business proposal to smalltime seed sellers

[tru]

Hi, I really want to start my own seed website, but I want a more Amazon (ba dum tss) type store to spotlight the members here on the forum. The business proposition is simple

You:
Supply me the seeds (I’ll pay for shipping)

I:
Add them to the store, Inspect them before shipping, answer emails, approve refunds, disinfect, package appropriately, flyers etc… everything you’d need for a fully functioning storefront

Get 15% of Profit

While this may sound like I’m becoming competition with other users on the forums, here are my goals that I hope to accomplish:

- Visibility. Create a stable customer base outside of tropicalfruitforums to highlight the sellers that make this website so great. That includes big and small names alike.

- Small-time sellers can get flooded with messages or TFFs old code can bug out. Modern storefronts are reliable and part of the 15% is for fast response times and quality customer service

- Set it and forget it. Sellers can worry about things that matter more to them instead of being bogged down in packaging items or replying to emails

- Bundling. Whereas buyers may have to choose between one or another seller because of multiple shipping charges, one centralized hub would let buyers mix and match.

If any of this sounds appealing to you as a seed seller, please message me or comment your thoughts on the proposal! Hope I’m not stepping on any toes, I see a real benefit to it!

Thanks for your consideration,
- Truman

[Eric Estrada]

Hi Truman. I hope this goes well for you. I am all for more seed sellers! As someone who prefers  buying seeds over plants, I love the idea of a one stop shop but my biggest concerns are shipping time and seed viability before shipment. By going through a middleman (sorry) will I have to wait twice as long for shipping? Or will you be able to receive bulk orders and store them? Best of luck!

[Bush2Beach]

I only like to buy fresh seeds from the source.
I have never bought from a tradewinds type storage house unless it was a fruitlovers tyoe deal where I assumed the seeds were fresh harvested and shipped.
This set up would be impossible for a number of tropical species categorized as needing to be stored “warm, tropical , moist” . Seeds that are viable for 7-10 days and need to be stored above 55 degree’s at all times.
I don’t think centralizing this will work. How did bid’ngrow go? And that had a little bit of hype and push from figbid and others.
Freshness is what matters to me with rare seeds, and I in general don’t care for the middleman philosophy of scraping cream that doesn’t need to be scraped.
In this case it sounds like an altruistic not profitable pain in the ass to sign yourself up for.
I see that your intention and everything is in the right place . I think you’ll definitely come up with some sort of profitable fruit biz for yourself.

[tru]

🤣 nah you’re good, no need to apologize!!

I take no shame in being a middle man; ideally I’d have the person/vendor listed with every seed. I’d like the lot of seeds from other sellers to be in my possession before putting it online, even cut a few open to check for viability. With a USPS and UPS store only 5 minutes away from me, I’d be shipping daily/immediately as orders come in

I also plan on disinfecting seed lots using classic lab sterilization techniques of bleach solutions when they get to me before storage

For any small time sellers considering: 2x as much sales by being on the site compared not still earns you 70% more profit!

As the organizer of this most recent Christmas gift exchange, helping turn tropical.theferns into a PowerBI dashboard, website creator for hapajoe and anderson, and frequent user; I hope I can continue to find ways to link the community together ❤️ Thanks for showing support Eric

[tru]

I only like to buy fresh seeds from the source.
I have never bought from a tradewinds type storage house unless it was a fruitlovers tyoe deal where I assumed the seeds were fresh harvested and shipped.
This set up would be impossible for a number of tropical species categorized as needing to be stored “warm, tropical , moist” . Seeds that are viable for 7-10 days and need to be stored above 55 degree’s at all times.
I don’t think centralizing this will work. How did bid’ngrow go? And that had a little bit of hype and push from figbid and others.
Freshness is what matters to me with rare seeds, and I in general don’t care for the middleman philosophy of scraping cream that doesn’t need to be scraped.
In this case it sounds like an altruistic not profitable pain in the ass to sign yourself up for.
I see that your intention and everything is in the right place . I think you’ll definitely come up with some sort of profitable fruit biz for yourself.

I understand the sentiment completely, but there is real value in turning a TFF post about seeds into product pages with pictures and descriptions that might catch the eyes of people that aren’t familiar with TFF

As someone whose cut would rely on the seeds being viable, I’d like to explore every option possible to give you some confidence when buying. Would making a requirement that I’m told the date the seeds were harvested help or would you still go to the source?

also keep in mind any small time seed seller that would like to promote their sites for eBay, etsy, etc are welcome to. I don’t want this to be my “own” site persay

Thank you for the words B2B, I really want it to work!

[D-Grower]

Are you into other seeds besides fruit? There are times that I harvest thousands of seeds for various herbs and veggies. As an example I probably harvested in the realm of 10-20k roselle seeds this past year. Sold quite a lot already but still have thousands upon thousands. As an experienced gardener and seed saver I know when seeds are ready and viable or not just looking at them. Everything completely done by hand on my own land. Never resale anything. I wouldn't mind the recognition on a site like you propose but it's not 100% necessary for me. If you bought a big lot they are now yours as far as I'm concerned and you can market them therefore however you prefer. The transparency of where everything came from and such too isn't a bad idea though and would help get exposure for someone like myself that now lives entirely off my homestead endeavors. I need as much exposure and furthermore sales as I can find at this time. Mouths to feed, bills, and ducks, turkeys, rabbits, chickens, and other animals as well to feed. Perhaps even cows here soon we hope.

Anyways let me know what all you want to offer. I harvest everything from culinary herbs, wild medicinal herbs, wild traditional veggies like poke sallet, chickasaw plum seeds, American persimmon seeds, etc, etc. If you expand into dried products I even forage turkey tail mushrooms, chanterelles, and such too. If I can atleast get large quantities of my seeds out there to people who want to grow them that's all that matters. More useful species in more places being grown with purpose is the real food and medicine security our world needs right now.

[tru]

Are you into other seeds besides fruit? There are times that I harvest thousands of seeds for various herbs and veggies. As an example I probably harvested in the realm of 10-20k roselle seeds this past year. Sold quite a lot already but still have thousands upon thousands. As an experienced gardener and seed saver I know when seeds are ready and viable or not just looking at them. Everything completely done by hand on my own land. Never resale anything. I wouldn't mind the recognition on a site like you propose but it's not 100% necessary for me. If you bought a big lot they are now yours as far as I'm concerned and you can market them therefore however you prefer. The transparency of where everything came from and such too isn't a bad idea though and would help get exposure for someone like myself that now lives entirely off my homestead endeavors. I need as much exposure and furthermore sales as I can find at this time. Mouths to feed, bills, and ducks, turkeys, rabbits, chickens, and other animals as well to feed. Perhaps even cows here soon we hope.

Anyways let me know what all you want to offer. I harvest everything from culinary herbs, wild medicinal herbs, wild traditional veggies like poke sallet, chickasaw plum seeds, American persimmon seeds, etc, etc. If you expand into dried products I even forage turkey tail mushrooms, chanterelles, and such too. If I can atleast get large quantities of my seeds out there to people who want to grow them that's all that matters. More useful species in more places being grown with purpose is the real food and medicine security our world needs right now.

Hi D-Grower; this sounds great! I have some experience with telling between good and bad seeds and learn very quickly, admittedly I’ve spent most of my time researching fruit but would still love to have mushrooms, vegetable seeds, medicinal, culinary herb seeds… all of it!

I have a warehouse and a semi-professional photography setup, vacuum sealer, photoshop knowledge etc that would be needed; and you’d get recognition + links to whatever places you’d like! I don’t want to be the face of it by any means, just as you said I want more species to get in the right hands of people and share the knowledge

[Abirkett2]

I've purchased seeds from Tradewinds when other sellers are out of things I'm looking for. Even though I know they source their seeds in from other farms I have zero issues with that if the viability is still strong. However, I have had some issues with particular batches of seeds and since there's such long germination times on some tropical plants it's hard to determine if it was Tradewinds, something I did or some animal pressure (had something eat a bunch of Jaboticaba seeds once) so I do prefer to go straight to the source, if able to, especially vendors I know/trust.

Wonder if you'd be better off with a drop ship model, working with vendors who ship directly when sold on your site. You could teach your seed vendors optimal storage and shipping methods and request a few seeds be sent to you to test germination and viability.

Your proposed margin is quite low and likely would make it nearly impossible to scale as well. Seems like you have all the right intentions, but sometimes hobby businesses end up crushing the fun of said hobby (as someone who used to own a board game and comic book company). I'd add in some larger margin and play around with a drop ship model, personally. 

[nullzero]

Tru,

Interesting concept, I may be interested in it. I save seeds of tomatoes, wheat, barley, tropical fruits, and vegetables. A question will you also be planning to have cuttings available?

[tru]

I've purchased seeds from Tradewinds when other sellers are out of things I'm looking for. Even though I know they source their seeds in from other farms I have zero issues with that if the viability is still strong. However, I have had some issues with particular batches of seeds and since there's such long germination times on some tropical plants it's hard to determine if it was Tradewinds, something I did or some animal pressure (had something eat a bunch of Jaboticaba seeds once) so I do prefer to go straight to the source, if able to, especially vendors I know/trust.

Wonder if you'd be better off with a drop ship model, working with vendors who ship directly when sold on your site. You could teach your seed vendors optimal storage and shipping methods and request a few seeds be sent to you to test germination and viability.

Your proposed margin is quite low and likely would make it nearly impossible to scale as well. Seems like you have all the right intentions, but sometimes hobby businesses end up crushing the fun of said hobby (as someone who used to own a board game and comic book company). I'd add in some larger margin and play around with a drop ship model, personally. 

Hi Abirkett! That is true, I thought about drop shipping but I equally wonder if it’s worth not having the peace of mind of saying I packed it/inspected it + then customers would have to pay for shipping from two places if they wanted it from a different vendor, plus the uniformity of packaging that makes a brand a brand

As much as I want to not be the face of it, I want customers to know they can direct their questions to me, and hold me accountable if things go wrong

There are lots of avenues to take it, I feel like whole trees would be better represented with a drop shipping model where customers are aware that trees may come from different places, but I’ll mull it over some more; I just want everyone to be happy and not regretful later on you know? I feel like 15% is fair for both parties

Thank you! Will keep your input in mind, there’s definitely something there

[tru]

Tru,

Interesting concept, I may be interested in it. I save seeds of tomatoes, wheat, barley, tropical fruits, and vegetables. A question will you also be planning to have cuttings available?

Hi NullZero, I think I’d want to do a bit more research about storing cuttings correctly for long term before I feel confident to say yes, but I’m down to try! What worries me is the relatively short shelf life but I guess the exact same thing could be said for some seeds

I feel like cuttings would be another good drop shipping candidate where timing is crucial

As for the seeds; for sure! Thanks for your consideration ❤️

[1rainman]

Can't you just buy and sell on a place like eBay? And there's pictures and so forth usually.

[tru]

Can't you just buy and sell on a place like eBay? And there's pictures and so forth usually.

totally, but eBay taxes a lot more than shopify and doesn’t have the same customization options

[D-Grower]

What about trusted members drop shipping live plants for you. You host the website with the pics and such and make the sales keeping whatever percentage of profits and relay the orders to whichever member actually has whatever plants. The shipper maybe providing the plant pics and quantities available for sale etc. I used to drop ship for World Seed Supply. Seemed like it was working for both parties. I was getting paid so it was working for me at least.

Edit: just saw drop shipping was already a thought going on.

[tru]

What about trusted members drop shipping live plants for you. You host the website with the pics and such and make the sales keeping whatever percentage of profits and relay the orders to whichever member actually has whatever plants. The shipper maybe providing the plant pics and quantities available for sale etc. I used to drop ship for World Seed Supply. Seemed like it was working for both parties. I was getting paid so it was working for me at least.

Edit: just saw drop shipping was already a thought going on.

Hi D, I like the idea of drop shipping live plants/cuttings and keeping the seeds hub just seeds, I’m thinking 10% Profit on Dropship and 15% on submitted seeds

Open to anyone; if you’d like your live plants listed please fill out this template for every species:

1) Name - Quantity - Price - Flat(Price)/Calculated Shipping - Bareroot or Potted(size)
2) 1080p photo (any iPhone/modern phone should work; iPhone 6 and up has 1080p Photos)

Keep in mind price is what will be listed; If you’re calculating for profit multiply by .9 ($100 tree -> $90 profit). Later on I’ll also ask for your address (to calculate shipping) unless you prefer a flat shipping rate. Copy and paste or make an excel doc whichever is easier, I’ll figure it out from there!

Also please list a way I can quickly reach you via email or phone, or text me at 214-663-4410 with your TFF name

Here’s an example (without pictures):

Starfruit - 5 - $30 - Calculated - 3gal
Yangmei - 3 - $200 - Flat $20 - Bareroot

[Orkine]

There are one or two international sellers that I have purchased from in the past.  They may like the idea od sending bulk to you and getting the possible increase in sale from retail within the US.
I know I would have bought more but didn't want the hassle of importing a few seeds.

Look into that aspect and good luck.

[StephenGlover]

Your seed website idea sounds cool!  I hope it becomes a win-win for everyone involved!

[Sir Graftalot]

Really hope this venture takes off and possibly branching off to vegetable seeds and other food crops. With everything going seedless these days, this is the only way to preserve genetic diversity and fair access to food source for everyone.

[Ghost]

I think your proposal is great for scaling up small seed sellers and streamlining the process.
For reaching a wider customer base, I'd recommend using this AdSpy software. I've been using it personally, and it's proven very efficient in studying competition and enhancing marketing strategies. It allows you to keep a close eye on global ad trends and understand your audience better, which could be really beneficial for your business.
Overall, combining your operational model with smart marketing can definitely give both you and the users you're collaborating with a leg up in the market.

[D-Grower]

I'm still potentially interested. Business has been pretty good these last few weeks. I've been so busy selling at festivals and as a guest at other nurseries and such. I really need to get propagating again before I sell low on everything. Hopefully get some stuff produced in mass soon.