New idea for growers

[John in Andalucia]

I hope Dean, you don't mind too much if I kick off this topic here. It's to let everyone know that for the last 2 months, I've been putting together a site that I hope will prove useful to anyone who grows palms and exotic plants. I guess it should be in Share-a-Site, but it's not officially launched, and neither is it an informational website. It's a free ads site I built called "freshpalmseeds.com" and I need some feedback.

The idea I had in mind, is that commercial and private traders can advertise at the same venue, and it's strictly for seeds. I'm leaning towards palm seeds obviously, and I have links on every page (in the footer) to the IPS and EPS - both of which I'm subscribed to. What I get out of it is hopefully something that people use, and maybe some Google ads revenue to cover hosting. There's also a paying service for commercial suppliers if they want to include a company logo and info.

I just finished it today, and for want of some smallprint it's fully functional. You can register and post ads straight away. It's in English, Dutch and Spanish for the most part, and any language can be added if the right person has an hour to spare!

The main emphasis is that you can advertise seeds that will be available in a certain month of the year, or alternatively, seeds that are ready now. Future trading for what is really "fresh produce" is something that I think is important. In time, it will give everyone a good indication of what species are ready to harvest in various parts of the world throughout the year. That isn't something that many of us are aware of, but it would be useful to know. You can then budget ahead and decide what you want to buy, and from whom. I also think that the big seed sellers often get a bad press if it's felt they monopolize the market, so now we can all be seed sellers. The site is easy to use, and fairly self-explanitary.

Here is the link you need to access the site: http://www.freshpalm...om/ad/index.php

For now, it has two dummy ads running, one without a photo from a "Private seller" and the other, a photo ad from a "Business seller". They both link to my email address, so don't be shy in using the contact form if you want to "contact the seller". I also apologize in advance if that's your L. mapu photo! I borrowed it for the site build, and will remove it if needs be. Ignore the prices, as I didn't give any thought to that side of things, and to reiterate, there are no seeds for sale on the site yet. As soon as I get a couple of ads, I'll take the current ones down.

With regards to your Internet privacy, the site uses a customer contact form, so your email address is not visible, only the name you register with. You only need provide a name, email address and password to register, and as I say, your email address is not available to spam robots, and your password is encrypted in an SQL database, so even I couldn't see if I wanted too.

If you like it, let me know! I think it's worth bookmarking, and I'm my own harshest critic when it comes to new ideas. What I do know for sure, is that a lot of my up and coming palms came from fellow growers and palm enthusiasts, the likes of Wai`anae Steve, FijiJim and PalmetierMeg. If you catch these people at the right time, you get a bargain, and ultra fresh seeds. The same goes for a lot of other members, these are just my personal experiences.

I'll be approaching a few seed sellers personally, so you might want to "watch this space" as they say. I'd be thrilled if a few people here sign up. Remember, you don't need to have seeds available for sale right now. You know your own trees and when the seeds are ripe, so post an ad now, and set your date and price!

Okay Dean, you can kick me into the forum of your choice!

[PALM MOD]

John,

As you said, this is probably placed more appropriately in Share-a-Site, or even the For Sale Sub-Forum. And that is my first inclination as well.

However, with many decisions that are not clear cut, I run them past some others. I will do the same here, and if they disagree, I'll move it back.

[John in Andalucia]

I've had a few PM's & emails from various members, and it's great to hear your words of support. I also forgot to mention a new seller category, to give sellers with a Society membership the chance to promote their Society with a banner link in their ads, the same as you would see for a business seller, but for free. This will hopefully emphasize the value of being a Society member, since quite often members only sell a few seeds at irregular intervals, and you can be sure of receiving the best quality, if they are home-grown. In this category, the seller will also get an "About the Seller" page, where they can list their current memberships and other various details.

[John in Andalucia]

So for anyone tuning in from Greenland, I just finished this latest feature on my new site. It enables seed sellers who are members of a plant society, to link to their society, using a banner ad. The admin team on the EPS forum knocked out a quick banner for me, and here's an example of how you can promote your local society by selling a few seeds.

Society member ad

Thanks to the people who registered recently. You all now have the seller status of: Member of a plant society

[John in Andalucia]

Another new feature just added to freshpalmseeds.com, is a "Donation Sale" option.

If you register as a member of a plant society, you can now specify in your payment information, that the proceeds are being donated to your plant society. If your society has a PayPal donation button, you can also include that too, allowing the buyer to purchase online, and make an instant donation payment to your society!

[George Sparkman]

Hi John,

I like what you are doing.

Good ideas ! I will keep checking in.

Happy seeding,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

[John in Andalucia]

Hi John,

I like what you are doing.

Good ideas ! I will keep checking in.

Happy seeding,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

Thank you, George!