FAQ
my story
Hi, I'm Pat and I am the person behind Rakki. I have worked in the pet industry for years, First running a simple pet shop, then creating and making my own brand of rabbit food and setting up a small animal rescue. During all that time, I found sourcing the kinds of pet products I wanted a really difficult task.
suppliers were often huge companies who offered anything and everything from high quality brands to cheap plastic tat and, at times, pet products that should have stopped being made years ago. My personal pet peeves incude rabbit hutches that are simply too small or dog treats made of rawhide.
Alternatively, they were small independent makers who offer a small range of high quality items but rarely had the range of products all under one roof.
What I craved was somewhere where I could get everything i needed in one place but also safe in the knowledge that anything I bought would be of great quality and would, ideally, go towards helping small independent retailers and makers.
with that in mind, Rakki is dedicated to finding Unique, Interesting, High Quality and Handmade Pet Products from Around the World. Only the Best is Good Enough for my Little Wolf.
WHERE DO WE FIND OUR PRODUCTS?
We have a number of ways to find products. Some I know about from my history in the industry and some I search for the old fashioned way. Our site is based on a drop-shipping model. That means that every product is sent direct from the maker. In order for us to list a particular supplier they need to tick some boxes. So what are we looking for? Firstly, high quality. This is our only deal breaker. We won't stock cheaply made tat. After that we look for a few things. Is it hand made? Is it unique? Is it doing some social good? (like supporting a poor community or supporting a charity or things of that nature) Is it from a small independent company? Our products don't have to tick all of those boxes but the more the better. So a product might not be hand made but does support a charity and I'm fine with that. Or it might be sourced from a large company but it is great quality. Again, that would be fine. The last kind of product we have on site are ones we have put our own brand on. These are products I like so much that I'm willing to put my name on them.
I would like to sell my products on rakki. can I do that?
Of course. As long as you have a cool product that meets our requirements for high quality and so on, we'll be happy to sell it on Rakki. But its not a simple process. Please do get in touch via the 'Contact Us' page and we'll start that conversation.
Is it really always free shipping?
Yes, I do offer ALWAYS FREE SHIPPING. The short answer is that I absorb those costs, meaning that you don't pay a penny for the shipping. Want the long version? Well, obviously, it costs money to ship items. However, I dont run a warehouse or have stock on hand. This saves me money which means I can pass those savings on to the products I sell. I think the best way to pass on those savings is to absorb all the shipping costs into the purchase price you see. This means that I don't have to charge anything for shipping. By doing things this way, I am also attempting too be more eco-friendly as most retail environments ship from the manufacturer to the retailer and then again from the retailer to you. I have the manufacturer ship directly to you thereby halving the number of journeys your product takes. It's also worth pointing out that some of these items won't even be made until you order it. Makers who work like this save resources by not overstocking. The only price you pay for saving money, rescources and helping to reduce our carbon footprint is that sometimes it might tke a couple of weeks for you product to reach you. That's it. We think you wont mind being patient in order to help some small independant makers, to help provide a more eco friendly way to shop online as well as, at times, even saving a little money too.
I bought something and i didn't live up to your claims!
Firstly, I am honestly sorry about that. The most important thing you can do is to let us know! We can't do anything to fix a problem if we don't know about it. Rest assured, if an item is delivered to you in poor condition we WILL refund you. With the best will in the world these things can happen. Even the best manufacturing processes can produce the odd dud. However if we hear multiple complaints about one product or suppliers we may take action. We are constantly keeping an eye on our suppliers and if a once good product declines in quality, we will stop selling it altogether. This is a huge part of how we maintain the quality of the products we sell.