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| Frequently Asked Questions |
| We always welcome your questions and comments, as we learn greatly from them how we are doing and where we can improve. We've begun to compile a list of some frequently asked questions to enhance your shopping experience: |
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I'm nervous about shopping online. Is your site secure?
Why do I see such a variety of expiration dates on these packets? Ok, so what's the deal with TREATED, UNTREATED, and ORGANIC seed? Why aren't all of the varieties marked as such? What are the differences between HYBRID, OP (OPEN POLLINATED), and HEIRLOOM? What do you carry? I don't need Priority Mail shipping. Can I get a cheaper shipping service and rate? What is with all the metric sizes? Why do you only do one catalog a year? I'm nervous about shopping online. Is your site secure? We understand your concern, especially given some of the news we often hear about identity theft. We have taken great care to ensure your safety. To begin, we use two terrific companies to process your order and payment, Cartmanager.com, and Authorize.net. We are excited to have recently added Google's Checkout as a payment option for you, as well. All of these companies use a myriad of techniques to protect your information, beginning with the highly secure link established when you first begin your shopping cart experience. Additionally, your most sensitive credit card information is not printed out nor kept on file here at our warehouse. Please feel free to contact us anytime you may have a question or concern about the security of your shopping experience. And as always, NEVER EMAIL ANY SENSITIVE INFORMATION as that is not a secure method of communication. Back to Top Why do I see such a variety of expiration dates on these packets? This is a very good question, as it gets to the heart of how we obtain seed and how we strive to ensure you receive good quality. The dating on the seed packages can be varied depending on what you order for several reasons. First, we buy from a wide variety of sources, from many countries, and in a variety of packages. Most of our seed is packaged by our suppliers or ourselves here in some type of long-life, hermetically sealed package. This type of packaging is accepted to have a nominal 3 year shelf life. A few packets are in simple paper packaging (more the norm here in the US) which usually have a 1 year or single season date. As we rotate through our stock with periodic germination test and regular restocking, you may get seed packets dated for the current season/year, or for 2 to three years down the road. Another reason for the variance has to do with the variety of seed. Even with the best of storage, some seeds simply do not last long on the shelf. Agretti is the best example of this, as it already has a low germination rate, and will rarely store even one year. We receive it in Winter (December -January), and normally pull it off the shelf in Summer (June-July). We do make sure the seed someone is purchasing has not expired at the time of shipment. Those few items we still have in stock due to expire at the end of the current year are replaced during the last few months of that year, as the new seed crops are just then beginning to be harvested and processed. We wait until the end of the year for if we replace the seed sooner, we will have to use seed from the previous year, making already one year old. One exciting trend we have seen is that as our sales have continued to increase, our turnover of seed has happened much quicker, resulting in ever-newer seed for you as the customer. Back to Top Ok, so what's the deal with TREATED, UNTREATED, and ORGANIC seed? Why aren't all of the varieties marked as such? TREATED seed usually is dusted with a USDA agricultural chemical, most commonly to deal with issues that can happen at or just after germination. Fungicides are the most commonly used. Some classes of vegetables and herbs are more prone to problems, so you'll most likely see the seed treated for those. Also, in some cases, we simply have not found a consistent, reliable source for that variety in either Untreated or Organic. UNTREATED seed is becoming more popular as folks are shying away from chemical use on their food crops. The downside to untreated seed for some types of plants is that the rates of germination problems and failure can increase dramatically. If you select untreated seed, be sure that you will have optimal weather for germination, as many problems arise when the weather is poor, such as being too cool or too wet. All of the varieties we list as ORGANIC are Certified Organic, but as many of our varieties come from Europe, the certification may be from there and not the US. Although the certification standards are a bit different, our growers have been telling us that they are fine with either certification. All of our varieties we currently have in certified organic should show as ORGANIC. We are updating each description to include either UNTREATED or TREATED for the non-organic, but as we have thousands of varieties, this process will take awhile. If you don't see any of these terms in the description for a variety you are interested in, and need to know, contact us and we'll be happy to verify what we currently have on the shelf. We are committed to shift our offerings to include more organic and untreated seed over the next few years as we find reliable, quality sources. Back to Top What are the differences between HYBRID, OP (OPEN POLLINATED), and HEIRLOOM? What do you carry? We carry some of all of these in our seed varieties. The HYBRIDS we carry are all marked as such. Hybrids are varieties created by cross-pollinating two or more select 'parents' to achieve a specific new variety. Hybrids cannot produce their own seed, and must be re-crossed every time seed needs to be produced. This is why hybrids are generally much more expensive. Hybrids often have better vigor and disease resistance, and more consistent production. Hybrids are not the same as GMO's(Genetically Modified Organisms), which are artificially created with genetic manipulation in a lab. We do not carry any GMO seed, which are more often seen in large commercial seed varieties. OP (abbrev. for OPEN POLLINATED) are varieties that will produce their own seed. Most of our seed is OP, and include all varieties not marked as hybrids. They generally are less expensive, but can sometimes lack the vigor, disease resistance, and consistency that hybrids have. However, many folks feel that the OP varieties of herbs and vegetables have superior flavor, so many of them have been cultivated for many years. Which brings us to: HEIRLOOMS There is no standard definition of what constitutes an heirloom herb or veggie, but basically it is a variety that has been around for some years, passed down from generation to generation. In theory, this could also apply to older hybrids, but usually most folks would only refer to older OP's as heirlooms. We do indicate some of our varieties to be heirlooms as those are generally accepted as heirlooms, but since there is no standard definition, we've stayed away from overplaying this term. Back to Top I don't need Priority Mail shipping. Can I get a cheaper shipping service and rate? We used to offer relatively inexpensive First Class and shipped in envelopes, but we found that there was a fairly high rate of damage and failed deliveries. We now pack nearly all orders in boxes and ship USPS Priority Mail (small orders) and UPS Ground (large orders and bulk) as we found these methods help ensure you receive your order intact and in a timely fashion. Also for your protection, these methods provide basic tracking and delivery confirmation services. With the recent USPS rate increases and rising fuel costs, we are doing everything we can to keep our costs down, but expect rates to continue to climb. We set our rates to approximate our actual costs (shipping charges, materials, labels, etc), and do not use our shipping charges as a profit point. Back to Top What is with all the metric sizes? Much of our seed comes from overseas, where metric measurements are the norm. In the past we had carried seed in standard measurements, as well, (domestic source or seed we packaged here), but found it was confusing to us and our customers to have both systems. We have decided to convert all of our packaging to metric, and you will see this happen over time. There are two reasons for this: 1) since so much of our seed comes in metric it makes sense to leave it as such; 2) metric measurement is much more precise (1 ounce equals approximate 28 grams) allowing us to be more exacting in the amount of seed we provide. For your convenience, you can use this approximate conversion chart: 100 grams = approx 3.4 ounces 250 grams = approx .55 lb 500 grams = approx 1.1 lb 1 kilogram = approx 2.2 lbs As always, please let us know if you have any questions, or need help in figuring your sizes. Back to Top Why do you only do one catalog a year? It is expensive, and getting more so every year, to create, print, and mail out our catalogs. One of the reasons we can offer such terrific value in our seed offerings is because a majority of our buyers do so through the internet. This allows the purchase to be handled through our automated systems, minimizing handling and labor costs. We offer the mail catalog for the convenience of those who prefer to shop the 'old-fashioned' way. But even for those folks we offer a discount if they order online and early in the season (see catalog for details), which again allows for us to keep our processing costs down. If we began shipping out multiple catalogs a year we would: increase our costs dramatically, increase waste, and potentially irritate our customers who are tired of being dumped on with 4-6 nearly identical catalogs a season as is done by some seed houses. In spite of a much higher print count, we ran out of catalogs in 2007 (thanks to your terrific response!), so we will get more printed for 2008--and hopefully increase the count enough to last the season. Back to Top |
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Copyright 2007 Gourmet Seed International, LLC |