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By Matt
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#370635
You are correct. We no longer ship outside of the US. Too many international customers were not receiving their orders and we were losing a lot of product and shipping charges when people would request refunds.
By hungry carnivores
#370639
Matt wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 5:21 pm You are correct. We no longer ship outside of the US. Too many international customers were not receiving their orders and we were losing a lot of product and shipping charges when people would request refunds.
Customs. They're a necessary evil but they do suck for plant orders. I've received those "Rose of jericho" things from China and to get around a phytosanitary, they dried them and declared them as "Dried flower". Went right through. So maybe FTS could ship seeds/dried propagules?
By Jonathan_
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Joined:  Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:00 am
#370659
Because they are not plants are you able to ship VFT Seed Internationally? I am looking for Rehder Giant 3 and Rehder Giant 2 and Rehder Giant 1 cultivar seedlings.
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By MikeB
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#370663
Jonathan_ wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:36 pmBecause they are not plants are you able to ship VFT Seed Internationally?
International shipping of seeds isn't a big problem. I shipped a bunch of flytrap seeds to a guy in Slovenia a couple months ago, took about 10 days to arrive via First Class Mail.
Jonathan_ wrote:I am looking for Rehder Giant 3 and Rehder Giant 2 and Rehder Giant 1 cultivar seedlings.
Seedlings are still plants, and they're subject to the phytosanitary restrictions.

However, there's a bigger item here that you're missing: Venus flytrap cultivars don't breed true. If you self-pollinate a cultivar, you'll probably get a few offspring that look like their parent, but the vast majority of them will not. Cultivars have to be vegetatively propagated (leaf pulls, flower-stalk sprouts, tissue culture) to preserve their traits.
By Jonathan_
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Joined:  Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:00 am
#370667
MikeB wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:05 am
Jonathan_ wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:36 pmBecause they are not plants are you able to ship VFT Seed Internationally?
Jonathan_ wrote:I am looking for Rehder Giant 3 and Rehder Giant 2 and Rehder Giant 1 cultivar seedlings.
I meant to "seeds" not "seedlings"
And I am aware that seeds from a mother plant are not the same genetically.
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By Matt
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#370673
hungry carnivores wrote:Customs. They're a necessary evil but they do suck for plant orders. I've received those "Rose of jericho" things from China and to get around a phytosanitary, they dried them and declared them as "Dried flower". Went right through. So maybe FTS could ship seeds/dried propagules?
I honestly don't know if the majority of the problems we had happened with customs or not. The tracking information usually indicated when packages were delivered to customs. Some did get stopped there. However, some cleared customs and then the tracking updating stopped. I think either the mail personnel in some countries is corrupt or the people ordering from us just lied about whether or not the seeds were actually delivered. The same goes with the TC cultures I sent overseas.

It is certainly easy enough to get most packages through and I do chance it for trusted friends and people I've dealt with in the past. But I am not taking on any new customers and won't ship small-dollar orders overseas at all. It's just not worth the hassle as we've got plenty of business in the US to keep us going most of the year.

MikeB wrote:International shipping of seeds isn't a big problem. I shipped a bunch of flytrap seeds to a guy in Slovenia a couple months ago, took about 10 days to arrive via First Class Mail.
This is absolutely true and I'd guess somewhere on the order of 90% of our seeds that we've shipped internationally have been delivered. I've probably shipped over 1000 orders to nearly every country in the world at this point. There are certainly a few "problem" countries though. And sometimes you end up with people who simply want to scam on the international level. We sell out our FTS Venus flytrap seeds every year (except last year, which I donated to the FTC Seed Bank), so there's no reason for me to risk shipping overseas and losing money when we have virtually no problems shipping within the US.
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By Apollyon
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#370682
I always wondered how much attention they actually paid to some of these packages. I legit got some Maple seeds in a small padded envelope and they declared it as "Toys," which isn't sketchy at all. Around that time was when COVID was starting to show up in China (at least on the news). Threw the toys out
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By MikeB
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#370691
Jonathan_ wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:32 amAnd I am aware that seeds from a mother plant are not the same genetically.
Okay, just checking. I've had people ask for seeds from specific cultivars, and they were disappointed when I explained the reality of Venus flytrap genetics.
By jose
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Joined:  Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:18 pm
#370719
Interestingly I’ve heard the cultivar Wally is in Australia. Flytraps seem to make their way around the globe I guess
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By evenwind
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#370721
@Jonathan_, I just ordered some capillaris seeds on Ebay with location data "Boiling Springs Lake, NC" and there's still a couple of packs left. If that helps?
By Jonathan_
Posts:  307
Joined:  Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:00 am
#370726
evenwind wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 6:28 pm @Jonathan_, I just ordered some capillaris seeds on Ebay with location data "Boiling Springs Lake, NC" and there's still a couple of packs left. If that helps?
Are you offering me a seed packet? I can pay you through PayPal?
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By evenwind
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#370727
Sorry, no. But you can talk to the Ebay seller to see if he's willing to deal with an overseas shipment.
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By MikeB
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#370733
Jonathan_ wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 5:42 am @MikeB
What kind of seed have you sent? I am on the lookout for some D.capillaris with location data of NC.
They were Venus flytrap seeds and some Sarracenia flava seeds. I didn't get any Drosera capillaris seeds this year, still working on reviving my 'Emerald's Envy' and 'Long Arm' plants (from Florida).
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