I stay with four venders because they have been most reliable and they offer a wide choice of the types of daylilies that I like; they are prompt and very generous. I have recent introductions that were gifts.

Michele Taylor
James Hall
Mark Sattelmeier
Fred Manning

Most of my experience with LA has been very good.
There is 1 seller I probably won't buy from again and I am currently waiting for response from another seller....guess that seller is a real slow responder which is something to remember in the future.

Since I sell a variety of items through the internet, I know customer service should have top priority.
Sometimes a seller just has to lump it to keep a buyer happy.
There are of course buyers who will scam sellers.

The best way for all to remain satisfied is to have a fast turn around on any transaction, imo.

Gerry - Could you please list their LA seller names? I need to make a list of who to buy from. Or does someone have the ATP thread link for recommended LA sellers?

I only started buying this past year. Most were from the seed auctions. But I have bought a couple of unbloomed seedlings on the LA the past 4 months because of the genetics in those plants. Only 1 seed to seedling bloomed for me this year. And it does appear by the bloom pattern that the cross was what it was supposed to be. The rest will hopefully bloom next Spring/Summer. I have gotten good seed germination from all but 1 seller. I definitely won't buy from that seller again.

I am reluctant to post the names of those I have bought and germinated successfully from at this time because the daylilies have yet to bloom for me. The verdict is out until they start blooming. And yes! I do know that sometimes the blooms won't look like either parents, but they should look like some genetics in it's family tree and not Ditch Lilies.

All of this is one of the reasons I VERY much appreciate some of the seeds shared with me by a couple members here. And some are sellers on LA and were very, very generous with bonus seeds when I purchased from them. They know who they are and they know how much I appreciate their generosity. I have a limited gardening budget, so a few dollars here and there for purchases by me adds up to a lot out of my gardening budget. I will not buy from Ebay again. Bought seeds and when they bloomed, they were not what they were advertised to be. There is no recourse on Ebay for daylily seeds that are not what I thought I was buying. LA has a longer satisfaction guarantee and that is especially helpful with the seed auction.

This is only my personal experience.

I haven't bought too much lately from LA so I can't chime in on that. As far as selling, I am currently having difficulty getting payment from a foreign customer who bid on seeds and run up a $40 tab. No response and so far Mike Longo has not been able to get them to respond to emails. I like to give the customer the benefit of the doubt and wait at least 30 days. I am sure if their computer crashed, 30 days is ample enough time to get it running again. Gosh, if that happened to me, I think I would use a friends computer just to let the vendor know what is going on. Sometimes I just can't believe how inconsiderate customers have become these days. Don't want to respond to the seed germination issue. All I can say is that not every single seed will germinate and it is unrealistic for a customer to believe they all will. The seller has no way of knowing that. Different methods of germination can produce good or not so good results either. I found that out this year myself. Never again using the peroxide method. Most of them rotted. I have about 95% germination just potting them up and putting them outdoors and letting nature take its course.

Those are excellent sellers. Tink3472....Mijomo....Abundantdaylilies...Spunky1 ( the 4 you listed). They are great sellers, along with many more.
If you want to 'investigate'...take a look and see who they buy from. I look to see too, who the breeders might buy from.
For instance Nicole Harry is Ndl on the LA.

Seeds and seed sellers are a different bunch. Altho, I know Michele (Tink) sells...or has sold seeds.

There are some excellent backyard sellers as well. This time of the year they are especially fun to buy from because you can get big clumps in the fall, at very good prices. OO how I love me a good clump

needrain said:Well, I'm still in communication with the seller. Responses to mail aren't really quick, but not unreasonable either. However, it's the second time the order was shipped and it's had time to reach me after the second try. So I've asked them to check the address they are using and, this second time, I'm hoping they kept information for tracking which they couldn't find on the first shipment. I'm just uncomfortable with how things have gone. I'm easy though, so right now I'm still in 'giving them the benefit of doubt' mode. That's something that's hard to break if you're inclined that way and I am. I just wondered how others might approach it.

@needrain I had a seller that said they had shipped and it never arrived. They could not find the confirmation which to me is BS because most people keep the receipts when they mail things (especially the bigger sellers) because they need these for tax time. I could understand when they still attached those green tracking tags that they could get misplaced sometimes but the number is on the receipt now so there really is no excuse not to have it especially if you have been selling for awhile and know you need these if something doesn't show up.

The second time it got shipped to you they SHOULD have emailed you the confirmation number so you could track it. I always have the confirmation number sent to the buyer that way they can track it if it hasn't arrived promptly.

I will say the PO does screw up at times royally. I had two packages that went out on the 2nd from my post office to the next facility the same day but took 8 days to arrive. The first one sat at the next facility from the 2nd until the 7th and no one can tell me why, then it made it's way to the buyer on the 10th. The other one went from my PO on the 2nd to the Pensacola FL PO to the Des Moines, Iowa PO then back tracked back to Jacksonville, FL then back to Des Moines, Iowa before getting to Illinois on the 10th. These things happen more than they should but this year has been better than usual. But that is why I keep track of the confirmation number and give it to the buyer so they at least know it was shipped.

Sorry Cindy, cross posted....

I would like to say Hemlady also sells excellent seeds. She is farther north, so they are listed a little latter in the year.
She has good DIP crosses. Im going back to DIPS this year. My DIP seedlings just always seem to turn out better.

Thanks Pam. The dips do germinate much better than the tets. I always have problems getting all of the tets I plant to germinate. I tried one year a suggestion from another member of filing off a part of the dark hard shell of the seed with a nail file before planting. I think that worked and I got more germination.

There are a few others besides the ones already mentioned that I think are fantastic sellers too, and I think most of them end their auctions on the weekends:

Our own Dot sells seeds of incredible crosses of newer daylilies - Ladylovingdove
Our own James is also selling wonderful seeds of fantastic crosses - Jwwc
Richard Howard at CT Daylilies sells mostly seeds right now, but also plants - Rich
Pete Harry Daylilies (hybridizer) sells plants, usually later in the week - Amazing_daylilies


In August I purchased seeds of incredible crosses from Dot (Ladylovingdove), James (Jwwc), Michele (Tink3472), Cindy (Lighthousegal), Rich Howard (Rich) and William Marchant (William). And all of these sellers have auctions going on right now except for Cindy and William -- in fact, Rich has auctions that will end starting in a couple of hours.

And I must add that I received wonderful seeds from these sellers -- plus incredible bonus seeds -- that are sitting in my fridge right now, and I'll begin planting them in another week.

Betty - Thank you for adding those LA seller names to this thread. I am making a list as I see them mentioned. I know we have great sellers here on ATP, but I often don't remember their screen names. Thank you for listing more for me to add to my seller list!

O gosh yes, there are lots of great sellers. I just mentioned the four above to put LA names to the names of those listed in the thread they were listed in ..

I just got some seeds from Dot myself. Lots ,from Rich, Got one pack of seeds from a new seller..Starcrossedseeds. The looked very healthy and viable, as did seeds from another new seller to me Cedargrove2. Both also shipped very fast.

I havent seen any of Micheles seeds yet this year.

Michele only sold seeds for a very short time and has already stopped, and I was so lucky to have checked just when she had some. Right now she has some terrific plants up for auction (Tink3472).

The package did arrive, so all is well on my end. I think USPS didn't quite provide the service that the seller paid for, but the plants aren't any worse for it. I just have to plant them now. I do want to thank everyone that gave me input. I'm fortunate not to have had many bad experiences and have little experience dealing with situations. Thankfully, it was a bit of needless worry on my part. I'm glad. The LA Auction provides such a wide range of choices generally and I mostly work from a wish list. When those come up it's a matter of deciding whether it's budget friendly at the time. I wouldn't rule out making a bid with any seller unless I'd had a bad experience with them or unless they were loaded with a high percentage of negative feedback. A good experience would make me inclined to use the seller again over another seller where there was no experience. New sellers have to sell or they won't accumulate feedback.

gardenglory said:O gosh yes, there are lots of great sellers. I just mentioned the four above to put LA names to the names of those listed in the thread they were listed in ...

This is true in my experience. I have only had a frustrating experience with one seller and I am reluctant to order from him again unless it is something I cannot find anywhere else. Other than that I find that most people want to try and work out an problems.

@gardenglory Pam what is that magnificent flower in your avatar?

James, that's one of Pam's seedling.
Donald, you are so right about new sellers. I have had good experience with most of the above. I also had good experience with Claudia from Runningfox and Mary from Morning_star when they were new.

Thanks Mike. I thought I had posted its parentage. I guess I didnt hit send

James has some good seeds right now. Im so curious if anyone has a garden picture of Van Helsing.

Im gunna change my avatar picture. I see that picture so often, by the time they bloomed last year again, I was tired of them This was one of its misbehaving siblings I call 'ears'. Ive moved them all to one very large pot, its the last step before culling, but they should look good just as a nice colorful show, or thats the plan.

Halloween Green x ( Rose Kennedy x Emerald Starburst)

Pam I didn't get a picture of it this year. I have seen some previously though - possibly from other sellers on the auction. Ruby is one that comes to mind. VH was new to me this spring from Polston so I didn't try to set pods I was more concerned with getting as much pollen as I could.

I wish you could send it to me Pam!!!! I have been in love with your avatar for some time. And I can see it is not a dormant.

Pam, that seedling is gorgeous Also.

I must be lucky, I've never had a bad experience buying plants from numerous sellers.
Seeds are a crap shoot at best, but it only takes a few good seedlings to make the expense of all seed purchases combined look like a bargain, and if you get registration quality you probably can turn a profit.

Unless something dramatic happened there is no excuse for a seller to not respond.
Even then they should contact the buyer with a brief explanation of what is going on and when they should be able to solve any problems.

As for seed sellers I will be going on my seventh year this fall as a seller, and longer as a buyer, not everything has been perfect all the time but I will do my best to resolve and problems including 100% plus postage refund.
And had the same experience with the sellers, so far I've never had anyone not stand up for what they sell.

I sell northern grown, specializing in Reckamp glow polychrome, seller ID "gramps" in case your wondering who I am.