Terms & Conditions
PayPal customers only: When paying by PayPal I cannot change the delivery address that is confirmed on the order (this is a strict PayPal rule). I also cannot alter the order once payment has been received.
1. Live Arrival Guarantee
If any items are damaged please inform me on the day of arrival, you may be required to return the damaged goods but generally a photograph is fine. I will then issue a refund for the item, postage will not be refunded. If a delivery attempt has been made and the parcel is returned to the sorting office, I cannot guarantee live delivery on any other day. You will be sent a 'despatched' email once your parcel has been posted, the parcel should then be expected to arrive the following day before 1pm and will require a signature.
If your order does not arrive before 1pm on the day after dispatch, please let me know before 4pm. All Special Delivery parcels have a tracking number and I will therefore be able to check on the progress of your order. I will not know there is a problem unless you inform me. Sometimes there is a hold up but more often than not a delivery has been attempted or the parcel has been delivered but not handed to the addressee. I cannot be held responsible for delays that I have not been informed of, the live arrival guarantee will therefore be void if I am not informed.
2. Delivery
I generally post orders on a Tuesday and Thursday by Royal Mail Special Delivery. This service guarantees next day delivery before 1pm. The service is mainly very reliable but there are occasions when it fails. If it is vital that your parcel arrives on a certain date then you may prefer to arrange a private courier. I do not guarantee next day delivery from the time of receiving your order. All livestock is posted by Special Delivery but some equipment and bulkier items may be sent by First Class mail, Recorded Delivery or Parcel Force. They may therefore take a day or two longer to arrive. If you would like your order to be sent on a specific day please contact me prior to placing your order (if an order arrives with a stipulated delivery day and has not been pre-arranged, this order may be sent on my next available posting day). There are some days when I cannot post anything due to other commitments. You will receive a despatched email when your order has been sent and should then expect your order to arrive the following day before 1pm, it will require a signature upon delivery.
3. Sizes
Animals that state 'large' may or may not be fully adult, they may be large nymphs. Animals that state 'adult' are generally fully adult but may be sub-adult. (if you only want adults please email before ordering). A nymph or juvenile is simply a young animal. I sometimes list small, medium and large juvenile/nymph (small size may be newly hatched).
It is difficult to give a size for the tarantula spiders as stock is constantly changing. Generally the small size is a spiderling up to 1cm body length, juvenile is a grown on spiderling with a body length of about 1-2cm, medium 2cm to 4cm and a large is about 4cm to fully adult (but a lot depends on the species!) Large/Believed to be female - This is not a guarantee but my best guess, based on years of experience and sometimes other people's ability to sex a tarantula.
I am happy to take a photo of any size tarantula spider that you are interested in, just email me!
I do not want anyone to be disappointed on receipt of their order. If you are concerned that a particular animal may not be large enough please ask for advice before ordering (I get very few complaints but when I do they are almost always about a tarantula spider not being large enough, nobody ever complains that they are too big).
4. Misidentification of Species
Unfortunately with very small specimens it is difficult to tell them apart. On just a few occasions over the years I have been notified that an animal, generally a spiderling has grown up to be something different from that ordered. If this should happen, I will refund the cost of the animal in full upon its return. This guarantee is valid for one year from the purchase date.
5. Postal Costs
Postage is £9.95 per order (all orders, any amount, however many items)
6. Arrival of Animals in Cold Weather
On receipt of your order it is very important to warm livestock slowly. The animals may be quite cold during transit. This will generally do them no harm providing that they are left at room temperature for a while to adjust. They can then be placed into their new heated environment. Handling during the adjustment period should be kept to a bare minimum, invertebrates will often 'play dead' as a defence and then spring back to life when left alone. If you find something that looks like a giant tea bag in with your order, it will be a heat pack to keep the animals warm during their journey. Heat packs are not reusable, they should just be thrown away. If you are worried about your animals upon receipt of your order please give me a call.
7. Correctly addressed Parcels
Please ensure that your address is correct. Use capital letters and spaces where appropriate. The address labels are printed from the details that customers enter on their account, I cannot be held responsible for items delayed or wrongly delivered due to an incorrect postal address.
8. Adding To Your Order
If you wish to add anything to your completed order, to avoid paying another postal charge, please contact me first. If the order has not already been sent then choosing the 'collection in person' method of delivery will mean that I can combine the orders and send them in one parcel. However if you do not contact me I may not realise that you have placed an additional order and you will be charged postage on each one. If you do want to add anything to your order then paying by bank transfer directly into my bank account is the best option. The details to use when making your payment either by online banking or visiting your bank in person are:
Account name: Virginia Cheeseman
Bank name: Barclays
Account number: 60489166
Sort code: 20-42-73
9. Over 18's Only
You must be 18 or over to order from my website. If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to set an account up in their name.
10. CITES Regulations
Some tarantula spiders on my website are covered by CITES regulations, Annex B. I do not import animals and therefore know relatively little about CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). It is permitted to send these tarantulas within the UK except to Northern Ireland. Please do not order these tarantulas if your address is in Northern Ireland! If a tarantula is ordered in error I will remove the item from your order and refund the price of the tarantula (less the PayPal fee if applicable). This information shows on the spiders covered by CITES currently on my website.
11. Sexing
I will always do my best to send a male and female when possible. However, it is not always easy to tell the sexes apart, especially in the young. Sometimes I only have one sex available.
When animals are sold as a pair this simply means two, if the animals are specifically a male and female pair this will be stated. I cannot fully guarantee the correct sex of any animal, I will always try to be accurate but mistakes do occasionally happen. I cannot sex immature tarantula spiders.
12. Discount vouchers
Unless stated otherwise all discount vouchers will be valid for 6 months from the date of issue.
13. Payment Via Direct Bank Transfer
I can accept payment directly into my bank account either online or by paying cash directly into a bank. When placing your order you will be expected to complete this transaction promptly, if no payment is received with the order this may result in cancellation as I cannot have stock held up in the system. If there is a reason that you need to delay payment please contact me.
14. Payment Via Cheque, Postal Order Or Cash
The website does not allow postal payment by cheque, postal order or cash. However this method of payment is available on an individual basis. Please call for details.
15. VAT
There is no vat to pay as I am not registered.
16. Cancellation / Changes To An Order
If you wish to cancel an order once it has been placed and paid for, the postal charges will be incurred as an administration fee. You will therefore be refunded the amount of the order less the delivery charges. (£9.95 for UK orders /£14.95 for outside the UK orders). Orders can only be cancelled up until they have been processed and prepared, at this point you will receive a confirmation email stating this.
If you have used the PayPal system on my website for your order and a refund is required for any reason, there is now a percentage fee charged by PayPal (approx. 3.5% of your order, including shipping). I will therefore send a refund less the PayPal fee unless the refund is due to a mistake by myself. Orders made by bank transfer will not incur this fee.
17. Photographs
Photographs on my website are representative of the species, they will only occasionally be of that particular animal.
18. Minimum spend
There is a minimum spend of £25.00 set on the website. Sorry, I cannot send out orders of less than this amount.
19. Website Reviews
I am always delighted when somebody takes the time to write a review but please note that you do need to be logged onto the website in order to post a review (if there is a problem you can simply email your review to me and I will pop it on for you).
20. Wild caught specimens
Wild caught animals may not always be completely perfect, they are healthy and feeding but some might have a slight defect such as broken antennae (wild caught millipedes may perhaps have a few legs missing but thankfully they have many more to compensate). If you are concerned about this please give me a call before ordering, I am always happy to discuss a specific animal with you.
21. Privacy Policy
If you would like access to the details that I hold on your account please contact me. If you would like to see the records or delete records I am happy to comply with your wishes at any time. I do not hold card details, PayPal details or password information. The information that I do hold is the basic information that you have provided when setting up your account, plus occasional notes about orders, visitors, birthdays etc. I will keep this information private at all times and it will not be sold onto third parties. My website is a secure site as shown by the green padlock icon.
22. Returns Policy
If you experience a problem with any purchase from my website please inform me as soon as possible after receipt. I am happy to exchange or refund any faulty items. Due to the risk of contamination to my stock I am unable to accept any returns of live animals.
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The material on this website may include the views or recommendations of third parties, which do not necessarily reflect our own views, or indicate our commitment to a particular course of action. We assume no responsibility or liability arising in respect of any such third party material.
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We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production, and we maintain reasonable website security measures. You must take your own precautions to ensure that the process which you employ for accessing this website does not expose you to the risk of viruses, malware, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which may damage your own computer system. It is always wise for you to run an up-to-date anti-virus program which checks inter alia on all material downloaded from the internet, and maintain a fully-functioning firewall.
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Information collected by us is used for internal scrutiny, and possibly for legally compulsory reporting purposes only. The information will be anonymised as far as possible, and should not contain information about any individual user (though IP addresses are used to process reports and are sometimes included in them). Information collected is not shared with other organisations for commercial purposes.
5. Copyright
All material featured on this website is subject to Copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. All material (including logos and banners) displayed on this website are the property of the site owner 'Virginia Cheeseman' and may not be used without their express consent.
6. General
We accept no liability for any failure to comply with these Website Conditions of use. If any of these Website Conditions of use are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining Website Conditions of use shall nevertheless continue in full force.
7. Governing law
These website conditions of use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these Website Conditions of use shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.