ebay seller samurai-rp
 

I guess this post should be in the vendor feedback section but I figured more neo people would see it here. Have any of you purchased any neos from samurai-rp on ebay? How was your experience with this seller and how long did shipping take from Japan to your area?

I have purchased several plants from them and they have been really nice and healthy. For me the actual shipping time is around 5 days to Missouri, but they do get the CITES documentation and that adds about an extra week. So far I have no complaints.

Jason

a little warning: if you're planning on having them sent to the United States, you also need an import permit for Neofinetia falcata (and the shipper needs to provide CITES and phyto documents). if you don't have a permit, they may be confiscated by customs.

So the plants get to you in about 5 days, then the papers arrive a week later, separate from the plants?

Exactly. I was told by my grower that it is illegal to ship to individuals in the U.S. directly from Japan. Samurai-rp has gotten lots of good reviews though, that's why I'm wondering if anyone had trouble receiving their plants.

He didn't really list anything I wanted until recently. He had something I'd been looking for, for a while and nobody else had it.

the papers are shipped with the plants, so it will take 12 to 14 days total to get your plants.

the plants are likely to make it through customs, but there is a slight risk of it being confiscated. There's really no chance of getting your money back if it does happen, since it's not the seller's fault.

I made one purchase from them and had no problems,they included Cities permit with order. I didn't know you had to have a import permit to get plants from Japan. I had no problems with customs and the declaration sheet listed exactly what was in package.

it's not just japan, an import permit is required any time you bring in live plants from another country (but not flasks or seeds). as I said, they usually get through, but if it gets examined by an official who's a little more aware of the regulations, it will get confiscated. see importing orchids for more information.

lambelkip - Thank you so much for the information. I will not be buying from outside the United States again untill I get a permit, don't want to do anything illegal intentionaly.
I did not know this until now.
Mike

The permits are easy to get you just have to fill out the form and wait forever. From my understanding you just need a permit per plant type not per plant. So once you get a Neo permit for that grower you wouldn't need another Neo permit for that grower until it expires. Thats provided I'm reading things right, but probably not!

Anyway I've ordered 2 batches of Neo's from them and they all took 6 days in transit + about a week for paperwork before they shipped them to get here, arrived in very good shape with all the paperwork I "think" is required.

that's right, it's per plant type. the permit application needs to list the species or hybrid to be imported. for hybrids, you could list all of the species that make the hybrid instead.

Received my package today. It was 18 days from payment to delivery. He/she shipped on Thursday, got to New York on Fri, and then to Miami on Sat. It could have sat at the USPS warehouse over the weekend if it would have come in an hour or two later.

Now the package was a styrofoam container, like a mini cooler the size of a hardcover book. Inside 3 neo's but NO stuffing. 1 leaf did have a little damage, a small bend. No neo pots, so bubble wrap made an improvised pot and they were taped together, but wasn't taped to the box. Overall, I'm happy, would buy again.

Yea, mine came with the styro box but were taped to the sides of the box and arrived just fine like that. I didn't have to wait 18 days thou, thats a long time!

I think its because he/she had a bunch of auctions after I bought. So he waited till those were over, to send all the paperwork in one big package, instead of one by one

Thanks for sharing your feedback with me, everyone. Samurai-rp's starting neo prices are, in MOST cases, very cheap. I should've put in that bid for 'Daimusou'.:bua: Maybe I would've gotten it half a month later.

I finally received the neo this morning. It took about 1 and half month.....those documents took almost 5 weeks...still the neo is healthy. Hope Samurai can sell more on ebay later on

what neo did you get? and what ones are you still looking for?

I purchased from him 2 times. I got Manjyusyage and Hakubotan. I just received Hakubotan.
I'm still looking for Maizuru and Sengaku...hope I can have both of them soon!

Kip, I did order from Satomi again last week and I got the shipment this morning too. Did you contact her to order your neos? and what neo did you order from her?

I got her stock list last week. I've bought a couple of her plants from Katsura Garden in SF, and I just won 2 on e-bay, and e-mailed her a list of others I want. I'm still waiting to find out if she still has one of them. my current order is 14 plants, including Neo Shunkyuden, Houmeiden, Kutsuwamushi, Cymbidium goeringii sumonryu, and 10 of the more common varieties of neo.
what did you get from her?

I ordered Beniougi, Orihime, Kaioumaru, Fujimusume, Kotofukirin, Kinkonishiki, Akebono and Dendrobium Mon. Sankanou. Those were pretty healthy and good varigated.

I did purchase Houmeiden and Kutsuwamushi from her before. They both were pretty good especially the center leaf of Houmeiden changed from yellow to milky color. love it so much!!

I wanted to get Fujimusume too, but I didn't see it on her stock list.