I once bought some VFT seeds on ebay, and they arrived completely smashed. I contacted the seller and, 6 months later, have heard nothing back. It just isn't a quality place to try and buy things, and there really aren't many guaranteed standards to hold anyone to.

I have bought at ebay many times and have yet to be disappointed what I have purchased. Usually I by from flytraps (Cook's Flytraps), equilibriocarnivorousplants_com (I haven't seen them offer any recently, lostworldexotics (this seller I think is the one who sells mostly sundews from Australia like pygmies and wooly sundews and if available tuber sundews), and leilani_hapu.

Maybe IÂve been luck so far. Recently IÂve seen Triffid nursery now and then selling CPs too.

What the Ebay sellers are probably doing is trying to reduce Sarracenia Northwest stock by buying it up so they will get buyers seeking plants on Ebay... as you said, they are making a quick buck with the turnaround while selling plants that have been shuffled around too much. I would just stop buying on Ebay and wait for Sarracenia Northwest stock to be back up so the Ebay sellers trying to stick it to the growers go broke. Serves em right.

The other sellers that Hunterkiller mentioned would not be in that category. If they sell good plants and have their own stock, try em out.

Thanks for the heads up.

Mutant Hybrid,
I doubt their motives are that thought out. More likely they're taking advantage of the fact that more people know about Ebay than mail order carnivorous plant nurseries. Of course, if you want the best plant for your buck, make contacts with good growers and join a local carnivorous plant society if there's one in your area.

Corymbosa,

I am sure that most of them are not really thinking about it that hard, but a couple probably are... never underestimate the minds of those that want only money. They are far more devious than most of us care to be.

I've had good and bad experience with plants on e-bay. I think the atttraction with e-bay is you don't necessarily have to buy more than you want. ie: $20.00 minimum purchase etc. from many sites. I now only buy from sellers that Paypal certifies and have a good feedback record. My only bad mail order experiences both e-bay and direct from a web site have been my own impulse buying without researching first. E-bay's feedback and Dave's Garden Watchdog are good resources that should be looked at.

jenf, I follow the same rule of buying people with good feedback and are certified by PayPal. Now and then I will buy from a grower who wants to get rid of surplus plants but I ask question first. Once I traded with an ebay seller instead for paying for cash. He made a comment that he was looking for D. paradoxas and I trade 2 plants for his U. raniformis. I know that shouldn't be done and go around trading in ebay after the bidding, but it happened.