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GaryB
Guest
A 4" pot filled with concrete isn't going to weigh 15 lbs
Check this e-bay offering out
- Thread starter Bob in Albany N.Y.
- Start date
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A 4" pot filled with concrete isn't going to weigh 15 lbs
OMG! Wow! Just wow! Oy!
And a cultivator too as GaryB pointed out! :rollhappy:
I'll have to disagree with Slipperking and agree with Slipperfan that age doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it. My grandmother lived to be 101 and she didn't even start to get "out of it" until she was about 98. Even so, she was still able to successfully live alone until only 4 months before her death. Being "out of it" can be due to any number of reasons, conditions or attitudes.
I want to agree with what Ernie said since I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I had been planning on purchasing Phal. I-Hsin Spot Eagle 'Montclair' (Ta-Lin Spot X Black Eagle) from the Hilltop website but now I'm not so sure I want to make such a transaction. This whole thing seems way too risky to me now.
The plant I want is listed on their website for $34.95 plus shipping. Shipping charges are quoted as being at actual cost plus 5% of the sale price or $10 (whichever is higher) for packing materials. Surely in the real world it shouldn't cost more than $15 and more likely only about $11 for a flat rate priority box at USPS to send a well-packaged compact plant from Indiana to Michigan. Add in that enormous $10 packing fee and the shipping still should top out at no more than $25. The site, however, states that they prefer to ship via 2nd day air using USPS, so this would theoretically bring the actual shipping cost up to around $23 when destined for my home. Add in that whopping $10 for packing materials, and the shipping costs become $33 -- only slightly less than the price of the plant -- for two day service! At Orchids Limited I recently paid $35 for guaranteed overnight FedEx delivery of a package to my home.
Now if we were to factor in some incredibly heavy potting and packing methods at Hilltop which could somehow make my package weigh a hefty 15 pounds, the cost to ship to my destination would rise to about $56 plus another $10 for that massive packing materials charge.
There's no way a 4 inch potted Phal in a box with packing materials could weigh 15 pounds. Packing materials for a single very compact Phalaenopsis plant in a 4 inch pot couldn't possibly cost more than $5 total even if you count the costs of the box, some kraft paper, some styrofoam peanuts, some tape and the ink used to write the label.
I'd like to think Dick and Sandy and their son Rich are going to treat me better than this Darren guy who is seemingly representing them on eBay, but I'm having a whole lot of doubts now about even making this purchase. My other alternative is Norman's. :sob:
And a cultivator too as GaryB pointed out! :rollhappy:
I'll have to disagree with Slipperking and agree with Slipperfan that age doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it. My grandmother lived to be 101 and she didn't even start to get "out of it" until she was about 98. Even so, she was still able to successfully live alone until only 4 months before her death. Being "out of it" can be due to any number of reasons, conditions or attitudes.
I want to agree with what Ernie said since I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I had been planning on purchasing Phal. I-Hsin Spot Eagle 'Montclair' (Ta-Lin Spot X Black Eagle) from the Hilltop website but now I'm not so sure I want to make such a transaction. This whole thing seems way too risky to me now.
The plant I want is listed on their website for $34.95 plus shipping. Shipping charges are quoted as being at actual cost plus 5% of the sale price or $10 (whichever is higher) for packing materials. Surely in the real world it shouldn't cost more than $15 and more likely only about $11 for a flat rate priority box at USPS to send a well-packaged compact plant from Indiana to Michigan. Add in that enormous $10 packing fee and the shipping still should top out at no more than $25. The site, however, states that they prefer to ship via 2nd day air using USPS, so this would theoretically bring the actual shipping cost up to around $23 when destined for my home. Add in that whopping $10 for packing materials, and the shipping costs become $33 -- only slightly less than the price of the plant -- for two day service! At Orchids Limited I recently paid $35 for guaranteed overnight FedEx delivery of a package to my home.
Now if we were to factor in some incredibly heavy potting and packing methods at Hilltop which could somehow make my package weigh a hefty 15 pounds, the cost to ship to my destination would rise to about $56 plus another $10 for that massive packing materials charge.
There's no way a 4 inch potted Phal in a box with packing materials could weigh 15 pounds. Packing materials for a single very compact Phalaenopsis plant in a 4 inch pot couldn't possibly cost more than $5 total even if you count the costs of the box, some kraft paper, some styrofoam peanuts, some tape and the ink used to write the label.
I'd like to think Dick and Sandy and their son Rich are going to treat me better than this Darren guy who is seemingly representing them on eBay, but I'm having a whole lot of doubts now about even making this purchase. My other alternative is Norman's. :sob:
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John M
Orchid Addict
..
Oooooooh... a "Chain-Huey" and an "Unbollomed" Paph druryi. Spelling is just atrocious everywhere you look. Some of his plants are hybirds making me wonder if they can fly... :rollhappy:
...and pity the poor soul who placed the bid on this one. If you look closely at the tag on the plant in the photos you will see that the name of the plant doesn't match the title of the auction but rather it matches the name of the plant being offered in his other violacea auction. Look at the tag on the other violacea he is offering and you will see that the photos are in fact switched. I think both are overpriced anyway. Add in $9 for packing and another $13.25 to $76.05 for shipping (who knows?!) and the buyer has got themselves a fantastic little package deal. NOT!oke:
I notice he is using statements about cultivators in at least three of his Phrag auctions, saying "This plant should be easy to maintain for people who are beginners, however master growers will be able to turn this plant into a cultivator," or "This plant should be used used as a cultivator based on the parent plant qualities if you like to play around with size." I think what he is trying to say is that the plants should or could be used for breeding. In other instances his use of the word cultivator is clearly implied to mean cultivar, but his language skills seem to prevent him from distinguishing one word from the other.
Spelling is just atrocious everywhere you look. Some of his plants are hybirds making me wonder if they can fly... :rollhappy:...and pity the poor soul who placed the bid on this one. If you look closely at the tag on the plant in the photos you will see that the name of the plant doesn't match the title of the auction but rather it matches the name of the plant being offered in his other violacea auction. Look at the tag on the other violacea he is offering and you will see that the photos are in fact switched. I think both are overpriced anyway. Add in $9 for packing and another $13.25 to $76.05 for shipping (who knows?!) and the buyer has got themselves a fantastic little package deal. NOT!
oke: I notice he is using statements about cultivators in at least three of his Phrag auctions, saying "This plant should be easy to maintain for people who are beginners, however master growers will be able to turn this plant into a cultivator," or "This plant should be used used as a cultivator based on the parent plant qualities if you like to play around with size." I think what he is trying to say is that the plants should or could be used for breeding. In other instances his use of the word cultivator is clearly implied to mean cultivar, but his language skills seem to prevent him from distinguishing one word from the other.
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etex
Guest
Don't mis the opportunity to buy ...AWARD WINNING PLANTS AND CULTIVATORS from Darren.
I'm thinking this one looks pretty good:
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7565/cultivator10a.jpg[/IM
I can't understand why Dick would let Darren use Hilltop's name on Ebay. It's like me buying orchids from Oak Hill Gardens, then opening an Ebay store named "Oak Hill Gardens" and saying "Oak Hill Gardens" has expanded to Ebay.[/QUOTE]
What the heck is that thing?
Good point about opening as Hilltop! It is very misleading!!
Also, noticed, under feedback as a buyer,he bought a bunch of plants from Springwater and Shermantp. Both these vendors send great plants at a good price with very reasonable shipping-so he know the price of shipping!! (Guess he couldn't take those names because they are already in use.)
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GaryB
Guest
Candace
Well-Known Member
Flat rate shipping costs being what they are...$35 for shipping makes no sense.
PaphMadMan
phytomanic
Or plutonium. A terrorist scheme for smuggling prohibited nuclear materials.
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Kavanaru
Guest
Don't say that too loud!!! you will soon have not only CITES but also the CIA interfering with the Orchids Hobby in the USA!!!
oke:
PaphMadMan
phytomanic
Don't say that too loud!!! you will soon have not only CITES but also the CIA interfering with the Orchids Hobby in the USA!!!
I'm sure Homeland Security already monitors this board.
And I read years ago in the AOS Bulletin that the FBI was investigating orchid growers who bought HID lamps thinking they were growing marijuana. We're definitely on their list of suspects.
No doubt some people are wondering why I have those bright lights on late in the evening. However, living in Canada in a widely known area for marijuana culture (Quebec Gold), they shut up, just in case the police turn it's attention to them :noangel:
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Kavanaru
Guest
LOL I already had the police in my flat in Switzerland.. one weeks after installing T5 lights, they came to see whether I had Marihuana in my appartment...
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Clark
Guest
Since the electrical upgrade 10 days ago, I have never felt safer in my development. :ninja:
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Eric Muehlbauer
Guest
A lot of Ebay sellers inflate shipping because Ebay doesn't take a cut out of that. However, the good Ebay dealers do not take too great an advantage of that. There is no excuse for that high a shipping charge for a paph. If the medium is too heavy, they should at least offer bare-root shipping. Its cheap, and for paphs, I think its preferable. I don't know how many potted paphs I have received with minimal to no roots. I have grown paphs in a "mud mix" of cocopeat and lots of perlite. They do OK, but make minimal root growth. I think bark is much better.
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GaryB
Guest
I've traded a couple of emails with Darren, who does appear to have a business relationship with Hilltop Orchids. So I apologize for implying otherwise. I think he is well meaning but is just a guy selling orchids for Hilltop and doesn't really know much about them. He did ask if I knew what the hybrid might be, but I'm not really sure.
Sadly, this does not reflect well on them at all. The guy is nigh unto illiterate, and he doesn't know orchids either.
Add to that some ridiculously high asking prices for average to below-average plants, absurd shipping charges and those inflated packing fees and Hilltop Orchids has just plopped itself onto the fast track to a permanently ruined reputation. I certainly won't be buying from their website now as I had been planning to do. This eBay portion of their operation was quite eye-opening, to say the least, and learning of it here has likely saved me a whole lot of heartache just in the nick of time.
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goldenrose
Guest
If I really wanted a plant from Hilltop, I'd deal with them direct & see if they were going to be at shows coming up, avoiding the shipping all together! My guess is that they'd do shows in western MI. & what vendor whould not bring a requested plant with them?
