<LOGIN> <REGISTER>
SOCIETY
MEMBERS
CONTACT US
JOIN/RENEW
SHOW
CHAPTERS
AROID-L
AROIDERS
AROIDS
FLORAS
GENERA
GALLERY
POLLINATION
LINKS
HORTICULTURE
CULTIVARS
TRADING POST
ID CENTER
HORT LINKS
LITERATURE
AROIDEANA
NEWSLETTER
 



 IAS on Facebook
 IAS on Instagram

IAS Aroid Quasi Forum
About Aroid-L
 This is a continuously updated archive of the Aroid-L mailing list in a forum format - not an actual Forum. If you want to post, you will still need to register for the Aroid-L mailing list and send your postings by e-mail for moderation in the normal way.

  Mini rant right back at ya.
From: "Susan Cooper" <coops at execpc.com> on 2004.11.04 at 11:58:01(12344)
Let me throw my hat in with the boys. Marketing is everything in ebay,
which is why people pay extra to get gallery listing and add photos.
You may have noticed that listings with no photos do not get as high of
a price; or that photos of tubers do not sell as well as photos of
plants and tubers, or photos of a mature plant. Would titans be as
interesting if a photo of a mature leaf or inflorescence had never been
published? I think not!
I devour almost every plant catalogue out there, both hardcopy and
online. We market our plants the same as everyone else, to get noticed
and to generate interest.
While our main audience might be Aroiders, marketing also attracts
people that are new to the Aroid world, or people looking for new and
interesting plants. People using ebay use the search engine, and not
all may be able to even spell Amorphophallus. Some may just be looking
for interesting plants. I myself have looked through the listings for
bizarre plants, or rare plants. It is interesting! And this may shock
some of you, but I think all Aroids for sale on ebay can be classified
as rare, unusual, and bizarre, yes, even konjac. You cannot buy
Amorphos at your local garden center,you don't see them in the Gurney,
Parks, Wayside Gardens, etc catalogues. It wasn't so many years ago
that I paid $25 for my first konjac, it was about the size of a nickle
and I thought I was lucky to get it.
Yes, I sell on eBay. Am I going to get rich on it? No way. Am I
going to recoup the thousands of dollars I have spent on tubers? No
way! But when I have excess tubers, or get an unexpectedly high
germination rate, it is a way to make a little bit of money, and I
don't think you have a problem with that, do you?
OK, this is turning into a rant of my own, let me just close with a
story about my first ebay sale- $9 for 20 seeds of a purple hibiscus
(rose of sharon, mallow, whatever you want to call it). Wow, I was
seeing dollar signs! LOL Obviously it was worth it to the person that
had bid on the seeds, although many others would not have spent that
much.
Susan

+More
From: "David S." <maui4me at charter.net> on 2004.11.06 at 01:50:23(12349)
I know what Susan is talking about. A couple of years ago I bought certain
terrestrial Chinese orchids at my local Home Depot for about $1.00 each,
three to a bag from Holland. Now this is a very pretty, incredibly easy to
grow orchid but not many people grow it, although I've been growing it for
over thirty years. Well, I placed several eBay auctions with these and used
pics of my much older plants in bloom in the auction. I couldn't believe
what people were willing to pay for these inexpensive plants. I actually
sold one for $42.00 to one person and several for over $20.00 each. I never
twisted their arms with these and had a very low reserve on each one. I'm
glad eBay is out there as I've been able to find many things that I wouldn't
have been able to locate otherwise and at reasonable prices.

David Sizemore

+More
From: "Bamboo Chik" <bamboochik at earthlink.net> on 2004.11.06 at 12:50:35(12352)
> My main concern with some of the plant sellers on ebay is
mis-representation of plant material. There is a person selling what they
claim is Colocasia gigantea. It is not. Someone without enough plant
knowledge will buy it, as they are definitely selling, but they will be
very disappointed when they discover that they really did not get what they
thought they were getting.

Without extensive hort. knowledge, it is difficult for newbies to know if
they are getting ripped off or not with some of the more rare plant
families. I do not believe this is right.

I sell in the spring and I make sure I sell at a reasonable price with
correctly named botanical plant material. I follow the "golden rule", but
wish more people would. $$$ is not everything in life....b.f.n...deb/S.AL

+More
From: Hermine <hermine at endangeredspecies.com> on 2004.11.06 at 15:30:48(12354)
I sell in the spring and I make sure I sell at a reasonable price
with
correctly named botanical plant material. I follow the "golden
rule", but
wish more people would. $$$ is not everything in
life....b.f.n...deb/S.AL
A question. do any of you ever write a gentle note to a seller who is
offering perhaps a wrongly named plant which is not rare, at a big
opening price, and tell them the TRUTH? i know I DO!
hermine

+More
From: "Harry Witmore" <harrywitmore at witmore.net> on 2004.11.06 at 15:43:18(12355)
I do not think there is anyone that doesn't want people to correctly label
their plants. But, if one receives a plant from a nursery that is mislabeled
it is very easy for that same person to mislabel it on eBay with that same
label. Who is at fault then? What if the plant name changes? I think intent
is the main consideration here. If one is misrepresenting a plant or
anything else for that manner, to make a undeserved monetary gain, that's
one thing, but just because they call it rare and some folks don't consider
it to be rare, that is something else all together.

I sell a lot of plants and I have sold some and received some with incorrect
names. Most of the time I have a hard time even finding out what the correct
name is (try naming the different speices of Dischidia sometime). I have
been to shows where even the experts misidentify things but it does not make
me think they are a fraud. I believe this is a valid discussion but most of
the time it is up to the buyer to make sure they know what it is they are
buying and to not buy from that person again is they misrepresent what they
are selling. They should also give them a bad rating if not satisfied. I
think that is all that is required because that's the only way to tell the
frauds from the honest.

You have the exact same situation with brick and mortar sellers but do not
have the advantage of being able to post comments about them where all can
see them. I think this is a very positive thing about eBay and I use it all
the time. Good thing is that you can't gripe if you aren't a customer, so
folks that just want to cast stones are not able to do that unless they have
personal knowledge of such.

I'm sorry to be so long winded on this but I have found it to be very easy
to tell the frauds from the legit and I would expect all to have the same
experience. If you are going to buy something on eBay you better do your
homework and not let scams take advantage of you. This thread began by
discussing subtle differences of opinion on rarity or the meaning of other
descriptive adjectives. I do not believe it was talking of what I would call
a scam.

Harry

+More
From: "danny wilson" <mudwasp_ at hotmail.com> on 2004.11.07 at 18:22:47(12356)
I sure do. There was a seller a while back selling a D. vulgaris tuber with info about A. konjac including its medicinal value if powdered. I emailed the seller about it, do you want to eat a D. vulgaris tuber?
>From: Hermine
>Reply-To: Discussion of aroids
+More
From: "Bamboo Chik" <bamboochik at earthlink.net> on 2004.11.07 at 18:48:48(12357)
My main gripe with this is people just new to aroids and wishing to start a
collection, do not need to be buying plants that are mis-represented by
sellers. They are trusting that the seller knows what they are selling. If
someone is just doing this as a lark to make a fast buck, and has no
horticultural knowledge as to what they are really selling, then that IS
FRAUD! b.f.n...deb/S.AL

+More
From: "Bamboo Chik" <bamboochik at earthlink.net> on 2004.11.07 at 18:54:56(12358)
Yes, and have gotten cussed out more than I can count! Here is an example: "Hi, I am glad to see you selling (such and such) on ebay and hope you do well, but (such and such) is not correctly named and the true botanical name is: (such and such) Just thought you would like to know so that you can keep up your good feedback."

Here is what I usually get back: " Mind your own (&(*&^(&%&^% business!"
....b.f.n...deb/S.AL

+More
From: "Harry Witmore" <harrywitmore at witmore.net> on 2004.11.08 at 16:14:41(12362)
I could not agree more with your statement. It is fraudulent to sell
something you know is not in fact what it is. I believe that these folks are
very few when it comes to selling rare plants. So, when you see a plant that
you know to be rare and hard to find and it is mislabeled as something very
common and therefore is selling very under priced, do any of you contact the
dealer and tell them so or do you bid on it? I have contacted them and bid
also, so, that makes me no better than those folks that try to take
advantage of the buyer. I have also contacted dealers to let them know their
product is mislabeled. I usually get a thank you but they do not always
change the name but most of the time it's pretty cheap anyway. I tend to
steer clear of the really hard to find things unless I have already
established a buying relationship to the dealer.

I'm always looking for a good buy but I try not to take advantage of anyone
who is either selling to me or buying from me. I don't worry much about
everyone else since I can't control them.

+More
From: Hermine <hermine at endangeredspecies.com> on 2004.11.08 at 18:23:00(12365)
"Hi, I
am glad to see you selling (such and such) on ebay and hope you do well,
but (such and such) is not correctly named and the true botanical name
is: (such and such) Just thought you would like to know so that you can
keep up your good feedback."

Here is what I usually get back: " Mind your own
(&(*&^(&%&^% business!"
....b.f.n...deb/S.AL

I was PREPARED for that. but either i got a thank you with a name change
posted on the plant, or radio silence.
Every now and then, a girl gets lucky.
herm

+More
From: Rosalind Gold <rozgold at pacbell.net> on 2004.11.08 at 22:42:14(12366)
As much as I would hate to see you subjected to constant abuse, I just want to encourage you to keep writing sellers who are deliberately misrepresenting their wares on E-Bay. Hopefully, if enough people call them on it, they'll think twice before trying it again in the future. As you mentioned, lots of novices try to expand their collections using E-Bay - so you're doing a real public service when you go after the folks who are blatantly ripping buyers off.

-Roz, in Culver City
Bamboo Chik wrote:

+More
From: "Greg Dorst" <gregg1- at charter.net> on 2004.11.09 at 00:16:17(12368)
Yes and thank you. I too have thought about
expanding my collection and have found practices on EBay a bit on the
questionable side the way things are represented. If you have any
suggestions to assist you in this matter please let me know GREGORY L
DORST

+More
From: "Greg Dorst" <gregg1- at charter.net> on 2004.11.09 at 00:22:17(12369)
I am one for expanding my collection If there are
any reasonable offers available from members on Amorphs please let me
know. Its winter time and I got room for a weee bit more storage and would
like several to bloom next yr size additions to my collection GREGG

+More
From: EGoldfluss at aol.com on 2004.11.10 at 15:59:34(12375)
I do too but I rarely get a response.
Ed
_______________________________________________
+More
Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.

   
All Images and Text © 1996 to 2024 by the International Aroid Society or by their respective owners as noted.
Please send your comments to . We now have a Privacy Policy.Last updated: 18 FEB 2021
served by aws-web2