Newbie mistake - Blue plumeria???

12 years ago

Let me say that I have posted a couple of times and have learned a lot from the advice I have read. I really enjoy seeing the beautiful flowers that you take the time to share. Before I started lurking here, I succumbed to a scam. I purchased some really pretty Blue cuttings from Thailand. Groan...

I negotiated a return of my entire purchase price and eBay banned the seller, for how long, I don't know. To warn other eBayers I created a warning auction of my own. A link will be below if any are interested. If I can prevent one person (on eBay or on here) from making the same mistake, I will be happy.

The plants I received are doing great, although it is anyone's guess as to what they will truly be...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ebay auction for my blue plumeria

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Comments (15)

mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
12 years ago
I commend you for doing that. Its really sad that there are people who take advantage like that. I wish we could stop it for good.

Mike
jandey1
12 years ago
Jeffrey, that is absolutely priceless!! I love that you took the initiative to post the auction and warn people--BRAVO!

Unscrupulous sellers will keep doing whatever they need to to make a buck from buyers and Ebay has no incentive to stop them.

My only suggestion to get more eyes on your auction would be to lower the price and offer free shipping. Thank you for doing this!
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the_first_kms2
12 years ago
Too funny. As unscrupulous as these vendors may be...they may think you are messsing with their cash flow so please be careful. I know they change their ebay names as frequently as we change our clothes but it can't be that easy to change the USDA import cert.

Never mind the fact they could probably make better money by offering an honest product and choices that people want. Its not like these trees don't grow on the side of the road over there. Who knows...they could have brought a new plant to market which was previously unknown and unleashed the law of demand. Its just a total lack of vision.
JeffreyJoe
Original Author
12 years ago
41 views on the auction so far and 1 watcher??? Too funny! Here is the latest from the seller:

Ebay has remove all my listing and kick me off !
Thank you this is you want to make destroy some seller from poor country in Asia!

My response was :

Stealing is stealing - no matter what country you live in...
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
12 years ago
Good for you!
Andrew Scott
12 years ago
Hello Jeffrey! What you did is just awesome...AWESOME!!! I also agree that it is crappy that Ebay has noincentive to stop these bogus sellers. You would think that if they got enough complaints that they would prevent this crap from starting in the first place! Good for you! BRAVO!!!

Andrew
JeffreyJoe
Original Author
12 years ago
Update - 95 views! If enough people see the auction, maybe the interest will wane and the sellers will stop. I am planning on just repeating the auction over and over after it ends.

It kind of makes me wonder how many other plants with long waits for the first bloom are being sold in the same way. A lot of individuals selling plants and seeds on ebay...

Jeff
Andrew Scott
12 years ago
I know I checked it out. I love this idea. It should be effective in preventing newbies from ordering from this vendor. I commend your efforts!

Andrew
jandey1
12 years ago
Someone posted a link to it on one of the FB plumeria groups, too.
JeffreyJoe
Original Author
12 years ago
Auction ended with 134 views and I even received a request to sell them all to a person in Tahiti. Obviously it didn't translate well to French... I don't know if anyone learned anything as there are even more sellers from Thailand starting up...

I relisted it...
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
12 years ago
Jeff. Keep it up buddy. You may not stop them but I bet you'll put a big dent in their sales.

Mike
moonie_57 (8 NC)
12 years ago
I'm so sorry that you got caught up in that scam. Good idea on your auctions, though. Keep up the good work!
wantmoreplants
12 years ago
Thank you so much, Jeffrey. Guess I won't be placing that order after all! Well, if somebody actually develops a blue plumeria, there will be a long waiting list.
tamela_star
12 years ago
They do it on amazon too. I didn't buy anything but I do write reviews about the plant being photoshopped in hopes that other people will avoid them. They're really bad when it comes to roses.
Dar Sunset Zone 18
12 years ago
I think the best thing to do is to write a Guide for eBay and try to dessminate this info on Facebook, garden clubs and forums and other forms of social media. Its not just blue plumerias, its also blue roses, rainbow roses and probably many other hoax plant varieties that eBay and Amazon does nothing to stop. I believve they have the resources to take down many of these bogus listings by flagging key terms but what have they done? They keep returning. It is just best to warn gardeners and family and friends on social media sites like Facebook.

There will always be newbies that fall for these scams, heck, thats just life and humans have been scamming each other for millenia. I find it disheartening when eBay seems to do little to stop plant sellers who abuse the site rules time and again; This include hoax plant listing and intentionally miscatgeorizing and overloading the listings with identical items.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://pages.ebay.com/help/search/writing-guide.html