OK, so I’ve arranged quite a few trades through OG and for the most part things have gone smoothly.
However, I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern and it has me a bit perplexed. From a few members, I have not received seeds - and in every single case, they have not received mine either.
What I can’t figure out is, what are the odds that this would be the case? Everyone from whom I received seeds, also received the seeds I sent them, and I did not receive seeds from all those who report not having received my seeds.
Is it possible that the common paths through the mail systems have issues that are disrupting delivery bi-directionally? Has anyone else experienced this type of thing?
That’s the problem with allowing people to make new accounts after being caught robbing everyone (@stonkie). They come back and do it to a new batch of victims.
I don’t think it is as simple as that. I haven’t done a lot of trades, but did have the same situation that @cogitech had. I did not receive his and he did not receive mine. I can’t see how the envelopes could have been stolen, weeks apart. Or, are you saying there are thieves at most of the post offices out there.
Tracking, as you say, CAN solve most problems, but there is no automatic tracking to many countries around the world and the services that have tracking are usually expensive. To give you an idea, it would have cost me almost $60 to send with some type of tracking.
Without tracking it all comes down to trust and people’s honesty.
I know it would hurt the “honest” new members of OG but maybe we could move the trade and free seeds to a section that only member with 5 or more green dots can access?
Same here. I was out a few seeds (don’t have a lot, but plenty to keep planting) and about $3. The thing I regret is not being able to grow the seeds I was getting. Ya live and learn. Won’t stop me from doing it again.
There’s another article about a government study that found the majority of illegal items found in the mail system are not reported. The workers keep em. I’ll edit this if I do find it.
Nope, not usually. But international mail can be difficult at times. It could be the user lied about sending and not receiving. I’ve had a few packages not make it, but the majority do. Standard mail works best, but has no tracking.
I’ve had packages with tracking say they were delivered and the recipient never got them. That was a case of using a fake name, that has caused me some issues more than once.
I think I’ve got the gist of the situation. I’ll try not to let it change the way I feel about seed trading. As I said, for the most part things have gone well.
If that’s the case, all I can say is that you would all be very surprised and disappointed if I named names (which I absolutely refuse to do with zero evidence, so please nobody bother PMing me for the “inside scoop”).
Not jaded, but a bit surprised and a lot disappointed.
I’ll edit this if I do find it.