Casey Stevens wrote:

Having worked for a service like this before, I think I recognise it
as a cookie-cutter operation. Sellsonic (note the "Powered By" at the
bottom of the first page of the sites) obviously uses the same
formula for all the sites to save money and sells ready-made websites
to smaller gardening businesses.

Does not explain how they are marching in lockstep on the product
offerings and being out of products.



Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything
are two equally convenient solutions; both
dispense with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré

Tsu Dho Nimh wrote in
:

Casey Stevens wrote:

Having worked for a service like this before, I think I recognise it
as a cookie-cutter operation. Sellsonic (note the "Powered By" at the
bottom of the first page of the sites) obviously uses the same
formula for all the sites to save money and sells ready-made websites
to smaller gardening businesses.

Does not explain how they are marching in lockstep on the product
offerings and being out of products.

If the distributor (who provides the web content and merchandise) is out of
product, they are all out.

There's got to be someone out there who knows what this type of
marketing/distribution is called. Bi-level marketing?

-- Salty

Tsu Dho Nimh wrote:

Casey Stevens wrote:

Having worked for a service like this before, I think I recognise it
as a cookie-cutter operation. Sellsonic (note the "Powered By" at the
bottom of the first page of the sites) obviously uses the same
formula for all the sites to save money and sells ready-made websites
to smaller gardening businesses.

Does not explain how they are marching in lockstep on the product
offerings and being out of products.

There are companies that offer people the chance to run your own
internet business. They all use the same backend supplier and they
use the same website engine. They just provide a name and act as a
retailer. This is sold to people--often who have no ability to have
done this themselves. It is much like Avon, Amway, Tupperware, where
everyday people are selling the same products from the same supplier
using the same sales literature...only on the web.

As with every company you do not know you should be careful with your
first transaction. If a more reputable company has the offering at a
reasonable price you should consider how much you are willing to pay
for "trust".

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 11:56:31 GMT, Salty Thumb
wrote:



It's not difficult so much as unnecessary and uninteresting,

And yet you found it interesting enough to comment?

Aside from that, my Internet skills were good enough to present a paper on
the subject of Internet transmissions at an international conference for
computer professionals, so nah nah bhlaahthwppp.

I could present a paper, and do a good job, on several aspects of
ornamental horticulture and still be a lousy farmer.


"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson



tomj

des weges wrote in
:

It's not difficult so much as unnecessary and uninteresting,

And yet you found it interesting enough to comment?

Yes.

Aside from that, my Internet skills were good enough to present a
paper on the subject of Internet transmissions at an international
conference for computer professionals, so nah nah bhlaahthwppp.

I could present a paper, and do a good job, on several aspects of
ornamental horticulture and still be a lousy farmer.

I said they were computer professionals, not people with A+ certification.

As Yoda the Manure Expert has said, "There is no try, only Doo".

-- Salty

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 17:08:12 GMT, Salty Thumb
wrote:

"There is no try, only Doo".


Great quote!




"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson



tomj

What is going on? Is this some sort of scam?

Gary, we got a bunch of good geeky replies but noone answered the question
actually. Tsu asked about a lockstep operation, noone answered that question
either. I can say that I live near and have visited often Twombley Nursery on
the list. It is privately owned by some Twombleys. It is a woody plant
specialist with a fine reputation in New England. The other sites seem to be
New England oriented. I think you have an interesting question. Aside
fromTwombley, I have not heard of the other places and some (maybe all) seem to
be online suppliers. If Twombley is running under dozens of names, I would
think less of this nursery of previously justified fame. If not, what is the
answer? I have seen advert flyers in different parts of the country which are
identical so media services can be marketed whilst space is between the buyers
but the original question is a good one. BTW, Twombley does not do mail order.
Mike

After reading all the possible explanations, I'd say that if your gut
instinct says "stay away", then you should follow that instinct. Besides,
whatever you're looking to buy can certainly be had elsewhere. What *are*
you looking for, anyway?

This is an interesting thread for me since I happen to operate an internet
portal of gardening web sites called TheGardenSite.com
(http://thegardensite.com).

There are many ways to market gardening businesses on the internet. I have
over 70 different gardening sites and gardening clients. My service is to
offer professional design and hosting services. I want each site to be
different in appearance, and it is challanging to continue to come up with
unique designs. I also strive for each new custom site to be better than
the previous site I just completed.

Some of you following this thread might find my business model interesting.
Perhaps some of you with a small gardening business might even find in my
site the opportunity you were looking for to establish an internet presence.

BTW... look in the most recent two issues of Fine Gardening magazine to see
my advertisement for TheGardenSite.com

Just returned today from a week at the American Hemerocallis Society's
National Convention in Charlotte, NC. Lots of great gardens participated in
the event and we also enjoyed many other gardens along the way to and from
the convention. If you are interested in seeing this event on tape visit
http://daylily.net/gardenvideos/.

Bobby


--
Bobby Baxter
TheGardenSite.com
Your Web Site Is Waiting For You

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TheGardenSite.com: http://thegardensite.com
Daylily Gardens Of The World: http://daylily.net/gardens
Gardens Of The World: http://thegardensite.com/gardens
Iris Gardens Of The World: http://thegardensite.com/irises
Daylily.Net: http://daylily.net
GardenTalk Forum: http://thegardensite.com/gardentalk/

I didn't look up the sites, but an umbrella organization with many
sites/branches isn't indicative of a "scam". See
landrysrestaurants.com

Multiple outlets may be specialty or regional. I.e., "Bob's Bulbs,"
"Bob's Trees," "Bob's Northern Trees," "Bob's Fencing," etc., etc.

TheGardenSite.com is not a scam. You should visit the site before saying
something is indicative of a scam. TheGardenSite.com is simply a garden
portal for gardeners to have professionally designed websites designed and
hosted starting at only $50 for an entire year. The business started out
initially as Daylily.Net with daylily gardens but we have recently expanded
to all forms of gardening.

Bobby


--
Bobby Baxter
TheGardenSite.com
Your Web Site Is Waiting For You

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TheGardenSite.com: http://thegardensite.com
Daylily Gardens Of The World: http://daylily.net/gardens
Gardens Of The World: http://thegardensite.com/gardens
Iris Gardens Of The World: http://thegardensite.com/irises
Daylily.Net: http://daylily.net
GardenTalk Forum: http://thegardensite.com/gardentalk/





"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
I didn't look up the sites, but an umbrella organization with many
sites/branches isn't indicative of a "scam". See
landrysrestaurants.com

Multiple outlets may be specialty or regional. I.e., "Bob's Bulbs,"
"Bob's Trees," "Bob's Northern Trees," "Bob's Fencing," etc., etc.

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
I didn't look up the sites, but an umbrella organization with many
sites/branches isn't indicative of a "scam". See
landrysrestaurants.com

"Bobby Baxter" wrote in
:

TheGardenSite.com is not a scam. You should visit the site before
saying something is indicative of a scam. TheGardenSite.com is simply

Ease off on the speed reading there, Bobby.

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 02:54:40 GMT, Salty Thumb
wrote:

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
I didn't look up the sites, but an umbrella organization with many
sites/branches isn't indicative of a "scam". See
landrysrestaurants.com

"Bobby Baxter" wrote in
:

TheGardenSite.com is not a scam. You should visit the site before
saying something is indicative of a scam. TheGardenSite.com is simply

Ease off on the speed reading there, Bobby.

Thanks, Salty. It's bad enough to be criticized for mistakes I make,
much worse for those I don't.

--

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 02:54:40 GMT, Salty Thumb
wrote:

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
I didn't look up the sites, but an umbrella organization with many
sites/branches isn't indicative of a "scam". See
landrysrestaurants.com

"Bobby Baxter" wrote in
:

TheGardenSite.com is not a scam. You should visit the site before
saying something is indicative of a scam. TheGardenSite.com is simply

Ease off on the speed reading there, Bobby.

Thanks, Salty. It's bad enough to be criticized for mistakes I make,
much worse for those I don't.

Heh. OK, things seem to have cooled down a tad on this, so lemme try to see
if I can **** enough people off here.

The original Q pertained to similarities in approach to website based
marketing. In my unwelcome opinion, that is plain common sense, only real
morons like myself would take the time to hop into Dreamweaver, ftp up,
hitbox and maintain a website, let alone two of them. If a template approach
saves money, a template approach is worth doing. Just as most garden centers
buy their supplies etc. from a limited number of sources. Hey, they all use
4" green plastic pots! It must be a scam!
Equally, some articles are sole source/handled by distribution channels like
individual gardening websites and a wide range of factors can affect
availability: supply and demand, weather, bad seed, bloody grasshoppers, you
name it!

For anyone to immediately assume that a "scam" is involved is, sadly,
typical of the prevailing psyche out there. For others to have to respond
and actually explain an e businessmodel is equally sorta Pffff! There are
good, hard working people out there, trying to get their product on the
market by dealing with challenges that the average 'Customer' does not even
know about. They deal with a client base that is opinionated to begin with,
gardeners are notoriously picky and rightly so.

Read this thread, good people. All sorts of doubt and questioning of
integrity of established small business, simply because their website seems
awfully similar? And because they're all out of stock at the same time on
item 41b in red? That smells like a scam?
OK, now I'm becoming a tad riled. And yes, I truly and sincerely do not care
if you buy or do not buy my product based on MY being a verbose and anal
type. Ask someone to explain this to you:

DO NOT JUMP AT THE SNAPSHOT, LOOK AT THE WHOLE FRIGGING PICTURE FIRST.

Sheeeesh, people!

John H. Immink
Victoria BC Canada
4 years of website joy.....
http://www.renaissancegardens.com/

On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 04:27:06 GMT, "ecologicals"
wrote:

DO NOT JUMP AT THE SNAPSHOT, LOOK AT THE WHOLE FRIGGING PICTURE FIRST.

Sheeeesh, people!



Good one John, where the heck have you been?
BTW it was nice to see your link on the SFI web site!!

tomj
"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson