, unless you order ON Wednesday, usually at a cutoff time of 12pm. Then you may not get your order shipped until next Monday. We ship dry goods and local orders on Thursday, but if you are not local and aren’t ordering dry goods and you order Thursday, if we are not confident you will get your order in time by viewing the arrival estimate, we will not ship it. We do not want your order getting stuck in transit over the weekend, especially live feeders or plants. Please understand this is for your satisfaction and the safety of the live organisms. It also protects you under our live arrival guarantees. WE NEVER SHIP ORDERS FRIDAY OR SATURDAY UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT US REGARDING THE WHEREABOUTS OF YOUR ORDER IF IT IS MONDAY, TUESDAY, OR WEDNESDAY BECAUSE WE ARE BUSY PACKING IT. If you do not receive confirmation by Thursday, THEN you may contact us and ask where your order is. ALTERNATIVELY, if you have a complicated receiving schedule and need to coordinate when your order ships, please contact us. Otherwise, as stated above, please be patient. If you placed an order Sunday please do not contact us on Tuesday asking where your order is...it will be out by Wednesday. This is very tiring and repetitive and we would like to type this disclaimer out to lessen the emails we receive. We are an EXTREMELY small team of four to maintain the entire facility, operations, shipping, and customer service and we cannot possibly contact each and every person, personally, to tell them when orders go out. Josh’s Frogs has 100 employees, we have 3, please understand the difference. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING YOUR TRACKING MONDAY, TUESDAY, AND WEDNESDAY, to see updates. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your business, as we are much smaller than people realize and have massively large competitors. We do our absolute best for all of our customers, so please know that you matter, and we are always working (quite literally) to give you our all.

How do we pack frogs?

At FrogDaddy, we are passionate about our animals. We will never ship in / to the following:

  • Hazardous weather conditions such as excessively heavy precipitation in any form (intense hail, sleet, snow, or rain).

  • Extreme temperatures* (below 35 degrees Fahrenheit and above 95 degrees Fahrenheit). *We can upon request, and we have before. However, this may be indicative of extra costs and will have no LAG. We will use double or triple box methods and our best judgement, but this is on the buyer.

  • To a person we deem unfit to keep an animal. This can be for any reason.

Frogs will be packaged in a secure, insulated box. Usually, a larger box will be used during the winter, and even double boxing may be required. We use Cryopak Phase Changing Material in the form of packets (Phase 22 Packets) and heat packs (72 hour Uni-heat, where surface temperatures do not often go above 100 F). We will always, by standard, use a minimum of one (1) packets per package, strategically placed to optimize internal temperature conditions. If we only use one, we will also include an ice pack (summer) or heat pack (winter). Most times we will use two (2) phase packs. Frogs will usually be packaged in 2oz - 8 oz deli cups (Ranitomeya, Oophaga, Epipedobates, young Dendrobates, Ameerega, Mantella, and Adelphobates) or 8oz - 16 oz deli cups (older, larger Dendrobates, Mantella, Ameerega, and Adelphobates) to restrict excessive movement. However, we may use other packaging or increase sizes if we are combining frogs. The deli cups will contain a thin layer of wet, New Zealand sphagnum moss surrounded with plant clippings and will have small ventilation holes for gas exchange. These deli cups will be securely packaged and buffered away from direct contact with Phase 22 Packets by using bubble wrap, newspaper, or a combination of both. Full package will be sealed and appropriately labeled as per the Lacy Act requirements. Our package promise is that nothing will move in transit. We pack tightly and effectively, going the extra steps to prevent damage to your products. 

If your package is damaged or altered for any reason, please notify us immediately. After 1 hour of receipt, we cannot help you in any way. As stated above, we do not accept returns on live animals for any reason, by ordering you agree to these terms.

FrogDaddy offers Live Arrival Guarantee (LAG) on all frog orders with transit temperatures at or below 92 degrees F for a high temperature, and at or above 22 degrees F for a low temperature via Fedex Express Priority (1 day). All frog orders will be packed in an insulated box with the appropriate temperature regulators (heat pack / phase pack / cool pack). 

IMPORTANT: DOA DUE TO DELAYS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO REFUNDS. WE WILL WORK WITH YOU, BUT CARRIER DEALYS ARE OUT OF OUR CONTROL.

If your frogs come in Dead On Arrival (DOA), you must do the following:

  1. You must communicate with us within 1 hour of reception.

  2. You must report if you picked the package up at Fedex or if it was delivered to your door. If the package was delivered, you must notify us where the package was delivered (porch, mailbox, office, etc.), weather conditions (shade, full sun, etc), and approximately how long it was there. Please be honest with us, as we have the ability to look up time stamps, and if you are found to be dishonest, we will not refund under any circumstances.

  3. You must show CLEAR pictures of box, box contents, and dead specimens. Clear videos are preferred, but pictures of dead specimens are fully acceptable. You must remove all specimens on to a paper towel or high contrast background to receive a refund and show original packaging.

    Thank you for respecting our DOA policies on frogs. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at sales@frogdaddy.net.

 

How do we pack feeders / invertebrates (springtails, isopods, fruit flies)?

At FrogDaddy, we are passionate about our animals. We usually will not ship in / to the following:

  • Hazardous weather conditions such as excessively heavy precipitation in any form (hail, sleet, snow, rain).

  • Extreme temperatures (below 22 degrees Fahrenheit and above 92 degrees Fahrenheit).

  • To a person we deem unfit to keep an animal. This can be for any reason.

Fruit flies, isopods, and springtails will be packaged in a secure, standard, single panel box under weather parameters that meet this requirement (42 F - 84 F). If temperatures are outside of these parameters, heat / cold / phase packs may be added as necessary in a secure, insulated box or single panel box. Temperature control packs will be strategically placed to optimize internal temperature conditions. Fruit flies will be packaged in 32 oz deli cups. Isopods and springtails will usually be packaged in 4 to 8 oz deli cups. We may choose utilize larger or smaller containers. All fruit flies will be shipped in their media, isopods in their native media or pure sphagnum moss, and springtails will be shipped via clay. These deli cups will be securely packaged and buffered away from direct contact with cold / heat / phase packs by using bubble wrap, newspaper, or a combination of both. Our package promise is that nothing will move in transit. We pack tightly and effectively, going the extra steps to prevent damage to your products. 

If your package is damaged or altered for any reason, please notify us immediately.

FrogDaddy offers Live Arrival Guarantee (LAG) on all invertebrate orders with transit temperatures at or below 88 degrees F for a high temperature, and at or above 32 degrees F for a low temperature via 2-3 day Priority Mail (USPS) or 2-3 Day UPS ground (see beginning of document for current details). All invertebrate orders during extreme hot or cold weather (above 87 degrees F and below 34 degrees F) will be packed in an insulated box or single panel box with the appropriate temperature regulators (heat pack / phase pack / cool pack). Any order with a full transit profile temperature of 50-80 degrees will be packed without insulation, however some packages hitting 80 degrees may come with insulation.

If your Invertebrates come in Dead On Arrival (DOA), you must do the following:

  1. You must communicate with us within 1 hour of reception.

  2. You must report where the package was delivered (porch, mailbox, office, etc.), weather conditions (shade, full sun, etc), and approximately how long it was there. Please be honest with us, as we will look up time stamps.

  3. You must show CLEAR pictures of box, box contents, and dead specimens. Clear videos are preferred, but pictures of dead specimens are fully acceptable. You must remove at least 50% of your count on to a paper towel or high contrast background to receive a refund and show original packaging (does not count for fruit flies). Mature fruit flies, during the summer, usually die during transit. These do not qualify for our DOA policy. Even leading companies, like Josh’s Frogs, states this. We follow industry standards.

    Thank you for respecting our DOA policies on invertebrates. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at sales@frogdaddy.net.

 

How do we pack dry goods?

At FrogDaddy, we are passionate about our products.

Heavier products will be placed at the bottom of the box. Extra packing tape is usually added to secure the package if weight exceeds 5 lbs. The stability and the integrity of the package matters. Therefore, if items on the bottom are extremely heavy, we may split them and spread throughout the package in case the package is flipped or rotated. All fragile items will be buffered by bubble wrap, and will be well protected from heavier items in the package. Leaf litter bags will contain a small amount of air. This is industry standard. We are aware that this marginally decreases the amount of product you receive, however, this extra air will prevent any leaves from being damaged. Our package promise is that nothing will move in transit. We pack tightly and effectively, going the extra steps to prevent damage to your products. 

If your package is damaged or altered for any reason, please notify us immediately.