AOS Orchid Marketplace - My email to them

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Hey everyone,

I recently had several issues with an order from a small vendor listed as "Elite" on the AOS Marketplace. I found this vendor's policies and incompetence so striking that I ended up sending an email to AOS to inquire regarding their policy to add vendors to the marketplace. Especially to label them as "Elite."

I'm leaving the email below with names redacted, and I will update this thread once I receive a response. In the meantime, your thoughts on AOS Marketplace vendors?

--- My email to AOS Member Services:

Hi Naya,

I hope you are doing well and that you are having a pleasant holiday season. My name is XXXXXX XXXXXXX and I'm an AOS member.*

I wanted to inquire about the supervision AOS might maintain over orchid vendors advertised on the orchid marketplace. Especially those distinguished as "elite" members.

I recently placed an order from XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, assuming that its listing on the AOS marketplace as an Elite vendor guaranteed some reliability. However, I became really concerned about the legitimacy of this vendor after receiving my order. I received poorly grown and sick orchids, poorly packed for shipping, and with clear signs of prior bush snail infestations (and some remaining ones).

When I asked the vendor some questions about their growing in order to identify the potential cause of the issues, the vendor wasn't clear and seemed confused about the basic principles of orchid shipping. They were also defensive about the bush snails since, in their own words, "in a year in business, nobody has ever complained about bugs."

It frankly sounded as if they were either amateurs or scammers.

This is concerning to me as I was led to this vendor by my trust and confidence in AOS having adequate quality standards in place to supervise and review vendors before listing them.

Could you let me know how this orchid marketplace actually works? Does the AOS verify and oversee applications to make sure businesses are legitimate and competent?

I thank you in advance for clarifying this and providing more information about how the AOS actually picks the businesses they feature on the marketplace.

Thank you!

Best,
XXXXXX