buying from ebay

[disalover]

Hi all, I am thinking of buying from and eBay seller, paradiso123. Do you think that the seller could be trusted selling me a Xypeipedium Reginae, Ophyrs bombyliflora and a Pterostylis X furcillata,*these are all tubers

[Andrew]

Hard to say. Looking at their other listings, I don't think they're selling anything that would be hard to get in Germany. However, several and possibly all of the photos in Paradiso123's listings are stolen from the web, which always makes me think (a) they're a fraud, (b) they're on selling plants that you can find much cheaper somewhere else or (c) they can't grow their own plants well enough to flower them, none of which would make me want to buy from them. Buyer beware, I guess.

[wintergirl]

Read the feedback for the seller, they have 6 negatives in this past month...

[disalover]

Do you possibly know where I would be able to find the for sale on other sites that ship internationally?

[lotis146]

I agree with Wintergirl that you should read the feedback, really you should always read the feedback of sellers on ebay and see what people are saying. Sometimes their negatives are understandable other times, not so much.

Unfortunately I don't think it's so uncommon for Ebay vendors to use pictures that aren't their own. But I also don't think it means they're bad growers that aren't able to get the plant to flower. What I've learned over the last year is that a lot of people get plants in bulk from "growers" and then just turn around and sell them. In these cases that seller is going to use some stock photo or whatever to create their listing b/c they just got the plant. I've seen plenty of listings that are different but use the same image. In fact, I've seen so many photos used again and again I don't know who owns the original!

So judging based on the picture isn't exactly the best way to vet a vendor. Of course you want them to post a pic of the actual plant, and you can message them to ask them so. That picture might be a good one to judge from. Btw, I'm not advocating for stealing images, I make sure to copyright my images so you can't just steal them and use them wherever. Then there's a seller I've bought from, with positive results, who uses images from elsewhere but she gives credit to the information and the photo.

That all said, I don't know a good vendor you can go to for international sales. Your best bet would be to contact some of the other members on here who live around your area. Good luck!

[wintergirl]

The seller had over 200 positive feedback in this month also. I would just look the feedback over then decide. If someone bought the same plant you want pay close attention to that one. I don't speak German so I can't tell what the feedback says.

[Subrosa]

I looked at the seller's negative feedback. Of the 6 only 3 are in German, I believe the others are in Italian. Ich habe viel vergessen, aber nicht alles! The first complaint states that he bought the item and it never arrived, but thankfully EBay got him his money back. The second one didn't think the item was worth the price, and the last one says it couldn't get much worse, no item, no refund. Never again. Please forgive any errors, but that's pretty much the gist of it. My sister who is far more fluent in Italian than I am in German says the Italian comments were that the plants were small and damaged.

[disalover]

I looked at some comment and I decided that I am going to buy the following= Serapias lingua, Ophyrs bombyliflora and a Pterostylis X furcillata,

[lotis146]

Good luck, hope it all turns out well. Do share when you get them.

[disalover]

I will