The Perils of eBay Orchid Buying
 

Hi all-
I thought you might get a kick out of this one. A seller has listed an
"Easy to Grow Orchid Plant" on eBay. He (she/it) describes the plant as a
cymbidium orchid, but pictures a cattleya (or a Bc, Sc, Slc) in the
description! I was especially impressed with the seller listing themselves
as "a GROWER we are NOT a drop shipper or someone that buys to resell as a
lot of sellers do." If you would like to view this, it is item #4358735828.
ARRRGGGGHHH!!!

Bill Landers

Maybe they just uploaded the wrong picture file,simple mistake to make.I
wouldn't right someone off just for that,if I emailed then & they didn't
have a clue I would be worried!

--
Thanks Keith,England,UK.
"Bill Landers" wrote in message
...
Hi all-
I thought you might get a kick out of this one. A seller has listed an
"Easy to Grow Orchid Plant" on eBay. He (she/it) describes the plant as a
cymbidium orchid, but pictures a cattleya (or a Bc, Sc, Slc) in the
description! I was especially impressed with the seller listing
themselves
as "a GROWER we are NOT a drop shipper or someone that buys to resell as a
lot of sellers do." If you would like to view this, it is item
#4358735828.
ARRRGGGGHHH!!!

Bill Landers

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 18:34:46 GMT, "keith ;-\)"
wrote:

Maybe they just uploaded the wrong picture file,simple mistake to make.I
wouldn't right someone off just for that,if I emailed then & they didn't
have a clue I would be worried!

I've seen auctions from this seller before that were identical to this
one. I certainly wouldn't order from him. His other auctions are for
a wide variety of plants. Anybody need a sago palm bonsai or a
cranberry plant?

deg

"Dewitt" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 18:34:46 GMT, "keith ;-\)"
wrote:

Maybe they just uploaded the wrong picture file,simple mistake to make.I
wouldn't right someone off just for that,if I emailed then & they didn't
have a clue I would be worried!

I've seen auctions from this seller before that were identical to this
one. I certainly wouldn't order from him. His other auctions are for
a wide variety of plants. Anybody need a sago palm bonsai or a
cranberry plant?

deg

I have also seen items listed by this seller before. Today, he had an oak
leaf hydrangea listed with a picture of a PG hydrangea. Unfortunately, this
isn't a one-time error in uploading. Is it really that difficult to submit
an error-free listing? I happen to hold "professional" nurserymen to a
higher standard than this.
Bill Landers

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 20:58:14 GMT, "Bill Landers"
wrote:

I have also seen items listed by this seller before. Today, he had an oak
leaf hydrangea listed with a picture of a PG hydrangea. Unfortunately, this
isn't a one-time error in uploading. Is it really that difficult to submit
an error-free listing? I happen to hold "professional" nurserymen to a
higher standard than this.
Bill Landers


You are upgrading a scam artist. And doing all nurserymen a
disservice. Is it possible to gripe to Ebay? Or to post a
notice there that he is misrepresenting material?

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 20:58:14 GMT, "Bill Landers"
wrote:

I have also seen items listed by this seller before. Today, he had an oak
leaf hydrangea listed with a picture of a PG hydrangea. Unfortunately,
this
isn't a one-time error in uploading. Is it really that difficult to
submit
an error-free listing? I happen to hold "professional" nurserymen to a
higher standard than this.
Bill Landers


You are upgrading a scam artist. And doing all nurserymen a
disservice. Is it possible to gripe to Ebay? Or to post a
notice there that he is misrepresenting material?

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Hi Susan-
It would probably be a waste of time to complain to eBay. The seller could
easily claim a "mistake" in uploading the correct image for the particular
item. I guess the the old CAVEAT EMPTOR applies here. I truly believe that
the average person shopping for plants on eBay is generally not all that
well-informed on what they are bidding on. For example, sellers are listing
seeds of named hostas, when we all know that they will not come
true-to-name, and if you spend any amount of time perusing the listings, you
can find many more instances of this. Is it deceptive? Some sellers may
not know any better, but I suppose that others do and don't really care. I
posted the original item this morning because this seemed more careless than
usual, and the seller in question has a history of sloppy listings. But
then again, his feedback rating is 99% plus, so what do I know?!?
Bill Landers

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 20:58:14 GMT, "Bill Landers"
wrote:

I have also seen items listed by this seller before. Today, he had an oak
leaf hydrangea listed with a picture of a PG hydrangea. Unfortunately,
this
isn't a one-time error in uploading. Is it really that difficult to
submit
an error-free listing? I happen to hold "professional" nurserymen to a
higher standard than this.
Bill Landers


You are upgrading a scam artist. And doing all nurserymen a
disservice. Is it possible to gripe to Ebay? Or to post a
notice there that he is misrepresenting material?

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Hi Susan-
It would probably be a waste of time to complain to eBay. The seller could
easily claim a "mistake" in uploading the correct image for the particular
item. I guess the the old CAVEAT EMPTOR applies here. I truly believe that
the average person shopping for plants on eBay is generally not all that
well-informed on what they are bidding on. For example, sellers are listing
seeds of named hostas, when we all know that they will not come
true-to-name, and if you spend any amount of time perusing the listings, you
can find many more instances of this. Is it deceptive? Some sellers may
not know any better, but I suppose that others do and don't really care. I
posted the original item this morning because this seemed more careless than
usual, and the seller in question has a history of sloppy listings. But
then again, his feedback rating is 99% plus, so what do I know?!?
Bill Landers

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 01:38:13 GMT, "Bill Landers"
wrote:

Hi Susan-
It would probably be a waste of time to complain to eBay. The seller could
easily claim a "mistake" in uploading the correct image for the particular
item. I guess the the old CAVEAT EMPTOR applies here. I truly believe that
the average person shopping for plants on eBay is generally not all that
well-informed on what they are bidding on. For example, sellers are listing
seeds of named hostas, when we all know that they will not come
true-to-name, and if you spend any amount of time perusing the listings, you
can find many more instances of this. Is it deceptive? Some sellers may
not know any better, but I suppose that others do and don't really care. I
posted the original item this morning because this seemed more careless than
usual, and the seller in question has a history of sloppy listings. But
then again, his feedback rating is 99% plus, so what do I know?!?
Bill Landers


Is it possible to kill the feedback rate with comments about the
error in the posts?

I hate to see new bees flim-flamed by scam artists. We had one
link to our pix one time and say this was the plant he was
selling. He was selling a seedling of the cross not the awarded
plant in our photo. And it was not directly related except to be
the same hybrid... made at a different time.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Susan Erickson wrote in
:

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 01:38:13 GMT, "Bill Landers"
wrote:

Hi Susan-
It would probably be a waste of time to complain to eBay. The seller
could easily claim a "mistake" in uploading the correct image for the
particular item. I guess the the old CAVEAT EMPTOR applies here. I
truly believe that the average person shopping for plants on eBay is
generally not all that well-informed on what they are bidding on. For
example, sellers are listing seeds of named hostas, when we all know
that they will not come true-to-name, and if you spend any amount of
time perusing the listings, you can find many more instances of this.
Is it deceptive? Some sellers may not know any better, but I suppose
that others do and don't really care. I posted the original item this
morning because this seemed more careless than usual, and the seller
in question has a history of sloppy listings. But then again, his
feedback rating is 99% plus, so what do I know?!? Bill Landers


Is it possible to kill the feedback rate with comments about the
error in the posts?

I hate to see new bees flim-flamed by scam artists. We had one
link to our pix one time and say this was the plant he was
selling. He was selling a seedling of the cross not the awarded
plant in our photo. And it was not directly related except to be
the same hybrid... made at a different time.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php


This seller has been around for a time and his/her auction listings have
always been on the erroneous side.

As far as complaining to ebay believe me it's a waste of time. Their
support people in India think $32 is a fair price for shipping a 4 ounce
item via parcel post. If you do shop Ebay check the shipping price first as
I've seen shipping higher than you could buy the item in the store.
Complain to ebay and you get an email stating We don't see a problem with
the auction you discribed.

Ever since AOL took over Ebay it has been as follows

WE ARE EBAY! Resistance is futile, assimilate or leave.

keith ;-) wrote:
Maybe they just uploaded the wrong picture file,simple mistake to make.I
wouldn't right someone off just for that,if I emailed then & they didn't
have a clue I would be worried!

No, I don't think so. I emailed them 2 days ago using my eBay ID. No
reply at all, which leads me to believe they are a deliberate scam
artist. An honest mistake would more probably have received a reply
something like, "oh my gosh, I can't believe i did that! I have
corrected it and replaced it with a pic of the correct cymbidium.).

Nope, no reply. At all.