Imported Plants

EBay runs ads for live aquarium plants, so the other day I checked out one of the vendors from Asia. If the Administrator says it's OK to get specific, I will. Anyhow, the prices were so low that I figured something had to be wrong. On top of that, the delivery time was estimated at eight to twelve days. I wasn't and still am not sure a live plant can survive that long in a dark envelope. When my order arrived, I was quite surprised that the plants were in good condition. I then ordered quite a few more and got the same results. Both the shipping charges and the cost of the plants themselves were real bargains. The seller has an agent in, I believe, Florida. I figure they must send a given quantity of plants there, and the Florida associate sends an equal amount to the retail customer. It's all perfectly legal, I think. I also think that many of the US retailers selling aquarium plants over the net must be importing them in wholesale lots. Again, that's perfectly legal, but buying retail from a big foreign supplier seems like a good way to save money. If I'm missing a point, please correct me.

I forgot to mention something that may be relevant to our classified advertising section. Shipping live fish can be expensive because of the weight and the fact they need to arrive the next day. I've also paid some hefty prices for plants to be shipped in relatively heavy packages. The plants I bought from the Asian company were shipped in one of those small bubble packages like you might use to mail a CD or DVD. Each of the sealed packages inside contained a damp paper towel, but none of the plants was actually under water. They were just damp enough to survive and still be light weight. The express mail postage fee was quite small, and the plants all arrived in good condition.

Too bad the wet towel method won't work with fish. My husband would never be able to keep me from buying fish online then. Tee hee .