Fed Ex Shipping Certification Procedure

Do you have a online Fed Ex account?

Yes I have an on-line account. I was too nervous to do the whole thing on-line, though, mainly because I didn't know- labels and barcodes and stuff prints out, right? Can you do that on just regular paper? But yes, I had to use my account number to ship her. If you do it on-line, do you pay right then, or do they still bill you?

RobbiesCornField said:

Another question with regards to the "business". If you have your home address listed as your facility when you register a "fictitious name", does it count as a business?

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Nanci said:

I can't help you with that Robbie, but I do have new information to add.

I shipped out my first snake last week. Everything went fine. When I dropped her off, I didn't have to pay. I guess I thought since they had my debit card on file, they would just charge that. But no, I got a bill in the mail today. FYI.

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I don't know if anybody really read my thread about my whole Fedex Cert. Snafu, but this can be a real issue should the situation arise. Everything that could go wrong for me did and my certification process has stopped stone cold.

When I tried to ship my test box, neither a Fedex Kinkos would take it nor would an actual Fedex Hub because the testing facility did not have an account number because the box was being shipped "bill to recipient". I even had a Fedex customer service agent tell the Kinkos employees they did not need an account number for this facility and yet they still denied my box.

Then when I called the testing facility, they told me that my home address could not be the same as my business address, they had to be 2 completely separate places because the waiver specifically states "business to business" transactions only and that home businesses didn't count. When I explained this to my rep, he told me that I could send from my "home business" but that I'd now have to have an actual business license which in Washington appears to be a major ordeal and added expense.

It really pisses me off considering nobody else seems to be hitting all these blockades that I keep hitting and now I don't know what to do unless I want to shell out hundreds for a business license. :headbang:

Nanci said:

Can you do that on just regular paper?

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Yes, you can call Fed Ex and order the plastic pouches that stick to the box. you just fold the paper so that the barcode and info show seal the pouch and drop it off.

Nanci said:

If you do it on-line, do you pay right then, or do they still bill you?

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They wait till the end of the month and bill you for all of that month's shipments but you can set it up so it charges your card when the bill is posted. I just let it bill to my PayPal debit card so it just took the money out of there.

You also get better rates if you "Ship" online and print your labels from home. It also keeps up with the tracking info for you.

Cool! Thanks for that info. I already have the plastic pouches.

I'll be doing my second shipment Tuesday. This time I did the shipment on-line. It seemed to go smoothly, except it got hung up on the price quote, to I had to start over, but then it went right through the second time.

I'm getting ready to send out my test package after following all your steps Nanci. So, if I get rejected it's all your fault!

One quick question though. Test packages don't get shipped overnight, do they?

When I took mine in, I didn't get a choice on how it was shipped. They just took it. I did not pay to ship it.

You taped the deli, right??

Oh, OK. I was trying to schedule a pickup. I'll just walk in instead. Thanks!

EDIT: Deli is taped!

I need to get back on this. I started the process a year or so ago, but my rep informed me that I'd have to pay to have my test package shipped so I stopped working on it. I do want to try again though, as Reptiles Express has been having issues with UPS due to SYR related issues and they aren't reliably available for me to ship through. Thankfully I don't need to ship any time soon.

Thanks for posting this Nanci, it will be a big help when I bite the bullet and take care of it for myself!

I am getting ready to send my test package out and of course everyone that I talk to can't answer this and the number they have for my local rep is a disconnected number but.... It looks like on the test packaging guidlines that the white box that says live harmless reptiles goes inside another box? Or is just the foam panels inside the box good enough?

When I sent mine, I just sent the test box. Styrofoam lining is critical because they are going to submit the box to crushing force, which it must withstand.

Thank you so much for you help!! I am certified. It happened so fast I am still in shock. I went ahead and sent the test pack in another box because I found out that the fedex by me doesn't take in reptiles. Bunch of Girly Girls!! (Kettle calling the pot black, I know) And I didnt want to have to drive if I didn't have to and I didn't want them looking at the box and refuse.

So anyway I sent my package out on a Thursday. They got it the following Tuesday and I had results by Thursday afternoon. By Last night, monday, I had an email from legal that had the docs that I needed to sign and heard back from legal this morning. Not once have I talked to my local rep. Not sure what is going on with that but at least I was able to get it taken care of with out her.

Congratulations Christen. I think I spoke to my rep and that is when she got the papers form legal. I seem to remember mine went about almost as fast as yours. The only glitch I think I had was that it took a few extra days to get me the legal documents and the guy in the packaging department actually helped me out with that.

So when you ship, though, you have to label the box correctly to ship it legally. All it has to say, though, is live harmless wildlife. You don't have to say reptile or snake. And you put the scientific name on the label. You don't want to have a delay, or "accident," due to employess not wanting to ship snakes.

Oh yeah all that was on the test package but the test package was in a regular box. Obviously, I will take a little drive to drop off my snakes when they are real ones.

Hopefully you can help me with this Nanci. I'm hoping to send my test package out today. I know how to pack the inside, and I have my formed filled out. But where do I get the labels and such that need to be on the outside of the box? The box I'm using is one I had a snake shipped to me in. It says LLL reptile then has the word "perishable" with arrows pointing up on all sides and the top says fragile. What else do I need? Thanks.

If you look at my sticky, How to Pack Snakes for Shipping, you can see how I label my boxes. I just print the labels on fluorescent paper and tape over them. The Perishable labels came from FedEx. You order them and FedEx delivers them to you.

thanks for this post-we're working on getting certified with Fed Ex now-the funny thing is we use Fed ex everyday for shipping out of the warehouse,but our normal rep had no clue how to do reptile shipping lol