I have been busy and perhaps out of the loop so have not been paying much attention to the board but I just heard there has been a rash of what could be fake cuttings being sold on Ebay by numerous Ebay seller ID's.  I had hoped to get rid of all my extra cuttings through private sales or maybe a set price sale on the board perhaps but if and when I get around to posting Ebay ad's I am going to add this verbiage at the top of each description......

Attention Bidders, there has been a rash of what is believed to be fake / mislabeled fig cuttings being sold on Ebay from numerous Ebay seller Id’s some of whom have a high feedback score.   I recommend before you bid on any fig auction be it cuttings or plants that you go to either http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/ or http://foodplace.info/Bountiful_Figs/index.php make a post and simply ask if XXXX seller on Ebay is well known and reputable.   This will protect you from paying good money for a variety and a year or two down the road discovering what you paid for is not what you received.  It is simple easy insurance as nobody wants to feel cheated and by that point there is nothing you can do about it.  If you are not currently a member sign up, quick and easy.  


Thoughts?  I would encourage all sellers to use that warning or a similar one.  As a community our collective word will carry a lot of weight and will help to prevent what is now happening.  

Sounds good Wills, this should help buyers not aware of fraudulent practices until it is too late.

Good idea Wills.

I like this idea. I also really like when sellers post there figs4fun user name in the sale posting as well. 

I intend to use this.I always let the buyer know the source.

We should all be using our id in our postings.

I'd rather you ask them to search for the seller's name or ebay and read the threads already posted than tell them to start new threads  :)

Bet the frauds post something similar in hopes no one bother to check it out but thinking it makes them look legit.

Buying Fig Trees and Cuttings From the Internet

Danny,

For what is going on now that won't really help very much.

My only question is if this is okay with ebay policy?  Good luck Wills in your selling.

I edited my 21 existing auctions to include this with some slight edits and additions, including a link to Danny's guide.  For some reason, posting the URL to that guide does not come up as a clickable link in eBay listings despite me playing around with it quite a bit (and eBay does not allow the use of tinyurl links).

Hi Willsc,
The text is perhaps a bit too pessimistic .
You should speak for yourself and not for all fig sellers.
IMO, F4F is a community, not a lawyer defending fig cutting buyers . As already said : Buyer's risk .
Ebay may be unhappy about the text too . They could think that you are willing to get sales out of their site .
Just saying .
One other thing, those infos about mislabelling are valid for any plant, not just fig trees .

[QUOTE=jdsfrance]Hi Willsc,
The text is perhaps a bit too pessimistic .
You should speak for yourself and not for all fig sellers.
IMO, F4F is a community, not a lawyer defending fig cutting buyers . As already said : Buyer's risk .
Ebay may be unhappy about the text too . They could think that you are willing to get sales out of their site .
Just saying .
One other thing, those infos about mislabelling are valid for any plant, not just fig trees .[/QUOTE]

My proposed text is simply reminding people to do their due diligence, nothing more.  It is not pessimistic, it is reality.  A community is best when it polices itself.  Could you point out in my text where I am speaking for all fig sellers?   

Great Harvey.  

Wills,
Good post. Good text. And good that Harvey is using it. I am not sure I can identify the pessimism in your post but...(cough cough) I prefer a high likelihood of scammage and take issue with having to read not-so-gentle-buzz-killing reminder when I am salivating and overly optimistic about purchasing rare international cuttings at my own risk on eBay from an unknown seller that I cannot vet on the forums. Please stop it. I prefer the blue pill...but then that is my modus operandi.

"You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Figland and I show you how to not get scammed on eBay."

I like to sell a few fig cuttings and plants on ebay from time to time. I always include my figs4fun id so that people can see that I have been involved with figs for a while. Hope your warning doesn't scare people away from the small time sellers that are selling good product but don't have the big ebay fig following.

Jimmie,

Thanks, always value your comments.

Susan,

You have been a member a long time and i'm sure many here have dealt with you so I don't think you will have an issue.  I hope it does not scare people away either but right now with what is happening I don't see a better alternative.  

[QUOTE=WillsC]A community is best when it polices itself.[/QUOTE]

Amen!

Unfortunately, some people new to figs and some people new to eBay will get burned.  That's why a forum like this is the best tool in the toolbox.  Eventually, those intending to defraud will fizzle out and vanish.  There might be others that will take their place, but the community will still be here, sharing ideas and methods that help to protect us from the scammers.

I understand what you’re saying Wills with everything that’s been going on, but I am concerned about the unnecessary alarm this could raise.

I would definently  direct potential EBay buyers  to figs4fun forum to educate themselves.

I agree with Danny in post #19, and djfrance in post #13, as well as Bob in post #7. 

I came to figs4fun in search of information, and found some wonderful people sharing so much.  I’ve learned a lot since becoming a member last spring. I didn’t know anything about fig propagation then.   I discovered different methods  and so much more and look forward to reading the forum  learning something new every day. 

I see there are nearly 4500 members now, so you know people seriously looking for fig information come here.  That says a lot.

When I started buying fig cuttings from EBay, I intentionally purchased from people I could identify as members of this forum or sellers forum members mentioned as reputable.

I think something brief and factual would remind buyer to do their homework. 

So far I have not had any issues with eBay purchases, knock on wood. 

It seems the eBay feedback mechanism is a great validity check.  If someone mis-represents their product then you can give them thumbs down and that goes a long way.  It is amazing how many sellers have 100% positive feedback.  Also if something is wrong with their product you can easily get a refund.  I am comfortable with that and will continue to use eBay I wish you could buy more things on eBay.

Running your planned fig purchase on the forum would be for a limited time window only a small set of members would see it.  So not sure how this would help?  Also if a forum member who is a competitor sees it and comments negatively how does that help?

I think the best use of the forum is for people to make connections and use the forum for research on figs and improve their growing skills. 

People have been selling figs by the wrong name on ebay for as long as I have been growing figs. When I first started there were only a few sellers, now there are many. I was burned for $80 before I found this forum. The seller sent very nice fig cuttings but they did all look like the same variety and there were supposed to be several different ones. Then I found this forum and found out the seller was on the "fraud list". Who knows what he sent? But I gave him a good rating because at the time, before I found this forum, the product seemed good. By the time you realize that it is the wrong fig it is too late to give any kind of rating for the transaction.

That's how they get 100% rating, when you find out it's a fraud, it's too late. It's too late to give the correct feedback, to file a complaint with ebay or paypal, and get a refund from either. Ebay is not in the business to inform buyers of criminal activities of sellers. The only recourse is to direct them to a forum that can give them direction and/or a list of known reputable sellers. Also, a beware list needs to be created that a member can add to if after a year or two they find out that they have been scammed (Burned). Sellers rely on a high percentage feedback as a reputation and/or advertisement, but they need to know that somewhere on the web their name will be published if they are not honest or are intentional scammers. Just my opinion and I know that sometimes I am not 100% on.

I can see steering newbie fig enthusiast to the forum.  They can then check the huge fig knowledgebase here and see what named fig cultivars should look and taste like. 
Also could have a topic "eBay fig purchasing experiences" people could post their experience to this  rather than start new topics on the same subject.  Possible issues with this could be how can you validate that the posting is valid?

Buying/Selling on Ebay, has many factors involved. As a buyer, you need to do your homework. If I were a new to buying on Ebay, yea the scammers would probably get my $10 dollars.  As a seller, you are trying to maintain a good rating. Good and Bad transactions are going to happen there..... With sending cutting during the winter, they may arrive frozen (damaged) upsetting a customer thinking he got bad cuttings. I think that  transactions of Ebay need to be resolved there.......unfortunately EBAY only gets involved when they are losing money. We can stage a sit-in and not shop there for a small duration, maybe that would get there attention......  I like that WillisC and Harvey are trying to help solve this problem with scammers. I went on my facebook and notified my international friends about this topic. So little by little the information is getting out.

Far as a competitor saying a well known member is not legit......that won't fly.  It is the community voice that would matter not one opinion.  The Ebay feedback system  for fig cuttings is simply useless, by the time you know you have been cheated you can't leave feedback anymore.  

I have never bought or sold fig cuttings or plants on Ebay or anywhere else but if I do I will start with something like "Member of Fig4Fun forum since 20xy" or "GW" etc.