How Not to Sell Plants and Seeds
Seriously unhappy.
The weather is lovely in the U.K. and the cowslips are coming out. I’m up a mountain in France, where I have spent most of my time since Monday in bed (I’ll spare you the unpleasant details, although to look on the bright side – and as my Mum cheerfully pointed out - I have lost a lot of weight). And now, a really splendid piece of cybersquatting.
I don’t know the legal ins and outs of cybersquatting, but it does seem pretty black and white from an ethical perspective.
Before I left I quickly typed the generic email of one of our suppliers (sales@herbiseed.com) into my Blackberry. Oops – I actually typed sales@herbiseed.co.uk. Guess what? www.herbiseed.co.uk is owned by a firm called Naturescape who are, by an amazing coincidence, also a seed company specializing in native plants. So when in my drug induced stupor earlier this week I sent Steve a message it went not to him but to a bloke called Mark Scarborough at Naturescape. By an even more amazing coincidence he dropped me a solicitous email out of the blue the very next business day:
- Hello, we are a large scale commercial grower of wildflower plants and seeds for over 30 years, just wondering if you would be interested in a price for anything Regards. Mark