So, I never buy anything on E-bay.. But I was poking around in the
orchid auctions just to see what is going on. I managed to find, in
approximately 5 minutes, several grievous errors in descriptions. Now,
I'm not the orchid police, but some of this stuff is annoying...

For example (one of zillions), there was a listing for Paph. Fairr 'Red'
FCC/AOS x self. Let me count the ways in which that is wrong...

1. The description is paphiopedilum Fairrieanum Red FCC/AOS x self.
Now, you all know by now that I'm a stickler for proper nomenclature,
but is too much to ask that the listing say, at least, Paph Fairrieanum?

2. Of course I might consider buying it, but should one really buy a
plant from somebody who doesn't know that genus should be capitalized,
and that a specific epithet in lower case? ie: Paphiopedilum fairrieanum.

3. At least they spelled fairrieanum right... Few people do.

4. Paph. fairrieanum "Red" has an 81 pt AM/AOS. And an AD from the
CSA. That doesn't even come close to an FCC. That is what set me off
in the first place, I was just working up to it. Maybe it is just me
over-reacting, but somebody somewhere made that FCC up to sell plants.
Probably not this seller, given the cluelessness in other areas.

So, said seller has 64 items for sale, so they obviously do this a lot.
And all of the species are improperly written. I can forgive that,
some people aren't as compulsive as I am. But, if they know enough to
know that "Paph Villosum" comes from Laos (It actually comes from a
somewhat wider range than that...), is it too much to ask for a little
professionalism? If it was just this one person, I'd not even notice,
but almost everybody selling an orchid on e-bay seems to have a complete
disregard for names.

I had to vent... I'd bitch in person, but I'm not registered as an E-bay
user, so I can't. It's that sore tooth again, makes me cranky... *grin*

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit

Rob,

And, you didn't even mention that all elusive 'Rare' orchid that somehow is
available, in quantity, on ebay. The term is now so flagrant that 'Rare'
usually means you are going to get taken if you bid!

John G. Talpa, CWS-VI
Certified Water Specialist
JT Company




"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
So, I never buy anything on E-bay.. But I was poking around in the
orchid auctions just to see what is going on. I managed to find, in
approximately 5 minutes, several grievous errors in descriptions. Now,
I'm not the orchid police, but some of this stuff is annoying...

For example (one of zillions), there was a listing for Paph. Fairr 'Red'
FCC/AOS x self. Let me count the ways in which that is wrong...

1. The description is paphiopedilum Fairrieanum Red FCC/AOS x self.
Now, you all know by now that I'm a stickler for proper nomenclature,
but is too much to ask that the listing say, at least, Paph Fairrieanum?

2. Of course I might consider buying it, but should one really buy a
plant from somebody who doesn't know that genus should be capitalized,
and that a specific epithet in lower case? ie: Paphiopedilum fairrieanum.

3. At least they spelled fairrieanum right... Few people do.

4. Paph. fairrieanum "Red" has an 81 pt AM/AOS. And an AD from the
CSA. That doesn't even come close to an FCC. That is what set me off
in the first place, I was just working up to it. Maybe it is just me
over-reacting, but somebody somewhere made that FCC up to sell plants.
Probably not this seller, given the cluelessness in other areas.

So, said seller has 64 items for sale, so they obviously do this a lot.
And all of the species are improperly written. I can forgive that,
some people aren't as compulsive as I am. But, if they know enough to
know that "Paph Villosum" comes from Laos (It actually comes from a
somewhat wider range than that...), is it too much to ask for a little
professionalism? If it was just this one person, I'd not even notice,
but almost everybody selling an orchid on e-bay seems to have a complete
disregard for names.

I had to vent... I'd bitch in person, but I'm not registered as an E-bay
user, so I can't. It's that sore tooth again, makes me cranky... *grin*

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit

Rob,

I often check E-bay for orchids but have never bought any. Sometimes it's
great entertainment.

************************************************** ************************
Rare Oncidium ....Smells Like Chocolate....Buy it now....Once in lifetime
chance....you will be the only one on your block to have one....Awarded
plant!!!!

Oh...another Sharry Baby

************************************************** ************************


Stunning....Rare.....Unusual.....Exciting.....Best Round
flower....Fragrant....rare species...

Oh.....Phal violacea

************************************************** ************************

Tonight there are 315 hits on orchid plants on E-bay!


I hate what some people will do on E-bay to mislead and cheat people. Mark
something "Rare" and they flock to your auction.

Some people mark sell the plants with a high reserve (meaning the minimum
price they will accept) and then tack on a big shipping charge. I haven't
seen anything that I would consider a good price.

They show a beautiful picture of the plant in bloom and then when you scroll
down you find out that the actual plant you are bidding on is a couple years
away from blooming.

So now you are buying an out of bloom plant from some bozo who you will
never see in two or three years when it finally blooms....so that Paph
One-of-a-Kind "WOO WOO" FCC/AOS turns out to be a Paph Home Depot "Clearance
Shelf" ....now try to get your money back.

Another thing I hate is when they set the beginning price at $20.00 but you
can "Buy-it-now" for $22.00. Duh? Who would even bid and try to save $2 if
they really are serious about the plant. Then pay $10 shipping for a single
plant.

The sad thing is that there are some good people out there selling good
plants on E-bay but they are lost in the mess of the other stuff thats out
there. Overall I prefer finding a reputable dealer and just ordering from
the internet or going to the greenhouse and picking out plants to take home.

I think the bottom line is buyer beware!

Good Growing,
Gene

When your dealing with Ebay, take all listings with a grain of salt. I
have gotten some great deals there, but I know what I am bidding for,
even if the seller doesn't know.....In deciding on whether to bid,
ignore the ebay ratings for the seller....all will be positive, as
people get nasty to each other over bad ratings. Instead, check OGRES.
Even better, check the number of bidders. A good seller will have many
bids...the aforementioned dealer of the "P. Fairr Red" never gets any
bids! There is a reason for it......( actually, this dealer has decent
plants, but is difficult to deal with and doesn't have the best of
prices...) Take care, Eric Muehlbauer

Gene Schurg wrote:

Rob,

I often check E-bay for orchids but have never bought any. Sometimes it's
great entertainment.

************************************************* *************************
Rare Oncidium ....Smells Like Chocolate....Buy it now....Once in lifetime
chance....you will be the only one on your block to have one....Awarded
plant!!!!

Oh...another Sharry Baby

************************************************* *************************


Stunning....Rare.....Unusual.....Exciting.....Bes t Round
flower....Fragrant....rare species...

Oh.....Phal violacea

************************************************* *************************

Tonight there are 315 hits on orchid plants on E-bay!


I hate what some people will do on E-bay to mislead and cheat people. Mark
something "Rare" and they flock to your auction.

Some people mark sell the plants with a high reserve (meaning the minimum
price they will accept) and then tack on a big shipping charge. I haven't
seen anything that I would consider a good price.

They show a beautiful picture of the plant in bloom and then when you scroll
down you find out that the actual plant you are bidding on is a couple years
away from blooming.

So now you are buying an out of bloom plant from some bozo who you will
never see in two or three years when it finally blooms....so that Paph
One-of-a-Kind "WOO WOO" FCC/AOS turns out to be a Paph Home Depot "Clearance
Shelf" ....now try to get your money back.

Another thing I hate is when they set the beginning price at $20.00 but you
can "Buy-it-now" for $22.00. Duh? Who would even bid and try to save $2 if
they really are serious about the plant. Then pay $10 shipping for a single
plant.

The sad thing is that there are some good people out there selling good
plants on E-bay but they are lost in the mess of the other stuff thats out
there. Overall I prefer finding a reputable dealer and just ordering from
the internet or going to the greenhouse and picking out plants to take home.

I think the bottom line is buyer beware!

Good Growing,
Gene

I have been pretty disappointed with my eBay orchid purchases.

There is one seller of Paph rothschildianum (I prefer to say roth to save
space, but thought better of it after the first post on this topic ) and
similar seedlings with very good items. I also picked up some great Puppentanz
in spike last spring on eBay- but this was a private seller thinning an excess
collection, not an ongoing eBay seller for profit.

but among my other purchases have been,

"NBS" rothschildianums with 10-12 inch leaf spans and atrocious (ie almost
non-existent) root systems- one of them by its growth habit clearly one of
those 10 year old plants that just never managed to get to blooming size.

Flasks of "20-30" seedlings with far fewer- one I still have yet to compot out
actually has 8 seedlings and a few more shoots barely past the protocorm stage.
That was an extreme case, but I have yet to have a flask live up to
expectations unless it came from a certain someone in Florida who offers great
stuff.

"NBS" Slc. seedlings that were fresh out of flask.

And I can attest to the fact that more than one retailer is grumbling about
their sanderianum flasks being sold as single seedlings on eBay as
"established" mere weeks after the flasks were shipped by the retailer.

Definitely a place to trod with care when it comes to orchids. You get what you
pay for and these days I stick to commercial sites I know and trust.

And I think the same is probably true of other hobbyists in general. Otherwise
we would be seeing a lot more serious offerings on eBay for quality orchids.

Tom.

In article k.net, "Gene
Schurg" writes:

........They show a beautiful picture of the plant in bloom and then when you
scroll
down you find out that the actual plant you are bidding on is a couple years
away from blooming............................

I happened to be browsing through ebay last night myself. I buy on ebay, but
NEVER orchids. I hadn't looked there in a while and I noticed there was a lot
of showing a blooming plant that was really a parent.
I also found one vendor that claimed to show the actual plant in the auction
but the same exact picture was shown for two different auctions that weren't
even selling the same species. I've seen that before too. Ugh!



Steve
in the Adirondacks of Northern NY

I agree 100% if not more I am an e-bay buyer and pick and choose closely
who I buy from. I've only bought 3 plants that way and two ended up being
from someone I knew but didn't figure out until after the purchase. I read
closely all (ok, not all but just the negative ones) the feedback and make
my decision based on that.

I don't believe there's any way to bitch even if you're a registered e-bay
buyer unless you actually bid on and win an auction and then u only get to
bitch about that particular transaction w/ that particular seller.
Actually, I'm wrong, you can write directly to the person selling stuff...
and I have - see below.

I've often seen the plant listed as Paph whatever FCC/AOS then u look in the
description and find out it's a seedling. I wrote to a seller about that
once and he made up some excuse about it being a mistake and he was in a
hurry or something. I did notice that his later auctions still listed the
plants the same way but in the description added the "x self". I still
think it's deceptive.... I'd rant / bitch more but I hate typing...

"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
So, I never buy anything on E-bay.. But I was poking around in the
orchid auctions just to see what is going on. I managed to find, in
approximately 5 minutes, several grievous errors in descriptions. Now,
I'm not the orchid police, but some of this stuff is annoying...

For example (one of zillions), there was a listing for Paph. Fairr 'Red'
FCC/AOS x self. Let me count the ways in which that is wrong...

1. The description is paphiopedilum Fairrieanum Red FCC/AOS x self.
Now, you all know by now that I'm a stickler for proper nomenclature,
but is too much to ask that the listing say, at least, Paph Fairrieanum?

2. Of course I might consider buying it, but should one really buy a
plant from somebody who doesn't know that genus should be capitalized,
and that a specific epithet in lower case? ie: Paphiopedilum fairrieanum.

3. At least they spelled fairrieanum right... Few people do.

4. Paph. fairrieanum "Red" has an 81 pt AM/AOS. And an AD from the
CSA. That doesn't even come close to an FCC. That is what set me off
in the first place, I was just working up to it. Maybe it is just me
over-reacting, but somebody somewhere made that FCC up to sell plants.
Probably not this seller, given the cluelessness in other areas.

So, said seller has 64 items for sale, so they obviously do this a lot.
And all of the species are improperly written. I can forgive that,
some people aren't as compulsive as I am. But, if they know enough to
know that "Paph Villosum" comes from Laos (It actually comes from a
somewhat wider range than that...), is it too much to ask for a little
professionalism? If it was just this one person, I'd not even notice,
but almost everybody selling an orchid on e-bay seems to have a complete
disregard for names.

I had to vent... I'd bitch in person, but I'm not registered as an E-bay
user, so I can't. It's that sore tooth again, makes me cranky... *grin*

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit

I have bought a number of orchids off EBay and also a few flasks.
Additionally I have sold a couple plants there. Of course, I feel my
descriptions were accurate, and leafspan measurements, ages, etc, were
objective. I have by and large been quite satisfied with the plants I
have gotten there (in fact, just bought two more today), but then I am
rather selective and ask questions if uncertain; I don't go for it
unless I'm pretty sure. Only one plant has been a disappointment; it was
quite healthy upon arrival and of the specified size. When it flowered
two years later (it was a NBS vanda), it was not as pictured. Not quite
the shape, and definitely not the color. But by that time, I had
forgotten from whom I bought it. I keep better records now. But I always
know there is the possibility of getting screwed. I've just been lucky
so far. And I usually don't look there, but once in a while someone
alerts me to someting they think I might be interested in. Damn them!

I've bought Orchids on Ebay exactly once, From a reputable seller who
wasn't offering them on his regular site. I wound up paying less for the
two together than a single one would have cost me. The picture showed 2 NBS
orchids, when I received them one was in Bud and bloomed the next week! But
I went in knowing exactly what I wanted, and how much I was willing to pay.

--
Hugs,
Molli


"Jerry Hoffmeister" wrote in message
news:qrZ6a.241857$tq4.5967@sccrnsc01...
I agree 100% if not more I am an e-bay buyer and pick and choose
closely
who I buy from. I've only bought 3 plants that way and two ended up being
from someone I knew but didn't figure out until after the purchase. I
read
closely all (ok, not all but just the negative ones) the feedback and make
my decision based on that.

Xref: news7 rec.gardens.orchids:41814

That's happened to me several times...I've won paphs on ebay and they
turned out to be spiking when I received them, even though that was not
in the description. While I agree that calling a plant an FCC etc when
its really just the offspring of an awarded plant is very poor form, I
am more forgiving of spelling errors or growers comments that come
straight out of a very general book. Most of these sellers are hobbyists
like me, and while I consider myself very knowlageable in some areas, I
am not in others...and these guys are just like me. Overall, while I
have had some minor disappointments from Ebay, I have never felt that I
was ripped off, and I have received some very good deals....like the guy
who sent me 2 blooming size crosses of Freckles x bellatulum, although I
won only 1, along with a bellatulum seedling and a BS Lunacy...all for
less than $50....and this guy never appeared on Ebay again. Again, I am
selective...some plants I will bid on simply because I am familiar with
the seller and know that I can trust him/her and get a good deal. I will
be happy to vouch for any particular seller I have dealt with if anyone
contacts me...offlist, of course. Take care, Eric Muehlbauer

"John G. Talpa" spaketh thusly:

And, you didn't even mention that all elusive 'Rare' orchid that somehow
is available, in quantity, on ebay. The term is now so flagrant that
'Rare' usually means you are going to get taken if you bid!

It can. :-) Searching for "rare" orchids on eBay can burn you.

However, I will note the following. Some of the first offerings of
a newly discovered gongora were on eBay. And the first listing- anywhere,
ever- of Tridactyle truncatiloba for sale was on eBay. I don't take the
use of the word "rare" lightly in my listings. Ditto with "unusual," "not
often seen in cultivation," and "infrequently seen in cultivation."

Rare stuff is what we do. And common stuff. And everything between
the poles. I just avoid the hype in the listings.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ