Any info about the seller?


Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/222434269895

Thanks...

No, dausername1 is a well known scammer. search this forum and you will find many comments about that seller. Do not buy. He is known to sell dead cuttings or Brown Turkey under other names.

Thanks a lot.

What about this?

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/172499281330

Seems to be a scammer, too. See http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/search?keywords=korina77

The leaf says it all

They have purchased the trees. However, the cuttings you receive are not from them they are con artists

As a rule if the seller is not a member in good standing of f4f or ourfigs I wouldn't get within smelling distance.

I have yet to sell anything on Ebay (fig-wise that is) but I think anything sold should be grown by that person and the harvested figs need to have been of high quality.

I do sell on Craig's list and both f4f and ourfigs and anything I sell comes from something I grow and have harvested very high quality figs from.
The exception to this rule is I will occasionally get cuttings from a close friend who shares my collection (and I his) if I have run out of something, but the same rule applies.

How can you recommend something you don't grow? How can you be sure its labelled correctly if you got the cuttings or plant from someone else?

Resellers should be examined with a very large lens.

If they don't have pictures of figs from their own tree don't buy. Period!

The fact you have to ask yourself, "I wonder if this is legit?" should tell you something right there.

Not like any I-258 leaf I've ever seen.

So there is no legit Italian 258 cuttings at the moment.... :(

Harvey's shop has already been closed...

I agree that generally the seller should be a member of this or another well known forum. I do sell cuttings here, eBay , and Craigslist. I certainly try to get figs from my plants but have not always been successful with getting them to ripen. When that happens I would hope that would not dissuade you from purchasing my cuttings. At the moment I am dealing with mouse damage and have reluctantly been forced to chop up a bunch of good figs. These will be rooted and sold in the near future. Sorry, no pictures of ripe figs will be available.

Aaron,
People are buying cuttings expecting to grow plants that produce figs.
If you can't produce figs how fair do you think it is to represent that your cuttings are viable varieties that will produce figs?
If you have damage this year why not just use pictures from last year?

The cuttings of these particular figs I took because of the mouse damage. I do not have pictures of ripe figs from these varieties because I was not planning on selling them. What would you like me to do?

Aaron,
I'm not trying to tell you what to do.
I don't know you but assume you are an honest fellow.
Are you saying you have no pictures?
If you have not produced figs perhaps you should say so.
And maybe inform the buyer/s where you got them - as if you have not produced figs how do you know they weren't mislabeled?
There is an assumption made by folks who live in the same growing area as you that these trees are appropriate and as you can't make that judgement once again - perhaps listing your source would be a good idea.
I'm not trying to make rules for selling on Ebay and the rules I follow were posted by Herman who very unfortunately left this forum.
I'm just pointing out a concern or two I have and there is no force out there telling you to abide by what in my option is the fair way to offer figs for sale.
As Ebay seems to get worse and worse when it comes to selling figs and cuttings I do think we should all follow certain parameters to protect our time and money.
thx,
mgg

I have always liked looking at pictures more than hearing about them ;)

Mgg I do take your concerns seriously. If / when I do decide to put these up for sale I will certainly include all the info I have including if they have produced for me or not. I'm currently growing 350 varieties, I have not had a chance to take pictures of them all, nor have I tasted fruit from them all. (I've posted about how last year I neglected watering them and most dropped their fruit). I can say that most, if not all of the named varieties come from forum members. Most of my unknowns I've collected myself. At the very least, the baby trees will be rooted and leafed out. I know it's not definitive, but I'll include pictures of the leaf patterns.

I think it is somewhat absurd to seem to imply the only honest people in the fig world are "members in good standing" or that we should interrogate a neophyte seller with 20 questions to justify a $15 purchase. BTW, where is the "good standing" and "high quality fig" lists posted and what group makes that determination? I tried the search function.

I have and will continue to buy figs from various sources that do not conform to some arbitrary list of rules to simply sell common fig cuttings. If you are looking for expensive cuttings or cannot afford the possible loss of $15-$20 then I would say these may be good rules to follow. But nobody is getting rich by selling small amounts of common fig cuttings on Ebay unless they are offering many, many types from an apartment in New Jersey. 

To expect every seller to take pics of the tree in season with figs and leaf pics along with a ripe fig pic then resize and post them with a watermark just to sell 40 cutting from the Celeste in their backyard for $100 or less is out of touch with the reality of selling on Ebay. Maybe if you are selling expensive cuttings you could justify this extreme silliness. Many members of this Forum cannot take, resize and post pics and the same with some Ebay sellers. The worst of the absurdity is to come down on a fellow member because he did not follow these goofy "rules", does he lose his "good standing" because he failed to take anual pics of all 350  fig trees, fruits and leaves?  I'm sorry, I did not predict the drought last year in the S.E., I guess I can't sell cuttings as my only pics are of dry figs on the ground. I guess I "can't grow figs" either as they did not produce, I promise to try not to cause a drought this year and to take pics of everything in case I trim a tree and want to sell the cuttings on Ebay.  We have members saying to only buy from members and we have other members claiming some members are scammers. 

Yes, I have been "scammed" (not get the fig type I purchased), but I refuse to hold all non "members in good standing" sellers as bad actors. I have also been "scammed" by my local garden center, Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-mart, a Forum member and some nationally known internet businesses. I do not believe ANY of them did this to steal my money. Many of those from big stores were tagged with pics of trees and fruit that was incorrect. Pics do not determine what you get shipped or buy in any way, shape or form from a scammer or legit supplier. The hard truth of figs and other plants is that you don't always get what you think you are buying, mostly caused by human error, NOT intentional scams.

 This is my opinion and does not mean it is "right" for anyone but me, and maybe the hundreds of Ebay and member sellers that are trying to make an honest buck to support a hobby. I sincerely hope if someone is trying to supplement their income on Ebay and fail to adhere to "Herman's" rules they do not lose sales because of this silliness.  I'm curious, does anyone know if there was a burning bush involved in "Herman's" rules?

I sold cuttings on eBay for a while a few years ago and I sold quite a few Celeste, Kadota, and LSU Gold.  All in All, it was not worth the effort, especially doing international sales.

You are always judged on your last error and one "Aw S%*t" will wipe out 999 "Atta boys".  There are no rules that are practically enforceable relating to "Online Sales" and nowhere has there ever been a better example of "Caveat Emptor".  Not all online sellers are crooks and not all members are "Trusted sellers". As long as labels and tags are used to determine cultivars, there will be mistakes.  Most are mistakes, not intentional.

Question for the field...Is James a "trusted seller" or a "Member in good standing"?  Would you recommend all or any of our members?  I can only name 6 or 7 members that I would recommend or buy from.  Nothing against most but I put my faith in a few.

Nice rant.
There are members who work very hard to expose Ebay scammers and there are many posts about best figs on this forum. That you are incapable of finding them is sad. Perhaps if you ask for help someone will guide you in how to do a proper search.

I don't know where you got the trees in season, leaves, resizing and watermarks, etc. Perhaps you think exaggerating the facts makes your point rather then it being a subtle form of lying. A picture of the fig in question is a common practice on Ebay. Perhaps you can ask someone else how to post a picture if you are not capable of that either.

If the person that wants to sells his cuttings does so without pictures - that's his business. He, however, has already collected 350 varieties and if he follows the path the majority of us with large collections does he will want to add more exclusive varieties that sometimes come with hefty price tags or require trades or relationships with growers who keep the rarer varieties.

You were not a member but these rules came about when a newbie paid over $400 for a couple of cuttings and it turned out the picture of the fig was not grown by the seller. I'm not going to re-hash the huge fight that occurred nor assign any blame to anyone. I will say that it was because of this and the crazy prices buyers were starting to pay for figs (I remember one fig plant selling for $1200) that Hermann shared his opinion with the forum members and I thought his rules were quite sensible. I guess you're trying to be clever about Hermann with your burning bush, etc. remarks but those of us that spent years on this forum and learned from him and saw how generous he was and how many newbies he helped will certainly read your remarks and regret your ignorance.

All the members of this forum are in good standing until they scam someone and are called out for doing so. Your twisting of the facts doesn't make you clever, it just makes you inaccurate.

Anyone is free to do as they please. Some of us care a lot about the accuracy of our collections and obviously some of us (you, at least) don't.

Many of us have learned to be very careful buying on Ebay as we want to be able to sell and trade with other fig growers and it is very embarrassing to pass along something that turns out to be falsely identified. Some of us try to get cuttings directly from the source tree or collect historic figs. For example I have collected historic figs for The Center For Historic Plants at Monticello as they want to collect any fig that was in America that Jefferson may have acquired for his garden. If I bought figs the way you seem to claim you do  . . . well, I just wouldn't so no sense in going down this road. There are some folks who want to know what they are growing and some that don't care.


I did not tell our young friend what to do or what not to do. I did point out some concerns and offered him my thoughts on selling cuttings. I don't really care that you don't agree with me as we are obviously very different people and want obviously different things from our collections. Some of us go to great lengths to be accurate and honest and some of us apparently just don't care.

I hope I influenced our young friend and that he aspires to join those of us who really care what we have and what we pass along. He may already care greatly and whether he appreciated my sharing my concerns isn't any of your business. He will choose his own path and I'm very willing to bet he follows a road much closer to mine then yours as he's obviously an intelligent grower with a passion for collecting. 

WOW.. What a strong statement

"I don't want to deny you from doing whatever you want but I sure wouldn't want to trust you that what you are selling or trading was correctly ID'ed."

You don't? 
Can you?

pofigist,
You're probably right. I may have gone a bit too far on that one. I guess I should edit it out. Having a bad day and very grumpy. Thanks for pointing that out without being snitty.

Do not bother, nobody cares about  other person opinion anyway.

Too late - already done.
Yes I understand the way you feel as a lot of members have left because of hostilities and too much fighting.
But there are a lot of great fig growers out there. I have made some great friends.
I had one come by yesterday. She drove way over 100 miles one way to get cuttings and a few trees.
She brought me a chicken (a Dorking) to try as they are known as one of the best tasting breeds that exist and she brought me a whole bunch of shrimp wrapped in rice paper -- they were great! Not only that but she spent hours helping me move trees out of their winter storage building.
A really good smart person.
Because I sell fig trees I get visitors and I get to meet some very interesting and nice folks.