Any experience buying plants on ebay? (overseas)

[Brian_Nano12g]

I usually just buy my plants at the LFS or at Petsmart but I was just browsing ebay and there's a lot of nice plants that I've been looking for for pretty cheap. However, some of these options are from overseas. The price is low and the price on shipping is low too or free in some cases.. how the heck can something come from Asia to the US for so cheap?

Anyone have any experience with ordering these plants from ebay, especially the oversea sellers?

Some examples are the Narrow Leaf Java Fern:
Narrow Leaf Java Fern - Aquarium Plant Ornament Moss SD | eBay

And the Christmas Moss:
Christmas Moss x 3 -live aquarium plant java fish tank | eBay

 

[Boomer23]

Small package, nd if its a big business they usually ship other items as well so its cheaper in bulk to send oversees, they might have other businesses over here in america nd ur shipment is jus goin along for the ride.

 

[Atxpunx]

If your talking about aqmagic, there is a small chance it will get confiscated by customs. I bought some stuff off their site, but it turned out to be non aquatic. I'm planning to buy off of eBay in a couple weeks but am going with US sellers. Hope this helps.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

If your talking about aqmagic, there is a small chance it will get confiscated by customs. I bought some stuff off their site, but it turned out to be non aquatic. I'm planning to buy off of eBay in a couple weeks but am going with US sellers. Hope this helps.

Oh that's not good! Did they refund you your money? What did you order that got confiscated? Are all plants ordered from overseas subject to confiscation or was it a certain type of plant on their blacklist that wasn't allowed or something? I'm new to the whole concept and I'm just wondering.

 

[jetajockey]

I've seen a few stories of packages getting held up in customs and never arriving. They are cheap, as are most things shipped from over there, but with plants it's usually a better deal to go with a hobbyist in the classifieds. The other upside to buying from a hobbyist is you usually get extras. There are a few plant forums that are very active in the classifieds if you can't find anything here.

 

[arwin]

Hi! i saw that java fern and i kinda like it. let me know of you got one.

 

[Atxpunx]

Oh that's not good! Did they refund you your money? What did you order that got confiscated? Are all plants ordered from overseas subject to confiscation or was it a certain type of plant on their blacklist that wasn't allowed or something? I'm new to the whole concept and I'm just wondering.

My order made it through, I've only read stories online of customs confiscation. I never asked for a refund of the non-aquatic plants. Just stay away from star moss, and plagominium trichomanes. Those are the plants I didn't have luck with. I believe on the site it says if the order gets confiscated they'll ship one more time. My order took thirteen days to arrive in west Georgia.

 

[rkilling1]

You could also peruse ebay for plants. AKA aquabid. I'm sure you will be able to find those same plants from someone here in the US.

I would also suggest you look to other hobbyists first like JJ suggested.

Put up a want to buy ad in the classified section of this website as well as other plant oriented forums.

 

[Coursair]

I buy my plants from other Hobbyists.
Here on AA
TPT ( The Planted Tank)
APC ( Aquatic Plant Central) both TPT and APC are free to join, only members can see sales threads. TPT sellers have almost ANY plant you'd want including rare stuff. Some of the sellers are my Club Members

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

I ordered from aqmagic and it took almost three weeks. The things i recieved where small and dying, and my anubias fell into 2. The java fern said it was 10 healthy leaves and almost all wear yellow on the tips and had black algea spots and holes. In the future i plan on ordering from people on the forum
But i have read tons of reviews talking about great shipments, and almost never it being confiscated in customs.

 

[Coursair]

I just checked TPT and one nice person was giving Narrow Leaf Java Fern away for the cost of shipping for the first 2 plants and then $2 for additional plants...nice RAOK.

I love seeing stuff like that. Way to pay it forward.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I ordered from aqmagic and it took almost three weeks. The things i recieved where small and dying, and my anubias fell into 2. The java fern said it was 10 healthy leaves and almost all wear yellow on the tips and had black algea spots and holes. In the future i plan on ordering from people on the forum
But i have read tons of reviews talking about great shipments, and almost never it being confiscated in customs.

Thanks for your experience... I guess I'll take the advice of looking for local hobbyists and try to buy local.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I just checked TPT and one nice person was giving Narrow Leaf Java Fern away for the cost of shipping for the first 2 plants and then $2 for additional plants...nice RAOK.

I love seeing stuff like that. Way to pay it forward.

Oh cool... I'm going to search for that now! LMK if you run across any xmas moss or flame.

 

[Coursair]

Oh cool... I'm going to search for that now! LMK if you run across any xmas moss or flame.

Just run a search in the Mart. Lots of Moss for sale.

 

[mudraker]

A+ for buying from AA classifieds, Jeta just did me a great deal

I've had excellent experience buying from established, reputable US based ebay sellers. Check their ratings carefully as sellers of plants. Avoid buying from sellers do not specialize in plants. IE, when you look at other items for sale, they have only a few types of plants and everything else looks like an online garage sale.

Just my two cents.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Well ive got almost all of my plants from ebay, and honestly 90% of the time the come in not so good. For the most part the roots last and regrow but that all ive ever gotten. They always came form china or Malaysa. I did have one good buy from I belive iceland, or somewhere around there. Keep in mind of the time of the season you order them, theyll take up to a 3 weeks to arrive. But for the most part, its a hit or miss. If you can find within US then im sure theyll be fine.

Hope I helped :/

 

[Zevyn]

Most of those overseas sellers outright tell you that they trim all the leaves off for shipment, so some people get angry when they don't read the fine print (which is usually hard to read because of the poor English) and get roots in the mail.

I tried to order some flame moss pads from a seller in Taiwan a couple weeks ago. Still nothing, but the tracking they gave me shows it made it to JFK int. at least.

Edit: I see it made it's way to my city so I should probably have it today. They gave me an international tracking (iPOST) which eventually tracked via USPS. Curious to see what condition they're in.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Most of those overseas sellers outright tell you that they trim all the leaves off for shipment, so some people get angry when they don't read the fine print (which is usually hard to read because of the poor English) and get roots in the mail.

I tried to order some flame moss pads from a seller in Taiwan a couple weeks ago. Still nothing, but the tracking they gave me shows it made it to JFK int. at least.

Edit: I see it made it's way to my city so I should probably have it today. They gave me an international tracking (iPOST) which eventually tracked via USPS. Curious to see what condition they're in.

Yeah it would be interesting to see the condition in which it arrives. Please post a picture when you get it.

 

[Zevyn]

Yeah it would be interesting to see the condition in which it arrives. Please post a picture when you get it.

Was in pretty good shape, but it seems like a hardy moss; feels like fake grass. It was wrapped in bubble wrap and in a small box. Took them 10 days to get it here.

Flame Moss

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Was in pretty good shape, but it seems like a hardy moss; feels like fake grass. It was wrapped in bubble wrap and in a small box. Took them 10 days to get it here.

Fire Moss

Wow that looks pretty good! How much you get that for and from what seller?