The last shipping day for fish will be 11/25, until after Thanksgiving week.

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Fish Shipping Guidelines

Shipping Address:  Make sure that the shipping address you put in the shopping cart is the actual address you want to receive your order. If you want to pick it up at a UPS Customer Center, you should put the address of the actual center in the checkout fields. Putting the wrong address in these fields can cause problems, and we don't want that when shipping fish. 

Fish cannot be shipped with Products.  We will not compromise the safety of the fish  by trying to put a product in the same box.  Besides, at the cost of Overnight shipping, it's much less expensive to ship them separately most of the time. If you order products with fish, the products will be shipped separately by the least expensive method. 

We never ship a fish order without confirming your availability to receive them on the expected day of arrival.  When choosing the shipping option 'Next Day', it does not mean you will receive the fish the day after the order is placed. Fish have to be fasted (not fed) before shipping, the weather has to be appropriate, arrangements have to be made and there has to be an opening in our packing schedule for your order. All this can take 48 hours or longer before we even contact you to arrange a shipping date. We ship Monday through Wednesday. You receive them the following day as long as UPS does not mess up. We generally contact you on weekends to arrrange the shipping date.  If you want a Friday delivery, and UPS is late, then you don't get them until Monday. That is at your risk. We do not ship for Saturday deliveries. 

  • UPS Next Day: Next Day means that UPS is supposed to deliver them the day after we ship, not the day after you order. Depending on many factors, it can be several days before they are shipped. Next-Day is always the best choice and far easier on the fish than any other method.  We also guarantee live delivery with Next Day (unless we inform you in advance that we can't on your order). These can be sent to your door, unless the weather is very poor (most winter weather) or if you are very rural.  Then we may request that you pick them up at the nearest UPS location. The advantage picking the fish up at a UPS location is that you do not have to wait for the driver to show up - which may be very late in the day and it is by far the least stressful way for the fish.  Next-Day orders are shipped Mon-Wed with delivery the following day, as long as UPS is not late.  Any fish that are dead on arrival will be replaced or refunded as long as you follow our guarantee rules. Shipping costs are not refunded and you have to pay the shipping costs if you want fish reshipped. 
  • 2nd Day Air:  We only offer this occasionally during the warmer summer months and you have to request it in advance because it will not appear as an option when checking out in the cart. 2nd Day means that you receive them two days after we ship, not two days after you order. Depending on many factors, it can be several days before they are shipped. 2nd Day is not the best choice, but we will guarantee live delivery with 2nd Day on most orders (unless we inform you in advance that we can't on your order). These can be sent to your door, but it is far better that you pick them up at the nearest UPS Delivery location. The advantage picking the fish up at UPS is that you do not have to wait for the driver to show up - which may be very late in the day and it is by far the least stressful way for the fish.  2nd Day orders are shipped Mon and Tues only, with delivery two days later.  Any fish that are dead on arrival will be replaced or refunded. Shipping costs are not refunded and you have to pay the shipping costs if you want fish reshipped. 
  • Priority Mail: This is the worst way of shipping fish. You will not find this option for fish during checkout. You have to request this by email in advance if you want to use this service. From our rural location, this service is very risky, and Live delivery is NOT guaranteed with this service. Priority Mail is also not guaranteed to arrive by a particular day. We are shipping from a rural spot in NY and it can take anywhere from 1 to 10 days to arrive. We've experienced it taking even longer in some situations. Please let us know in the comments section when checking out if you want this service and we will refund the difference in price. Picking the package up at the P.O. is much easier on the fish than shipping to your door. The hardest part of the trip is the long, unprotected ride to your door, so avoid that at all costs with Priority mail.
  • International Orders: We no longer ship int'l orders. US Fish & Wildlife is too restrictive for us to do it from our location.  If you have a transhipper in the U.S. who will forward the fish to you, we can ship to them.  If you are in Canada, and you can get over the border, you can pick up at the nearest UPS Customer Center.
  • UPS Delivery locations: You can go here to check delivery times, track your fish or find a pickup location.  It is always easiest on the fish to pick them up as soon as they arrive at UPS. If you have them delivered to your door.  You must wait around for the driver to deliver them and that could be anytime from about 8:30 am until 9:00 pm.  Most find it more convenient to just pick them up early and get it over with. We do not guarantee fish that are not picked up within 2 hours of when they are available. If you can pick them up at UPS, then put "UPS Location" in the delivery address of the shopping cart when checking out. 
  • Shipping Address: It is very important to carefully give us the full legal address for delivery. We have to know if it's a "street, road, ave, blvd," etc. If there is a building #, apt # or Suite # it has to be on the package. It has to be spelled correctly. The zip code has to be correct. UPS will charge $18.00 to correct any of these that is missing or not the legal address given by the Post Office - even if they can deliver it without problem. This charge will be passed on to you. Besides, you do not want live fish delayed for such an easy reason to avoid.
  • Local Pickup:  112 S 3rd St in Olean NY, 14760-3511. If you want to make a local pickup, email us to make arrangements. The minimum order for a pickup will be $100.00 plus a $20 pickup fee (you wouldn't believe how many don't show up or come very late - thus the pickup fee)
  • Order cancellation:  Before ordering be sure you want the items. If you cancel an order before it is shipped, there will be a 5% fee to cover credit card and PayPal fees that we must still pay.