The Orchid Source - Orchid Forum

Recently purchased 9 phals from this ebay vendor. 4 of the 9 were virused. They all had KHM lot numbers, and I usually have pretty good luck with this Taiwanese source. I have purchsed flasks from this vendor in the past with no problems. It is sad to see these virused phals going into so many collections. In 3 or 4 years most of their phals will be infected. I sent an email with the test results to the seller, but he is clearly more interested in making money. It was an impossible hassle to even get my money back. I left warnings in the negative feedback, but I doubt it will do much good. I've come to the conclusion that in a few years, most phals in collections will be virused and that clean plants will be a rarity. It's really too bad, since they can live a long time and become really large specimen plants, if they are healthy and virus free. Sometimes I wonder if this might not have been part of the business plan of these foreign phal sources.

Mike

He is a terrible vender. Sends tiny sickly plants every time. I would stay away from him completely.

Just on a whim, I went to ebay earlier today to see that 'chids were being offered. I saw one that looked familiar. It was named X295 Orchid Plant-S D Ekapol 'King Dragon' X D Anucha 'Flare'. The seller claims it is a mericlone. Why would anyone mericlone a plant where the cross has not even been named? I always thought that mericloning was only done for really nice plants, so it seemed odd that a plant worthy of being mericloned would not have been named. I looked at the pic and it is quite obviously a straight Den. Anucha Flare (I've seen the very same pic on the web in the past, and clearly identified as Den. Anucha Flare).

Guess who the seller is? None other than bill_asia!

I went to report the add as probably fraudulent, but when I got to the screen where I could make the comments, I couldn't find an 'enter' 'submit', or any other way to actually post those comments.

I also got a screen capture of that page in case ebay doesn't believe me. Personally, I doubt they actually care about neg comments about the sellers, they just want to collect their $$$, and to bad if anyone gets conned. By making the neg comments difficult to do, they can claim they didn't know anything bad about the seller.

I long ago set up my eBay search preferences to exclude bill_asia's offerings.

I have barely bought from anyone on e-bay, except twice from someone named Nia. She has WONDERFUL things. Very pretty, healthy, and both times the plants she sent had multiple spikes. She is in NJ, I think.

Are there reputable vendors on e-bay that y'all use? And - how do I find them? And - is "blooming size" not necessarily a truism - and should one buy them in spike instead? I hear so many horror stories. Have never felt ripped off by anything I've EVER bought orchids wise, and would certainly like to not have that happen in the future. TIA.

Mike...if you click on ebay's security and resolution center site, you will get a lot of helpful information about seller's policy of return etc. You can even contact ebay to make a complaint about the seller.
Good luck. I just bought my first ebay orchid. The transaction went swimmingly well. The plant was in perfect condition as promised by the seller. You must be very careful in reading their feedback results as well.

Shari,

Even if he had refunded the money for the virused plants, it would have been only $15 after return shipping. It was more important to leave the feedback as a warning to others, but I doubt it did much good. I have purchased from him before, but only flasks. He charges too much for shipping and he has a goofy shipping schedule, but these things are clearly stated up front. It's just that I was disappointed in his response when I told him that the phals had tested positive for ORSV and CymMV. It was clear that he was only interested in the money. It was also disappointing to see the virus in these KHM lot numbers. It is very likely that these plants were infected before this ebay seller even received them.

Mike

I have given up on novelty phalaenopsis stem props or clones due to the extremely high percentage of virus. I have found most vendors who sell virused phals don't care about and/or won't acknowledge the problem so I don't care to do business with them any more.

e-spice

i followed to your negative feedback orchid527, it wasn't in vain. i was tempted to buy some seedling vandas but seeing their volume i wondered about their rep & honesty. i was tempted to get them nad have them tested, a USDA virus lab is in the same building as my lab.

Most of Bill_asia's phals are either triploid or aneuploid, and as I am looking for breeders, I wouldn't have one on a dare. The crosses they list had to have been picked by the severely visually challenged and then wholly at random. I gotta wonder what they were thinking.

i DO NOT want to hear this. i just bought 3 plants from them . . . phal violacea borneo (in bud), den strebloceras and vanda paraphal denevei. do i have to toss them?

ellen fl

so . . . do i have to throw them all away or is the virus limited to certain plants? i have been wanting a violacea for so long . . . and it's in bud!

ellen fl

Ellen, send a sample to be tested or buy a 5 test kit from Agdia.

so, in other words, throw away my $60 worth of plants . . . or buy test kits for $810. got it.

ellen fl

A 5 sample test kit is $32.50. If you weren't so snarky I would have sent you one from my test kit for free.

sorry, i wasn't trying to be snarky . . . i was simply pointing out the cost of the three plants vs the cost of the test kits. i thought that was what you were telling me. i didn't ask about testing them, i asked if they were all automatically virused and did i therefore have to toss all three.

it would have been generous for you to offer me a kit, but i am not interested in testing them. and based on the instructions for sending a sample for testing, mine don't have enough leaves for that.

ellen fl

Ellen

Don't throw them away. The novelty phals have problems, but plants grown from seed are likely to be as safe as those from any other source. I've purchased flasks from him and none were infected.

Mike

thanks, mike. they look fine now so i will just keep an eye on them . . . and keep them separated form the rest of my small collection.

ellen fl

Just quarantine and use common sense. If you want to prevent viruses, don't use tools from plant to plant without sterilizing them first, either with flame or alcohol. Dirty tools spread viruses more than any other way.

Pretend it's AIDS and avoid exposing plants to the fluids of other plants. Same principle.

I had purchased from him in the past. Considering he couldn't tell the blc from the lc or the slc from the bc, I figured if he couldn't get the first part right, what's the chances the rest was right. Not worth the money or the length of time to grow and flower to have invested in NOIDs.

I've bought several nice things from Bill Asia...Vanda Mimi Palmer, Renanthera, Ascos. and Cattleyas. Most of the small seedlings are very, very tiny. But I've also gotten some large blooming sized plants for just a few dollars. All have been fine and reliable. I could be wrong, but I don't think Bill Asia does his own meristemming. I pretty sure his plants would come from the various labs overseas.

As far as the virus issue goes, I do not comprehend why the inspectors do not use Agdia or similar test kits to randomly sample plants entering the country and then reject any shipments where plants tested positive for the two main viruses???

A nursery friend here in Salinas tests a random bottle of every clone of Cattleya Alliance he receives and any positives, he just asks the lab (almost always in Taiwan) whether they want the plants returned or dumped. He has noticed a dramatic reduction in positives since adopting this practice which goes to show those rotten bastards are fullly aware of the infected stock they are cloning.

Since the Japanese have been randomly testing inbound flasks of Phalaenopsis mericlones, the positive level has dropped amazingly. Of course the infected clones are just shipped here or to Europe instead!
Buyer beware!

more reasons to never buy there