Red flags of "newbie" seed scammers on THP

juanitos said:
otherwise i'll just say support our vendors! juanitospeppers, pepperlover, whitehotpeppers, pepperbymail, texascreek, joynershotpeppers, sicmanshotpepepers all are active here.
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I AGREE!!!!
 
Juanitospeppers sent me some great starts real late last year, as well pepperlover sent me some great stuff as well, and back when I first came online here the whole community (including I believe  joynershotpeppers) was super supportive.  
 

I really hope that most of us are here for the love of growing, consuming, and learning about these peppers.  If it wasn't for the kindness of the folks in this community I would not have had the chance to grow, taste, or understand the world of hot peppers.  I bought some pods, some starts, "won" some seeds, and really got a chance to explore different hot peppers.  
 
I will say to newbies collecting seeds and headed into the growing season next year,  don't be greedy, you can only grow so many plants...  When I started my apartment was full of small cups, and was a toasty 90 degrees all the time, because of the generosity of the folks in this community.  IT SURE WAS FUN THOUGH.

 
Thank you folks!  
 
It's a tough one when we're dealing with human nature, the majority of us are so enthusiastic about our hobby we want to share with others. I obviously am not a prolific poster but I have shared seeds with someone at work and also plants when this first years grow got out of control lol. Really easy when you know who you're dealing with. If somebody I didn't know PM'd me for free seeds that would raise a red flag though. I have bought from Pepperlover and WhiteHotPeppers online and also vendors here- 96strat and TexasHotPeppers. All have been phenomenal service, however, if price is the driving factor, the forum vendors are so inexpensive that, if people can't afford seeds from these guys, they won't even be able to pay for compost! I went absolutely wild in this first year and probably have enough seeds to last until I die (if I didn't want to try anything new......ahem).
I didn't spend more on this cache than a new console game.

***is searching for [INSERT SEED TYPE HERE]
 
I kick seeds out all the time at my cost but ya never know. It's a grind getting accepted but ya just keep plugging along. Even vendors you buy from year after year don't remember you.
 
 
 
Just found this thread and finally understand why some of my PMs were never answered. I fit a lot of the criteria mentioned at the start of this thread, except I really was prepared to give people cash for certain varieties, even pay for the shipping. I messaged one guy on here for a few varieties (I had less than 100 posts) that I just could not find anywhere else and offered to pay for the seeds...I get it. Lots of scam artists around but every once in a while, that person might just be for real, but no way to tell. Like voodoo 6, if someone asks me for seeds, I send them out, expecting nothing in return. It's too bad people ruin a genuine request by taking advantage of generous members on here.
 
D3monic said:
Don't sell to or buy from KingChili he ripped me off for a box of pods and then months later tried to scam off someone else. I called him on it, he pretended like he didn't owe me anything so I pulled up the paypal records of nothing being received and the multiple payment reminders I sent him. 
 
He then promised to send payment, week later made up an excuse how  his gf spent  all his money, he was in jail, ect ect ect. Needless to say. Never recieved payment from him. 
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Wow, he was on a seed train but never responded when it was his turn so he got passed. Already had one hijacked by a free loader.
 
 
Bicycle808 said:
 The idea that ppl would come on here just to scam seeds is frigging crazy, in my opinion. Seeds are cheeeeep. Supercheap. The other things that this forum offers, in terms of information, support, and networking? All that shit is FREE, but it's far more valuable than seeds....
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Seeds are in essence cheap. Until you consider the expense it takes to pay for lighting, equipment and general supplies to start them in the winter and maintain them til plant out. feed, water, inoculate,(whatever applies). And then add in your time. Its all encompassed in what we do, but it places a value on all our related final product.
 I have to this day never sold a single seed and I would rather send seed to someone who is really going to appreciate what they get and grow them or share them in the same way they got them.
 
I have even sent seed across the big pond when someone was looking for one specific variety. Its nice to hear back from them from time to time to know if the grow went as planned and in some cases its the only way you know they got the seed in the first place.
 
I tend to place a higher value on pepper seed than others because, they make everything on this forum including the forum possible among other activities I am involved.
I guess the bottom line is, If I am going to burn my fingers digging out every last seed from a pod, they better be going to a true in the making chili head, and not a fraud.
 
 
Oh, to be sure, seeds are valuable.  But, monetarily, they are incredibly cheap to buy, in terms of ordering a sack of seeds.  Yes, it usually takes a lot to produce them, and whoever grows them is going to invest a lot of time, effort, and resources to see the plant through.  But, seed scammers don´t get any of that by scamming.  They just get some seeds, which sell for like $3 for a baggie of ten to twenty seeds.
CAPCOM said:
 
Seeds are in essence cheap. Until you consider the expense it takes to pay for lighting, equipment and general supplies to start them in the winter and maintain them til plant out. feed, water, inoculate,(whatever applies). And then add in your time. Its all encompassed in what we do, but it places a value on all our related final product.
 I have to this day never sold a single seed and I would rather send seed to someone who is really going to appreciate what they get and grow them or share them in the same way they got them.
 
I have even sent seed across the big pond when someone was looking for one specific variety. Its nice to hear back from them from time to time to know if the grow went as planned and in some cases its the only way you know they got the seed in the first place.
 
I tend to place a higher value on pepper seed than others because, they make everything on this forum including the forum possible among other activities I am involved.
I guess the bottom line is, If I am going to burn my fingers digging out every last seed from a pod, they better be going to a true in the making chili head, and not a fraud.
 
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Im new to this forum and growing g peppers.
Over the last 6 months Ive invested many hours and dollars into creating four very special hot sauces that I currently make for friends and family. Since perfecting them, I decided to dive into growing some special pepper plants...with a whole lot of learning. Since Ive started getting one method down during winter Ive been searching for the next small plant to buy, not being interested in starting from seeds myself. I realize it saves $$$, if space and time allow.
To my point, Im new and always quick to learn news ways to do what I love as a hobby. Asking for seeds without letting people know you is like the person that spends months at the same offramp asking for dollars, yet can make more by working.
When one is passionate about themselves, it shows and credibility follows.
But, are seeds so special that they are guarded or scammed so often?
Again, Im no professional, Im just passionate about my hot sauce and growing my couple plants.
 
Wow so witch forum do you post on if you are looking to do a trade of just give some seeds away. and what is a good number of seeds to give 10, 20 ? 
 
I agree that 10 seeds is very generous. If germinating process is done right, then you can get at least three plants to grow. From there, many pods and seeds to grow and share.
Full cycle of sharing is caring.
 
It takes all kinds. A good way to lessen the blow is by having them send a SASE or SASBE, especially if you are being kind enough to send them free stuff. I can relate with being on a low budget. To say that if you can afford this, surely you can afford this too.. Simply not true. I usually try to barter for what I need, because every purchase I make involves a sacrifice somewhere else. 
I recently had someone I met on Fascbook send me a seed from Texas.. They sent it registered mail in BubbleEnvelope, $7+ shipping for some wild Pequin she had growing around the yard and a few packages of pretty old tomato seeds!! I felt pretty upset for her to waste that much on postage, and even harried her a bit on it. I sent her some seed back, standard post.$0.49, and would probably send her anything I could spare, if she wanted it. The generosity of some people even exceeds this and I can only hope they get something greater than money out of it.
I've been taken for hundreds by people, on a handshake.. Doesn't stop me from conducting business on a handshake. It doesn't surprise me anymore, when it happens, but it still stings. Given the fact that most of it is over landscaping, I really ponder the audacity of some people.. It's hard to let stuff like that go, but the more I dwell, the less I progress. I try to move forward with the hope these crazy people will come to their senses, anything else is a time suck I can't afford.  ;) 

 
 
I've traded, given, been given seeds only a few times in the past few years (on another forum).  The offer or request is usually small (<10 seeds).  Sometimes I will buy certain seeds in bulk and offer some of those in trade but usually I end up growing twice as many plants as I need and give them to friends/family.  I can see trading seeds that are only available from limited sources with ridiculous shipping & handling costs, but other than that most common seeds can be had cheap, sometimes with free S&H charges.  Newbies can be flakey.  Avoid new people coming on the board and immediately asking for seed - I'll usually provide a link to a retail source for those requests.  If suspicious, check out their post history.
If they are true newbies, they should be asking about lighting, soil mixes and other growing fundamental questions.
 
rhines81 said:
If they are true newbies, they should be asking about lighting, soil mixes and other growing fundamental questions.
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LOL, I've been growing peppers for 16 years before I even found this forum. There is always something to learn, but at this stage my questions would be few and not fundamental. I did ask something recently about lighting temp vs internodal distance, though, because I am not really what I would consider as an indoor grower. I also did come here and immediately start a GLOG.
 
You won't find me here asking for seeds. Why? Because I don't need to - I live about a 20 minute drive from Jukka Kilpinen aka Fatalii, who owns and operates one of the largest seed banks on this planet. If I can't find a seed from Jukka, then it probably does not exist. He also sells live seedlings at his shop every spring, for those who are so inclined.
 
Forum newbie is not necessarily equal to pepper growing newbie, although it might be.
 
That said, I don't think that I have any seeds that are so rare that you couldn't get them easier from somewhere else. I am starting to do some crosses, though, and maybe I will come up with something interesting to someone. That said, if someone wants seeds from those efforts then I would probably just send them for free but the person would need to first meet two criteria: 1) have their own GLOG that actually demonstrates some documented activity, and 2) be an interested commenter on my GLOG.
 
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