ebay vendor VeraCruz37
 

Has anyone had experiences with the vendor?
I purchased a Catasetum spitzii. Was inexpensive but came with dried roots in new bark. Was not established.

GREAT SPECIES FROM BRASIL: CATASETUM SPITZII - eBay (item 260654069445 end time Aug-26-10 17:56:13 PDT)

Had 2 PB and a new lead but the lead dried up quickly.

It looked like it had been stuck in bark the day before.
I wrote twice to the vendor but no reply. I have not left negative feedback on ebay as I would rather solve this without that step.
Anyone had any experiences?

stefano

Shame to the vendor for not replaying. But listen to yourself - what do you expect for $3.95? The plant in the picture has 1.5 tiny pbs. It is not like plant was misrepresented. Compare it to prices and quality of Catasetinae from other vendors.
Also if you treat it right it will plump up and the new lead will be formed.

Yeah. I did not expect a large plant or anything, but well nobody else bid on it. I just expected some live roots not dry roots. I have not left neg feedback yet, but I might do.
I bought small plants that were healthy and grow.

I have gotten a few plants from him. The last to were very nice and labeled correctly. But the first, was similar in root appearance to yours But, the pseudobulbs were very healthy and was apparently mislabeled which I found out after it bloomed. Once that one blooms again I am sending him a flower photo to see if he give me the correct name for it. These were not cheap plants.

I got a Max. tenuifolia from him last year with few live roots and dehydrated pbulbs. The plant eventually died.

I've purchased from Vera Cruz too.
Received a compot of phals in similar condition. But he responded to emails in a timely manner and made good shortly thereafter.
When did you receive the plant? How long has it been since you emailed him and did you go thru ebay? Maybe your email got put into his spam file. If it has only been a day or two give him alittle more time. If he doesn't respond, file a complaint with ebay before leaving a negative. Give him a chance to make good. He does have a rating of 99.1. You don't get that by doing bad business.

I know some of us have made the mistake of hitting the bid button because the pics of the flowers are so cute and then later regretted it.
Looking at the auction tho he did not provide much information. Did you ask any questions about the plant itself such as, was it a recent import and established? Pot or leaf size? Generally when an auction doesn't give you much to go on its always in your best interest to ask for more information before you place a bid.
Asking questions first gives you a better chance of getting a better plant.

I hope you get a reply soon and good luck that the plant makes it.

Yeah, I did. Won't buy from him again. Bought some rupics, and they were mislabeled and had little or no viable roots.

He typically has interesting Encyclia species, and I bought one from him - but I didn't get the plant that was pictured in the photo; instead got one that was half the size, no viable roots, two shriveled pseudobulbs. It actually lived, after spending six weeks in the ICU (sphag 'n bag). He never responded to my messages. I won't buy from him again.

I sent him 2 emails. days in between one and the other.
I sent them via ebay messaging so most likely would not end up in the spam folder.

Today I filed a complaint and left negative feedback [first time I do that].

within an hour he replied that he could offer a refund if I mail back.

I am not sure if it is worth the time of packing and going to the post office and paying postage when the total was 9.90$

I waited almost 2 weeks to get a reply.

I wonder if the PB may berk up. But if Catasetum go dormant maybe i should just wait.
I took photos the day I git it. all the roots were dry and there was none that could sustain the new growth.

I am no expert with Catasetums but the new growth declined fast.

I would have rather received it bare root and have known there were no viable roots.

simetimes it can be ok. But well sometimes it happens to have an experience that does not feel right.

From what I read from these replies it seems that many had root / dehydration / mislabeling issues.

Listen to your intuition. Don't chance it and take him up on the refund. Just chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Yeah, but not sure if it is worth going to the post office to send the stuff back to get a refund after paying to send him the plant back.
wonder if he could be sending something else.

I would take a picture of the plant, send it to him and request a refund anyway. It seems he has a habit of mislabeling stuff and/or misrepresenting the fact that the plants actually have some viable roots.

I took him off my list of preferred vendors after the first time around.

He actually was upset I gave him negative feedback. He stated that it was an extreme step I took and only saw my messages after I filed a complaint with ebay and put me on the bidders' block list.

I wrote him twice and waited almost 2 weeks before leaving feedback.
I think I will write it off - sometimes it happens.

I wonder why he did not see my messages as he said.

Now I am left with one PB hat is leafless rootless.
Wonder if i should just put it in one of those clear bags for veggies with some coco coir or peat moss and store it during the fall / winter as it was a hyacint or tulip bulb.

I wouldn't say it's an extreme step at all. Two weeks is plenty of time for him to respond. If he wants to be taken seriously as a responsible eBay seller, then he should be checking his inbox for messages. That aside, he sometimes sells substandard plants and/or folks don't get what they bid on, which means he's not dealing totally honestly with many of his buyers. IMHO, getting called out on it is the best thing for him.

Wow- a pretty outrageous reply to your feedback as well. Calling you "another scammer!"?
Gracious.

:( Sorry you had to go through this.

what? I did not see that! is there anyway I can report this to ebay??
I have not used any confrontational language in the correspondence.

I don't know. I just saw it as the seller's reply to your negative feedback.
They've said the same thing about a few other people that left neutral or negative feedback as well.

My own experience buying from this seller was mixed, with one plant arriving in great shape, and the second (and last) having totally rotted roots though otherwise healthy (it's very slowly recovering). The second plant was also not one large one as described and photographed, but several smaller divisions stuck together in a pot to look like a large plant. I contacted the seller twice to ask for advice on rehabbing the rotted-root plant and never heard back. I ended up leaving 'neutral' feedback because the plant(s) was so cheap and otherwise healthy, but in hindsight I wish I had labeled it as negative...

Stefano, you should absolutely complain to ebay about this guy labeling you a 'scammer'! I've seen that from other responses he put up to past negative feedback, and it is really just unacceptable. For him to hurl slurs like that is unreasonable and a very bad way to deal with customers' legitimate concerns about quality. If he doesn't want negative feedback he should respond promptly to customer concerns, and if he wants to sell on ebay he should check his ebay messages more than every two weeks.

You might be able to pursue a refund through paypal buyer protection and let ebay deal with the seller in their own way. Some mediocre sellers seem to hang on longer than they should because disgruntled buyers don't voice their concerns. By complaining about the poor quality and treatment you're helping teach the seller a lesson in customer service and also improving ebay for everyone. Just my :twocents:, of course!

--Nat

Thanks,
I escalated the case to ebay customer service. I do not want o communicate with the seller. I do not believe he did not receive my 3 unanswered messages [one before bidding, an earlier one before bidding was promptly replied, as I did show interest in buying from him].

It is not so much about the amount but the principle.

Anyway this behavior will not help him find buyers among people from orchidboard I guess.

I think overall people are just to generous with Ebay feedbacks. Someone have to be seriously pissed off before leaving negative. Including myself. That creates misleading impression of a seller that keeps selling mediocre product.

Anisa, did you bother to read this thread? More than a handful of folks that had bad dealings with this person. I had seen a few of his items listed and was tempted to bid on them. Thankfully this seller's actions have been brought to light and I can now steer clear from them.

That is the whole point of the feedback system.

I think Anisa confirms that people leave feedback that is too positive [me included] and that creates false expectations.
Anyway - I was appalled by being defined scammer by the seller when my emails and comments were not insulting but was just describing the issues.

Anyway ebay refunded me without going through him.

He now has only 2 plants for auction and people are bidding. Maybe he has some good stuff and some mixed bag stuff but I left the negative feedback mostly for the poor communications.

I have been happy with many other ebay vendors. Nia, Wellspring and others I forgot.

I think Anisa was agreeing, she's just saying that many people (herself included) have overly high thresholds of poor cust. service they'll tolerate before they give someone a 'negative' rating on ebay.

I remember reading an article not long ago saying that many people have an unconscious bias towards positive ratings on ecommerce sites, with the unintended effect of slowing down identification of bad actors by inflating buyer and seller satisfaction percentages. I think the author cited a number of possible reasons people are thought to behave this way. I'll see if I can find the article again and post a link...

I mean, Stefano's not the first person on here or elsewhere to have bad dealings with this guy, but when you look at the seller's ebay feedback it's almost entirely positive. I gave him a neutral rating but there's only a few of those too, so it seems likely that a lot of people are either leaving positive or no feedback when they're less than satisfied.

--Nat

I did bother to read the tread and posted in it. You would see my previous posts if you would read the tread. And everyone except for you, got ants, understood what i mean.
Just like gnathaniel said most people have difficulty leaving negative or even neutral feedback as opposed positive for a good experience. My point is if are more honest about our experience we would prevent mediocre sellers gain good reputation.
I am glad ebay refunded your money, Stefpix, and i hope that despite everything your plant lives! :)