FigBid - Online Auctions of Fig Trees, Fig Cuttings & Growing Supplies (2024)

The tips page will always be a work in progress. Thesetipsand suggestions come from my own experienceand the experiences of other long-time internet buyers and seller. Many of these tips are invaluable. If you have any suggestions for the Tips page please let us know.

Lots of these tips have to do with taking pictures. It can definitely be a pain but it's a simple task that takes seconds to do and can help you immensely. Pictures are easy to take with almost any smartphone. They're easy to store, duplicate, email and erase. Pictures have a date and time stamp that is not easily manipulated and can provide evidence that can prevent disputes from arising.

1. This is our marketplace and it will be carefullypoliced by a few. We are shooting for 100% fairness and will never tolerate fraud ofany degree. This makes every user of figBid an important part of our network. If you see something, say something.CONTACT US.
2. Don't airgrievancespublicly. Social media onlyworsens any situation you think it may help. Contact Us first. I'll do my best to resolve every issue in a timely manner.
3. This websitewas not thrown together overnight. It waspainstakingly organized, tested and produced over the course of a solid year. It is the source of many sleepless nights. It wasself-funded on a shoe string budget. It is not pretty and lacks some bells and whistles. But it works very well, it's safe and secure. figBidwill always be a work in progress but will always improve. If you see something that is incorrect, errant or should be changed, please let us know. Thanks.
4. Digital photos have a date and time stamp. Take plenty of pictures!
5. Use the mobile site. Functionality is the same across the board.
6. Be sure to link your PayPal account to your figBid account after registering. Visit the 'My Account Home' page. Scroll down to 'Listing Preferences' on the left. Select 'Payment' and complete the entries on the next page.
7. Making and accepting payments through PayPal's 'Friends and Family' option is not allowed. See FAQ for Sellers and FAQ for Paying regarding PayPal's 'Friends and Family' option.
8. Feedback is an important and valuable part of the figBid process. Please remember to leave feedback for your buyer or seller within 30 days.

For Buyers

1. FigBid does not forward messages. Contact your seller through the listing and not the 'Contact Us' link. See FAQ about messaging.
2. Before bidding or buying, ask the seller if the variety you're purchasing requires pollination.
3. Make sure your shipping address is correct on figBid and PayPal. Many sellers use PayPal's Shipping Center and ship to PayPal verified shipping addresses only. Shipping to an incorrect address lengthens shipping times considerably and you won't be covered by PayPal'sPurchase Protection Program.
4. Return policies are not mandatory for sellers and some sellers don't add theirreturnpolicyto theitem description. If no ReturnPolicyis listed please ask your seller for details about their return policy before you buy.
5. Not all sellers add shipping insurance to your purchase. If you requireshipping insurance with a purchase please contact your seller before they ship.
6. When a purchasearrives to you in a damaged condition reach out to the seller right away to let them know and ask what you should do. If the seller gives you advice, follow the advice and keep the seller updated.
7. Click the 'Buy it Now','Submit Bid' or 'Quick Bid'buttons onlyonce or you may make multiple purchases.
8. Invoices should be paid right away. Sometimes life gets in the way and payments can't occur immediately but generally should not takelongerthan 2 days.
9. Take pictures of unopened packages.
10. Make a video of packages being opened.
11. Take photos and/or video of item in opened packaging.
12. Take photos and/or video of item immediately out of its packaging.
13. Be aware of shipping charges, shipping times, and return policies BEFORE bidding or buying. Ask questions.
14. Ask sellers to combine shipping charges and add shipping insurance.
15. Due diligence pays off. Review feedback andsearch the internet. Try to familiarize yourself as much as possible.
16. Mold does not mean the death of a cutting. Mold happens for many reasons outside of sellers control. Mold is easily cleaned off a cutting. Proper care will prevent your cutting from re-molding. Mold is not an automatic refund or reason for negative feedback. Every now and again figgers mayhave to clean moldy cuttings. It's part and parcel to the hobby.
17. If you are a buyer shopping for grafting material and a listing does not state anything about grafting, please ask the seller if the cuttings are suitable for grafting before you purchase. Sellers are not obligated to refund if the material does not suit grafting needs.
18. Canadian buyers should contact the seller to verify shipping ratesbefore making a purchase.

For Sellers

Golden Rules

1. Always label your cuttings and plants.
2. When writing your Item Description honesty is the best policy. There are thousands of users on figBid 24/7 comprised of professional horticulturists, farmers, geneticists, hobbyists, nurserymen, orchardists, gardeners,amateurs, browsers and more. Dishonesty is easilydiscovered. Nothing on figBid draws attention faster or ruins a reputation quickerthan a dishonest Item Description.
3. Always ship fresh cuttings material and healthy plants. This is the golden rule and there is no alternative. Shipping the freshest and healthiest material results in the least amount of issues. A good rule of thumb is, if there is doubt about anything, don't sell it.
4. Use titles with propernaming conventions, varietal names, etc. Check your spelling. If certain varieties have more than one name,misspellings that are commonly accepted, or abbreviations, use all of them, if possible. Extend your title into the sub-title area or Item Description if necessary. If a variety is unknown please list it as an unknown. Unknown varieties are very popular and shoppers will purchase an unknown variety marked as an unknown faster than a variety they'veneverheard of.
5. The pictures added to your listings must be your own. Never, never, never use pictures that are not your own. If you have permission to use pictures that are not your own, please remember to add a direct credit to aperson your item description. Good: "Pics of fruit are used with permission by JohnDoe of ourfigs.com", or "Pic of mother tree is not my own and used with permission by Nate from Facebook Group What the Fig". Not Good: "Pics of fruit are taken from Google.com", or "Leaf pics came from figaholics.com". There are no exceptions to this rule.
6. Always answer messages from customers in a timely manner. This is the best method of building trust.

Pricing

1. Price your material accordingly. Do a completed search of figBid for your variety and gauge the going rate. Don't overprice. Overpricing is the fastest route to a stale or unsuccessful listing. Please visit Searching in the Help section of figBidfor instructions on how to do a completed item search.
2. Auction listings starting at $0.01 almost always have a higher final value than an auction listing for the same item started at a higher price. Add as much information as possible to your 1 cent listing and trust the process. It works.

Listing Basics

1. Buyers are attracted to free shipping. 70% of online retailers offer some form of free shipping today. That means most buyers are used to seeing free shipping. Further, 67% of potential buyers will abandon a shopping cart when they realize that shipping is not free or exorbitant. We know that calculating shipping can be difficult but please take the time to work this out before listing. You and your customers will be grateful for it.
2. Add a thorough item description. A high percentage of shoppers use figBid's search feature to search for names of cities, proper names, and other bits of information not directly related to fig trees. It's a good idea to be detailed and include as much information as possibleabout the item you're selling.
3. Adding a short bioabout yourself to the item description increases fixed-price sales dramatically and drives auction final values higherthanlistings without a 'Bio' added by the seller. This is a fact! Be truthful and make it your own. Describewho you are, how long you've been involved in horticulture, what you collect, your business (if applicable), the organizations you currently belong to, etc. Copy/Paste the 'Bio' from listing to listing or save a form listing to copy from in Drafts. Keep your 'Bio' up to date. Here is a link to what mine looks like now. You could also use the example below as a guide:


4. I am John, aka JohnD, a regular contributor to theOurFigs.com forum. I am 25 years old and started collecting fig trees when I retired 2 years ago. Mylove for figs started as a young boy andI remember hot summer dayseatingdelicious, ripe figs straight from mygrandfather's tree in Mallorca, Spain. With the help of my family, our backyard orchardhas grown to 500 pottedfig trees. It's a challenge growing fig trees here inAngle Township, Minnesota, USDA Zone 3a, but the family and I find it veryrewarding. Every year I coordinate the Angle Township Fig Festival, one of the largest horticultural gatherings in MN. I belong to several local prominent horticultural groups including The Angle Township Fig Group and MN Fig Assoc. I'm a lifetime member ofCRFGand NAFEX.


5. Rooting and growing instructions can be added to an auction page easily. Then copied and pasted into future auctions within seconds.
6. There are international users on figBid. If you do not ship internationallyplease make a note in your listing and/or block the location from Manage Buyers in the Listings Preferences section.
7. Good til'Canceled listings are good for 30 days and may be canceled at the discretion of figBid. If your item is listed and there is no or little activity for 30 daysplease consider altering or ending the listing. figBid admin routinely removes "stale" listings.
8. The highestamount of user traffic is Sunday 8 PM EST. The second-highest amount of traffic is Monday at the same time. Consider this datawhen planning a starting and/or ending time for yourlisting.

Return Policy

Some sellers believe adding a return policy to their listing is a bad thing. It's definitely just the opposite. Sellers with return policies always have more sales and higher Final Values. Adding a return policy in your listing doesn't automatically marry you to a customer. There are limitations and you should state so in your listing. Keep it short and sweet. If you don't have a return policy, simply state so.

Reselling

Reselling is allowed but sellers should follow a bit of standard convention and courtesy.

1. Pictures must be your own unless permission to use is granted by the owner. When using others' pictures please state your permission in the item description. Review figBid'sregarding prohibited and restricted Intellectual Property. Also, review the Golden Rules above.
2. Explain where the material comes from and why you're selling. Not absolutely necessary but will save you a lot of time answering messages.
3. When the source is disclosed, personally-identifyinginformation will not be displayed in photographic or written form on your listing. Please use common sense here.
4. When the material has substantially changed from its original form you are no longer reselling. You are now selling a new item. Ex: You purchase a cutting, cut it in half and sell the piece you did not use; You successfullyroot a cutting and sell a small, rooted tree; You buy a pack of 10 nursery pots, use 5 and sell the rest.

Pictures

You can't start a listing on figBid without adding a picture. Today, there's no excuse; almost everyone has a camera right in their pocket all the time. Get in the habit of taking a few fig tree pictures whenever you're working with them. To keep track, I always snap a few pictures then take a picture of the tree tag. It makes sorting through hundreds of pictures a snap.

1. Pictures sell. Add lots of your own clear pictures to the listing.Whetheryou're selling trees or cuttings, adding pictures of leaves,fruit on the tree,single pieces of fruit, cut open,with a US quarter in the frame of the picture for reference, and the mother treeis a great idea. Consider the following:
   • For trees - Takea pictureof the whole tree from the side. Then take a picture straight down from the top. Taking flash pictures at night really highlights an individual tree well.
   • For cuttings - Unless you're separating the cuttings on the day of shipping, take pictures of the actual cuttings the buyer will receive. Add a Sharpie marker or ruler in the picture for size reference.
2. Start building your own library of pictures. Having your own pictures on hand in an organizedfashionis best for any seller.
3. Adjust your camera to take square pictures. Square pictures display and fit much nicer.
4. Most photo editing software will allow you to add text to your pictures. Add a username, date, variety name, weight, or any other info you feel is important. Please be sure to stay within figBid's guidelines here.
5. To help prevent theft of your picturesinvest in an app or software that allows you to add a watermark.

Label, Package, Insure & Ship

1. Before you do anything else, label your cuttings and plants. Before you do anything else, label your cuttings and plants. Before you do anything else, label your cuttings and plants. Before you do anything else, label your cuttings and plants. Did I mention to label your cuttings and plants before you do anything else?
2. Take picturesof an item before it is packed, while in its packaging, and after it's packed. Make sure photos are taken from different angles and correctly representscondition before, during and afterpacking.
3. Sellers are not required to but are strongly encouraged toinsure their packages. Quality sellers usually insure packages automatically.
4. Always add tracking details to the sale. It's as simply as pressing a button and pasting the tracking number into figBid. figBid will notify the customer for you.
5. Take advantage of free shipping supplies offered byUSPS, UPS (Must be logged in to UPS.com to order), FedEx (Must be logged in to FedEx.com to order).
6. Make use of online postage sellers. UsePayPal's Multi-Order Shipping,pirateship,fitshipper (Vessyl), or any other online postage seller you're comfortable with. Online postage sellers support all USPS shipping methods and they're very simple to use. You're able to pay for and print postage directly from your home computer or smart device. You have full editing control over addresses and labels,print multiple labels at one time, andprint labels automatically populated with buyers' information and tracking information.
7. Ship to PayPal verified addresses only. Shipping to any other address will void yourSeller Protection.
8. If you'll be packing and shippingwith expanding foam make sure the buyer is aware. It's a great idea to let potential buyers know before they bid or buy. It's also a great idea to email a set of instructions for opening and unpacking as it may be difficult for some users.

Don't

1. Don't ever sell imported fig material. Imported fig material is contraband and not allowed on figBid.
2. Don't ask buyers to pay through PayPal's 'Friends and Family'. It is unprofessional and void's your seller protections.
3. Don't "Ship at your own risk". As a good seller your goal is to get a healthy fig treeor cuttings to a buyer in the same condition they left your hands, not pass the risk. Passing the risk of shipping to the buyer is unprofessional and hurts sales. Additionally, good sellers will always insure their packages.
4. Don't use first and last names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, or any other personal identifying information in pictures or item descriptions. Referringto sources is okay as long as privacy concerns are maintained.
5. Don't ever tell a customer that purchasinga variety from any seller except you is not allowed, illegal, etc. This is not fair and very poor taste.
6. Don't manipulate a buyer or potential buyer into thinking a variety purchased from another seller is not authentic because it wasn't purchased from you. Again, this is not fair and very poor taste. The nature of fig trees makes it possiblefor anyone to own any variety at any time.
7. Don't add pictures to your listing for "educational" purposes, as a "representation", to "symbolize", "represent", or "illustrate"anything that is not the actual item for sale in your listing. Pictures are added to a listing tosupport and enhance your Item Description and always show the actualitem for sale.
8. Don't ever sell or make an offer for future material. This may seem harmless but ALWAYSends in disaster.
9. Don't share your inventory list with any other user, ever! Once the cat is out of the bag it's impossible to get back in. It would be nice if we lived in a perfect world.
10. Don't take a conversation related to selling off figBid'smessaging system for any reason. figBid's messaging system is very robust and supports picture messaging.Taking a conversation off figBid's messaging systemwill hurt a sellerevery time.
11. Don't ever contact a bidder from another seller's bid list for any reason. Contact Usinstead.
12. Don't be too quick to leave a poor feedback comment and/or rating for buyers, even if a buyer has left one for you. Take a day or two to think about the sale and what could have been done differently. Sellers are encouraged to Contact Us for guidance. It's a fact that sellers with cool heads and patience will always prevail.

Communication, Feedback, & Follow-Up

1. Always answer figBid messages in a timely manner. This is the best method of building trust.
2. As a seller, you'll be dealing with many different types of personalities. Always practice CPR; Courtesy, Professionalism, and Respect. It's the best policy.
3. After a buyer has paidthey've completed their half of the purchase and a quality seller will immediately leave positive feedback without waiting for the buyer to leave a feedback rating. Buyersappreciate this gesture more than anything else.
4. Poor feedback ratings left for buyers can sometimes seemretaliatory. In our experience, any issue can be worked out to a successful conclusion without resorting to leaving a poor feedback rating. If you've done everything to make a buyer happy and there's still an issue, pleaseContact Usbefore leaving a poor feedback rating for a buyer.
5. Check the tracking number andfollow-up with a buyer, asking if everything arrived in good condition. This takes seconds to do an buyers love it. It's also a good time to remind buyers that you've already left positive feedback for them and ask to leave positive feedback for you after opening the package and inspecting their purchase.

Extras

1. Sellers who purchase the'Homepage Featured' listing upgrade usually see 20% higher returns.
2. Newly​ r​ooted figcuttings don't ship well and require a bit of expertise. Only experienced growers and sellers should ship rooted cuttings.
3. Rooting can be a tough proposition for buyers. Adding a rootinginstruction sheet to theirpackage is a nice touch.
4. A personal plant care guide is a very thoughtful addition to any purchase as well. It doesn't have to be perfect. Make it your own.
5. Let buyers know if the variety you're selling requires pollination or not. If you don't know, say so. Buyers will appreciate your candor.
6. The number of cuttings you're selling should be clearly stated in the listing Title and Item Description. If you're selling 1 cutting, "Buyer will receive 1 cutting".
7. Check the bid history for your successful listings. Send unsuccessful bidders a message with a second chance offer. Please visit for instructions.
8. Be sure to update your preferences and block buyers or locations you don't ship to. Please visit User Management in the Help section of figBidfor instructions.