I posted a want for cherry tomatoes a little over a week ago. I got an email from Jon Meier as well.

The email may have originated with the one he sent me. Here it is.

bozemeier
to me

[This message originated at GardenWeb]

Have
Tomato (Cherry, Beefsteak, JetStar, Ace, Roma)
Melon (Canteloupe - Small and Large, Honeydew, Crenshaw)
Pepper (Bell and Cayenne)

Want
Stocky Dark Greens (Lettuce, Mustard, Kale, etc.)
Radishes/Parsnips
Cucumbers

We've completed the trade and I can say I am very happy with the seeds he sent in exchange for seeds of mine.

So in other words, he's not a scammer. He does have a GW user ID too. bozemeier

Hope that helps.

Hi bf,

Another member emailed me last night and she forwarded the email which was almost exactly like your initial forwarded email. She asked me what I made of it. She had replied to the email asking for a Member Name, but had not heard back as to what their member name was.

Actually, in 'her' case it was just a matter of a member cold emailing her as opposed to posting on the Exchange. I mentioned that I occasionally get them, and handle them all sorts of different ways, once I find out their member name, and see their Member Page, join date, trading list (or lack of one) and go from there. It just depends upon my time, or lack of time and how I am asked, what is asked for, what they have (or don't have), as to how I will handle a cold email. Most are offers to trade.

OK...I did a little searching around and see that email addy does belong to a GW member. They have a member page, an email link (Whoo-Hoo!) and a trade list posted(double Whoo-Hoo), so they are doing good.
huh...I thought the name in the email sounded familiar, and remember now that he had emailed me last summer inquiring about a particular plant. In fact we had several nice emails back and forth discussing the plant he was interested in, and he sent me some pics of it.

I would like to trade if possible as to keep the cost down to one stamp.
I suggested to the member who sent me the forwarded email to mention to the member the importance of using a bubble envelope for seed protection when trading as 'some' seeds 'might' be ok without padding, but melons, like most things would not make it without being sent with padding.

No....You are requesting things that I don't have listed. I simply do not have what you asked for. And, the e-mail you sent to me was a *forward*. That had me a bit confused.
In looking at his wish list and your 'have' list I see he is looking for 'mint' and you have it though it is listed as 'out'. I don't have an answer though as to why the email sent you was a forwarded email. Possibly he was using just one email, kept a copy of it, and then used the email forward feature instead of typing up anew each time.

This is all just a great example of how important it is to always include one's GW name when sending emails regardless if they are sent via GW or through one's private email program.

I just cannot stress enough how important providing a Member Name, and having a member page email link is to making some smooth seed trading transactions.

hth

Sue...aka resident busy body who might have been Nancy Drew in a previous life.

Token solved the mystery while I was writing the novel above.

We've completed the trade and I can say I am very happy with the seeds he sent in exchange for seeds of mine.
token,
Might you consider doing a review on him at The Rate and Review Forum? I see there is no thread started for him yet, and it would certainly help out a newbie trader to start getting established...so we can enable him...so he will get addicted.....bwaaaaaah.

Sue

Will do, Sue.

He got his seeds today. I got mine over the weekend.

Sorry to cause such a stir. Thanks for all the input and research Sue.

Also, thank you token for sharing your experience with this trader.

Carrie

I got this email also. This clears up my concerns. Thanks friends

Sorry to cause such a stir.
No apololgy necessary, as I don't see it as a 'stir' and doubt if others do either. In fact, it is a lesson for many about the importance of always identifying oneself when emailing.

I get tons of emails and I have to get several from a single member before I can remember what their GW name is. Eventually though I am able to associate an email addy, or a first name with who the GW member name is. I'm slow though, so it takes a while before I am familiar with identifying them without the member name.

Sue, it gets even worse when i know someone from here with a screen name, sometimes a real name, and a blog name. LOL. And some have more than 1 blog. I swear I need to write it all down. I wish we could have avatars or pictures on here. It would make things a lot easier. Of course, a lot of people are shy and don't like or want to share their mug. Hey, if I can put my scarecrow out there, others shouldn't be nervous about it. LOL.

hmm... I got an email from Jon as well, I didn't respond because I didn't have a garden web name. I think I'm going to owe an apoplogy someday..

Lisa

Hey guys, it's the infamous Jon Meier (bozemeier).
I was just trying to make some GardenWeb Seed Exchange freinds.
Apparently, I went about it the wrong way for some.
The good news is that I have now made many "Garden Buddies" and will keep in touch with them if they don't mind.
Rest assured, I am not a scammer. If I was I would scam for something other than an envelope of seeds.
And for my already established "Garden Buddies", Thank you for the excellent trades.

Hey guys, it's the infamous Jon Meier (bozemeier).
TAA-DAA!

Hi Jon!

I guess you know by know the importance of always noting your GW name in an email, huh? That's one of the basic things we try to stress to newbies...to always get the members name before considering a trade. In your case Jon, since you have chosen to show your email addy to everyone, as opposed to just members, even non GW members could email you to request a trade. There has been numerous times that folks have inadvertently traded with non-members and have been sadly disappointed.

I remember the very funny pic of that plant you were seeking seeds of. What a strange creature it was.

Sue...who is chemocurl everywhere on line.

i know how that is, i think almost all of my friends know me as medo, so when i sign up for some new thing i do it as medo, that way if someone who already knows me will know its just me!! LOL and all of my stuff is with my gw name included, not to mention, its sooooo much easier for me to remember, the only one for me that was alittle hard was that danged facebook, it would only let me do 1 name, so i put michele medo. LOL my "real" name and my other name!! **silly grinn** nice to see you arent a scammer!! and you wouldn't believe what people do scam for!! geeze!! Hugz ~Medo

I got an email from Jon as well. I was also very confused by it because I had none of the listed items he said he had seen on my trade list. Was just like barefoot contessa explained.
Thanks for letting me know I wasn't alone everyone.
Jon, glad to hear you have some great garden/exchange buddies, and hope you can make more in the future! Also glad to hear your not a scammer. Medo is right, some strange ones out there so we all kind of have our guard up.