Flipping Orchids?

[estación seca]

Selling something legal to a willing buyer at a price on which both parties agree. What is wrong with that? The buyer is able to do some research before buying.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by gumbii

i'll give you an example of flipping...


so this guy walks into this store called reef collection... this shop has these rocks with little polyps... guy wants 30 for 10 polyps... so some guy sees them, and picks up 4 rocks... he then tells an online vendor to pick up another two rocks...

then he goes into the forums, and has the online vendor price them at an INSANE price of 1,000 dollars a polyp... LOL... then he calls them utter chaos, and sells them on a local board for 800 bucks a piece... says he only has two available, yet sells 20 of them...

that's what started the whole "flipping" is bad thing in our hobby... plus, like i said, we all know eachother... we all talk to eachother and find out who is in it for the money, or in it for the love of the hobby... i have given away some crazy high end pieces in the past... just like my plants... i give them away to my neighbor's all the time... but corals is way different... anyone can setup frag tanks in their garage, and stat making big bucks selling corals... i don't think people can do that with plants... anyone can buy from the wholesale now and days... there are 2 guys in my reef club that do that... nothing wrong with it... they are selling, not flipping...

now that's the difference between real coral flippers and people just doing it to make a quick 4 bucks... LOL...

Please explain precisely why people can't do that with plants.

[gngrhill]

I think its called free enterprise. If someone wants what you have to sell, go for it. Buyer just need to be aware of what he/she is buying. The sellers I buy from on ebay are all ones who post a picture of actual plant you are bidding on, and like I said earlier, I have been mostly happy with what I have gotten, flipped or not, some sellers have sent me huge, beautiful plants, some questionable, but all have survived except one.

[Subrosa]

Anyone who thinks this sort of thing doesn't go on with plants is either not looking or refusing to see. If one went solely by the description of EBay sellers every orchid is rare, or very rare. Those critical of the profit motive have somehow managed to divorce themselves from the hard reality that if it weren't for the profit motive the selection of plants available to us would be greatly diminished. However it has become very popular lately for people in the US to denigrate any aspect of the profit motive which they don't see as benefiting them directly.

[gumbii]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Anyone who thinks this sort of thing doesn't go on with plants is either not looking or refusing to see. If one went solely by the description of EBay sellers every orchid is rare, or very rare. Those critical of the profit motive have somehow managed to divorce themselves from the hard reality that if it weren't for the profit motive the selection of plants available to us would be greatly diminished. However it has become very popular lately for people in the US to denigrate any aspect of the profit motive which they don't see as benefiting them directly.

well... it can be see in many ways... a finder's fee, a plant broker, a hobbyist trying to make some money... lol... it can also be a job...

not saying that it isn't the same as with plants, but it's how everything works... i collect rare comic books... say a book is a limited print... if i by directly from marvel, or a supplier, i will get it at cost... if i go to a crummy comic bookshop, or a bookstore... it will be marked up crazy... if i buy from a large comic book store that probably got cases of it... it will be cheaper than the face value until they only have a couple of books left...

are the comic book shops and book stores flipping...?

i am an artist... horrible job.. LOL... but i will pick up some fence post, cut them and tune them, hang them on a chain, and boom, wind chimes for 250 bucks... am i flipping..? anyone could've made them... i'll post them online and sell them in a week... everyone knows how much that stuff cost me... same with a painting... canvas cost me 50 bucks, i used about 10 dollars worth of paint, a couple of hours, and once i'm done, it's 800 dollars... is that a flip too..? if not, why not...?


i find an interesting plant, i take a couple home, i paid 2.50 for them, and i put them on offered up for 6 bucks... what's the difference...


i said the coral game is different because it has become frowned upon in the community of los angeles... some guy buys an entire aquarium setup for 300, takes it home, and decides to part it out but almost at retail... that's a flipper... because we ALL know where it came from... we were all potential buyers... the plant thing... you don't know where i got them aporocactus or haworthia from...

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by gumbii

well... it can be see in many ways... a finder's fee, a plant broker, a hobbyist trying to make some money... lol... it can also be a job...

not saying that it isn't the same as with plants, but it's how everything works... i collect rare comic books... say a book is a limited print... if i by directly from marvel, or a supplier, i will get it at cost... if i go to a crummy comic bookshop, or a bookstore... it will be marked up crazy... if i buy from a large comic book store that probably got cases of it... it will be cheaper than the face value until they only have a couple of books left...

are the comic book shops and book stores flipping...?

i am an artist... horrible job.. LOL... but i will pick up some fence post, cut them and tune them, hang them on a chain, and boom, wind chimes for 250 bucks... am i flipping..? anyone could've made them... i'll post them online and sell them in a week... everyone knows how much that stuff cost me... same with a painting... canvas cost me 50 bucks, i used about 10 dollars worth of paint, a couple of hours, and once i'm done, it's 800 dollars... is that a flip too..? if not, why not...?


i find an interesting plant, i take a couple home, i paid 2.50 for them, and i put them on offered up for 6 bucks... what's the difference...


i said the coral game is different because it has become frowned upon in the community of los angeles... some guy buys an entire aquarium setup for 300, takes it home, and decides to part it out but almost at retail... that's a flipper... because we ALL know where it came from... we were all potential buyers... the plant thing... you don't know where i got them aporocactus or haworthia from...

In your last post you stated you believed it couldn't happen with plants. Let's go for two out of three.

[mexicowpants]

Originally Posted by gumbii

... the plant thing... you don't know where i got them aporocactus or haworthia from...

Around my way, I can tell exactly where 95% of sellers' plants have come from. Type and size of plant, potting media used, type of pot... all giveaways. And through this I know pretty much exactly what their markup is. Hell, some of them don't even try to hide the fact and leave the growers' tags and labels on them!

However, if the plants are healthy and legally acquired, I see nothing wrong in doing this. If people are willing to pay the inflated prices they're asking, so be it. Buyer beware, that is all.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[gumbii]

Originally Posted by mexicowpants

Around my way, I can tell exactly where 95% of sellers' plants have come from. Type and size of plant, potting media used, type of pot... all giveaways. And through this I know pretty much exactly what their markup is. Hell, some of them don't even try to hide the fact and leave the growers' tags and labels on them!

However, if the plants are healthy and legally acquired, I see nothing wrong in doing this. If people are willing to pay the inflated prices they're asking, so be it. Buyer beware, that is all.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

i can too... like, when i go to the grower, and i see certified plant growers in downey... i rather just go to the grower and pick them up... same with swapmeet vendors...

but online, it's a tough call if they're out of state...