I bought heirloom tomato plants from the seller TomatoGirl on ebay last summer, and didn't know what to expect, because I had never ordered plants online. The plants were awesome. They were flawless and very affordable. She had a variety list of about 90 different types if I remember correctly, and peppers too. I think they were even more affordable on her website. www.tomatobabycompany.com

My only experiences have been with seeds this year, and so I can't tell you anything yet about germination.

heirloomvegetables and seedstation sent seeds very quickly and packaged very well; good labelling.

Katz Kuntry Kuttins (I hate that name) was slower - in fact I ordered them the same day as seedstation's (from the UK) and they arrived a week later. But they were fine.

I emailed seeds0 to let him know that he had the wrong description with his title and picture. I received an extraordinarily rude response. Most sellers would want to know they had the wrong information so they could correct their listings.

Stacy's Seeds and S'more aka stardrifting

she may have been good for you, but not for me. Didn't answer emails, and none of the seeds ever grew for me.

eBay Id: threebunnys

I bought both tomato and pepper seeds (40 varieties of each) from threebunnys last spring for the 2007 growing season. Each variety of seed came labelled in their own small ziplock bag. Very pleased with quality of seed - germination rate was very high. As it turned out, acurracy of seed identification was perfect. In other words, the seed turned into the plant identified on the label. That's always nice lol! I came across this photo I took last September, showing the days harvest of some of the peppers.

If I need pepper and/or tomato seeds in the future, I would certainly purchase from threebunnys again. Thumbs UP.

{{gwi:1185358}}

Has anyone here bid/purchase any plant material from gsawgle on ebay?

I don't recognize that name but I purchase quite abit from ebay and can't think of any instance when I wasn't satisfied. I also noticed that alot of the regular mailorder nurseries have ebay sites: ie; High Country Gardens. Before I bid I compare prices with their regular site. It's not hard to figure out if they have a regular mailorder site.

Penny

eBay has some excellent vendors but as far as seed sellers are concerned, the vast majority are buying and selling seed from other companies. What I mean by this is that the seed is not collected from their own plants but purchased from Tradewinds Fruit, Prairie Moon, JL Hudson, and/or Banana Tree. If the seed they receive from these wholesalers is not viable and not stored well, the results are poor germination.

There are some excellent vendors on Ebay that collect their own seed. This includes:

impower56
onaleei
mapundungu
tasteeclectic

Anytime an Ebay seed seller has tons of seed listings I pretty much know they have purchased wholesale seeds and are repackaging - against the terms of sale for wholesale seeds btw. If they are responsible and sell the seeds in a timely fashion, they can sell viable seeds but unfortunately a lot of them keep the seeds too long and they are not viable. That's why I prefer the sellers with smaller listings that are probably fresh from their gardens.

And the shipping can be so high. We all know what it costs to send a bubble envelope and some of the Ebay sellers charge too much in my opinion for a few seeds - $2.95 or higher and sometimes they don't even send a bubble envelope. I've gotten crushed seeds when they didn't. Some of them are posters here and should know better!

Gsawgle is wonderful - I bought two Musa basjoo last year, they arrived in great shape!

For anyone who grows roses, give "huilito" a try. I've won/ordered several own root roses from her, and they are all thriving.

---
Wendy

I see another member had good luck with "ecoseeds" but I refuse to buy from them anymore. At one time I bought a lot from them and then I found their service levels changed significantly....they continuously made errors in their orders, never responded to my emails and were very rude "if" and "when" I finally got a response about missing seeds. I would not recommend them.

Some ebay sellers I've had good luck with:

calseeds
janie2011
merlesgardencenter1
purpleorchid51
salvia350
seedsandmore
tony3446

I am glad I tripped across this post. Now I'm going to have to check out some of the other sellers that are recommended here.

Thanks....Heather

I emailed Ebay seller gardenofangels2 to let them know they had an incorrect photo with a listing for Pentapetes phoenicia. I'll think twice before I try to help someone I thought made an honest mistake again.
Rude response, item still running with very very misleading photo. Had it been me I would have been scrambling to make a correction to avoid misleading a buyer.

I at first had a good experience with groco seeds, then ordered some thyme seeds, which had a germination percentage around 1%. Company did not bother responding to my emails. (To top it off, paypal was having 'technical difficulties,' and the charge disappeared from my paypal account although it had been charged to my bank account, and I was unable to dispute the charge.) So I would not recommend them.

Ordered irises from the_country_garden last fall. The fans arrived promptly and looked pretty healthy; however, not one single plant came to true to name. In fact, I ordered two different varieties and when the plants bloomed out this spring, they were all the same variety. It was not even close to the original order, so this was no honest mistake. I contacted her twice with no response. I see she has Midnight Oil listed for sale again. This is one of the ones I paid for from her last year. Buyer BEWARE!

I too had a problem with groco and will never order from them again. I also have a problem with nature park. The tomato seeds were dark in color and so far 3 out of 30 seeds have germinated. No messages at all from this seller and they had the nerve to respond to feedback with "You started seeds in closed garage with 0 air circulation". I don't have a garage and always use a fan.

I bought almost all of my seeds for 2011 on ebay. I chose sellers who combined shipping and was able to put together 5-8 packages of seed for a low shipping cost from each. Since I have not germinated any of them, I can't attest to viability but the customer service on all of these sellers was great. Most sent anywhere from 1-5 packs of "bonus" seeds. A welcome treat!
Ohio Heirloom Seeds
Rons Seed Store
rsedwards64
flowerangel10607
Marjorie Duncan (can't remember ebay name)heirloom tomatoes

Some may be resellers, some are probably harvesters because of the small inventory. We'll see how the growing goes--I ordered vegies, herbs and flowers.

Hello All,

I am an Ebay seller, though a small one. I buy my seeds from a few trusted sources who have never let me down yet. They are mostly 'mom and pop' enterprises from way back. They have helped me with the best seeds to sell and plant, and have consistently delivered seeds with first rate germination.

I do not always sell all of my stock in one year, so I germination test the seeds myself before listing them again the following year. If the germination is less than 70% I plant them in my own acreage.

The seeds are kept in the basement at a pretty constant low temp. The basement is dark and as I live in Idaho it is also dry, perfect for seed storage.

We are growing our own seed but it takes time. We are also transitioning to organic production.

Selling seeds online (selling anywhere) is not easy! I always give the customers full refunds, polite responses, and bend over backwards to accomodate.

Sometimes things go wrong, and it is then that the voice is heard the loudest. For example on Ebay I sell about 20 packets of seed for one feedback, and on Amazon it is about 300 packets of seeds for 1 feedback. The sad thing is for those 300 good sales the one bad sale will leave negative feedback.

With all the charges there is little profit in it, barely enough to make a basic wage but I love what I do so I continue on in the face of constant challenges.

I bought a few packs of well known brand seeds from the store the other day, 50% more exspensive, dissapointed with the quality of seeds (there were dead ones and broken ones to bulk the weight out), and half the weight of what I sell...

Not all of us are vagabonds! but I think my days on Ebay are numbered with the new price changes. It looks like we will go local with organic seeds, and also sell the produce we grow ourselves locally. The big internet world is getting way too greedy. Small and local is the way to go. At least you can pop down the road and have it out 'face to face'...

Happy Planting!

jlatchu

Excellent service from blueribbontomatoes on eBay. Amazingly rare varieties! I bought the 100 variety tomato pack, and 1 package was labeled with NO seeds in it. I emailed her, and received a response that night. She quickly reshipped the seed package and included an extra pack of seeds for my troubles. Excellent customer service, I would not hesitate to buy from her again. You can even ask her details and tips about varieties and she responds like you have been long time friends.