Buying on ebay

Before I do it, has anyone had the experience of buying a brug off of ebay when it flowers, turns out not to be the one you bought?

I've bought some of my plants from e-Bay. Of those only 3 have blooms and so far they are what they claim to be. My biggest gripe is that e-Bay makes it very difficult to leave a neutral or negative comment. There's one seller that sends out half dead plants. When I tried to leave a negative comment I got all kinds of flak from e-Bay.
So far, most of the plants I have bought arrive in very good shape.

It depends on the seller but I've had pretty good results so far. I spent several months doing research on these sellers. These are some of the problems I've encountered:

1. open pollinated seeds sold as a specific color. How does the seller know the seedlings will be pink or yellow? It can take up to 2 years to see your first flowers. Too late to complain to the seller when all of the seedlings grow up to be white.

2. renamed brugmansia. The seller doesn't know the original name so they rename it.

3. Diseased plants, soil borne.

4. rooted cuttings not rooted when you receive them.

5. cuttings are from very young soil shoots that can take as long to flower as a brand new seedling. Sometimes 2 and even 3 years. This is the biggest problem I've found so far.

6. Damaged unrooted cuttings. The seller was careless when removing larger leaves and you can see the stem damage. The bark has been peeled away from the leaf node and downward several inches leaving open wounds that invite diseases.

This entire list happens in private trades too.

In spite of it all the sellers (except for one) have been very pleasant to deal with. They will normally do everything they can to make it right for you if something goes wrong. And many of them appreciate it when you point out a mistake they made. Very few act ugly.

I have gotten a lot of different plants off EBay. I have been real lucky. If they didn't make it I think it was because of my mistakes. I don't think I have ever gotten anything other then what I thought I was buying.

Linda

My one brug experience on ebay was a total bust and waste of money...

which ones are you hoping to get...you might be able to trade for cuttings soon :)

All my eBay purchases have been great!!!

Judy

I do not believe I will spend the money to buy brug plants off ebay again. Maybe cuttings, they aren't as big a loss. My biggest problem is the weather I guess. I bought a Harrenhauser-Garten in the winter, a plant 2 feet tall and budded, it froze down to about 6 inches from the soil. It is now about 2 feet tall again.

I purchased a Coral brug about a month ago, 2 feet tall, budded, and it was wilted when I got it, was turning mushy so I cut it back about 6 inches from the top and it still does not have a leaf. May make logs.

These both were from the same seller, very reputable, so I don't see how I can blame her.

I purchased another one from a well known seller and it was a flimsy plant with spider mites that contaminated a half a dozen other plants and all took 2 months to recuperate.

I did not try to leave feedback on any of these. Just didn't feel like it.

Jeanette

CaptMicha,
I have purchased several through 3 different Sellers. All 3 Sellers were awesome !! I would buy again from them. If you want to know who they are, DMail me. All the Brugs I bought are what they were supposed to be, all cuttings rooted easily....I am a happy EBay shopper. Had I bought through a nursery I could not have afforded to have what I have.
By the way, what are you looking for? I have 30+ Brugs that I will be cutting back in mid November. I would be happy to provide you with some cuttings at that time.

Happy Labor Day!!
Margo

Margo

I was just gunna say
Unless its some new hybrid ,wait till fall
cuttings will be flying out everywhere

I don't wanna cut mine down! Lol. I don't have very special ones:
Janet Reno, Shredded White, a plain white (some kind of name, forgot) and my unnamed pink one that's doing the best! Oh.... also have a few seedlings, all the same, a Butterfly cross.

Brugs are addicting to say the least! But I still won't pay what some people are paying for new releases, $100+. I don't think I would spend that money on any single plant. And my gardening obsession is pretty advanced.

I've always thought that Janet Reno is a special brug. She is one of the older American crosses. H-Eric Knight trashed it but Trish Reynolds rescued it and named it. Trish's pics always showed a brug sooooo heavy with flowers! A really beautiful brugmansia. I've always wondered why this brug didn't get more attention. How long have you been growing yours CaptMicha?
Shredded White is a cool brug. Some people don't like it but I think it is very special because it is so unique. It was always a good performer for me.

I limit my purchases to older cvs that have proven themselves to me in the past to be strong, a few that have sentimental value, and a slight few that are valuable for future hybridizing purposes.
I never buy new releases. I've seen too many new names out there that were popular for a short time and then they disappeared never to be heard about again.

I have also bought on e-bay. Will not be doing so again unless it something I really really want and can't get anywhere else. I got one brug that was so infested with mites I swear I saw them crawling out of the box ( DH said I was seeing things). One other I bought had blight!! Needless to say they both went in to the trash, sealed no less. I agree with bettydee, e-bay gave me such a headache trying to leave a neg. or neutral feedback I just said forget it!! I am relatively new to Dave's but I am a true brug addict!! I would rather trade with y'all!!

Every plant I purchased from ebay was exactly what is was supposed to be. I am a happy ebayer. I have had my bad experience with other growers of some supposedly reputable companies. I purchased 10 hibiscus from one company and every one of them died....

I used to buy a lot of brugs with mixed results but not any more. LOL. My husband would add that to "she is so crazy" book he is keeping on me and my brugs. LOL.

But this year there were 2 new hybrids on eBay that caught my fancy. I emailed the seller to see how many bloom cycles they had had. I was told that was their first flower!!! I was shocked. At first flower they took a pic and then cut it up to make plants to sell fast.

Now that I have done this for a couple of years I understand that your first year of a brug may look totally different than the second year. I had a few that I loved the first year that even had a few flushes and this year they do not ring my bells at all. And a few I was going to trash last year and this year I find them delightful. I wouldn't buy any of the new hybrids unless I knew for sure it had been properly evaluated.

I like Janet Reno too but was a little impatient. It only put out one flower this year. Shredded white= 0, Hardings White =0 but that one has buds right now that it's cooling down.

The Janet Reno or Shredded (have to check which) is dropping leaves like crazy and it hasn't been very hot lately. I think it's lack of water b/c the others are wilty.

Leaving feedback is really hard, perfessionalism rapidly seems to be declining. I love those diehard seller that keep their ethics.

Well said Kell! Amen :)

I Use to buy alot of plants off ebay, I've not been unsatisfied, but i've never bought brugs off ebay but one time, and it was a pleasant experience.
Just know your ebayer, if your not sure about them, email them and ask them. As I have done in the past, I've emailed them and asked them straight out, Are you on any garden trading forums on the internet, if so what is your garden name. I've done this myself and they've always answered back to me. That way you know who they are and can tell right away most of th e time if your going to get a good true to name brug.

And of course, accidents do happen if one sells cuttings off one that hasn't bloomed yet, or in some cases, they don't take pictures of the flower, and don't have a flower to prove that's the true color of the one in the picture.

Most will work with you so that you are satisfied, but every once in a while, you'll get a hold of a jerk, that makes you not ever want to deal with ebay again. Fortunately, I've not run across on that's veered me away from buying on ebay.

And I have never had any problems what so ever leaving negative feedback, and have never gotten any slack from ebay when I did leave negative or neutral feedback. Often though you do get retaliation from the ebayer that you've left negative feedback on and they'll do the same to you weather you deserved it or not.

Good luck to you.

Check the sellers/buyers comments on ebay. People are brutally honest when it comes to their money and getting ripped off...wouldn't you be?

Just to add my 2 scents...I buy pretty much all my plants from E-Bay sellers. Around 90%. With very little exception, have had great results. The few probs I have had are mainly bulbs...rotting shortly after planting. I usually don't make an issue of it as since their costs are usually minimal..I just don't ever buy from that particular seller again. One key is to check out their feed back. I do not buy from anyone with a feed back of less than 99. Sometimes I will buy from a newbie even tho their feed back may be a lil flawed..but I chalk that up to learning. I also read all the neutrals and negs for the last 6 mos. You can generally tell if the gripe is legit or written by some bozo. I have left a few negative remarks and have never experienced any flack from E-Bay. If they did that they wouldn't be in business too long I would think. To me the killer part of buying on E-Bay is the shipping costs...some sellers nail you to the wall on shipping charges...so it becomes an issue of whether you really want the item or not. I do know that buying seedlings from jap maples or brugs or plumeria is most of the time a toss up...but sometimes you luck out and really ge something nice. Tho, cuttings should be exact replicas of the named plant. End of novellette.

JIM

I've bought brugs on eBay, but only from people I know. Ya, I know I could ask for cuttings, but some of these people (very reputable) make their living via selling plants so I don't mind supporting them. I would be very leary of buying from someone I didn't know - and for that matter, probably wouldn't!

I do buy tons of other plants off of eBay, though, many from folks I don't know. I've been really lucky so far. One bad experience only. Main thing is that you just have to be smart about what you are bidding one. Assume some responsibility for your purchase. Like Kell - ask questions. If something doesn't seem right (brand new brugs you never heard of, etc) then bid at your own risk! As to buying "known" brugs - stick to people you know or at least know of!

I love ebay. When I have to pick between a store (online or non internet) and ebay, I'll usually head for ebay. It's just hard to deal with those leave a negative, get a negative, especially if you sell items because everyone looks at your rating and not always at why you got it. Also, wouldn't you rather buy from some one with a 100%? I know I would.

Sometimes ebay doesn't pay b/c people will buy some thing, then jack up prices and re-sell. It takes a lot of shopping around to find the best buy.

Any who, I've kind of turned this into an ebay and not a brug thing. Thanks for recommending reliable sellers you guys!

That's not always the best way to look at ebay ratings though I've gotten one negative feedback and it was honestly left by accident. So she says. And your truly not going to have l00% satisfaction your whole ebay life. there are those that are just impossible to please. I do look at feedback ratings, but I look at the over all feedback and look at the percentage of negatives, if their old I don't worry too much about it. I wouldn't buy from a person who had say l00 feedback and l0 of them were negative, but I'd buy from a person who had l000 feedback and l0 were negative.

have a good day.

kathy

Exactly Kathy. I look at the number of feedbacks a person has vs the percentage of good vs bad feedback. And how old the feedback was. I also look at how the person responds to their negative feedback. I don't like dealing with people who bash the person who left the neg feedback. I figure if I have a problem I will get the same attitude.

Beside looking for feedback of the seller also study the Brug you want to purchase.
There are many "new" releases out there with names tacked on to them and some are not worthy of keeping IMHO.
Ask the seller if it is a 2005 seedling or if this is the first year it has flowered. If it is there is a good chance it will look different next year.

If they are selling a known Brug ask if they have seen it flower in their garden.
Some will trade cuttings and then sell them as soon as they can get cuttings off of them without ever seeing them bloom first. Accidents happen and what's to say this seller wasn't sent the wrong cutting.

I bought my first brug from an eBay seller. Then he referred me to his website. I've never bought any others except from him because of his service and knowledge. I bought some cannas on eBay from a seller that had a 100% rating and was a Power Seller. Not a single one emerged (they wouldn't replace or refund my money either). Then I tried again with a different seller and he said they were freshly dug. They arrived right away, they came up almost within 2 weeks, and guess what? They were not what he said they were. It's sort of a "take your chances" type of thing. You only have 90 days to leave feedback, so that's not a plus with some plant and seed transactions.

When I have had a couple of eBay problems, I first notify the seller, that whatever went wrong (once I paid big bucks for overnight delivery that didn't show up for 3 weeks) and ask for a reply. If I do not hear from them within a day or two, I notify the seller, remind them that the correspondence is my second effort, that if I do not hear from them in 48 hours that I will file a complaint. If I don't hear in 48 hours, I send eBay and PayPal and the seller a complaint, I explain the problem and attach the first two notifications to the seller. I've only had two problem, and this method worked both times, and almost immediately!! PayPal does not take kindly to online merchants that do not uphold their standards and this is why I prefer PayPal for my online shopping and I shop online lots...