I've over the years read of lot of negative comments in these pages about a german individual, Kai Najda, who has been operationg under many different guises on ebay (and from a wealth of locations).
I would have stayed away dealing with him, had it not been for the fact, that I first realized, he was involved as seller, when his name crept up on my Paypal receipt - AFTER I had paid for the plant, I wanted to buy.
PLOT-SPOILER: Just when I was writing this thread, I got a message, that the story has a happy end, as I've finally ended up getting a full refund. I took me, never the less, a bit of detection to reach this outcome, and I thought, I would share experiences with all you gals and guys on STC - and at the same time issue a warning!
The plant involved was a P. tonsum var. album offered for sale on Ebay for EUR 50 (the price alone might have arisen some suspicision - but as you will see below, had I been in the US, it wouldn't necessarily mean, that I so conspicously had joined The Confederacy of Dunces!):
Before buying I asked the seller, 'plant_laboratory--eu', whether the plant in the photo was the actual plant offered for sale, and he answered: 'It's a division of the plant in the photo, blooming size' ("teilstück der Pflanze im Bild , Blühstark").
As the name, Kai Najda, appeared on my receipt, I, as I said, got suspicious. I studied the picture a bit closer, and saw that the name tag read: 'Palmer Orchids'. I found their website and, lo and behold, what did I see, the exact same photo of P. tonsum var. album. The plant, now with a grex 'David' x sib alba 'Pistachio', offered for sale for $45. If you are US-based, what can I say, but: GO GET IT!
(and sometime in the future let me have a division - or if you self it, please, let me get a few of the resulting ofspring!)
When confronting the seller with this fact, he said, he had bought the plant 2 years ago. When asked for proof of actually being in possesion of the plant, f.ex. a CITES-permit, he in a very brazen and abbrasive reply wrote: "youre so funny alexej popow brought them with from usa. what is youre problem??? the plant is truth and truth species if you have problems with send me the plant back thanks!". And he offered me a refund of EUR 40 instead of the EUR 75, I had paid for plant and postage.
I then wrote to Palmer Orchids to enquire about the plant in the photo and whether they had at some point sold it to Europe, ms. Ashley Palmer very kindly responded to my questions:
"That picture does appear to be ours. In fact, I took the picture. We do not ship or sell plants internationally. And I don’t know how Popow would’ve been involved. We also rarely, if ever, sell Paphs by division. And I’ve certainly never divided the plant in that picture.
The only thing that would make sense to me is that your seller could have purchased another tonsum from us from the same grex, in which case it would have the same name, though it would not be the same plant.
I hope this helps and that you’ve not been caught in some kind of scam."
I then wrote to Popow with whom I've dealt innumerable times (and always been a very happy customer!) to hear, whether they could substansiate (or more likely: disprove), that the plant was brought from the US to the seller by the intervention of Alexej Popow. Neboscha Popow (Sr.), who founded the nursery and is their absolute Paphiopedilum-expert, very kindly took time to answer my request:
"about tonsum i never had a variety like that also we never bought that from US—best regards boscha". Then he remembered: "forgot we only bought tonsum from hawaii before few years but other company" and added: "our albas we have are all from japan[ese] supplier".
In the meantime I received the plant:
![20200602_173306[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/slippertalk/data/attachments/18/18997-4c240456cc63684f55887d975e4ff612.jpg "20200602_173306[1].jpg")
How on earth the seller could think this plant could succesfully pose as a division of the plant in the (Palmer Orchids) photo, I can't fathom?
Because of space limit for ebay messages, I had to send two separate messages to confront the seller with the above facts. His first response concerned the mail I got from Palmer Orchids:
"Please send the plant back. Sorry but with a bit knowledege its clear you will not get a flowering plant for 50eu [my comment: no, but that was what you yourself first stated!] however it is the same grex [my comment: we gave you a way out there, didn't we?] but as told you can send it back and will get a full refund! For long message i dont have time atm. couse a family member is in hospital" [oh, that's indeed very sad!].
The mail correspondance from Popow probably nailed his coffin, and the only response, he could come up with was: "haha Boscha sure havent answered you-he is not in country!". Well, he might not be, but he never the less sent me a reply via email!
In the end seller at long last surrendered and refunded me the full amount of EUR 75 with the commentary, that I could keep the plant ("käufer behält die Pflanze"). Thus ends this tale, luckily with yours truly being no poorer man, but hopefully a wee bit wiser! And the rest of you hopefully warned off!
I would have stayed away dealing with him, had it not been for the fact, that I first realized, he was involved as seller, when his name crept up on my Paypal receipt - AFTER I had paid for the plant, I wanted to buy.
PLOT-SPOILER: Just when I was writing this thread, I got a message, that the story has a happy end, as I've finally ended up getting a full refund. I took me, never the less, a bit of detection to reach this outcome, and I thought, I would share experiences with all you gals and guys on STC - and at the same time issue a warning!
The plant involved was a P. tonsum var. album offered for sale on Ebay for EUR 50 (the price alone might have arisen some suspicision - but as you will see below, had I been in the US, it wouldn't necessarily mean, that I so conspicously had joined The Confederacy of Dunces!):
Before buying I asked the seller, 'plant_laboratory--eu', whether the plant in the photo was the actual plant offered for sale, and he answered: 'It's a division of the plant in the photo, blooming size' ("teilstück der Pflanze im Bild , Blühstark").
As the name, Kai Najda, appeared on my receipt, I, as I said, got suspicious. I studied the picture a bit closer, and saw that the name tag read: 'Palmer Orchids'. I found their website and, lo and behold, what did I see, the exact same photo of P. tonsum var. album. The plant, now with a grex 'David' x sib alba 'Pistachio', offered for sale for $45. If you are US-based, what can I say, but: GO GET IT!
(and sometime in the future let me have a division - or if you self it, please, let me get a few of the resulting ofspring!)When confronting the seller with this fact, he said, he had bought the plant 2 years ago. When asked for proof of actually being in possesion of the plant, f.ex. a CITES-permit, he in a very brazen and abbrasive reply wrote: "youre so funny alexej popow brought them with from usa. what is youre problem??? the plant is truth and truth species if you have problems with send me the plant back thanks!". And he offered me a refund of EUR 40 instead of the EUR 75, I had paid for plant and postage.
I then wrote to Palmer Orchids to enquire about the plant in the photo and whether they had at some point sold it to Europe, ms. Ashley Palmer very kindly responded to my questions:
"That picture does appear to be ours. In fact, I took the picture. We do not ship or sell plants internationally. And I don’t know how Popow would’ve been involved. We also rarely, if ever, sell Paphs by division. And I’ve certainly never divided the plant in that picture.
The only thing that would make sense to me is that your seller could have purchased another tonsum from us from the same grex, in which case it would have the same name, though it would not be the same plant.
I hope this helps and that you’ve not been caught in some kind of scam."
I then wrote to Popow with whom I've dealt innumerable times (and always been a very happy customer!) to hear, whether they could substansiate (or more likely: disprove), that the plant was brought from the US to the seller by the intervention of Alexej Popow. Neboscha Popow (Sr.), who founded the nursery and is their absolute Paphiopedilum-expert, very kindly took time to answer my request:
"about tonsum i never had a variety like that also we never bought that from US—best regards boscha". Then he remembered: "forgot we only bought tonsum from hawaii before few years but other company" and added: "our albas we have are all from japan[ese] supplier".
In the meantime I received the plant:
How on earth the seller could think this plant could succesfully pose as a division of the plant in the (Palmer Orchids) photo, I can't fathom?
Because of space limit for ebay messages, I had to send two separate messages to confront the seller with the above facts. His first response concerned the mail I got from Palmer Orchids:
"Please send the plant back. Sorry but with a bit knowledege its clear you will not get a flowering plant for 50eu [my comment: no, but that was what you yourself first stated!] however it is the same grex [my comment: we gave you a way out there, didn't we?] but as told you can send it back and will get a full refund! For long message i dont have time atm. couse a family member is in hospital" [oh, that's indeed very sad!
].The mail correspondance from Popow probably nailed his coffin, and the only response, he could come up with was: "haha Boscha sure havent answered you-he is not in country!". Well, he might not be, but he never the less sent me a reply via email!
In the end seller at long last surrendered and refunded me the full amount of EUR 75 with the commentary, that I could keep the plant ("käufer behält die Pflanze"). Thus ends this tale, luckily with yours truly being no poorer man, but hopefully a wee bit wiser! And the rest of you hopefully warned off!
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