I got a note in my mailbox from the US Dept Of Agriculture on Friday. I had purchased a Brooklyn White fig from a buyer and didn't notice until I paid that he was from Israel. It was not clear in the ad and I thought, its  a Brooklyn fig ??? and I'm from Brooklyn.
As soon as I got the confirmation from the seller I quickly cancelled the auction and wrote to him explaining that I can not purchase any figs from out of the country as that is illegal. He issued a refund with no hassles and I thanked him but told him that it should be more apparent in his description that you are located out of the US.
This was on Dec 1, 2013. So March 1, 2014 I got a visit from the Dept of Agriculture and here is the note:
 
I spoke to the agent and explained my story of how I cancelled the auction. I also retrieved my cancelled paypal transaction and my emails and eBay correspondence and offered to email this to her to prove my story. She was very nice and said that she would be happy to see my correspondence and to email it to her.
We had a nice conversation about the subject and the Department is VERY serious about this issue. Not just figs but citrus is a big problem also.
They are watching very closely on eBay especially, but she said they can't police the sellers on eBay. That is an eBay issue.
I am still quite shocked how this happened
I'm glad I kept all my messages relating to this issue and I did it just in case it became an issue
It Did.

smithtom 1, ebay has brooklyn white and he is in the states. it's said to be a excellent tasting fig. good luck. hope that helps.

There are no figs in prison.

You have to be really careful on eBay. I always click on the "U.S. only" screening, to try to avoid this sort of thing. But eBay still brings up Israel as being part of the United States. No political statements on this matter, but it seems like someone somewhere needs to take a geography course.

Although, there is a more widespread problem on who knows what exactly is located where. I once worked with a young lady who asked me, quite seriously, "Where is Philadelphia?" When I replied that it is located in Pennsylvania, she countered, "Is that near Arizona?" Shortly thereafter, she ascended to management.

yupe.. wonderful world of management. it's not how much you know, but how much you don't know so you can comfortably ask others to things that nearly impossible. 

scary..I see it very often how tempting those Turkish figs  or chinese  or greek can be, but falling for it is a truly dangerous mistake.

No worries, GreenFin. They may go looking for you in Pennsylvania. :)

Coop, If you canceled the order immediately, and if they say they are not policing ebay, then how did they know you had ordered through ebay? Nothing went through customs from the seller to you, so how did they get the information that you almost bought from Israel?

A ha that's what i want to know

I just want to know if things are so tight the USDA can't afford official letterhead. ;)

I think they meant there is nothing they can do about the seller in any other country selling their stuff on ebay.

A friend of mine told me it is ebay that is ratting on their customers after the sale is complete and they get their money.
That's how the USDA knows.

If anything, this is entrapment on the part of ebay and the feds.

ebay gets the sales revenues. Feds get the tax revenues while the unsuspecting customers get the visit and possibly have their life turned upside down.

When all ebay has to do is police their own business and remove all the out of country sellers so this doesn't happen.

But like I said,,, it's all about the $$$.

Wow, that would freak me out! Glad it seems to be ok and they are not going to confiscate your collection. I have read stories on the GW citrus forum about people buying citrus off EBay, only for an agent show up at their home months later and take all their plants away!
Not sure how far away in Jersey you are, but I think I have an extra Brooklyn White in my greenhouse. I am exit 74 off the GSP.

Hi All,
Maybe I didn't explain this correctly. James is correct on this. What she told me is they can't police what eBay puts up for auction, or what anyone wants to sell. They are definitely checking who is doing the buying. They are not going after the seller or eBay. 

ebay has way to track all these. it will save whole lot of tax money if they enforce the law on ebay and not on the individuals. it will cut down all the phone calls and house visits. how hard would it be for ebay to change their code to track where the plant is being originated and where it's not allowed? oh.. i forgot.. it's software problem and we know how well fed can play with their software.

I guess one would have to ask this question. How did the Dept Of Agriculture track me down from my eBay screen name?
Only one person would know that.
eBay

Well, on my own, I saw a problem with a citrus tree and I contacted the Dept of Ag, and they did come out, test my tree.  It DID have the Asian Citrus Psyllid, but it was not carrying the disease!  Whew!  These are nice people protecting our crops.

IF it would have tested postive for greening.  They would have ripped every citrus out of my yard, and I might not think so kindly of them.

They told me to use Bayer Imacloprid (and we do, not cheap) to prevent the spread.  We have used that forever on our vineyard to prevent the glassy sharpshooter!

Just a side note, shopping for citrus retail, every one has a tag!  Quarantine.  Do not take this plant out of Riverside County.

They protect us and our crops.  Not bad guys at all!

Suzi

So where does Customs and Border Protection come in to all this? Are THEY not the ones who let a package who's contents have been declared as  "fig cuttings" into the country?? Why are they not simply stopping packages that have plant material listed as its contents if its not permitted??

Just a thought.

@jpeaspanen - I'm in Philadelphia!  :<(

Are there any legal restrictions on sending fig cuttings/plants within the mainland US?  (I know Hawaii has restrictions.)

just realized that three letter acronym for Dept Of Agriculture is DOA. 

They are just trying to avoid more invasion(s) by a some so called Asian long-horned beetle, which is
already here in the USA; not due to fig twigs but due to cheap commercial wooden shipping crates/pallets ...