First off, I would like to thank the mods for letting this thread persist. It has been very enlightening.
I was drawn to TSD by the presence of Eskobar and BOG and that they took credit cards. I didn't know anything about JB's history with this site. I did get a sketchy vibe sometimes (especially after they lost credit card processing) but I always got what I ordered. They did screw up 3 out of 4 orders (which they did make right but still) as opposed to no issues with the handful of other seed banks I have ordered from. When JB announced that he was going to be out of touch for a while because of surgery it did have the feel of a guy getting ready to disappear.
I think the Esko strains I ordered were legit because of the packaging. I have some serious doubts about some Pisces strains I ordered that came in little baggies with handwritten labels on paper inside the bag. The BOG strains I ordered came in the same type of baggies but they at least had printed labels.
I do feel for the breeders that got screwed over by this guy but I can't help think that most of them helped perpetuate the lies by not speaking up. It was a tough spot for them to be in - I do get that. I've been strung along by sociopaths that owed me money before unfortunately.
Another strange thing that hasn't been mentioned is that at one point in the last few months JB started a thread on the TSD forums talking about moving his business to the USA because of the changing legal climate here and how tough it was getting to do business in Europe. He was trying to rally support for the cause but the vast majority of people told him he was crazy and after a while the thread just disappeared. I remember thinking that he should be worried about even traveling to the US because the feds had to be at least aware of his business. And then not long after that Gypsy got detained. With hindsight I would guess that this move to the US was just setting up his next con but maybe after he saw what happened to Gypsy he didn't even want to try.
After all this crazy business among the various seed banks I am quite happy to have a rather substantial seed collection in my possession already and it is going to be a long while if ever before I ever dabble in the market again.
Anyway that's my experience with TSD and I can't say anybody is better for reading this but I was in a sharing mood.
I was drawn to TSD by the presence of Eskobar and BOG and that they took credit cards. I didn't know anything about JB's history with this site. I did get a sketchy vibe sometimes (especially after they lost credit card processing) but I always got what I ordered. They did screw up 3 out of 4 orders (which they did make right but still) as opposed to no issues with the handful of other seed banks I have ordered from. When JB announced that he was going to be out of touch for a while because of surgery it did have the feel of a guy getting ready to disappear.
I think the Esko strains I ordered were legit because of the packaging. I have some serious doubts about some Pisces strains I ordered that came in little baggies with handwritten labels on paper inside the bag. The BOG strains I ordered came in the same type of baggies but they at least had printed labels.
I do feel for the breeders that got screwed over by this guy but I can't help think that most of them helped perpetuate the lies by not speaking up. It was a tough spot for them to be in - I do get that. I've been strung along by sociopaths that owed me money before unfortunately.
Another strange thing that hasn't been mentioned is that at one point in the last few months JB started a thread on the TSD forums talking about moving his business to the USA because of the changing legal climate here and how tough it was getting to do business in Europe. He was trying to rally support for the cause but the vast majority of people told him he was crazy and after a while the thread just disappeared. I remember thinking that he should be worried about even traveling to the US because the feds had to be at least aware of his business. And then not long after that Gypsy got detained. With hindsight I would guess that this move to the US was just setting up his next con but maybe after he saw what happened to Gypsy he didn't even want to try.
After all this crazy business among the various seed banks I am quite happy to have a rather substantial seed collection in my possession already and it is going to be a long while if ever before I ever dabble in the market again.
Anyway that's my experience with TSD and I can't say anybody is better for reading this but I was in a sharing mood.
