has anyone bought from Tawian/Thai Ebay dealers?

[Corwin]

On a french forum, I heard about Thalandshome and Popow Orchid. They both sell on eBAy and are located in Germany

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by jsauger

Also, what about importing from Hawaii? The info I have found leads me to believe they treat import from Hawaii to the contiguous 48 less like regular mail and more like a foreign import. Am I correct in this assumption?

I have purchase plants from Hawaii with no problems - they do have something on the front that indicates 'inspection certificate #' - I presume the nursery/seller has been inspected and issued a certificate, so buying from a 'private' seller may be more of an issure - I'm not sure.

I received packages quickly and in good shape, and doesn't look like the packages were opened.

[Becky15349]

Buying plants from Hawaii if you live in the USA is not a problem, as Hawaii is a state. I have placed and received countless orchid orders from vendors in hawaii and all have been perfect. However, some individual states DO have importation restrictions, and I do believe that Florida might be one of them. Might want to call your local dept of argiculture or FDA or something like that, maybe there is a website that lists state-level restrictions? Just a thought...

[Jerry Delaney]

I think there is one exception to the import permit. I believe they had certified certain orchid nursery's in Taiwan so that Phals can be shipped directly to your door with no permit needed and no APHIS inspection. I am not sure if they ever finalized this provision and it only was to apply to Phals. Problem to me would have been the quantities you must purchase from many of these vendors.

[Sandy4453]

I made one purchase for 2 plants from a Thai seller...against my better judgement. Never sent me the plants, claimed they must have gotten lost in the shipping. He then asked if I would wait for my money because he was low on funds, to give him a couple of days. The money never came. Placed a complaint against him through PayPal and received my refund. I don't think the vendors there play by the same set of rules.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Sandy4453

I made one purchase for 2 plants from a Thai seller...against my better judgement. Never sent me the plants, claimed they must have gotten lost in the shipping. He then asked if I would wait for my money because he was low on funds, to give him a couple of days. The money never came. Placed a complaint against him through PayPal and received my refund. I don't think the vendors there play by the same set of rules.

That's exactly the sort of thing I would be afraid of. It's so easy for them to take our money, never send them and say that the package must have been intercepted by customs. And I'd rather support my 'local' EU growers rather than fund people who may not get their orchids very legally.

[rogerman]

I personally would never buy Orchids from ebay EVER.

Firstly, you never know what you're actually going to get no matter what country you buy from.

And secondly, you don't know what diseases it is carrying either.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by rogerman

I personally would never buy Orchids from ebay EVER.

Firstly, you never know what you're actually going to get no matter what country you buy from.

And secondly, you don't know what diseases it is carrying either.

You could say the same thing about online ordering in general then. If you know the good ebay sellers, you can get some superb plants sometimes much cheaper than at the usual growers. Personally I bid on things from a german grower who also happens to be an ebay seller. He sells things there that aren't in his catalogue.

[rogerman]

yes, thats also true. I don't buy anything online here anyway. import tax is too high for a start let alone all the problems.
I realise that things are different for you, as you don't have the ease of purchasing plants like we can get here, and online purchasing would be ok for you.

Back home, i used to sell a lot of things online that i got sent to me from here ....... Until i got a knock on the door by a couple customs blokes asking why i needed 100 el-cheapo digital cameras for ..... and why were they labelled as gifts etc..... there was the end of a good sale.

[catwalker808]

Heed the advice of Jerry Delaney. I have done many foreign shipments for over 25 years. Today there are document requirements for both outgoing and incoming shipments.
For incoming to USA, 2 import permits are required: a "general" permit to engage in the activity of importing orchid plants and a permit to import orchids. (maybe the first is like a business license and not required for occasional imports, but the import permit is definitely a must).

Then a CITES document is required (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). While most orchids are not endangered species, some are and all orchids fall under CITES requirements.

If a foreign vendor (Taiwan and Thailand) claims no documents are necessary, they are misleading you. By sending plants through the mail without documents, they are probably counting on the sheer volume of mail, and the reluctance of Mail inspectors to open private mail without some appropriate suspicion, to allow their unopened parcels to pass through.
If your parcel passes through, it is still illegal, and if it doesn't, you do face legal consequences. That being said, legitimate foreign vendors can obtain CITES documents, but nothing is for free and some vendors (myself included) may set minimum purchases to justify the time and effort of having plants inspected and preparing CITES documents.
All shipments also require the foreign country's Phytosanitary Certificate. Flasks only require an import permit and Phyto Cert.

I'm located in Hawaii (the 50th US state) and while some US people still think we are a foreign country ... we are not. We are part of the US. 48 states comprise the contiguous states of the US ... Hawaii and Alaska are separate by geography only.
Anyway, for Hawaii Certified Orchid Nurseries to ship to the US mainland, all we need to do is pack and tape seal our parcels. Then we apply a stamp to the seal and legally ship to customers on the US mainland. That simple. Our certification is based on regular inspections of our nursery growing conditions and practices and a sampling of our nursery stock. As part of the US, no CITES documents are required. Our Certified Nursery stamp serves as our Phyto. And it behoves us to send clean, disease free plants, because our customers are the most scrutinizing "plant Inspectors".