Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
@Paradox This is not the place to continue to discuss my business. If you're interested, send me an email. I do want to clarify a few things you brought up though, because you're making assumptions that could mislead others:
- The logistics are not complicated and I don't need to send to a group, although I can. I regularly send to individuals.
- There is no USA paperwork to do -- it's all handled by me and the CFIA. (I follow the USDA and CFIA regulations, it's 100% legal). All you need to do is receive the bareroot plants and pot them.
- No I don't "have to" deal with "someone like Bill Valavanis or Conifer Kingdom". This year I am shipping orders as small as 1 tree, direct to customer.
- I prefer to ship to professionals or nurseries in larger volumes and I give priority to this, but I also get a lot of group-orders from friends and clubs/societies, as well as individuals. I have yet to turn anybody away for any reason other than inventory shortage.
I mean no disrespect, I understand you are a business and need to do whatever is best for you to make money, after all that is why you are in business to begin with and perfectly within your preview to conduct your business how you see fit. My husband and I own a business as well so I totally get where you are coming from.
I was quoting information on your web page that clearly states you want a minimum $2000 order to ship to the U.S. which is beyond many hobbyists to handle and is better handled by professional nurseries like International Bonsai or Conifer Kingdom, which you state, you prefer to deal with rather than individual orders.
If you are in the process of changing that practice and are willing to do individual orders to the U.S, you could state that on the web page unless you prefer to discourage such orders other than through people here at BNut. The language on your web page discourages people from trying to do smaller orders from you and without you saying such here, I wouldn't even think of ordering because I cant handle that big of an order.
I understand why you might not want to advertise smaller orders on your web site and prioritizing larger orders to other professional businesses probably makes you more money for less effort in shipping at least with fewer, larger shipments.
Otherwise I applaud you for all the different types of plants, particularly azaleas that you offer. So many interesting ones there.
I really wish someone in the U.S, would do the same so we had those varieties available here without having to go through the USDA paper work. I fully agree with the regulations and why they are in place though.