BUYER BEWARE!
There are hundreds of websites selling puppies online. In fact, selling puppies online is the new way puppy mills do business. Online puppy mills have many ways they sell their puppies. Some have websites created and managed by the breeders themselves. Others use classified ad media such as eBay, Craigslist, or local publications.
Many online puppy mills use social media accounts such as Facebook groups to sell their puppies. There are also mega-websites selling thousands of puppies in one place that act as “clearing houses” for puppy mills and others act as “matchmakers” connecting buyers and sellers. We call these types of websites, online puppy brokers.
Some online websites provide anyone who opens an account with a ready-made platform and marketplace to sell dogs. It’s simple – the “breeder” opens an account, often for a fee, uploads their photos and contact information and they are in business. They have slick templates that help make the breeder look legitimate.
Other puppy broker websites make you fill out forms where you have to be “approved” to buy one of their dogs or they make you call in to puppy concierges or puppy matchmakers or puppy finders who assist in picking out puppies for you from one of their approved breeders. We do not approve of any of these methods.
We Do Not Endorse These Websites
We do not approve or endorse these puppy selling sites, and many others:
- Puppy Find
- Next Day Pets
- Puppy Spot
- Oodle
- Terrific Pets
- Puppies.com
- Puppy Trader
- Dogs Now
- Pawrade
- Animaroo
- Lancaster Puppies
- Premier Pups
- Crockett Doodles
- Preferable Pups
- Uptown Puppies
- Puppy Finder
- Little Puppies Online
- Greenfield Puppies
Don’t be fooled by sites that make you call in to matchmakers, puppy finders or puppy concierges, many of those sites have paid sales teams working to meet sales quotas. These sites say they hate puppy mills and don’t support them or have promises you should not believe. They have ways to get around all of those statements.
Online puppy broker websites also make certain that when searching for puppies online the internet search engines find their sites quickly. Social media platforms also have many pages of online puppy mill sellers selling puppies such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more.
The online puppy brokers websites provide beautiful web pages that can dupe consumers into thinking they are buying from a reputable breeder. The puppies are selected, purchased and transported to the consumer without the consumer ever meeting the puppy, the puppy’s parents and without meeting the breeder or seeing the facility where the puppy was born. Simply put, they make it easy for anyone to sell puppies online.
See for yourself where your puppy was born or you will never know.
Watch This Video About Online Puppy Brokers
What you see and what you don’t see.
These websites provide a vast ready-made marketplace linking buyers looking for puppies with thousands of puppy sellers. The websites make it easy for any breeder to sell puppies. The sites are fancy and can mislead consumers. It is hard for consumers to identify the truth from the fiction online. The benefits for selling puppies online are numerous.
These online sites are good for breeders and brokers but bad for breeding dogs, puppies and consumers. Our advice is to never buy a dog off of these websites and always visit the facility and meet the mother dog and puppy before you buy.
Ironically, these websites have disclaimer pages that warn buyers about internet scams and puppy mills. But, they bank on the buyer falling in love with the puppy in the photo and ultimately purchasing the puppy. We advise to never trust breeders or websites that sell puppies sight unseen over the internet.
To identify the qualities of a reputable breeder, visit Pupquest.org and go to the Breed Club and Rescue Links page.
Buying a puppy online is truly a case of BUYER BEWARE!