Inexpensive kovachii

[Chicago Chad]

This whole thing is bullshit. Should my friends that breed AKC bloodline Pits just go ahead and shoot the little bastards with small paws and skinny heads?!!?
It's the same damn thing.
All bullshit.
Sorry John. Keep emailing the lists out if this isn't going to work here.

 

[Hien]

The bid ends at 222.50

 

[gonewild]

The bid ends at 222.50

Bidders likely influenced by the reputation OZ has for high quality.
Sorry, that plant was not worth that price.

 

[troy]

Why do you hate orchid zone? Lance?

 

[gonewild]

Why do you hate orchid zone? Lance?

I dont hate them! Read what I have been writing, it's not out of hate but rather trying to offer valid advice. I want Orchid Zone to remain a high quality orchid nursery icon like they are. I dont want to see the tradition die and them become just another common nursery known for selling low end plants. It takes years to earn a good reputation but only days to mess it up, especially now with the internet.

I have not expressed any negative opinion about OZ. My opinion is about the act of selling low quality plants and how it will hurt the business in the end. I'm sorry people are not able to see the positive side of my comments.

My last comment is based on this...
It's simple, look at the ad and description for the plant on ebay. Nowhere in the ad does it allude to the plant being low quality but here on ST John does acknowledge that fact. In the ad it says a chance to own the species "without breaking the bank" but that is likely perceived to relate to the 99cent starting price and not the idea that the plant will sell for a cheap price. So the inexperienced uninformed buyers will likely bid based on the reputation OZ has for selling high quality.
Looks to me like that is what happened. Great way to make a profit but not so good for maintaining a good reputation.
No hate from me.

 

[tant385]

100% agree with Lance! It was targeting the experienced grower. And it worked! I am king of newbie myself and first thing you get to know that there are "good quality vendors" and then you suddenly realize that not all the plants with the same name are the same..

 

[Linus_Cello]

The bid ends at 222.50

Is this more or less than an Aibo robot?

 

[jtrmd]

Is this more or less than an Aibo robot?

HAHAHAHHAHAHA! Much less, but never looked at them on Ebay.

 

[NYEric]

Is this more or less than an Aibo robot?

:rollhappy: :rollhappy: You are most evil!! :evil:

 

[Justin]

i'm sorry but some of what has been said in this thread is just ludicrous. i am thankful my business is not a public one where people can use the internet to spew nonsense about my practices.

 

[gonewild]

i'm sorry but some of what has been said in this thread is just ludicrous. i am thankful my business is not a public one where people can use the internet to spew nonsense about my practices.

If you had a public business you would know what is being said is not nonsense.

 

[jtrmd]

I don't think its all nonsense, and some people have good points. The internet can ruin a reputation for a business quick(ex: Orchid Forums with experienced growers). I say who cares what they sell or do? It is a different OZ than when it was just Terry. If someone wants to buy a runt off of them let them. The day OZ starts selling 'Box Store' quality orchids on a daily basis at a high price. That will make a difference to me.

 

[SlipperFan]

This has been an interesting thread, and I think both sides have made very good points. Thanks, Heather, for the appropriate move.

But what I sure do not understand is why, if this is such a poor flower (and there seems to be no disagreement there), why would someone actually pay 200+ dollars for it when they could get a good one for about the same price?! THAT doesn't make sense!

 

[Happypaphy7]

It is called excuse. You want to make money, you have to work for it.

I don't think you follow as usual. But let me try again one last time, into details.
You don't have to take pictures of every plant you sell and no one does that.
You don't even have to use pictures of your own stock.
Just one representative picture for each group will do.

For plants that cost hundreds of dollars and more, usually division or previously flowered plants, you must have pictures of the flowers of those plants being sold.

Are you saying you have hundreds of these top quality orchids that you have hard time photographing? I highly doubt it.
No one does.

Actually it really is a tremendous amount of work if you have a volume of product. Very time consuming to associate and catalog the pictures to a specific plant (or other product)



I was basically considering the average plant that is what most people buy and a quantity is on hand. Plants that sell for hundreds of dollars or more are the exception and certainly photos are in order.



Easy Breezy? :rollhappy: not if you have a couple hundred a day to do.




They will probably be outbid! It will wind up selling for $100 just because it is from OZ.

 

[gonewild]

But what I sure do not understand is why, if this is such a poor flower (and there seems to be no disagreement there), why would someone actually pay 200+ dollars for it when they could get a good one for about the same price?! THAT doesn't make sense!

Dot that is the point of what I have been saying about reputation. Not all orchid buyers have easy access to knowledge about quality/value/price. Maybe they do have access but they don't use it. In the case of ebay buyers bids are very much determined by the reputation of the seller. So when buyers see the OZ brand they know 100% the quality is high...based on years of reputation. That reputation is priceless and that is why in my opinion they should not offer low quality plants to the general public under their own name. I don't think that is "ludicrous or bullshit".

 

[Hien]

Is this more or less than an Aibo robot?

I am wondering what is an Aibo robot, so I google it , damn those robot dogs are so cute.:drool::drool::drool:

 

[gonewild]

It is called excuse. You want to make money, you have to work for it.

I don't think you follow as usual. But let me try again one last time, into details.

Why do you have to throw in the "as usual" part?

You don't have to take pictures of every plant you sell and no one does that.
You don't even have to use pictures of your own stock.
Just one representative picture for each group will do.

I thought you said anyone who bought a previously flowered plant without seeing a photo first was a fool. That would mean you need photos of every previously flowered plant if you hope to sell them out of flower.

For plants that cost hundreds of dollars and more, usually division or previously flowered plants, you must have pictures of the flowers of those plants being sold.

I follow that and agree with it but the thread is about a low quality plant so I had no way to know you were limiting your photo requirement to high dollar plants.
Now let me explain something that you dont follow... The orchid industry functioned for decades with photos of individual plants offered by growers. Now that the internet and didital images are common it is expected. BUT in previous years a grower such as OZ would never need a photo to prove quality of an out of flower plant, their word was good enough, that was what a reputation was good for and that is the reputation Terry Root earned for OZ. But that is Terry's reputation and whether the new owners can maintain the reputation will be seen in the future.

Are you saying you have hundreds of these top quality orchids that you have hard time photographing? I highly doubt it.
No one does.

Really no one has hundreds of high quality orchids? OK.

Hundreds would not be too much of a problem but if you look at the benches at OZ you will realize they have thousands.

But about the photography part I do know exactly what i am talking about. I have sold 10s or thousands of individual items online over the last 10 years. Mostly small pieces of wood. Each one had to be individually photographed, usually with 4 or 5 images. Each item had to be put on a shelf and it's photos filed on a hard drive. To sell the item pictures had to be retrieved and either sent in an email to a buyer or uploaded online. The time it takes to do that process I know well and it is expensive. The actual taking of the picture is not the main expense but if you want it to appear online as it really looks color wise you have to individually adjust each picture....time(cost). The whole process is costly in an employees time. You might be surprised how few images an employee will produce in a day. It's much more profitable to maintain a good reputation so your customers don't need to see a photo. But those were the good Old Days.

 

[NYEric]

I am wondering what is an Aibo robot, so I google it , damn those robot dogs are so cute.:drool::drool::drool:

Then you need to search, "LostinPeru" or, "Aibo" here on STF!!

 

[Happypaphy7]

Lance-

Sorry I forgot the very important part of the sentence, but I thought you'd still get it as it was a response to your statement.
A couple hundreds a day.
So that should make more sense now.

I know well about ORchod Zone and business so no need to lecture me on.

Again, what you say is just an excuse.
You want to charge hundreds of dollars per plant, then you have to put on some efforts. Photograph is the least you can do.
Talking about time and money it takes is absurd as it is all part of money making.

By the way, even in the good old says as you day, they had photos

 

[Secundino]

The bidding has an extra part - the gambling. It is not like buying from a Catalogue, you want to get what your are bidding for, you want to avoid others to get what you want to get - and that implies paying a lot more - normally - as you would have done if you just look at a photograph in a catalogue or a plant on a shelf ...

But - it is a species. Many would claim that there is no crappy species! So, may be, the buyer is happy now, because a) he/she has won the bidding and b)he/she has the plant he or she wanted to have.
Beauty and to some extend quality are very subjective.

btw, me too had to google the robot ...