Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Galanthus => Topic started by: Maggi Young on February 19, 2018, 05:48:28 PM
-
Ebay sellers who have had good reviews over time by forumists -
Here is a brief list of those we know to be honest ....
North Green aka erifis88
Andy Byfield aka bitarla
Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery
Cornovium
Engelsdropje is Loes de Groot
Ian Christie is sgtmajor47
wheelieneily
wirralwave
ombersleyplants
Beth Chatto
farmhouse5000
Anne Wright is DRYADZNY
groman4444 is Melvyn Jope
mdmcollectables Michael Myers
Matt Bishop
bruckhills Helen Rushton
Monksilver
exposure8
francis54-2008
0115springer
cpeet31 Carys Thorp
planthill54 is Hagen Engelmann
Mollythewitch42 is Gail Harland
- not an exhaustive list of good guys, of course, but a great start!
-
Lets add Harveys Garden Plants please (I think I see a new trading name as Simply Snowdrops or something similar?) Anyway its Thurston Suffolk.
-
I believe Harveys sell as both Simplysnowdrops and dorasnowdrop on ebay - I have heard both good and bad reports of them there.
edit : typos corrected
-
I would be surprised if Harveys offered me a good service whilst giving others an unsatisfactory experience. Perhaps others who have had either a good or an unsatisfactory experience, particularly say in the last year, can chip in on this thread so that Harveys get the overall review they merit?
-
I didn’t know they were Dora’s and Simply. They’ve been fine for me.
-
I believe Harveys sell as both Simplysnowdrops and dorassnowdrops on ebay - I have heard both good and bad reports of them there.
I had some good experiences with Dorasnowdrop. Had to ask for a refund when they had combined several items and I had paid separate postage charges, but they did refund.
-
eBay seller "dorasnowdrop" adopted that name on 12/12/17. From 4/1/13 to that date they traded as "dorasnowdrops2013". The seller is registered as a business with details given.
They received 100% positive comments based on 366 ratings over the last 12 months.
ebay seller "simplysnowdrop" adopted that name on 20/12/16. From 13/3/13 to that date they traded as "simplysnowdrops2013". The seller is registered as a business with details given. They received 100% positive comments based on 183 ratings over the last 12 months.
Maybe someone should ask Roger Harvey to confirm that both businesses belong to his nursery and if he replies in the affirmative, ask him why he uses two IDs? The address given in the business details is that of his nursery or somewhere very close by.
-
I think I should repeat that I have no commercial interest in Harveys nor in the two Ebay selling identities Doras Snowdrops or Simply Snowdrops. I am concerned solely with fairness, particularly when the livelihoods of professional nurserymen are involved.
The Ebay ratings for the past 12 months quoted in the previous post by Alan are thunderous. For Doras Snowdrops, 366 positive, 0 neutral, 0 negative. For Simply Snowdrops, the figures are 183 positive, 0 neutral and 0 negative. Those are ratings to die for. The people Maggi insists are dissatisfied are mighty well hidden.
The question about why have more than one Ebay identity seems to me a non-issue. If a seller chooses to change his/her identity from, for example,"R O Howes" to "Monksilver", that matters little to us buyers provided we get the bulb we paid for, in good condition, and a decent service with it. As an incidental, I enquired of "Doras and Simply" why have two Ebay identities, and they replied they felt they wanted a backup arrangement in case of whatever. That's fine with me: I have two buying Ebay identities in case of whatever, and I know of other buyers and sellers who do the same. I have three email addresses; many others have multiple identities - in case of whatever.
So, again - if people are indeed dissatisfied with either bulbs or service from Dora's or Simply, lets hear from them directly here. Otherwise, shall we take those Ebay feedback figures at face value and add the sellers to Maggi's list?
Two final points; first, Harveys are a Chelsea Gold Medal-winning nursery. You don't get that without the highest standards in the nursery trade.
Second, almost any snowdrop supplier can supply a sick bulb. I have probably bought more snowdrop bulbs than most forumists over the past 15 years and hand on heart I can only think of two suppliers whose health control has been so effective that I have never had a bad bulb from them.* So: the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Quarantine for all newly-acquired bulbs. Assume they may be diseased until they demonstrate otherwise. I have learned this lesson the hard way and at great cost.
* Please don't ask me who they are. I want to continue to buy bulbs (warily and with Jeyes Fluid within reach) from everyone.
-
I hope it is fair enough to raise the concerns of some, albeit anonymous,
I don't think it's fair if those same people neglected to leave appropriate feedback. And if they did then perhaps the perfect scores over the last 12 months show that whatever caused concerns in the past has been rectified latterly.
-
Okay, if a discussion is thought unfair, then I'll remove my earlier comments.
I will add however, that it is not unknown for problems to appear only after feedback has been left - as we have heard oftentimes. In the same way as those with supposedly impressive feed back rating have later found to be at fault. So please, all you beginning collectors out there - buyer beware!
-
I will add however, that it is not unknown for problems to appear only after feedback has been left - as we have heard oftentimes. In the same way as those with supposedly impressive feed back rating have later found to be at fault. So please, all you beginning collectors out there - buyer beware!
That's so true, Maggi. it's not just the feedback that counts but the nature of the feedback. The worst fraudster may still manage a prompt delivery, so buyers should read what the past feedback actually says and also ask themselves if what is being supplied is immediately verifiable as genuine. Dry bulbs will not be verifiable. Bulbs where the flowers have gone over or not yet appeared will not be verifiable.
-
Who is adlinkpen?
-
If Harvey's is simplysnowdrop then he should know how to spell item 202234716215 also his shop is called simplysnowdrop but his brand is called SimplySnowdrops. Does not fill one with confidence ordering from simplysnowdrop, The price that is being asked is also out of proportion to catalogues I have.
John(M)
P. S. I have addressed the spelling with this seller but as of now it has not been corrected
-
Hello, John; nice to hear from you again. I don't think there is any doubt that Harveys Garden Plants sells on ebay as both 'dorasnowdrop' and 'simplysnowdrop'. Both IDs are businesses rather than individuals so why they don't call themselves Harveys Garden Plants heaven only knows. However the list in the first post will show you that they are far from alone in not selling on eBay under their normal trading name.
Poor Bill Clark has had his name misspelled ever since there was a mistake/typo in The Monograph. It's such an accepted work of reference that the odd mistake therein is apt to be perpetuated.
-
Hello Alan,
Just had an email from simplysnowdrop to say thanks and they have now corrected the spelling.
John (M)
-
I have received a number of plants from Harvey's last month, all good quality as far as my limited experience tells me. I could have done with this thread back then; I did a bit of browsing and going through old threads to find out about 'dorasnowdrop',but only found 1 mention and then found out they are the same as Harvey's and interestingly found that some items were cheaper on ebay than in the web shop and vice versa and that unavailable items were available in one or the other. I emailed them and after one initial answer never heard back from them; nearly gave up but then picked up the phone and had an excellent 'customer experience'. They did not get round to answering the emails because it had been too busy- a small specialist nursery could have that problem I suppose. Got what I liked for lowest price from either list, combined postage, and some that were 'unavailable'. So without questioning the reasoning behind the rationale of multiple ebay accounts and a web shop, the service I received was, in the end, good.
-
Harvey's prices are dependent on the bulb - you may find others' are cheaper, but that's the case if you shop around for any variety online, unless it's for a stratospherically-priced one. I bought 'Rosemary Burnham' from them for 1/5 (yes, one fifth) what I saw it going for at another nursery. So I don't think you can generalise. His eBay prices are very competitive.
-
Hi Brian,
Following your intriguing posts yesterday on the ''Fake'' thread.... I don't see you listed here! Were your sales also on Ebay?
Either way..... Perhaps this list (Initial post from Maggi) needs updating?
Perhaps it should be a Sticky Topic??
Tim DH
-
Once in a blue moon I sell on eBay under the name "milkflower", not often enough to have gained any sort of review on the forum AFAIK. I have a snowdrop on offer at the moment in collaboration with forumist Tim Ingram; one for which I persuaded Tim to let me choose an appropriate name: http://ebay.us/c4MFIj (http://ebay.us/c4MFIj) . It's doing quite well so far but I think it deserves to because Tim has produced a really pretty and distinctive snowdrop.
-
Does anybody know a Seller "nqxklz" from Bray, Ireland?