Some days ago I briefly touched on a bad eBay experience.  Although I am mainly posting this for the benefit of fellow Australians, I thought it may assist others to help identify scumbags that take advantage of good people.

Some of you may recall a poster named 'AussieBackyardGardener40' who basically 'begged' at almost every post and thread for cuttings, particularly VDB, Verte, RDB, Negronne and others.  I will not bore you by posting some of his history but I do recall being suspicious at some of his posts. If interested, you can search for his postings yourselves.  Anyway, I am quite sure ‘9090zzz’ and ‘AussieBackyardGardener40’ are the same person or at the very least, working together.

I have sent messages to both '9090zzz' and 'AussieBackyaredGardener40' to respond within 24 hours.  It has now been at least 3 days but alas, I have not recieved a response from neither parties and nor has anyone else.

Anyway, I have spoken to numerous people that have had dealings with '9090zzz' on eBay.  I have compiled some evidence and unfortunately one guy got stung for over $100AUD.  He actually bought 5 varieties from him and is adamant that they are all old and worthless cuttings as were mine.  We are confident that this seller has sold unknown commons as good varieties. The seller did not want to accept PayPal so we are caught out to some extent.  Therefore, I am not 'stabbing in the dark' with any of my comments or assertions.

There were/are numerous red-flags including;

1. Not replying to messages before or after auction.
2. Suddenly having these great varieties to begin with.
3. Cuttings appeared to come from established trees.
4. I bought 3 cuttings yet he sent me 6. Why would you for such a sought after variety?
5. If these cuttings are from established trees and are in demand, why hasn’t he put up more for sale?
6. Why would he buy 'unknown varieties' from 'figalot' In Adelaide and 'serres11' in Sydney if he had these great varieties?
7. No sender’s name of address on the satchel.
8. With hindsight, the varieties this guy had are identical with the varieties a new poster was ‘AussieBacktyardGardener40’.
9. '9090zzz’ and ‘AussieBackyardGardener40’ are both from Melbourne.
10. 'AussieBackyardGardener40’ suddenly disappeared from the forum around the time or just prior to the listings on eBay.
11. Claimed to ‘not understanding’ PayPal even though his account has been opened for some time.  Personally, I don’t like PayPal either but I don’t claim to ‘not understanding’ it.
12. A guy that sold to ‘9090zzz’ has verified that he and 'AussieBackyardGardener40’ are the same person.

Hope this has helped at least one person to avoid a scumbag in the future.

Thanks.  Sadly, fig cuttings are an easy target.  It can take a year or more to find out if its a fake.

Been there done that,bidded on some Blue Provence cuttings two years later its a white Geno what a waste off time lol.What did he claim he was selling.

Them cuttings look so old plus ur right them cuttings r the ones on hes wish list,no way he got them in Austraila maybe from overseas and they might not be true too name anyway.Did u scratch the cutting too see if there green.

I remember them on here...
I thought it was interesting as kauslik told them to visit their local bunnings and start off with common varieties.
And they were badgering but thought not much of it.

It's hard to know who to buy from on eBay.
There were 3 others I looked at but decided to give them a wide berth.
Have been buying from figalot and he has been fantastic. His figs all came carefully package, fresh and a good size.
All have taken. So very happy.
But I did check up on him too, lol
I am now even more wary...
I have had a couple of other friends
That have been looking at buying seed from O/S and I have told them don't do it.
Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry that happened, thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks to Enigma to bring it to our attention. It is very unfortunate that someone pretend to be fig enthusiast and collector can actually cheat other fellow members. They should be named and shamed.
There are still lot of good sellers out there who is selling good quality cuttings. Next year before rare fruit society meeting let me know if you want me pick up some cuttings from there. Just pay for the cost. I can do that for fellow members.

Hopefully in coming years I can share some of my collection with others. The trees are still very young but they should be ready soon.
Take care.
Kausik

I sell on Ebay, unfortunately there are folks out there that want to make a quick buck at other peoples expense. My named figs are listed as such and my unknowns are listed as unknown. It's bad on all Sellers when a fraud attacks. But you are right to do homework on Sellers. Any seller with nothing to hide would agree.