Igor, it really wasn't any different back in February 2013.  There may have been fewer scammers.  The fig spirit is as strong as ever.

Igor, it's more competitive and commercial today, I suspect this thread will go on forever..... money, money, money makes some greedier and some just plain criminals. Ebay is what it is. Just be cautious.

Boy, am glad I read this thread form start to finish.  What a mindblower.

For the last week or so, I have been drooling over ebay listings for some very desirable fig cuttings from people that I have never heard of.  There were a couple of sellers that I contacted and identified as bona fide, participating F4F members.  ALL of the others were ebay sellers that  this thread has identified as being linked to the same account  The listings themselves sent up warning signals, so I passed.  (If you are an experienced Ebay fig buyer, you look for certain things.)  I think it would be very helpful to start a new thread with a heading something like "Ebay sellers with multiple identities" or something of that sort. Barring that, is it possible to place the relevant conclusions at the beginning of the thread????   Not everyone is going to read 3 pages of this thread to get to the punch line.

C.J.

Last week or so I edited the first post to include pretty much everything with the exception of the recent scuffle on GardenWeb.  I may still report something later.

I could edit the title of the thread but am not sure what would make it more meaningful.

Harvey, I went back read the edited version of post #1.  It's great.  The only thing I would add is mention of the IDs that are linked to the same Paypal account. 

C.J.

This is very sad and upsetting thread I just  discovered about that scam that goes on on Ebay . However...  I just wanted to clarify something here...
  You did mention scammer that also goes by name katerina and Kate.  Hmmm....even though I do have  name Katerina and often use Kate as my nick name and have very Russian last name as well :), I do not have any connections to anything that goes on here.:)  Katerina just happened to be a very popular European name .
   I am Christian first of all, then homeschooling mom and very devoted wife, very busy housekeeper and gardener (whenever I can spare some time for my dear garden:)).  I do try to live before God first of all,  to the best of my abilities with honesty, integrity and fairness.  
    It did take me thousands of dollars to collect my large fig collection, then take care of it, put countless hours of hard labour into it and lots of expensive water here in desert ... you know yourselves what it takes to be a fig lover and collector. For me selling some cuttings on Ebay does help  cover at least some of my expenses and pay for just one more a "must have" fig.  I never changed my names and still go under katerina941 on both Ebay and figs4fun forum, and I also live in AZ (not Brooklyn or PA)
   There should be no worries about fig cuttings that  I sell on Ebay. To the best of my knowledge they are genuine and almost all of them originally bought as young trees from great fig collectors who I really trust, like you, Harvey :).  I am still not good at posting all my pictures of the fruits or mother trees, but someday I will be when I am better at it and when I can spare more time and have more fruits from my young orchid and can catch those fruits on camera before they disappear in my childrens' sweet mouth.

So ...here ... I feel better now and should not worry that  I might of gotten  mixed up with the wrong person here. Right ?

I wish you all the best. Blessings to you
Katerina

Katerina is A-okay, always nice to hear from you!

It's good to know that katerina941 is a trusted ebay seller.  Thanks for the post Katerina and Harvey.

Sometimes I do sell on eBay.  Sold 2 cars and boat on eBay a few years back.  Got top dollar for all 3.  They were all in perfect condition.  I also bought a car back in 04.  If you guys ever see me selling on eBay, i am dee-jay-n-jackie

My nickname is DJ which stands for Dennis Johnson and my wife's name is Jackie.  Get it?

Harvey my friend...you get a gold star for your work!  Nice job!

Okay, a couple more things to update.

As mentioned previously, I bought 2 cuttings from korina-2009 of Moscow, PA on January 14th.  USPS lost the package, apparently 5 miles from my home.  Under the eBay policies, the buyer is entitled to a refund but the seller did not agree.  After several attempts to get her to make the refund, I left negative feedback for her.  She responded and called me a scammer.  I contacted eBay last night as it was the seller's deadline for making a refund to me and a few hours later eBay sent me my refund.

The entire situation is far from clear.  atskor10 has made several purchases from me on eBay, some at fairly high prices, and has been a good customer.  I don't see any figs sold under this ID.  All of the other IDs seem to only be sellers of fig cuttings, not buyers.  I believe there are 3 or 4 individuals working together somehow.

Another member contacted me and informed me of concerns of cuttings he purchased from 77peony which is used by the same person using the svet_vasyl-2008 account (and maybe others).  The paperwork that arrived with cuttings from 77peony had the following notice which seems to be an effort to cover-up discrepancies for mislabeled fig cuttings.

 

And when your Roses bloom with Hydrangea flowers, don't worry for at least 5 years. They may change. :-P

Science needs to add an additional classification for Homo sapiens, a sub species if you will.  Homo sapien scumusbago, I'm tired of sharing a classification with the dirt bags of the world, it embarrasses me!

Well call me crazy but it sounds like a sign TyTy can use when they sell their fig trees. It would have been a lot easier if they just put a question mark next to the variety , RDB ? Vdb? Or add the word possible in front of the variety , or a combo, Possible Rimada ? Lol
What some people do for money!!!!!!

Good info, thanks for sharing as I have been doing some Ebay shopping.

Tyty...ugh... enough said

It's really sad how some people take advantage of the kindness of others. Almost makes me want to get out of selling all plants altogether.

Another member contacted me and informed me of concerns of cuttings he purchased from 77peony which is used by the same person using the svet_vasyl-2008 account (and maybe others).  The paperwork that arrived with cuttings from 77peony had the following notice which seems to be an effort to cover-up discrepancies for mislabeled fig cuttings.