i have bought off the internet, and bought 2 unregistered chi's. If it is for a pet, papers don't mean anything. It's only if you plan on showing them or breeding them. My tan one is extremely small and a beautiful chi, and yes it would be nice to have papers, but when we saw her picture, we were in love. It's so hard buying the perfect chi to begin with, but I guess you can't just do it over the internet---were u able to call the person? You cant tell by the picture that I have of the three of them, because they have grown since, but you cant tell the registered and the unregistered apart. Good-luck with everything.