I saw this Yorkie ad today.

[SweetViolet]

Originally Posted by Sway Says

Any time someone is trying to do business and posts an ad in America but is in Africa there is obviously something wrong.

I'm sorry, but this is just not true.

I live in Africa and I really can get a female Yorkie puppy with championship bloodlines and eligible for AKC registration for $500. She is the other puppy I was considering when I bought Puddin.

Some businessmen are content to sell their wares at a low price, others seek to maximize their profits. There are many, many reputable Yorkie breeders in South Africa, and if a few of them wish to double their profits by selling their pups to overseas buyers, I don't see how that means "something is wrong" or that everybody in Africa is a fraudster.

Yes, there are scams and people should be careful. But the latest Yorkie puppy scam I came across was Americans trying to sell Yorkie puppies to South Africans for R1500 ($150US) which Americans may recognize as a ridiculously low price, but may seem perfectly reasonable...low but not too low...to foreigners.

The continent you are on doesn't make you honest or criminal and to characterize an advertisement as a scam based solely on the location of the advertiser is unjust.

[LDandPasquale]

Honestly i wouldnt buy a puppy without having the ability to GO and see it. Unless you plan on flying to South Africa and seeing this puppy....id just forget the whole idea of it. JMO

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

Originally Posted by LDandPasquale

Honestly i wouldnt buy a puppy without having the ability to GO and see it. Unless you plan on flying to South Africa and seeing this puppy....id just forget the whole idea of it. JMO

YES !!!!!!!
Only in My Opinion..
I would never buy a puppy with out seeing it...
That is part of the fun of choosing one

[SweetViolet]

Originally Posted by Lee B

I'm sorry, it IS a scam. If they write back, they'll probably have some sort of song and dance about how they're missionaries just sent to Africa (you said Cameroon, but it could have been Sierra Leone or Nigeria, too) and that "this just isn't a good place" for the baby. So they're willing to send her back to the States to a good home.

Ex-CUUUUUUse me, but how would they know if you're a "good home" or a stinking puppy mill?

Then they'll add air freight from XYZ airport to the airport closest to your home. Send them the money and they'll send you the puppy.

RIIIIIIght! Not gonna happen. Do you have any idea of the paperwork Customs would want, let alone Ag?

*SIGH*

How does anyone know the conditions they are selling a puppy into? How many puppy sellers actually go to the homes of the buyers and check them out?

Of course they will add air freight...would you expect someone to ship something halfway around the world to you for nothing?

Animals are shipped overseas all the time. There are even companies that specialize in overseas shipping of animals. Those companies assist the shipper to obtain the documents necessary to admit the animal at the destination.

There are many, many reputable Yorkie breeders here in South Africa. You cannot assume that simply because an advertiser is located in Africa that the ad is a scam. I have corresponded with a Yorkie puppy scammer who is located in the US.

[SweetViolet]

Originally Posted by LDandPasquale

Honestly i wouldnt buy a puppy without having the ability to GO and see it. Unless you plan on flying to South Africa and seeing this puppy....id just forget the whole idea of it. JMO

Now this I agree with. One of the reasons I didn't take the puppy with the championship lines is that I would have had to fly to Pretoria and back...or drive 2800 kilometres round trip...to see her. Puddin was just up the highway about 4 hours (RT). I would not buy a puppy sight unseen...but many people would and, in fact, a number of people here on YT have done so.

[chachi]

I know you are sensitive about this because you are from South Africa but I agree the ads from missionaries in cameroon are scams. There have been many people on here that have fallen for them on here and got scammed. It is just got to be common knowledge on here that they are scams. They have even showed up here in the yorkies for sale or wanted forum

[lilstar63100]

i think everyone is a little confused.... i think the OP said this puppy was NOT in africa... but in her sisters home town.

someone else just made a comment about africa puppies and everyone got off topic.

[i_love_my_yorki]

Originally Posted by Love_Capone

Well it could be a scam, but I don't know. I bought my yorkie for $125 just had to drive 3 hrs each way to get him. But he's perfectly healthy and the breeder was extremely nice and caring and the place was clean and it wasn't a puppy mill at all. Although my puppy is larger than most yorkies (6 lbs at 3 1/2 months) which is why he was being sold at a discounted rate.

I prefer the bigger Yorkies ...I just bought Couper on Sunday hes 6 weeks old & weights 2.2lbs his parents are over the Standard size

So hopefully Couper will be big!
Thats an awesome price you paid...
Couper was $560 with papers & Microchip

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

here is another ad similar :

Montreal Apartments Rent Classifieds Louer Appartement Logement Petites annonces classes...

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

http://www.ifind.ca/cgi-bin/class/classifieds.cgi?db=aCommunity&website=&language=&s ession_key=&send_ad_button=on&results_format=long& db_id=3012&query=retrieval

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

THEY HAVE THE SAME IN CANADA :

Cute Tiny Tea Cup Yorkie Puppies For Adoption For Sale

[YoRkiE Te aMo]

found another one here:
http://www.merkado.ca/Data/Pic/01_2078331_gerry.jpg

[Lee B]

Sweet Violet, I meant no offense. I know that things are priced differently in other parts of the world - which is why there are Americans who take vacations in Costa Rica to have their dental work done, or others who go to Thailand for surgical procedures.

But I'm sure you can agree with me that South Africa is much farther advanced than say, Cameroon. Or Nigeria. Or Sierra Leone. Or Eritrea. I would not be surprised, and in fact would *expect* to find reputable dog breeders in South Africa. But Cameroon? Not so much ...

I followed such an advertisement when I was looking for my little girl. I had money in hand and was ready to look at the pup and take her home immediately. The ad said she was local - but all there was for contact info was an email address. A Hotmail address, at that. The ad in the newspaper was only hours old, but Oops! he was already in Cameroon.

It was a scam.

My reaction comes from experience, certainly not from the price of the pup.

[mscat]

Originally Posted by YorkieShadow

Like I told my sister she will be lucky if they even email her back. No its not over seas it states it right in her home town. they also have the other ad in the town next to her. but like I said it could be someone playing games and found somones elses pictures maybe and are just out playing games. she knows what to look out for. but she was a lucky one and found her other baby many years ago for 200 and shes been very healthy. so you never really know. never hurts to email and ask. but ill keep you all updated.

Are there any updates yet? I agree it never hurts to email and inquire about a pup! The pic. sure it cute However, I would be very cautious doing any kind of business over email. If your sister decides to go and see the pup make sure she does not go alone.

[SweetViolet]

Originally Posted by chachi

I know you are sensitive about this because you are from South Africa but I agree the ads from missionaries in cameroon are scams. There have been many people on here that have fallen for them on here and got scammed. It is just got to be common knowledge on here that they are scams. They have even showed up here in the yorkies for sale or wanted forum

I am not FROM South Africa. I am an American who moved here five years ago.

The most recent scam I have seen...running in Gumtree, our version of Craigslist...is being run by Americans. It is offering Yorkies to South Africans at laughably low prices. I contacted the advertiser and am satisfied it is a scam based on her answers--and evasions. I did not just make an assumption that the ad was a fraud...that would have been intellectually lazy and ignorant of me.

Yes, there are scams, but not all of them come from Africa...and not all adverts from Africa are necessarily scams. There are puppy mills in North Carolina...would you assume that ALL advertisements for puppies from that state were from puppy mills? I bought a beautiful puppy from a breeder I found on Gumtree...should my experience of the American puppy scammer have convinced me that all Gumtree ads for puppies are scams from America?

I am simply asking people to have the common decency to not make negative assumptions based on the geography of an advertiser. Some ads are clearly scams, but don't assume they ALL are, simply because they are from afar. As I said earlier, I really can source championship bloodline Yorkie puppies for $500US...not much money for such a puppy to you, perhaps, but the top end of the price range for puppies in this country! But if I advertised that, would you dismiss it as a scam, based simply on my place of residence??