Acquiring Neofinetias Via EBay
 

Once again, I have to bow to Jayfar and others on this Board who have mentioned the excitement of bidding for our beloved plants on EBay. When EBay first started I remember buying camera stuff, but got a little over extended on bidding and buying--if you know what I mean! So I stopped doing online auctions. Recently, after reading about Seed Engei and seeing what they had for sale directly on their website versus what they auction off on EBay. I started bidding on Neos. I actually won two plants--far less than what I would have paid elsewhere.

It is really easy to bid on EBay! What is alluring about this process, Seed Engei has such beautiful descriptions and pictures of each plant that I actually bid on fourteen plants!!!! I am so THANKFUL I lost all but two auctions. I added up what I could have potentially bought: US$439.98 if I won each bid. YIKES!

I continued my quest to increase my Neo population by bidding on ten more Neos that expire tonight. I'm hoping I do not win any one of them!! LOL. Seed Engei is a highly rated vendor and they really have their act together.

I've bought plants from Seed Engei both on Ebay and at shows - always nice plants! The one Neo I bought on ebay was larger than I expected - always a happy surprised!

All gone. I just watched 'em all tonight, didn't bid. The hokage slightly interested me, but wasn't a particularly great looker. I'll just wait for my Houmeiden from last night to arrive in a couple days (it was spelled homeiden, but I assume that was either an alternate spelling or typo).

Whadya get Matt? :waving

Anyone else here score a plant tonight?

Hi Jayfar, I got outbid for all the plants I was interested in acquiring. That is okay, if I was meant to win any of my auctions, I would've. Some person named H****I beat me out on most of the plants I was interested in, and there were some last minute other bidders too. I think this H****I wanted a lot of plants tonight. And s/he paid reasonably priced Neos. I wasn't paying too much on the bidding. There were other bidders that were higher and then H****I swooped in and cleaned up.

How often does Seed Engei set up auctions? I don't see any more plants for tomorrow? Do they only do Sundays and Mondays? I haven't started paying attention until this past weekend.

Lately they've been putting up batches once or twice a week. When they do 2 batches they're usually just a day apart. The days of the week varies as I recall winning one auction that ended on a Thursday.

I had my eyes on a handful of those on Ebay myself, but the prices were just way too high to justify the purchase. Most of the winners paid way more than the plant was worth in my opinion, but of course, eye of the beholder to how much these plants are worth.

No new Neos for me. *sigh*

Matt, you should find out if Seed Engei attends any events near you. I don't think they update their calendar on their website, tho. Or you can vacation around one of the big shows (didn't Jay post a Neo event?).

I agree Jeremiah. I'm so happy for the persons who outbid me and consequently saved me from buyers remorse LOL. For the ones I really wanted I'm ordering them from New World Orchids or Orchid Web. Seed Engei has great photos of their plants so I have a better idea of the plant I'm ordering.

I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hardly the center of Orchid World. BUT, New World Orchids is about 200 miles from me. I wonder if they allow visitors? I would enjoy attending one of those big west coast (USA) events, so your suggestion to vacation is a GREAT idea. I think most of them are done for this season, maybe in the Fall. My own orchid society show is in November 2013. It is a very small show but they come up with some beautiful autumnal flowering orchids. Although I haven't seen any Neos in shows past. Thanks for the ideas.

The FukiranSOA notice I posted is the Fukiran Show and Judging Event at Cal Orchids in Santa Barbara on July 13, but I don't know if Seed-Engei will be selling there. It's part of Cal Orchid's open house.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...13-2013-a.html

Seed Engei does make the rounds of the big shows, so definitely check the vendors list for any show in your area.

---------- Post added at 07:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 AM ----------

I have to totally agree with you both. There really was nothing that screamed "buy me!!!" in last night's selection. But as Matt points out, the photos are very helpful. I like that they typically include a half dozen or more photos from various angles, more than they have for the pricier Neos on their website (typically just 3 photos each there).

eBay is slightly evil. But like some here I do research before deciding my upper limit. I recently won a plant from seed engei that I wasn't planning on getting but then realized how great of a plant it was... and I certainly paid for it.

I imagine several vendors will be at the Santa Barbara show... wish I could go, but I have to stay home and take care of the too many plants I already have! ;)

Yes, Dr. Lehr does allow vistors. Email him. :)

Here in Canada there is only one seller on Ebay. No vandaceous orchids. I have to admit to having bought from sellers in France and Thailand.

have they worked out for you? Would you need a phyto cert to get plants from the US? Maybe you need a friend in the US to help you. I can't say I have ever sent plants outside the US but you'd think our two govs would have things worked out since the two nations are so close (physically and otherwise).

The plants I have bought have all been beautiful and healthy. We are supposed to have phyto cert but that would certainly add too much to the cost of the seedlings. The seller in Thailand doesn't even seal the box, so the authorities can look at it. The last plant arrived in just 7 days. I have one more coming, then I am going to stay away from ebay for a while!

Thats what I say every other week. *sigh*

Me too!

Me too! It has gotten so bad that I quickly trash the box & packing from a new plant to prevent negative comments from DH. :blushing: I am putting the blame on you guys....enablers :)

As for eBay someone said it was the devil and it is. You can find yourself paying way too much money for a plant with a single growth during those last few minutes of the auction. I learned to bid my limit and just walk away until the auction ends.

That Fugaku that was sold recently on eBay went for too much IMHO. I ordered a nice one from Orchids Limited. Jerry Fisher called me this AM advising that I do 2 day shipping because the Neo has spikes. I was floored you would have thought I was talking to Johnny Depp :shock: :rofl:

Vanda lover, you must know about Catalog-Neofinetia. Although not on ebay, looks like they have some very nice plants.

I've been looking at the pictures of that plant Jayfar. It really looks like a really nice plant. Please post a picture when it arrives!

I haven't actually gone looking for neofinetias specificly, but I have seen them on Ebay. Thank's for the link. Although I like neo's, I like some of the hybrids that have colour even better. Since I am running out of space, I just may have to look into these. They are so popular that there must be good reason.
I'm thinking of a Darwinara Blue charm or similar next.

There are few Neofinetia sellers in Canada, and FloraPeculia.ca is the one with the most extensive choice of varieties. I visited the owner (Terry) last month and he has a great collection of plants! Very nice guy and prices are good for the size of plants.
I have couple of plants on order from him.. can't wait to get them! :evil:

They certainly have a huge selection!
I just noticed, although they have mainly species, they have my Darwinara blue charm! I also like the Falcata that have some colour. Too many years in the snow belt makes me not too fond of white.

As I posted earlier, I did not win any auctions. So as consolation I found an eBay vendor who was selling a flask of "Neofinetia Falcata" seedlings, guaranteed to have 10-15 seedlings ready to pot. I did the "buy it now" and it arrived today. The plants were deflasked and arrived in a zip lock bag.

I ended up with thirteen plants that I potted into six pots--five pots had two seedlings and one pot had three seedlings. I tried mounding them but the mounds were sort of half of what they could be. I blame that on my lack of experience plus being concerned with not handling them too much. It is late for me, so I'll post pictures of these babies later. The smaller seedlings I'm keeping in a community pot, these number eighteen. For US$25 plus $7 postage I think I ended up with a good deal.

Interesting, I can add one file per note. Here is the little community pot of tiny seedlings.

I am a bit optimistic, but if all of these seedlings grow into large mature plants what will I do with all of theses plants? Any ideas??

Send them to me. :evil:

They look like healthy little things.

Sell them on ebay to make money to buy more Neos. :)

Personally, I would grow these guys out a bit more but then begin combining them to make a very large display... but thats me. You could share and people would love that but I wouldn't feel like you must do that-- in this hobby you end up sharing a ton no matter what!

The description of these seedlings by the vendor is that they are Neofinetia Falcata with small white flowers. So it is any body's guess what these could be-->bean leaf? pine leaf? These do not show any tiger stripping. I suppose I'll have to wait to see what the flowers will be. I know what ever these plants become, they will be known just as "Neofinetea Falcata".

I am going to name these "Basubaru". I will describe them as follows: "Basubaru, healthy pine beaned leaf plant with fragrant white flowers." If this entire community of 31 seedlings survive to maturity, they will be truly unique, only 31 in existence. Why the name Basubaru? "Base Ball" these plants came from some lab somewhere in the USA, ended up in Rustin, Florida under the care of their eBay vendor for two years, and finally ended up in Fort Wayne, IN on 06/26/13. Just like a base ball thrown around and all over! LOL

Jayfar, that's an idea, but this would be very stressful being the vendor instead of the buyer. I was stressed enough just watching the astronomical amount of money people were willing to pay for these tiny plants! So I'm probably going to just give them away when they get big enough.

Ryan, I like your idea of combining them, I did that to the 13 plants that were very large already. Unlike that capitalist JAYFAR (hahaha) I would find good homes for these plants. Homes befitting their station, homes that provide plenty of light, sweet nourishing water, warmth in the winter, coolness in the summer. The new owners must show proof of ability to care for these rare and unique plants.

Golly, if that happens, I'd like to come along! LOL

It is an excellent project; they have a lot of growing to do yet I would enjoy nurturing them. :)

Slightly off-topic and not to be a shill, but I see that Seed-Engei has updated the catalog on their regular US website today. (As if I haven't already enabled enough damage to people's bank accounts here.) :waving

:backtotop

Shame on you Jayfar! Shame on me: I went to their website and got all the way to check out. I almost completed my transaction! But right before you posted this I had already sent an email asking New World Orchids to sell me some more Neos. I suppose I was so disappointed by my big eBay failure to win any auction that I decided to "lick my wounds" buying plants from Dr Lehr.

Speaking of eBay, did you get your Houmeiden?

Yes, got it yesterday, but I haven't had time to fiddle with my camera. The very tip of the newest leaf got bent a bit in shipping, but otherwise it's as depicted on ebay (and just as small).

Make sure you don't give it too much light, mine was under t5 lights and lost all white, it turned into a regular green plant... A shame! Now I am trying to get new leaves white by giving it less light.
Otherwise the roots are fantastic pink to red and they stay that way as long as they grow, not like other varieties which red tips turn brown as they grow.

Too MUCH light made the white go away? I wouldn't expect this, rather, the opposite. Is the white note considered variegation?

I wondered about that too. Generally when a plant is variegated it will lose it's variegation when it doesn't have enough light.