Thinking of buying mail order seeds online?
The internet brings a world of merchandise right into your home, and gardening products are no exception. Buying mail order seeds online is an easy way to find those seeds that you can’t obtain locally, but it’s important to bear a few points in mind, to ensure a good shopping experience and avoid disappointment.
Seed quality
When buying mail order seeds online, or indeed from any other source, it can be difficult to know exactly what you’re getting in terms of seed quality, especially as you can’t inspect the goods first. For this reason, it is important to thoroughly research any vendor that you’re considering before buying, and to ensure that
you can return your purchase if you’re not happy with it.
Shop around
Whenever you shop for seeds online, don’t just buy from the first site that you come across. Shopping around helps to ensure that you get the best deal. And don’t be afraid to look further afield either; the internet gives you access to seeds from suppliers worldwide, and many of these will ship internationally (although bear in mind that you may need to pay customs duties, and some countries have restrictions on imported seeds).
See what others are saying
Before buying seeds from a site that you haven’t dealt with before, do a Google search to see what other customers are saying about it. If the site is less than reputable, this can be a good way to find out. Although bear in mind that some people just like to complain, and one person’s bad experience doesn’t necessarily mean that the service is always bad. Get a range of opinions first.
Check the site’s policies
Before buying your seeds, familiarise yourself with the site’s policies, particularly its returns and refunds policies. If you’re unhappy with your purchase, you need to be able to return it for a refund without problems. Paying by credit card is a good idea, as you can do a chargeback if the product is defective and the merchant won’t co-operate.
Price comparison
Price comparison sites such as Kelkoo can help to ensure that you’re getting the best deal when buying seeds online. With these sites, you just put your search term in the box, and the site, which has a database of products and prices from a variety of online seed retailers, will perform a comparison and display the results, so you can see at a glance which merchants stock what you’re looking for, and how much they are charging.
Cashback
When buying seeds online, it can often pay to make your purchase through a cashback site. These sites provide a link to the merchant, and you visit the merchant’s site through this link (after signing up for a cashback account). The cashback site receives a commission from the merchant for referring a customer (you) to them, and they then pass some or all of this commission back to you. In this way, you can get some money back from your purchase. Not all merchants are represented on cashback sites, but many of the major ones are, so it always pays to check before buying your seeds. There are lots of good cashback sites to choose from: we particularly recommend Cashback Kings, Quidco and TopCashBack (these are all UK-based).
Look for hints on the site
Seed retailer sites often provide useful information about the seeds you are buying, and often about plant care in general, so it can be a good idea to check to see if there is any advice about your seeds on the site, particularly if you are new to gardening, or if you haven’t grown this type of seed before.
Bear these tips in mind when buying mail order seeds online, and your shopping experience is more likely to be a good one!
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