Ebay

[Herts Mike]

I was just idly flicking through ebay and was amused to see a descripton of an aloe as:-

Aloe khamiesensis exotic succulent rare cactus seed garden plant agave

That covers just about everything I suppose................

[FairyCastles]

There are quite a few of them on there
There was a very nice Gymno with aloe in the title the other day. Strangest aloe I'd ever seen....

[rodsmith]

Some sellers quote lots of cactus & succulent genera in the title as a way of attracting potential bidders. I find it rather annoying.

[Diane]

Yes, also known as "keyword spamming" - against the rules, but no-one takes much notice....

[iann]

"Boring poorly grown cactus - Ariocarpus, Copiapoa, very rare"

[georged]

"Boring poorly grown cactus - Ariocarpus, Copiapoa, very rare"

You forgot "collectors plant".

[FairyCastles]

Don't they realise people like me won't buy "rare" or "collectors only" or plants which I think are mis-labeled?!

I usually just browse the whole category anyway and give these a miss...

ETA: Wow! I've just found something that is actually very nice and very rare - knitted cacti!

[DaveW]

What's the difference between an old master painting and an exact copy? Merely the name of the painter! Is a painting most experts thought to be by Rembrandt any different the day before when everybody thinks it is obviously a masterpiece and worth millions, to the day after some art expert finds it a fake and it's value theoretically plummets? No, it's exactly the same painting both days, it's just the exclusivity or rarity tag a name puts on it that alters it's value.

If it's not rare a lot of people don't want it. If they think it is in short supply they will pay through the nose for it. Hence people on EBAY would not put the "rare" tag on common plants if they did not sell better, or obtain higher prices for them. The interesting question is should we save idiots who buy them at high prices from themselves, just because they think they are rarities and few others will have them?

DaveW

[JohnR]

I suppose its like any item sold on Ebay, there are some charlatans and also some honest, conscientious sellers. The old adage 'buyer beware' comes to mind.

[McFarland]

To be honest it's up to the buyer to make an informed choice, most of the eastern european sellers add ariocarpus, rare bla bla bla to their descriptions because the e-bay search function isn't exactly amazing, so they want their plans to be found by the biggest number of people (which has been successful I'll add)

You wouldn't step into the supermarket and pick one bag of apples over the other just because it said "mega rare apples from new zealand!!!" so the same is applicable to ebay. I know if I was running a business I would probably add more search words etc into the titles/descriptions so people could find me easier. Don't hate the player, hate the game! (most of those sellers are nice guys!)