Have fun..... Buy..... or should I say- Get a life............

Great job Danny.

Typical response.  Just watch.

Thanks Hershell.

Excellent post nycfig.

OK EVERYBODY!

Lets not takes this to a fight level. We have been there and don't want to be there EVER AGAIN.
So, lets not make another mistake like this on eBay or anywhere else?
AND this goes for everybody who is trying to pull the same lame game!

LESSON LEARNED, MOVING FORWARD.

Thank you Harvey for this very educational thread. I hope that this has been an important Ethical Lesson for all of us figures.

Danny, I know a lot of work went into that. Great Job.

I'm sorry if I'm going to say again what I'm sure has been said before, but I have not read every post.

It is completely fine to buy and sell cuttings in any honest manner you want.
It is not fine to say "I want to try rooting a bunch of cuttings" and then turn around and sell them.

Are we done yet?

yes, it does look very good and informative Danny, great accomplishment.

Bill's is a great place to get figs from.  Last time I was there I picked up 3-4 plants and yes they are $30-35 but well established and well grown.
There is nothing wrong with buying fig cuttings and re-selling them if you are honest about it.

I plan on putting out feelers for 20-25 cutting of a couple of varieties that would not be too expensive, that would be good for in the ground in NC and different from the normal Celeste and Brown Turkey.
They have to be reasonable because the nursery will only be selling them for $10-15 and I want them to make a little money on them.  For them they are feeling the waters to see if there is any interest in this area.  They can't be too costly since people are used to paying $20-$25 for a 3 gallon brown Turkey or a Celest. If this works then we will do it again offering 2-3 new varieties every year. 
On the other hand if I said I wanted to buy a lot of cuttings to experiment since I had a low success rate and then turned around and sold them.  Well that is lying pure and simple.  You might give me a better price thinking you are helping me have a chance of having a success.  Personally I like 4-5 cutting to start with.  It's my comfort zone since I can save 2 and start 2.  I like the idea of having something special to bring to a fig gathering or something to trade with in the future.  If there are still too many then I would give them to the nursery to sell so they can make some extra money. 

well said Sue, couldn't said it better myself.

Harvey, I am sure many members here and guests will benefit from this thread. I was scammed by a new member
famously known as ZERGAS with a game plan and even using a female name "Susan Gonzales".

NYCFIG-  Well thought out, Thanks for posting.  I hope everyone reads it.

Post #69, Buying Fig Trees and Cuttings from the Internet

Good post Danny, I'd suggest posting it in a new topic. Definitely something that should be pinned to the START HERE thread.

Great job Harvey in weeding this guy out. What this all basically comes down to is, if it sounds too good to be true,,,,, it probably isn't. If something smells fishy then it most likely is.....buyer and seller, whether it's on ebay, on the forum, or on the street,,,, BEWARE!

Okay, this wasn't really meant so much as a discussion thread.  I just wanted to get the word out to protect those that might be defrauded.

abcd/Alex/2014.gulen isn't happy about this thread and we communicated by PM in a cordial manner but he wasn't really willing to answer questions I asked to get down to the basics of my concerns.  He maintains that he is only selling correctly-labeled varieties.  I won't go into other details of our messages since they were sent under the premise of being private, though there was anything significant that was discussed anyways.

Alex has some sort of relationship with someone who I will just call "Kate".  Some people have suggested that Alex and Kate are the same person but I don't believe so.  However, Alex's email address and PayPal address contain the same personalized elements that make up one of the eBay accounts of Kate, atskor10/atskor8.  This eBay account shows a location of Brooklyn, NY.  Kate also has eBay accounts under the name of katerina-2009 (Moscow, PA) and katerina77-2008 (Brooklyn, NY) with all three being tied to the same PayPal account.  Today I bought cuttings from korina-2009 and I also bought a Red Lebanse cutting from koria77-2008 and she later wrote me to ask why I bought it when I was already selling Red Lebanese.  I pointed out that I was selling Lebanse Red and explained that these are different figs.  I then asked why she she used three eBay accounts and asked why she would buy UCR 184-15 from me under the atskor10 account and then turn around and sell the same variety under her korina-2009 account.  We ended our discussion with her suggestion that I mind my own business.  I would like eBay to be a safe trading platform so helping prevent others from being defrauded is my business, IMO.

There might be other accounts associated with these individuals, but I just don't have any evidence of that at this time.  I also have no proof that the cuttings any of these users are selling are actually mislabeled cuttings but it seems obvious that the methods they're using are highly questionable, at best.  I will grow out the cuttings Kate is sending me and report back in a year or two.

Danny has put together a very good set of guidelines for buying figs on the Internet and it seems the listings under the four eBay accounts listed in this thread all get a lot of red flags when reading Danny's guidelines.  Most of this is common sense, IMO, but different people have different skills and just don't think of some of these things on their own, I guess, so I highly recommend using Danny's guide closely to help wade through the eBay marketplace carefully.

Good luck!  How about those figs??!! :)

Thank you Armando and Harvey for the warning/posting received in fb in Malaysia. 

I'm glad you pulled that all together Harvey.  As I had mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, I suspected Korina was the same person.  Thanks for raising the red flag.

Thanks Harvey!

I always knew some people would have multiple accounts to drive bid prices up artificially, or have friends bid on their items for same reasons.

One can look at how and when someone bids, only idiots ( ok that's harsh, very naive people) or scammers keep driving prices higher with continuation of trying to be top bidder well before auction ends.
 Reasonable people set bid amount, or increase only to win, not to be the leader.  I walk away from "bidding wars", there will always be other auctions.

Over 100 posts, more than some of our informative topics...threads. Hmmmmmmmm

I guess I should mention that my first attempt to purchase something from korina-2009 ended with me being outbid by 2014.gulen (eBay doesn't show his ID but the feedback score of 15/90% was the same).  I didn't get into a bidding war with him and just decided to be patient and snipe bid on the other auctions.

Thanks, Harvey. This is really sad to see. 

I  so appreciate the wealth of knowledege shared on this forum. I continue to learn everyday. Thank you!  


I wanted to also agree with Kelby in post #97 about Danny's post. 

Danny - well written and  thought out.  Excellent guide for buying on eBay.
This should be pinned to the start

I'm not really in the market for new figs, I've got a sizeable collection, but I must commend Harvey for his efforts to root out this phoney seller. Like many on this forum, I was burned by a seller who would troll the forum looking for hot varieties so he could name his cuttings accordingly and sell regardless of what they actually were. Seems this immoral practice has caught on again. This guy should be dumped from ebay and the forum

People, only source figs from reputable sellers or forum members, not fly by night newbies looking for a quick buck    

You can never truly get rid of anyone.  They can look without posting or even being a member, register under a new name, change there IP addess, be online as invisible. EBay has to many users to truly police, the just get a new PayPal and email account, use neighbor or relatives address, I'm sure you can use a PO box.

In this day and age, online, you can be anyone and live anywhere you want. You can be a 600 pound guy from Daluth today and a super model in Bel Air tomorrow. And Few people have the resources, the time or care enogh to validate your info. 

If it's online, trust no-one for any reason or at any time until proven otherwise.  Sad but true,  I go with guilty untill proven otherwise, and still don't trust then. The first go order may be great to lower your suspicions, then whamo.....  another victim. 

Just saying heads up, eyes and ears open. Know whom you are dealing with. Be vigilant, head always on a swivel and Harvey watching all of our backs.

Update - I had a member confirm to me that eBay seller svet_vasyl-2008 is also linked to the same PayPal account mentioned in my post #99.  So "Kate" (and associates?) has a PayPal account that is associated with at least the following four eBay accounts:

atskor10 (formerly atskor8) of Brooklyn, NY
korina77-2008 of Brooklyn, NY
korina-2009 of Moscow, PA
svet_vasyl-2008 of Moscow, PA

I have seen a copy of a shipping label for cuttings sent by svet_vasyl-2008 and the name is different than that used by atskor10/atskor8.  I don't know if this is a Russian fig mafia ring or what sort of relationship these sellers as well as 2014.gulen have with one another but I suggest avoiding all of these sellers unless they can provide some good explanation of what is going on.

To make it easier to locate significant findings, I've provide links to these pots as an edit to my original post of this thread.

Edit 1/17: It appears likely that eBay user 77peony of Moscow, CA is another eBay user that is part of this group.