Watch: Deposits

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Transcript

Monica DeBosscher [0:00] A big aspect of buying or selling a dog that you’ll need to consider is the deposit. Some breeders don’t require them, but I think most that we’ve seen do. Deposits are funds advanced by a buyer as a guarantee that a breeder will hold a puppy for the buyer. When buying a puppy, a deposit is usually given in good faith, and it’s also accepted in good faith. This means that you as a breeder aren’t accepting a deposit for a litter that you’re never going to plan. Or if you have a 10-year waitlist, and you know that the buyer wants a dog within 6 months. Just being careful about when you accept it, and making sure that you’re always accepting a deposit in good faith. The same goes for the buyer. The buyer isn’t paying a deposit if they don’t intend to purchase a dog. Deposits are really a two-way street. They should bind and protect both you and the buyer. The term of a deposit should really be explained in writing and very clearly understood and considered as a contract between you and the buyers. It’s important that you and your buyers know exactly what your deposit covers before any money is exchanged. It’s really smart to have some kind of deposit language, whether that’s in your main contract, whether you have a separate deposit agreement, whether you put it on your invoice—or maybe you do it in all three. It’s just really specific about the deposit and does things like: identifies the litter the deposit will be applied to, says that the deposit will be put towards the purchase price of the dog, it’s very clear about when and if the deposit is refundable. If it’s not refundable, you might think about putting time limits in place. Maybe if I don’t have a dog for this buyer within 2-3 years, they’ll get their deposit back. Anything that you can think of that might help you and your buyers understand what the deposit is going towards. We, at Good Dog, get a lot of complaints from buyers who contact us and think that some of our breeders are acting badly because they won’t refund a deposit. Again, to avoid situations like that, you should really just be super clear about what a deposit covers in the terms of the deposit, and make sure that the terms are in writing. I think it’s also important to remember that most states allow retailers to formulate their own refund policies. Those policies really just need to be communicated to the buyers. You shouldn’t feel forced to sell a puppy to a buyer that doesn’t end up feeling like a good match, but you should probably do a little bit of screening of the buyer before you take their deposit, so you know that accepting the deposit will likely result in a match. You should also be really clear about your refund policy. I feel like I’m really harping on it, but just indicating in as many places as possible—including the deposit agreement, including your invoice—how the deposit will be applied and whether it’s refundable.