Is It Safe to Buy Trees & Shrubs on Amazon, Etsy or Ebay?

Best places to buy trees & shrubs online

You might have more success spending your money on slot machines in Vegas.

Okay, that’s a bit of a strong statement.

Our observations reviewing trees & shrubs sold on Amazon are that most of the prices are higher than on the seller’s website. You’ll usually get a lower ship rate, so there are a few that offer better deals if you have the time to go back & forth to find them.

There's also the issue of a lot of evergreen trees & shrubs sold on Amazon that show the mature plant but unless you pay close attention, all you are buying are seeds.

return to senderThe free return policy you can use with most products you buy on Amazon is typically NOT available. Amazon Prime 2-day shipping is also not available on most plants. We did find a few Amazon Prime trees & shrubs being offered but it seemed like the prices were higher.

There’s a few of our top-rated nurseries selling on Amazon. If you’re spending less than $100, you might find a better deal on Amazon just because the ship costs will probably be less.  Most of the top nurseries we found only have a small portion of their available inventory fo sale.

Buying plants on Etsy is a bit overwhelming.  61,955 items listed for ‘Outdoor Gardening, plants”. You’re probably better off using their search feature to find what you’re looking for.  Similar to Amazon we found a lot of the same really cheap options from nurseries we never heard of. In our opinion, unless you are familiar with the nursery listed, you risk wasting your money.

Arborvitae privacy screenIt was time consuming for us but we did find of few of our top ranked online nurseries selling on Etsy. All the prices were the same or higher on Etsy.  One odd exception was Emerald Green and Green Giant Arborvitaes sold by Garden Goods Direct.  The prices are significantly lower on Etsy. Their Etsy store also has free shipping with no minimum.

So, if you bought 2 of the smallest size Emerald Green Arborvitaes on Garden Goods Direct your total, with shipping, would be over $40.  Buying the same 2 on the Garden Goods Direct Etsy store would be $25.90 total.  I’m not sure if that’s a mistake or intentional.  We tried calling Garden Goods Direct but there was no answer.

One thing to keep in mind is that the reviews listed for any plant you look at on Etsy is actually all reviews for that particular seller.

Ebay brandIn our opinion, don’t waste your time looking for deals on live trees & shrubs on Ebay. They have been spending a lot of money lately on search ads bragging that they had everything for sale, including things like green giant arborvitae trees.  But we didn’t have much luck unless you want to buy 200 seeds for $24.99.  Seeds, really?!?!

Bottom line, in our opinion, you might find a few better deals but it will take a lot more time. You would also be literally gambling with your money on some of the nurseries we never heard of.