Does anyone have experience buying from this seller on ebay called mmonicaherteg2012? 

I have seen listings of black madeira from this seller with prices that look too good to be true! 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-figs-trees-Ficus-carica-Black-Madeira-Portuguese-Figs-2-fresh-cuttings-/171815704940?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item280103996c

I believe the second photo, belongs to Martin from few seasons ago and the fourth one, is the UC Davis tree.

Navid.

Oh dear. Thanks Navid and Gordenia for your inputs. I have tried searching forum for this username but no entries was found which then prompted me to create this post. Apparently this seller has also listed a live BM plant in her listing. In this case it does look suspicious for me to give this a miss. 

I wrote this ebay seller about problems regarding importing from Portugal to the USA and she basically told me to ignore the possible confiscation problem. If these posted pictures are not her pictures, another warning flag. And her shipping costs were $27 for four cuttings. I will not be bidding on any of her listings.

I bought from her before. The fig cuttings were ok but, I had a bad vibe from her.i won't get into it.

This seller currently has an eBay sale for "Viola".  At least one of the images is obviously photoshopped - check it out!

My interaction with this seller a couple of years ago regarding Black Madeira cuttings was very bad.
As a rule a seller that sells cuttings but also sells seeds of any fig (that do not guarantee the variety and are sold to unsuspecting buyers), is not trustworthy in my book.
I end up not buying from her due to plain rudeness in response to some questions i had and overall bad attitude i am not accustomed in serious sellers. Also the responses she had at the time to negative reviews were simply appalling.

I avoided her ever since.

Another Portuguese bodge...

http://m.ebay.com.my/itm/Rare-Ficus-carica-The-Ischia-Black-Fig-trees-2-fresh-cuttings-/262487348674?nav=SEARCH

I think this is a clone account of the same vendor...

helike13, danielmitre seems like a very honest seller. I know firsthand his black Madeira seems to be real.
I wouldn't want incriminate myself...lol!!!

Figfanatic57, did your Black Madeira from him rooted and produce fruit already?

I wrote this article about buying figs from the internet awhile ago.  Read it and protect yourselves from fraudulent sellers.  There are plenty of reputable and legitimate sellers right here in the states.

Buying Fig Trees and Cuttings From the Internet

Figinfever, I said I didn't want to incriminate myself. About all the Figs we have came from somewhere else in the world.
The black Madeira was about 15" tall last year. This year it's about 24" and has about 10 Figs on it. I rooted a bm cutting from HarveyC that appears to be the same.

Those pics were hijacked. Yes one is from UC Davis. Another one is from Martin, Navid is correct. I would stay away from this seller.

I can assure you that the USDA and ebay work hand in hand.  USDA will be very nice when they come but they will take your cuttings etc.   You may slip by them now but they will come.   Alas I said goodbye to my Sumaki fig last year to the Smiling Man.  Don't bother   Wait  save your money and buy from forum members.   You will get a better deal because your plant will be healthy and true and forum peeps stand behind their goods.  :)

Not trying to promote but just trying to help. I bought from a guy on eBay from Portugal who has 100% feedback named portugal-allez-portugal-allez.
Really good from Portugal. Cuttings were amazing and so far all four cuttings he sent me are doing great a week and a half later. I know it's not the best time to do cuttings but wanted to try as I'm new to propigating cuttings. He sent them in mail the very next day which I saw on tracking his package and received cuttings days before the date it was supposed to come. A bit more expensive then others but don't mind. Took about 10 days or so to come.

she (mmonicaherteg2012) has over 2200 reviews and 98% of them are positive.

Actually I have bought that Portuguese Ischia Black because I couldn't resist :)))

Because it worth the price if it is not Ischia Black but a nice Portuguse fig...

Very easily rooted and this is the result by now...

[Img]https://s32.postimg.org/85kqrb01h/1469160577832.jpg[/img]

akrouus,

These reviews are from people who bought seeds of "rare or difficult to obtain plants seeds" from her (her main business), not necessarily fig cuttings.

I don't say that she won't try to get you the legitimate fig tree cutting, but as figs cuttings are probably less than 1% of her business (she specializes in seeds) she probably won't make the same effort as a dedicated fig tree seller.

Also, it would be interesting to see her reaction to a complaint when the "rare Black Madeira" or other "rare fig tree varieties" seeds someone bought from her won't produce true to type fig tree plants. Something on the lines of "IGNORANT COSTUMER. Everyone knows that seeds from a pollinated fig don't produce true to type trees. BLOCKED FOR LIFE."

As i have said, her "people and costumer skills" when people are a bit more inquisitive about her products, are appalling. You should have read her responses to some costumers negative reviews that were available a couple of years ago.
Priceless! Too bad they aren't available any more.

But if someone wants to try his luck and buy fig cuttings from a seed seller that uses other peoples photos (and apparently, according to recent buyers, ships fig seeds of Black Madeira and other varieties from Romania and other countries despite the item location being Portugal in the description), please go ahead. You might get lucky.

  

It continues to amaze me the folks that say "yes they're legit" when the plants they have received have not even fruited yet.  Folks, until your plant fruits and even then, likely in the second year, there is NO WAY to tell if you have received the correct variety.  As someone whom has learned the lesson the hard way multiple times, do not claim your tree is authentic prior to fruiting.  If you want to sell/trade/gift cuttings from those trees, please let people know that you believe the variety is correct due to leaf shape, but have not seen the fruit yet.  This disclosure is extremely important.

For instance, my Green Ischia looks exactly like my Black Madeira until the fruit ripens.

[QUOTE=johnnyq627]It continues to amaze me the folks that say "yes they're legit" when the plants they have received have not even fruited yet.  Folks, until your plant fruits and even then, likely in the second year, there is NO WAY to tell if you have received the correct variety.  As someone whom has learned the lesson the hard way multiple times, do not claim your tree is authentic prior to fruiting.  If you want to sell/trade/gift cuttings from those trees, please let people know that you believe the variety is correct due to leaf shape, but have not seen the fruit yet.  This disclosure is extremely important.

For instance, my Green Ischia looks exactly like my Black Madeira until the fruit ripens.[/QUOTE]

This is so true.  No pics of actual fruit raises red flags everywhere.  Automatic seller disqualification in my book. There are plenty of fantastic varieties and sellers right here already.  

Additionally, if you live in the US and buy cuttings or other plant material on eBay from outside the US, you will definitely get a visit from USDA.  Not a joke, not trying to scare anyone and not trying to steer business away from any seller.  It's just a fact that eBay shares sales data with the USDA.  Visit won't come right away and according to some that found out the hard way, will come up to a year or more later.  There are plenty of topics regarding eBay buyers getting a visit from USDA right here on the forum.

I'm going to get off my soap box now but would like to leave everyone with this thought;  I've been around fig trees in some form or another for most of my life.  I've had my own fig tree or trees probably for the better part of 25 years (First Hardy Chicago came from Belleclare.  Wish I still had it).  Until finding this forum after retiring in 2012, I never knew how to propagate a fig tree from cutting or otherwise.  I just thought it was something the 'old timers' did and now we had to buy our fig trees in the store.  I thought there was a green fig and a dark fig and that's it!  After finding out about so many great varieties my eyes got very wide and I wanted everything.  If not for the advice from senior members of this forum (wish some were still around :(   ) I would have been buying everything from eBay overseas.  So glad I listened to that advice. 

This is a great hobby that we have.  I've made so many great friends and it's enriched and improved my life in ways that I never thought would happen.  I think we can all agree that it's also an expensive hobby.  It's very easy to get discouraged when spending a large amount on a rare variety and later find out it's not true-to-type or have it confiscated.  Discouragement leads to abandonment and that's not what we need.  We need more people that appreciate figs enough to discover there are hundreds (?) of varieties out there that need to be collected.  :)

OK.  Now I'm getting off my soap box for real.  Have a great day everyone!

It would make no sense for fig cuttings to be confiscated, they carry no diseases or parasites and FMV isn't a problem.

@Devisgro

In the US... all the best varieties you can get in no time... without import... so why import?

I spoke in error, I had not read of any diseases or parasites excluding FMV, aparantly there is a longhorn beetle contagion.  I just bumped an old thread.

So...in theory, you can get away with bringing a person here illegally, but not a fig cutting?  Seems like the USDA should be in control of immigration.

We don't want you to come, but if you do we will roll out the red carpet and give you get a driver's license, food stamps and health care! Welcome, Bienvenidos..

I ordered Panache seeds from this seller just to see how fig seeds work and an experiment in growing from seeds. The Ebay listing stated the source was Portugal, however the envelope came in the mail from Romania, hand written seller's address. Unfortunately I did not keep the packaging for evidence. 

95% of the seeds were viable and now I have a bunch of 1-2 inch seedlings. Can't post pictures but I can upload some next week if needed. I know I will probably not have true Panache trees or not even the advertised variety but that is not relevant to this topic.

I know someone who ordered 35 rigato del salento seeds, but only got 19 whole seeds. Monica offered to send some more. When buying seeds,they're a crap shoot. You never know what you'll get. They're cheap enough to take a chance and are a learning process.

I'm interested in finding out how to go about legitimately and legally getting fig trees from outside the US. Is there a procedure we can follow or does it have to go through customs or....? Has anyone on here done this successfully and can give some advice?

Excellent buying guide, NYCfig.

Thank you!

Fig seeds are a waste of money. The chance of getting the mother tree is nonexist, if you want to try hybrids buy a persistent caprifig, but to waste your money on fig seeds...