BCSS - Forum

Hi Trevor,
What a golden opportunity! No competition, get growing or importing! Over here they get Ferro's from the Dutch nurseries for about ?5 and sell them to the hobby for ?25 :-)))

Roy Wrote:
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> Hi Trevor,
> What a golden opportunity! No competition,
> get growing or importing!

Unfortunatly I think the last bit is the problem doesn't Australia have some of the tightest import laws in the world.

I must admit, I too get a bit bored with eBay this, eBay that... my life plods along quite happily without eBay.

Subsections are a good idea IMO, so long as there are not too many.

Julie, Baah-humbug the Second.

Sorry but again this thread creates interest no to mention controversy so here go's.... quote " I don't think these people that ask very high prices do the hobby any good whatsoever. Unfortunates who are new to the hobby but have plenty of cash are being ripped off and those that are not affluent get the impression that it's a rich mans hobby."
Sorry Roy nothing personal but this person has probably contributed more to the BCSS than the vast majority of members/officials in recent years.
Chris asked for a ban ......again I think this is futile.
The forum as a result of the internet has like it or not made the hobby available to a new type of collector/grower, the consensus seems to be nothing but scorn...........I cannot agree with this.
If we accept change & believe it is for the better then we have to accept sometime prices will be volatile(as auctions will be by their very nature) but at the end of the day where are the nurseries to visit ??? Julie yes I agree it is boring but for some it brings them to the hobby & I am happy with this & will continue to buy(& sell) nice plants from E-bay. Yes Australia is a good example of why we should embrace the opportunity to acquire plants that until 5 years ago were almost impossible to get.
I accept everyones opinion & right to do so but too many "ego's & dogmatic" views have kept me away from this forum of late and will continue to do so which is a shame as we all need to keep an open mind of here the hobby is going ???

Hmm... I guess I don't think of any action of mine, as having any great effect on plant lovers, the reputation of plant lovers among others, etc... it was just a personal opinion that I don't find eBay to be so exciting. I don't have an account and am not itching to get one. I'm not trying to prevent anyone accessing it or selling things on it.

I don't feel any personal responsibility to encourage others to get into plants or try to present a certain picture of plant lovers. They will do so without me if it's right for them. Do we have some grand and noble mission here?

Hi Phil, while i agree with some of your points we need people with ballenced views too if we were all the same this would be boring. I'd wondered where you'd been )

The forum software supports having separate folders and this might be something to consider when things settle down a bit. The forum has been busy enough in recent months that it can be quite daunting to return after a few days and find more than a page's worth of new messages.

Choosing separate folders must be done carefully though. For example, you might think it is a good idea to have a Euphorbia forum, but I'd probably never go there and maybe it would end up as a dead zone with just a couple of people talking to themselves. Tricky thing to get right.

P.S. Nothing personal, but Eurphorbias are weeds that I pull out of my garden

People can ask what ever they like for something, but utimately it's the purchaser that deciedes the value of the item. If buyers are stupid enough to get caught up in bidding war for scarce plants and pay over the odds becuase they have not not done thier research before hand then tough. I have seen refurbished cameras with 3 months warrenty, sell for (when you include p+P) not much less than a new item from a high street store.

I think it's interesting to see these plants and the prices they fetch on Ebay, and for me I don't even know of any fellow enthuasists within 50-60 miles let alone a nursery, so I do buy on Ebay although I don't pay the silly prices that some peeps are willing to do.

[quote]Phil said: I accept everyones opinion & right to do so but too many "ego's & dogmatic" views have kept me away from this forum of late and will continue to do so which is a shame as we all need to keep an open mind of here the hobby is going ???[/quote]

I am sorry to hear this Phil, I wondered why you had not been on of late. At the end of the day the hobby should be big enough for everyone from the causual window cill grower to the acadamicaly minded toxinomist (sp) type.

Oops that certainly caused a bit of controversy. I've only just come in and was surprised to see so many replies. Certainly wasn't boring for me reading through all those!!

Bill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Roy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hi Trevor,
> > What a golden opportunity! No
> competition,
> > get growing or importing!
>
> Unfortunatly I think the last bit is the problem
> doesn't Australia have some of the tightest import
> laws in the world.


Quite true. You can import plants, but the red tape and expense make your ebay prices look like a pretty darn good deal. First off it must be on the "allowed" list. (And this list is rather strange - Coryphantha's for example are not allowed at all - alkaloids maybe?) The plant must be sent without soil and be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate $ Then it must have an entry permit $$. Possibly CITES paperwork $$$ and then it has to spend 3 months in a recognised qurantine facility...more $$$$'s And after all that, if the plant survived being looked after by people who probaby watered it weekly in the middle of winter, you can have it ! Admittedly bringing in seed is considerably easier...just.
There are a number of hobbyists growing rarer species from seed, but not at a commercial level. And I'm not sure if there'd be the market here to justify it - you'd have to sell something else to generate reasonable income.
As it now stands you aren't allowed to send any cacti or succulent plants from the east coast to Western Australia or Tasmania as they have there own super strict quarantine laws these days. So you'd also be limited to a few states.
Admittedly the interest in succulents, espescially those that can be used in landscaping, garden design etc is growing due to the water restrictions..

Anyways, back to ebay....LOL. I can't see the harm in pointing out an auction - I like to see what plants are being offered. And the auction's going to go ahead whether the forum knows about it or not, so "banning" posts about ebay and it's prices won't stop it happening...