Buying genetics on the marketplace

The Creatures genetics marketplace lets you buy straws, embryos, hatching eggs, and more from other breeders, with payment and delivery handled through Creatures.

Step 1: Find a listing

Open the Genetics marketplace (from the top menu, Marketplace, Genetics) to browse what is available. Each card shows the material type and preservation, the donor or parents, the quantity, the price, the seller and their rating, and the location, plus badges like Auction or Cold-chain where they apply.

You can search by keyword and narrow the list with filters: species, breed, material type, preservation, and, if you have set your location, distance. The filters mean you can go straight to, say, frozen sex-sorted straws of one breed within a few hundred miles, instead of scrolling.

Step 2: Review the listing

Open a listing to see the full details: the donor or parent animals, the price per unit, the available quantity, the shipping or pickup options and any cold-chain requirement, and the seller's profile and rating. How you buy depends on the format:

• A fixed-price listing lets you buy right away for the quantity you choose.
• An auction lets you place a bid, or use Buy Now if the seller offered it and no one has bid yet.

Step 3: Buy it

Fixed price. Set the quantity you want (within any minimum or maximum the seller set, and never more than is available), then choose Buy now. You will see your total, including a 5% buyer service fee unless the seller has chosen to cover it, and you complete payment securely through Stripe. While you are checking out, the units are held for you so no one else can take them; if you do not finish, the hold is released and they return to Available.

Auction. To bid, you first place a card hold to back your bids, then bid at or above the next minimum. You can also set a maximum bid and let Creatures bid for you up to that amount, so you do not have to watch the clock; it only ever bids the minimum needed to keep you in front. If the seller set a reserve, the sale only completes if bidding reaches it. When the auction ends and you have won, you check out for your winning amount plus the buyer service fee. If the listing requires approval, you have to be approved before you can bid or use Buy Now.

Step 4: Track your order and confirm receipt

After payment, your order appears under My purchases in your dashboard. The status updates as the seller ships, with carrier and tracking details where the seller provides them.

When your material arrives, choose Confirm receipt so the sale is completed and the seller is paid. This is the same held-funds protection as buying an animal: your payment is held until you confirm, which is what makes the marketplace safe to buy on (see How buying works). If you do not confirm within the allowed window after delivery, Creatures auto-confirms so the seller is not left waiting; confirming yourself simply releases payment sooner. If something is wrong when it arrives, you can report a delivery problem instead of confirming, and Creatures holds the seller's payout while support helps resolve it.

Refunds

A genetics purchase can be refunded by the seller, and a refund here is a true return: the units go back to the seller and the matching money comes back to you. It is not a partial price adjustment. Either all of the eligible units come back to the seller and you are paid for them, or, if you have already used some, only the units you still hold come back and the refund is pro-rated to that quantity.

• Who starts it, and when: the seller (or Creatures support). A seller can refund on their own up to the point the material leaves their hands. Once it has shipped, been picked up, been handed off, or the sale has otherwise completed, the seller can no longer do it alone, and the refund goes through Creatures support so the unit return and the money records stay consistent. You do not start a refund yourself; if you want one, raise it with the seller, or report a delivery problem if something arrived wrong (that holds the seller's payout while support helps).
• What you get back: the actual amount you paid for the returned units, including the 5% buyer service fee on those units. A genetics refund returns the fee too, so a full return puts you back to zero out of pocket. If you paid partly with Creatures Credit or your wallet, those parts are returned the same way they were charged (credit and wallet first, then your card), and the card portion goes back to your original payment method through Stripe. A full-promo order that cost you nothing has nothing to refund.
• What happens to the units: the units you still hold are returned to the seller's inventory and become theirs again (they can relist them). Your copy of those units is closed out, so your counts stay honest. If the listing included a recipient animal (an embryo transferred into one of your animals, for example), that animal returns to the seller with the refund, as long as you still own it.
• The status you will see: on My purchases the order banner reads Genetics refund started while Stripe processes the money and the units have not come back yet, then Genetics refund complete once you are refunded and the units are back in the seller's inventory. If a refund needs a closer look before any custody or money moves, it shows Genetics refund needs review and Creatures checks it by hand. If Stripe cannot complete the money side, it shows Genetics refund needs help and Creatures steps in to sort it out.
• What it means for you: a refund is the clean way to undo a genetics purchase that should not stand, with no money or units left in limbo. Because it depends on the units still being with you and the sale not yet being complete, the surest path to a self-serve refund is to sort out any problem before you confirm receipt.

If your purchase is a storage transfer

Some material is sold while it is sitting in cryo storage, so instead of shipping it the seller moves it as a storage transfer: custody passes to you without the material leaving a facility. When that is how your purchase is fulfilled, two things are asked of you. You choose where to keep it stored (reuse a storage subscription you already hold with the provider, or start a new one), and you approve a short storage billing change that shows exactly how your monthly storage bill changes before you agree. A consent checkbox is required, and nothing extra is charged that day: the amount lands on your next storage invoice once the provider confirms receipt. The full walkthrough of the destination choice, the billing snapshot, and the provider's receipt step is in Subscribing to genetic storage.

Related information

• Listing genetics on the marketplace
• Shipping and tracking genetic items
• Subscribing to genetic storage

Updated on: 23/06/2026