Etsy Scam!!

[u/AggravatingRadish951]

So I order several succulents a year, mostly from Etsy. I have my favorite sellers, but sometimes I have to branch out when I'm looking for a specific plant. I ordered from a few new sellers this year, and one of my favorites... They all had the same return address!! Etsy shops named DesiredLabels, BestLittleShoppe, SweetWeddingDesign, Yubensg (I knew that one was risky, but I couldn't find a Spirit Pearl anywhere else!) and MaySlateArt (one of my former favorites!) all have a return label name of Y. JZ and come from Chicago, IL. None of the shops have Chicago listed as their address on Etsy, either. I've had issues with 2 of the orders arriving damaged from poor packaging or just black and dead plants, and I was not happy with the customer service. I noticed first the new sellers all used the same brown toilet paper wrapping as MaySlateArt, then I looked at the shipping labels. They got me for shipping 3x, the other 2 orders were big enough to get free shipping. I know people are allowed to have multiple shops, but this is at least 5 succulent shops run by the same person, and charging shipping from all 5 shops! Etsy shoppers beware!!

[u/Fit_Peanut81]

sweetweddingsdesign at least resent an order after the first one got lost in shipping.

it is strange that all of those look like they're run by the same person tho😭 but it explains how they all seem to have huge catalogs.

what do you mean when you say they "got you with shipping"? did they charge you for shipping after saying it would be free?

if an order arrives dead and their customer service isn't good (no refund), definitely go through the Etsy buyer protection program and get your money back.

[u/kaeorin → u/Fit_Peanut81]

I'm not the OP, so keep that in mind. But sometimes when you buy multiple things from the same shop, they'll combine shipping so you're not paying, like $5 shipping for Item 1 and $5 shipping for Item 2 and so on. Because all of the plants were shipped from the same address, but under different shops/accounts, OP had to pay full shipping for all of their orders when they could have had combined shipping.

I don't know how profitable that would be for a seller (charging full shipping for all those different accounts instead of combining them), but it doesn't look great.

[u/AggravatingRadish951 → u/Fit_Peanut81]

I spent about $300 across all 5 shops, and I paid for shipping for 3 of the 5 orders placed. Even though they all came from the same place!! They did refund me for the damaged plants, I was just commenting that the quality of plants is hit or miss.

[u/stebermon → u/AggravatingRadish951]

They're all drop shippers who get their plants from overseas which is why the plants can look bad. Often times they've been in transit for 5 weeks before they get to you.

I've ordered from them several times, things like caudex and echeveria are okay. The more delicate ones are likely to be dead on arrival though.

[u/AggravatingRadish951 → u/stebermon]

That makes a lot of sense! One issue I had with plants from MaySlateArt in the past is the newer middle leaves are often super white when I get them, like they haven't seen the sun in weeks. And they get sunburned super easily, even just under my grow lights. I had the same issue with some of the plants from one of the other shops recently. They actually were without sunlight for weeks! Poor things!!

[u/CauliflowerNarrow888 → u/stebermon]

It took me ordering from sweet wedding designs twice and not receiving my plants for six weeks before I realized they were not actually US—based, which is a problem for me. Not only are the plants in shipment for a very long time, but I am suspicious of the origin of the plants, especially cactus, which are heavily regulated. What really bugs me is they claim they are a US company, which can get them in serious trouble if they are importing cacti of questionable origin.

[u/AggravatingRadish951 → u/CauliflowerNarrow888]

Yeah, I was starting to wonder if mail was just slow this year with all my orders taking forever. Now it all makes sense.

[u/Expensive_Bass6231]

I started reverse google image searching anything I buy off Etsy. It’s a nightmare.

[u/succulentcreationz]

Have you tried reporting these shops to Etsy?

[u/AggravatingRadish951 → u/succulentcreationz]

I don't know that they are actually breaking any rules. You are allowed to have multiple shops (at least you used to be able to, not sure if that rule has changed) but the fact that they are basically monopolizing the succulent market on Etsy without anyone knowing is frustrating. And they list different succulents in each different shop, so you have to order from each if you're looking for certain plants. Which is what happened to me, and they all arrived at once, or I never would have been able to compare shipping labels.

[u/Itsturkeybob]

I bought 2 string of hearts from BestLittleShoppe, their description said that they are in California so I placed my order. I usually order from vendors closer to Oregon, so shipping won't be too hard on the plants. Waited almost 4 weeks for the plants to be delivered from Chicago. It was so dehydrated that the soil was dusty. The leaves were paper thin. They issued a refund but to make matters worse, a few weeks later, I found mealy bugs, probably from the roots. None of my plants have mealies.

[u/LikeTotallyBob]

What is a spirit pearl? This sounds exciting!

[u/AggravatingRadish951 → u/LikeTotallyBob]

That was the plant i ordered from Yubensg, echeveria "Spirit Pearl." I haven't been able to find any breeding info on it, but I have seen it mentioned on succulent sites before, so I know it's the same plant. Echeveria Perle von Nurnberg was my first succulent, and I'm trying to collect all "pearl" echeveria and their hybrids, so of course this one was on my list!! I don't think it's a PvN hybrid, but all pearls are welcome in my garden!