Complaints

If it’s urgent

Someone is in danger or threatening you, or a crime is happening. Call 000 in an emergency. Otherwise, call police on 131 444, the non-emergency line. Then tell us.

An animal is in danger, or being neglected or treated cruelly. Contact the RSPCA in the state or territory where the animal is (in the NT, the NT Government’s Animal Welfare Branch). Don’t wait for us. A pet locked in a hot car? Call police straight away: 000 in an emergency, or 131 444. Most RSPCA phone lines aren’t open around the clock, so if an animal’s life is in immediate danger and you can’t get through, call police on 000 or 131 444.

You’ve paid someone you think is a scammer.

1. Call your bank or card provider now and ask them to stop the payment.
2. Report it to Scamwatch, and to police through ReportCyber.
3. Email info@petsales.net.au and tell us what happened.
4. Keep the messages. If they have your ID details, contact IDCARE, a free identity and cyber support service, on 1800 595 160.

We can help police if they ask.

Child sexual abuse material. Don’t copy, screenshot or share it. Report it to police or the eSafety Commissioner. If a child is being groomed or exploited online, report it to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

Watch out for people pretending to be us. Our emails come from Pet Sales Australia (info@petsales.net.au), though that can be faked. We’ll never ask you, by email or message, for your bank or card details or a sign-in code, or ask you to pay another member. Until listings open, we don’t charge for anything. Anyone who charges to handle a complaint, or offers to recover your money, isn’t us.

How to complain

Email info@petsales.net.au about anything. You don’t need an account. The report buttons on listings and in conversations open with listings.

Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic in the United States, reads every email sent to info@petsales.net.au, to sort it and send our reply that we’ve got it. Your email goes to Anthropic, but not the files attached to it (Privacy Policy).

Tell us what happened, when, a link if you have one, and what you’d like us to do. Your name is optional, except for a privacy or defamation complaint. Don’t send card or bank details, passwords, sign-in codes or ID documents.

If you send your own ID by mistake, we delete that email.

Someone you trust can complain for you. Before we share your information with them, we’ll check with you or ask for proof.

How long we take

• Reports (scams, welfare worries, broken rules): we reply within 2 working days to say we’ve got your report. A person then looks into it and decides what we do.
• Privacy complaints, and requests to see, fix or delete your information: we reply within 2 working days to say we’ve got it, and answer in writing within 30 days.
• Complaints about us, asking us to look again at other decisions, and any other complaint: we reply within 2 working days to say we’ve got it, and answer in writing within 10 working days.
• Questions, requests and feedback: we reply within 2 working days to say we’ve got it, and answer as soon as we can.
• Unsubscribing: use the link in any email from our list, or email us with “Unsubscribe” in the subject. Marketing emails stop within 5 business days.

Working days are Monday to Friday, not counting Victorian public holidays.

If we need longer, we’ll tell you why and when to expect an answer (privacy complaints and requests still get the 30 days).

What happens next

We check what you sent and any records involved, and may ask the other person for their side, without saying who you are unless the law requires it. A person decides what we do about each report, complaint and request.

If you report to us, we may give the relevant authority your report and your contact details, so they can ask you about it.

If you gave us your email, we tell you what we decided and why. We may leave out details to protect someone’s privacy or safety, or an investigation. If you disagree, ask us to look again.

We can’t settle a dispute between a buyer and a seller, make anyone refund a deposit or take an animal back, or recover money you paid another member. We can’t give you another member’s private details, unless a court orders us to or the law requires it.

A problem with a sale? Raise it with the other person in writing, and keep the messages. The NSW Government’s buying a pet page says a pet bought from a business comes with consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law. That page and Western Australia’s Consumer Protection both say the guarantees don’t cover a one-off sale by a private seller. Your state or territory’s fair trading or consumer affairs office can explain your rights.

Asking us to look at a decision again

You can ask us to look again at any decision. There’s no deadline. Email info@petsales.net.au, say why you think we got it wrong, and send anything that helps. A person will look at it again, including what you sent, and email you the decision and why.

Privacy complaints

Email info@petsales.net.au with “Privacy complaint” in the subject. You can also ask to see, correct or delete the information we hold about you. It’s free. We aim to follow the Privacy Act’s rules for businesses (the Australian Privacy Principles) by choice, as our Privacy Policy explains.

If you’re not satisfied with our answer, or we haven’t replied within 30 days, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). It can investigate only businesses the Privacy Act covers, which may not include a small business like ours, but it can tell you your options.

Defamation complaints

If you think something we published here defames you (unfairly harms your reputation), email info@petsales.net.au with:

• your name
• the material, and where it is (a link)
• that you consider it defamatory (and, if you can, why).

“Defamation complaint” in the subject helps. A person will look into it and email you what we did.

If something we wrote is wrong, tell us and we’ll correct it.

Help outside Pet Sales Australia

You can contact these bodies at any time, though some ask you to complain to us first. Nothing on this page limits your other legal rights.

• A consumer problem with us, or with a business that sold you an animal: your state or territory’s fair trading or consumer affairs office. You can also report it to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
• Cyberbullying of a child, or serious online abuse of an adult: the eSafety Commissioner, once you’ve reported it to the site or service where it appeared and it hasn’t been removed.
• Illegal or restricted online content, and an intimate image shared without consent: eSafety, straight away. If someone is blackmailing you over an intimate image, for money or more images: if you’re under 18, report it to the ACCCE; if you’re 18 or older, report it to the platform where they contacted you, then to eSafety if the image is shared or the platform doesn’t help.
• Spam (marketing emails you didn’t agree to): report it to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

For authorities

Police, councils, animal welfare authorities and RSPCA inspectors can email info@petsales.net.au from an official address, with “Authority request” in the subject. Claude logs each request for a person, who reads it and decides what we do. It never replies to an authority or gives anyone’s details. Our Listing Rules explain how we handle requests. The eSafety Commissioner can send notices to info@petsales.net.au.

Records we keep

We keep each complaint, our notes and replies, how to reply to you, and what we decided, why and when, for 7 years after the end of the calendar year we close it. We keep other emails to info@petsales.net.au for 7 years, and our replies for as long as the email they answer. For reports and requests from authorities, see our Privacy Policy. We keep records longer only where the law requires it, or while a legal claim, or a police or regulator request, is open. Copies already in backups, logs and our providers’ systems go at the end of the periods our Privacy Policy gives them.

We plan to publish a quarterly count of reports, without personal details, once we have three months of figures.