There are a lot of good and honest sellers on ebay, however unfortunately you do get people that are in it completely for the money and beyond that donÂt really care about the quality of what they are selling. I don't believe that ANY seasoned iris grower would try to sell off what you have described. As mentioned above it sounds like what you have is the "mother" rhizome, or else you have rhizomes that were purchased at a box or wholesale store and either cut down or stored so long that the leaves are now gone. Which means you should get lucky with some of them and have small rhizomes starts on the side, but most probably won't do anything. Either way without any leaves at all your chances of the iris blooming the first (and most likely even the second year) are next to none. I donÂt know if the guy purposely ripped you off or just doesnÂt know what heÂs doing, but I would say most likely if heÂs been selling these "bulbs" for awhile then he knows exactly what heÂs selling. I looked up the seller and agree with what ymeador says about the pictures, I would say its extremely unlikely these are anything but packaged iris. Being that you are located in zone 6 I would not wait until next spring to see if they happen to live. People are usually always going to seem nice when they are wanting money from you and I have a suspicion that if this guy doesnÂt have the ebay transaction hanging over his head he will basically tell you too bad. Ebay gives you 90 days from the time the transaction ends before they delete all record of that transaction. If it was me I would probably give them about 2 more weeks, watering them just as you have, to see if there is any signs of growth...the new roots are a good sign, but 40.00 is a lot to pay for 8 rhizomes that just barely live. If there has not been any by that time I would email the seller and ask for a refund, if he refuses then file a fraud complaint with ebay.

Have you done a search on Craig's list? Or even google? Sometimes you can find these items or the item you wish from garage sale type situations or people who are cleaning out their stuff. I once found a rug I loved on Overstock. I too procrastinated and was thrilled to find the rug on overstock. It was orginally from Ballard design or it looked like the one from Ballard. I know you'll find your item. If you list it here I can help you too. : ) I am a good searcher. ~boxerpups

Red, I didn't see your response. Yes it seems a lot of people do like the Priority shipments. I just don't need to pay more to have things here fast. Shipping fees are a drag as it is! I bought from the UK quite a bit a few years ago and they would always ship air, understandably I guess because of the slowness otherwise, and the possibility of things getting lost in a winding transit. But, it was quite a bit more expensive, so I'd go parcel post most of the time. Usually didn't take all that long. Added to insuring items, it just really adds up. And when you haven't even seen the item firsthand, well, it's just a lot of money on extras. Yes, it does look like some of her buyers have noticed the post on the package is quite a bit lower than what they were charged. So she may have thought I was questioning her too. Well, I have no control over her packaging and handling charges, but can request slow mail and no insurance! :) And dang! I did manage to get old. I'm not sure when that happened!

You guys are SOOOOOO smart!! These are great ideas!!! I lost sleep last night over the upset of being screwed out of $43.20. Silly perhaps, but that's a lot of money to me -especially to throw right into the toilet! And the idea of watching to see if she relists the item is genius! I have serious doubts that this item arrived "broken" because part of the reason it costs $43.20 to ship (3,100 miles) is because we packed it so carefully and then packed it into an oversized box to insure its safety. You could have dropped that thing from a two-story building and it wouldn't have broken (IMHO). We had it in the original box (which was well-padded) and then had it surrounded in layers and layers of bubble-wrap and then placed in another very sturdy box. And if you'd lost a $215 item, wouldn't you ask for insurance receipts so that you could get UPS to make it right? She's never asked for any receipts. I did pay for the shipping with VISA so I'll see whey my options are there, too. Thanks again. I've been on eBay since 1999 and I've been screwed on small items but nothing this big. This really leaves a rotten taste in my mouth and I think I'm done with 'em. It really is a gamble. And the amount of time I've invested in this transaction is nuts. Took me - on average - about three or four emails to get this woman to respond ONCE - for every single thing. Thanks again for the wonderful ideas. I feel much better. I have five days left to leave feedback. Any suggestions on what to say that'll be the MOST effective? Rose