Anybody have a favorite seller?

For what? Plants, seeds, tropical only? I have literally spent thousands of dollars on Ebay and dealt with several dozen sellers.

David,
I was trying to find the Variegated Elephant Ear. A people had it for sale but I have never purchased anything off of Ebay. I buy my plants from my local nursery 4 online vendors and the BB stores.

@Cinta - what is BB?

Is the Item still listed on Ebay? Have a link to the item and/or the Seller? I will take a peek for you and give my opinion. Like I said - I have dealt with scores of Sellers and on only one occasion had a problem - quickly fixed. ** And I was not exagerating that I have spent several thousand dollars on Ebay over the past 2 years. There are also many very reputable firms that also sell on Ebay - Arghya gardens for example.

** On another occasion, Customs confiscated some stuff I purchased from a Seller in India. He resent and marked as a Gift and I got it in a few weeks.

If you are looking for something from Africa, particularly South Africa, I have had great experience with Bid or Buy which works just like Ebay. I also have had good luck on Etsy.

With a little experience, you can quickly see BS Sellers or BS items; anyone selling Blue roses or Orchid seeds - I flag them and stay away cause it is Bogus or absurd. Unless you have a high tech lab, it is virtually impossible to grow most orchids from seed. And there are NO blue roses. I owned a flower shop for 7 years.

Let me know if I can help.

THank you Daivid. BB is Big Box.....Home Depot, Lowes.
This is the one I was looking at and it has ended.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-G...

This is another one but it is small.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VARIEG...

The first item is listed on Australian Ebay. Was that the only place you could find it? Better to deal on standard Ebay. They are though a US Seller.

I would never attempt to buy anything "live" from overseas sellers. Can get confiscated by Customs and might die in transit. Seeds are not usually a problem, though you may need to get an APHIS Permit in the Small Seeds program. Some seeds need to be ultra fresh for some tropicals, so need to be careful there since the freshest may be from overseas but take foreever to get here and then get confiscated.

The seller at first glance looks Superb - he has sold 4,437 items and has a 100 % Feedback rating. The 4,437 is found near upper right after their name. This would be a first class Seller, fer sure.

On Ebay you can Save searches and Ebay will email you when items are listed. You can also make a Seller a favorite (Follow them) and quickly check them out to see if they relist similar items. You can also send a Seller a question; for example, will you be listing this item again? I do that frequently.

Second one as you said is way small. And $8 to ship a bare root 4 " plant is a bit steep in my view. The larger first plant shipped much faster for nearly 3 $ less. Some Sellers Jack up their shipping cost to make extra bucks as the commission they pay is based on selling price excluding shipping. (Others offer "free" shipping to entice you, but their prices are higher. :-))

By clicking on the Sellers Ebay name, you can see comments by others. Hers is the comments for the second seller;

http://www.ebay.com/usr/gwl791...

looks good. No Neutral or Negatives

Here First seller.

http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/pla...

One Neutral by a guy that likely killed 6 coffee plants - he admitted it :-)

http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws...

Just based on a cursory review, I would not hesitate to order from either of these folks.

Hope this helps. Keep in mind reputation means everything on Ebay and a good seller will go out of their way to keep high ratings.

Thank you so much. That is helpful. I had heard such bad things about Ebay I just never ordered anything.

If you decide to give it a try, start small and learn how to use Ebay. Good luck. Any other ?s, let me know.
BTW - a Paypal account is almost a necessity and very useful.

I just ordered the variegated colocasia gageana from plantbobby. The communication was excellent and I just tracked the package and the plant is in transit. Estimated delivery is Thursday, I'll post when it gets here with pics.

There was no "au" in the address when I ordered.

So @Ardesia bought the plant that @Cinta wanted. Heh Maybe down the road an offset or cutting? I am not familiar with replication of this species.

Oops, sorry Cinta.

I thought I saw where he had several plants available this past Saturday. This is the only one I see now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-LARG...

I usually buy novelty items off Ebay, but I did buy an orchid there in 2013. But I researched first, finding out the background of that seller. Like David, I try to avoid overseas sellers, so the one I got is a US seller, and actually has its own web presence too. I guess they are just using Ebay as another avenue to further promote their site too. So far that plant is still alive to this day, it is happily enduring me.

Sometimes I use Ebay the other way around, if I find the plant for sale there, and the seller info is there providing further links to their actual separate online site, then I go further to research about them and what other plants they have. It often happens, I start with Ebay and I end up with a different plant from same seller.

Reading the comments left by other customers, the rating given to the seller is also worth reading.

I've never bought anything on Ebay; years ago I bid on something that I really, really wanted and it got down to within a couple of seconds when I was outbid ... I was so disappointed that I never bid on anything again and whatever the item was it must not have been that important because I can't even remember what it was! Nowadays a lot of e-bay sellers have the Buy It Now option but I haven't even looked at e-bay in a long time.

Cinta, I found that elephant ear for sale by a vendor on e-bay ... maybe David knows something about this seller? http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALOCAS...

That same seller has another beauty that is really gorgeous too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lg-ELE...

YIKES! Look at what Glasshouse Works is asking for this one labeled A. amazonica 'Albo-Variegata': http://www.glasshouseworks.com... Gorgeous leaves but wow, that is one expensive little plant and I hear their shipping is a bit high too.

plantbobby has a 100% positive rating from over 4000 buyers, I felt pretty confident about buying from him.

ardesia said: Oops, sorry Cinta.

I thought I saw where he had several plants available this past Saturday. This is the only one I see now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-LARG...

Yes when David asked me for the post when I went back and did not see it I thought maybe I dreamed I saw it. But you brought the plant I guess.

Please post a pic when you receive. TY for the link.

Lin Yikes is right. I have never seen a plant that I would be willing to give anybody that kind of money. I am too cheap for that kind of plant purchase.

Cinta said: I have never seen a plant that I would be willing to give anybody that kind of money. I am too cheap for that kind of plant purchase.

Ditto! I can't imagine ever wanting a particular plant that I'd pay that much for.

$12.99?

Ken, they meant this one.
http://www.glasshouseworks.com...

Got it. That is expensive.