Questions about SSE

[rainingroses]

I came upon the SSE website a while ago and was so excited to join!

However, while reading their shipping policy, I saw that they had a 100 USD minimum for international purchases. While I make rather large orders - because I order not only for myself but for others as well - I will never make an order as large as 100 USD.

However - is this 100 USD minimum only for the website? (I'm keeping my fingers crossed here!) If I become a member and pay the 55 USD for overseas membership, will I have access to some kind of database where I can buy seeds from other members and not having the 100 USD minimum?

Also, which is the preferred payment method for members? Would you say that the majority takes PayPal?

Just figuring out if it's worth the 55 USD for me to join!

(Oh, and if this thread is in the wrong place I'm sorry! I didn't know the right place for it!)

[feldon30]

The page in question:
http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.as...#international

Hmm...

[ubergoober]

That is quite pricey...I wonder if they would consider Canada to be international as well. Probably.

[rainingroses]

Yes, I agree it's quite steep (I'm sure they have a good reason for it, though!) and sadly I think it will deter most international growers except the commercial ones.

However, what I'd be interested to know is if this 100USD minimum is only if I buy from their website or if it's also including purchases from individual members?

(Perhaps I don't understand because I'm not a member and don't know how the membership works?)

[velikipop]

I would think it is for orders from the SSE directly and not from individual members...that would truly make it ridiculous. If your willing to do a bit of work and make contacts you can most likely find what you are looking for without going through the hassle of membership fees and policies that discourage international transactions.

Alex

[mdvpc]

Raining: I think the 100.00 is for the sse public catalog. One thing that you can do when you get your member listings is look also for folks like Andrey from Belarus (who posts here) and get seed from him for his varieties-he has a huge amount of seed for different kinds of veggies-eggplant, cukes, tomatoes, etc.

[rainingroses]

Thanks to you all, you've been very helpful.

Two additional questions:

1. The member listings - are they like a mail order catalog or do you read them online?

2. When you buy from individual members - do you pay with PayPal or money order?

Thanks again! I hope I'm not asking too many stupid questions!

[travis]

Individual members list their offerings in an annual publication called the Yearbook. They give specific instructions as to methods of payment and periods of the year during which they accept requests and ship out seeds. For example, many of us accept cash and checks. Others just cash or postal money orders, etc. I cannot remember ordering from anyone who required a minimum, and most of the requests I receive are for one, two or three varieties and the money inclosed rarely exceeds $9.00 like for three varieties of seed. If you list seed in the Yearbook yourself, three varieties would only cost $6.00 from another member.

[rainingroses]

Thank you Travis, that was very helpful!

I can't make up my mind if I should join or not. On one hand, it gives me access to loads of exciting new varieties which are unavailable to me right now, but on the other hand, international money orders are very expensive to get (last time I got one, it was the equivalent to USD 20 just for the money order) so it will definitely add to the total of the seeds.

I will have to think about this for a while, but huge thanks for being so helpful!

[remy]

Having to buy $100 in merchandise is a lot. I do understand it is a bit of a pain to mail international orders. I have to fill out a customs form and go to the post office to mail mine. Now that I think about it, I bet SSE is probably nowhere near a post office and that might be why. If I had to make a really long drive to mail international orders, I would want to make it worth my time. Still $100 is a lot.
Remy

[travis]

Personally, I would take paper Euros. But that's just me. And I don't list a lot of tomato varieties year to year. Maybe a half dozen or a dozen at most. And I'm not in it for the money. I'm sure there are plenty of others like me.

The best reason to join is to support the overall mission and the joint seed saving venture of all the members. If you're just seeking seeds and money is a consideration, then maybe just trade seeds online here or at other gardening forums.

[rainingroses]

Remy: I can definitely see it from the sellers point of view. I've bought stuff online for many years and I'm used to - and actually expect - a handling charge. I'm totally fine with that. I'm just bummed that the SSE minimum is too high for me, that's all.

Travis: I would trade on this forum if I had anything to trade! But right now I'm too much of a newbie to have anything to trade. I've been growing flowers from seed for many years but this is the first year for tomatoes.

But I'm looking forward to trade once I have something to trade.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by rainingroses

Thank you Travis, that was very helpful!

I can't make up my mind if I should join or not. On one hand, it gives me access to loads of exciting new varieties which are unavailable to me right now, but on the other hand, international money orders are very expensive to get (last time I got one, it was the equivalent to USD 20 just for the money order) so it will definitely add to the total of the seeds.

I will have to think about this for a while, but huge thanks for being so helpful!

Adding to what Travis said, Canada and US SUGGESTED prices are listed in the front of the YEarbook and are the same. And those suggested prices are different for small seeds, beans, corns, etc and roots, cuttings, etc.

I keep saying suggested prices b'c many listed members don't realize that they can set their own prices as some of us already do.

And there's also a price differential between listed and unlisted members.

LEt me give you an example.

I list a tomato variety, no surprise there, it's $3 for a listed member and $4 for an unlisted member. I think those prices are too high, we listed members are NOT commercial growers, so several years ago I asked for only $2 for anyone anywhere. Now that comes back to me in one major way and that's postage, which is the responsibilty of the lister, but sometimes a requestor will include some US stamps. It costs me a single US 44 cent stamp to send up to 6 packs of tomato seeds , minimum 25 seeds/pack, and my cost to send the same to someone in Canada is 77 cents and to Europe and elsewhere over 90 cents for the same.

And I still have to buy all my envelopes, my padded mailers when sending a lot of seed packs, well you get the picture.

I have never seen anyone who takes Paypal. The Yearbook is not to be seen as a seed catalog, rather, it's a mechanism for seed preservation and it's hoped that folks will relist what they get from others. There have been several large listers who have left for the simple reason that few relisted what they offered and with each passing year I see a lower relist rate as well.

But I know of no other place where so many OP varieties are listed.

I don't recommend anyone to join just to get seeds. I thinkl that a person should have some experience with the various varieties they chose to grow and there are now some wonderful small family companies featruing OP varieties, in order to know when the seed they got was not pure, but was crossed seed and they would know to rogue out those plants.

When a person has had experience growing quite a few varieties and wants something different, harder to get, rarer. then that's where I think that some of the listed varieties make more sense.

The seeds you get may or may not be pure, and that's just a fact; most are but not all. Listed members will sometimes say if they bagged blossoms or hand pollinated their squash, but not all do.

I do strongly support anyone who wants to become a member so that their membership cost goes to support the mission of SSE which is preservation of OP varieties.

Contact information for each listed member is in the front of the YEarbook as I think Travis said, and often in addition to a home address some will also list an e-mail and phone number. I did the latter for many years until folks started e-mailed me requests. I don't honor e-mail requests, few do, and I don't expect folks to call me unless they have a problem with the seeds they already have. I accept requests via mail and only if the official SSE request form is included . And seeds can only be requested at the times specified by the listers for the current Yearbook which is the 2010 one. I've received requests from YEarbooks that are 5 years out of date b'c some folks pass them around, not good, and some end up in libraries, etc. So I want to see that official 2010 SSE request form with the information about the requestor as entered by that person.

I've been a listed member since 1989 and I've seen it all, as in some folks sending holy medals, foreign stamps which can't be used, seeds plastered on TP. you name it, I've seen it. But that' pretty much a thing of the past now, thank heavens.

Something no one has yet mentioned is the fact that seeds cannot be sent to certain places outside the US such as the Netherlands and now Australia. And some other countries require a phyto sanitary certificate from the sender, in this case SSE itself when filling requests from the PUBLIC catalog, and it's not cheap to get phytos done which may partially explain the $100 minimum from the PUBLIC catalog.

Again, the phytos are for those commercial places, not for individual listers and commercial or otherwise, no seeds to thetwo places mentioned above unless it's A VERY large commercial place that sends all theappropriate phytos.

Hope that helps.

[rainingroses]

Thanks Carolyn, that was very helpful.

I didn't intend to join SSE just to buy seeds, but I must admit that would be a big part of it. Perhaps there's a similiar organisation in my country which I can join instead. (I have made some research on this but so far came up with nothing.)

As I've mentioned already, I'm very new to tomatoes, however I'm not an inexperienced gardener, I have many years experience with flowers. I'm only doing this for fun and I would love to trade with others here on the forum in the future.

About PayPal, I only asked about it because it makes online shopping so much easier for us overseas.

I know that some countries don't allow seeds, I've heard about Australia being extremely strict, but luckily Swedish customs have no problems with it (I even called and asked!).

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by rainingroses

Thanks Carolyn, that was very helpful.

I didn't intend to join SSE just to buy seeds, but I must admit that would be a big part of it. Perhaps there's a similiar organisation in my country which I can join instead. (I have made some research on this but so far came up with nothing.)

As I've mentioned already, I'm very new to tomatoes, however I'm not an inexperienced gardener, I have many years experience with flowers. I'm only doing this for fun and I would love to trade with others here on the forum in the future.

About PayPal, I only asked about it because it makes online shopping so much easier for us overseas.

I know that some countries don't allow seeds, I've heard about Australia being extremely strict, but luckily Swedish customs have no problems with it (I even called and asked!).

Roses, being of Swedish heritage myself, Carlsons' from Uppsala, whenever someone asks about Swedish varieties the person answering usually says there aren't many b'c the culinary history of Sweden is not tomato based, which is true.

I can tell you that there is no such organization such as SSE in Sweden and I can also tell you that there's one Swedish person, Ake, who has been a major lister in the Yearbooks over the years.

There is a much smaller organization in England but the guidelines and way that it runs and varieties available for adoption are not that many.

There's also Seeds of Diversity Canada ( SODC), but again, nothing like SSE in terms of numbers of members and varieties listed.

I do remember running across a nice website from Sweden where someone was selling seeds. But there are also various sites in Europe where seeds are sold as well. Herr Hahm at Reinhard Kraft's site lists many and that's just one example.

And there are many small family seed companies here in the US who will send to Sweden and other countries for a modest extra cost just to cover postage. This is a tomato website so I can tell you that one of them lists over 400 tomato varieties. There's a new one as well, where many hard to get rarer varieties are also listed.

If you're intersted in doing it that way I'd be glad to give you the links.

You can also try trading if you want to and many enjoy doing that. I'm one who doesn't trade seeds for a couple of reasons. First, the percentage of crossed seed traded is higher than you'll find at any seed site. Second, I would hope that folks would buy at least half of their tomato seed from the small family businesses b'c they're the ones who need financial support and the ones who make so many wonderful varieties available to the public.

Most seed trading here at Tville happens primarily in the Dec to maybe March time frame and you can check that Forum then. And there are others like myself who offer seeds free, no trades wanted, and I list everything I'm listing in the SSE Yearbook each year. My next offer will be for varieties from 2007, 08, 09 and hopefully 2011.

So, it looks like you've got lots of choices to consider at this time.