Selling Plants on E-Bay

teedy23

Cant help you but wish you the best of luck.

jaquivander

Dave, I think you have it exactly right, ebay's a good way to get rid of surplus plants and a few 'odd' ones but I reckon with the postage problems, you cannot make anything near a fortune selling them on ebay. I do think too, that this new feedback system means sellers are going to be increasingly stumped with buyers claiming damage, non-receipt and with plants of course, no courier or post service will insure them so it's a bit of easy pray for unscrupulous customers. Sorry to hear your hard work didn't pay off too well Dave, it always feels such a shame that deserving businesses don't do as well as they should in the horticulture business, maybe we should all be like B&Q and the likes... the buy 'em in, sell 'em till they're dead philosophy seems the one for todays market? However I do believe the care and nurture one is slowly coming back again (she says, fingers crossed!)

Davesnave

jaquivander wrote: »

Sorry to hear your hard work didn't pay off too well Dave, it always feels such a shame that deserving businesses don't do as well as they should in the horticulture business, maybe we should all be like B&Q and the likes... the buy 'em in, sell 'em till they're dead philosophy seems the one for todays market? However I do believe the care and nurture one is slowly coming back again (she says, fingers crossed!)

Well, we did live entirely on the business last year, and we had another 10 years of varying success, so perhaps I shouldn't paint too gloomy a picture.....just say to folks thinking of embarking on a horticultural business, 'Don't give up the day job immediately!'

Despite the B&Qs, there is still a community of nursery owners, as a visit to any plant fair will reveal, but that's down to enthusiasm and total commitment rather than a profit motive. I certainly don't know anyone who's become well-off through selling plants, and I fear that many will throw in the towel, albeit reluctantly, when the recession bites.

Personally, I wouldn't have done anything else, and DW would say the same. Once you sit behind that stall, it gives permission to anyone and everyone to strike-up a conversation, so you meet a whole host of people you'd never get to know otherwise. That's often worth more than £ and p.

Larumbelle

Davesnave wrote: »

Once you sit behind that stall, it gives permission to anyone and everyone to strike-up a conversation, so you meet a whole host of people you'd never get to know otherwise. That's often worth more than £ and p.

Going a bit off the original topic, but that's exactly what I've discovered while I've been campaigning against this blimming aminopyralid. It's brought me into contact with a lot of local 'serious' gardeners for the first time and it has come as quite a surprise to me that people want to know my opinions and even the occasional little tip I've picked up off here and passed on!
A few of the local campaigners who have called to my house have had a nose around the garden, and have cooed over plants I had never thought of being anything special - my ginger that lots of 'proper' gardeners tell me they've had no success with, the angelica in the herb patch, the liquorice (can't tell you how interested people are in that one, WHY?), even the '70s throwback sedum garden' that I love and everyone else usually finds boring! I've been asked for and offered lots of seeds cuttings and 'babies', I never felt like a 'real' gardener before but now I do, it's really boosted my confidence, so I would say go for it just on that basis!

Davesnave

I've been asked for and offered lots of seeds cuttings and 'babies', I never felt like a 'real' gardener before but now I do, it's really boosted my confidence, so I would say go for it just on that basis!

Yes, there's a sort of informal 'respect test' isn't there? We have no qualifications in gardening, but because we've had particular, 'difficult' or unusual things on our stall, certain people have welcomed us instantly into the fold.

I remember at one event, I sold a fairly esoteric plant to an old gentleman and, within minutes, someone else arrived saying, 'You've just sold a plant to Peter. He never buys anything! Whatever it is, I want one too!' We sold out. Peter later phoned, inviting us for a tour of his 'little arboretum' (5 acres) where he's been 'pottering about' for the past half century. We go every year now & never leave without a carrier bag full of stuff.

My point was that if you do mail order you miss out on the human contact like that, be it someone from the landed gentry, or the little old lady who takes half an hour to go through the entire stall, quizzes you about a couple of dozen plants and then says, 'Well, I've no garden nowadays, but it's been lovely talking to you. Goodbye!'

jaquivander

Silver & Dave, you two are such an inspiration, can imagine how everyone would seek out your knowlege and frienndly tips. Which came first, the friendly personality or does it grow with your plants? :-)

Davesnave

jaquivander wrote: »

Silver & Dave, you two are such an inspiration, can imagine how everyone would seek out your knowlege and frienndly tips. Which came first, the friendly personality or does it grow with your plants? :-)

Gosh! Thanks, but I think I sometimes come across a little harsh on this board, especially if I've reached here via House Buying, Selling and Renting, which is the other place where I lurk. People on there can be... how shall I say it?....somewhat outspoken with their comments, and sometimes I forget to shift down a gear!

Silvercharming & others like her deserve the most compliments though, because they are taking up causes which bring no financial gains, just a tough struggle against companies with huge resources and questionable moral consciences.

As for personality, well DW did 90% of the selling, being a professional saleslady, whereas I'm happiest behind the scenes, in the greenhouse with Radio 4. For me, growing things began as a kind of therapy after the stresses of teaching all day, but the idea of making something out of almost nothing & then selling it, also appealed to my Scottish genes.

Our inspiration has come mainly from elderly gardeners who have become friends, some of whom still manage a couple of acres or more whilst in their 80s. That gives all of us hope, but alas, no excuses! Also, a number of our rivals in business have shown outstanding dedication, some of them doggedly growing only the species that they like, rather than plants which might sell better. The whole business is full of real characters, and our little enterprise was just one of many.

Currently, we're looking for a new project. One difficulty with running a nursery is that the home garden tends to become a poor relation, embarrassingly weed-infested and often lacking all those lovely plants in the stock beds. It would be great to take over an existing garden and open it to the public, but if we can't do that, then creating one from a blank slate might still be possible if, like our 85 year old buddies, we ignore the bit about 'three score years and ten!'

Larumbelle

Oh my, I'm blushing now! Thankyou for your kind comments!

Firstly I'm hardly a fountain of knowledge, I don't even know what half the plants in my garden are called! :rotfl: but I enjoy finding things out and I'm lucky enough that I have a good memory to be able remember all of the things that I find out and pass it on. That's one of the things I love about the gardening community, that everyone is so willing to help one another, especially newbies, rather than scorning or looking down on them because they don't know something. My secret ambition is to become one of those old-timer gardening peeps who knows everything about everything.

As for the aminopyralid, well, I kind of fell into it. I read about it, then wrote a blog about it, and I got dozens of comments and people emailing me. Some people joined the site just to get in touch and most of them said more or less the same thing; that's awful, someone should do something about it. And that really frustrates me, because I think well, if its worth registering with a site just to say that, surely its important enough to do something rather than talk about someone doing it? Then I realised that a lot of people wouldn't have the time or knowledge needed to get the ball rolling, and that I had both, and that someone might as well be me And then it kind of snowballed and my details got passed to lawyers and scientists and all kinds of 'official' people by goodness knows who, and suddenly a lot of peeps started to see it as 'my' campaign. It's quite funny really, I get the NSALG call me to say they hope they're not treading on my toes by getting involved after I've done all the donkey work, then someone on some website I never heard of sending me a hatemail telling me it's 'their' campaign, they were sat around talking about it first it gets a bit monty python at times, but I love being involved in doing something. And whilst we've had a few partial victories, there's a long way to go, and I really couldn't bear for it to stall because people think I 'own' it. And while there might be no financial gain, we're fighting for something fundamental that is worth more than all of the money in the world, so I'm happy. I'll tell you what though, if you'd told me a month ago I'd be doing any of this - investigating legal precedents, 'commissioning' scientific reports (or at least trying to persuade phD students to analyse stuff for me), sending out press releases or getting every word I write checked by a lawyer - I'd have laughed at you!

Like Dave, my own garden is becoming somewhat neglected because of all this. I'm just keeping on top of my veggies and that's about it right now. You'd have a fit if you saw the rest of it

Dave, I came here via DFW where there it is all hugs and understanding and absolving people from any responsibility they might have for their situation. And of course that's fair enough when people are making a desperate cry for help, but sometimes it's no better than people jumping down each other's throats as far as I'm concerned! I think we've got about it about right on this board. I don't think you ever come across as harsh

Anyway, must dash, someone directed people to a website that is only half finished, so guess what I'm doing the rest of the day?!

eleanora

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum. I found you all by googling for information on selling plants and there seemed to be a wealth of knowledge here.

Does anyone know if or when a licence is needed for selling on plants. I'm thinking specifically of plants originally bought from a garden centre and then propagated by division rather than from seed. I've given away such a lot in the past, but it dawned on me this year that I might be able to make a little extra by doing something I really enjoy anyway.
Any and all advice appreciated.
Thankyou

louise_1981

As far as I know, there are no specific rules other than you can't ship plants outside of the uk.

I have sold similar plants i.e. those given to me, which have taken over the gerden, and have needed division.

I had a really good year last year selling lilly of the valley, which was taking over my front garden. And you will find that some plants sell better than others. The lily was going for about 5 pounds (plus p&P) where as some cow slip has just sold for 99p, Luck of the draw. just make sure you cover your fees with the starting price as you don't want to be out of pocket.

The best way I have found of posting plants ins in a soft drinks bottle,split in half around the middle, sealed with cellotape and wrapped in brown paper or a bin bag. this keeps the plants moist and happy and the bottle protects them from the ravages of the postal system. I also mark on the outside, urgent and live plants, which tends to hurry things through too.