eBay's marblekg (Gary Beinemann) - Orchid Virus Superspreader

[Jeff214]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

Now, all my eBay searches are done with his sales blocked.

...I've been looking for a way to remove his postings in my ebay searches. Maybe he'll see this post and ban me too so I don't have to waste my time

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Jeff214

...I've been looking for a way to remove his postings in my ebay searches. Maybe he'll see this post and ban me too so I don't have to waste my time

To exclude Gary Beinemann's (marblekg) eBay listings you have two options. Use the first to avoid seeing them at all, the second allows you avoid clicking on listings to see who the seller is.
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Option 1: This option requires one extra click once the exclusion is set up in each eBay login session.
1) Click "advanced" to the right of the "search" box.
2) Scroll down to "Sellers", click "only show items from", select "exclude" and enter "marblekg".
The exclusion will apply if you enter search text on the "advanced" screen rather than the usual search box.
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Option 2: This option allows you to avoid clicking on listings to find out who the seller is.
1) Click the options "hamburger" at the top right of the screen (usually to the right of 'best match').
2) Click customize, then select "seller information" then "Apply Changes".
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Unfortunately, you will see his listings even if you're banned. Option 2 will also allow you to see feedback scores. I will no longer purchase from sellers with less than 99%, and prefer to see 100%. The best sellers work to assure satisfaction and achieve 100%, or have at most one recent negative feedback.

-Keith

[Orchid Whisperer]

I stay away from EBay sellers unless I know them, or I know of them from a grower whose opinion I trust.

Ditto Amazon etc.

Too many quality orchid nurseries that deserve / need business, no reason to buy from a a bad apple 'seller'.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

I stay away from EBay sellers unless I know them, or I know of them from a grower whose opinion I trust.

Ditto Amazon etc.

Too many quality orchid nurseries that deserve / need business, no reason to buy from a a bad apple 'seller'.

There are some very good sellers on eBay, including Chadwick, Diamond, Waldor, Steven Christoffersen and others that are not coming to mind at the moment. There are also individuals selling divisions of their prized plants, that quite often cannot be found elsewhere.

In my estimation an eBay seller with 100% feedback on thousands of sales has not only been delivering a good healthy product, but has demonstrated a solid pro-customer approach. Unfortunately, there are also some bad apples, such as marblekg (Gary Beinemann aka Gary's Orchids).

-Keith

[Jeff214]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

To exclude Gary Beinemann's (marblekg) eBay listings you have two options. Use the first to avoid seeing them at all, the second allows you avoid clicking on listings to see who the seller is.

-Keith

Thanks for the useful setting! This is wonderful haha.

Perhaps it's partly a generational thing, but I find it easier to communicate with ebay sellers via email. I've had a difficult time emailing/calling most nurseries in the US. That being said, I'm selective of my ebay sellers too

[K-Sci]

There is an additional way to exclude marblekg (A.K.A Gary Beinemann, AKA Gary's Orchids) from eBay searches. Use the eBay saved searches feature.

1) Click "Advanced Searches" to the right of "Search" at the top right of your eBay home page.
+ Enter your preferred search terms.
+ Scroll down to "Sellers" and check, "Only show items from", choose "Exclude" from the drop-down menu, then enter "marblekg" in the entry box.
+Scroll down and click "Search"

2) On the resulting search results page click "Save this search"

From this point on, you can repeat the search by selecting it after choosing "Saved Searches" from the main eBay page drop-down menu under "My eBay".

Additionally, you will be notified by email when a new item becomes available per your saved search. These notifications can be disabled.

-Keith

[BrassavolaStars]

This disturbs me. I believe I have two plants from this seller. I hope they haven’t been spreading disease to others in my collection. There are both Cattleyas and the first one bloomed many times and seems to be okay (no color break or anything like that). The second one I bought a few months ago and seems a bit sickly. I guess I should test them both. Probably wouldn’t buy again though from this info. Maybe I got lucky and didn’t get a virused set (fingers crossed)

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------

I admittedly have a bad habit of buying on eBay. I try to stick to reputable vendors like the ones mentioned earlier on the thread but sometimes a seller has something really rare that I’ve been looking for that I wasn’t able to find elsewhere. Usually a Cattleya division or hybrid that isn’t common.

[estación seca]

I've found it helpful to remind myself the reputable vendors who have big enough organizations to maintain a real Web site have huge numbers of orchids I must have, so I don't need to go elsewhere.

If I became a collector in a very narrow segment of the orchid family I would still likely not be dealing with online marketplace aggregation sites. I'd be getting names of specialty nurseries and private growers from the other people in the narrow segment of the hobby.

So I've trained myself not to go on eBay and Amazon just as I trained myself from a very early age never to drive drunk.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I've found it helpful to remind myself the reputable vendors who have big enough organizations to maintain a real Web site have huge numbers of orchids I must have, so I don't need to go elsewhere.

If I became a collector in a very narrow segment of the orchid family I would still likely not be dealing with online marketplace aggregation sites. I'd be getting names of specialty nurseries and private growers from the other people in the narrow segment of the hobby.

So I've trained myself not to go on eBay and Amazon just as I trained myself from a very early age never to drive drunk.

well said. ebay and amazon make their money when a sellers purchase goes through... they have little incentive to remove bad sellers as long as they continue to make sales.

[BrassavolaStars]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

This disturbs me. I believe I have two plants from this seller. I hope they haven’t been spreading disease to others in my collection. There are both Cattleyas and the first one bloomed many times and seems to be okay (no color break or anything like that). The second one I bought a few months ago and seems a bit sickly. I guess I should test them both. Probably wouldn’t buy again though from this info. Maybe I got lucky and didn’t get a virused set (fingers crossed)

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------

I admittedly have a bad habit of buying on eBay. I try to stick to reputable vendors like the ones mentioned earlier on the thread but sometimes a seller has something really rare that I’ve been looking for that I wasn’t able to find elsewhere. Usually a Cattleya division or hybrid that isn’t common.

Update: The first Cattleya is clean (me in my clumsiness knocked it into the sink where I was bleaching and flaming my tools though right on the open cut so I amputated an inch further and will spray with physan. Hopefully I didn’t just infect it that way but I’m pretty sure the bleach in the sink would have killed anything.

The second Cattleya has ORSV .

Now I will probably spend the whole night worrying about infecting the first one. I’ve only had the second one maybe a month and it spent little time in my greenhouse so hopefully it didn’t spread anything. That said, it did have sap on the surface since it is growing a new lead. Not to mention, I have a lot of splashing water in my GH…