Eisen-en and Bjorn

Dystopics

Seedling
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I recently purchased a prebonsai japanese maple from bjorn's online shop.

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The tree itself was about $33-35, and I feel happy with what i got for that money. 14-16 inches tall, plenty of branches low and high, 1/4 inch trunk, maybe a bit thicker, in a 1 quart pot
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This is a picture of the tree in the box it came in, with all of the shipping materials. There was one strip of tape kind of holding it to a side, and a plastic bag that I assume was to be covering the pot to help retain moisture, and that was it. It was shipped via UPS ground.
The reason im posting this, the point I want to bring up, is that the shipping was ~$14, and that was going to be charged per tree shipped. I've bought trees online in the past, some costing more for shipping, and some less. Nearly all of them better packaging. Using packing peanuts, crumpled newspaper as padding, using tape to actually secure it, taping it to a styrofoam insert thats taped to the bottom, twine going through the box and around the pot and trunk in several locations. As far as I can determine, if I had bought 4 of these maples, I'd have payed almost $60 in shipping, for 4 trees loosely taped in a box.

Overall, happy with the tree, very disappointed with the shipping in both cost and quality.
 

arjun

Yamadori
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No damage to the tree and only 14$ for shipping a big box seems like a win win scenario .

I got an old bonsai last year from Bjorn which was bigger in size and it was packed really well. So I feel the packaging material depends on the needs (size, shape, cost) of the tree being shipped.
 

leatherback

The Treedeemer
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Have you reached out the eisen-en to talk about their packaging and the terrible damage their mishandling caused to the tree?
If not, why post this here?

The tree is as expected
The tree was not damaged during transport AND therefore packaged appropriately
You thought before ordering the transport fee was fair..

I do not understand the point of your post!
 

Rivian

Chumono
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The tree was not damaged during transport AND therefore packaged appropriately
Is Russian roulette safe 5 out of 6 times?

The price of the shipping seems ok to me, but its the responsibility of the seller to make sure whatever he charges is suficient for and actually used for good packaging and shipping.
The packaging described here sounds more like what online garden centers do, who damage my orders every other time.
The bonsai sellers (Kaizen and a German one) I bought from had excellent packaging. I think Maillot was good too but dont remember.

As far as I can determine, if I had bought 4 of these maples, I'd have payed almost $60 in shipping, for 4 trees loosely taped in a box.
Usually they put several into a box together. The more plants, the less shipping cost/ plant
 

Mapleminx

Omono
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I’ve had a tree from a private seller that was placed in a box and sealed up. Wasn’t secure, soil was everywhere as the pot was not placed in a bag and the shipping cost was 25$. I didn’t complain because despite the rough ride the tree was absolutely fine (I would have repotted it anyway so that just brought that forward).

What I did do was politely (I did mention to them that the tree was perfectly fine but that the postal carrier might have been little rough) contact the seller and offer some tips on wrapping the pot with that clear cheap plastic wrap you get in grocery stores just to help keep the soil and tree in the pot. He/she thanked me or that advice and that they’d certainly do that going forward and we parted on well wishes.

If you are not pleased with the packaging contact the seller but remember your tree survived unscathed so be polite. If you want to point fingers at anyone during the communication then just mention that postal handlers can be a bit rough and that you are worried future shipments might not be as fortunate. Thank them for your tree and express that you are happy with your purchase.
 
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I didn't interpret the original post as complaining, particularly. I saw it more as sharing an experience, so that the next of us to use the service can get an idea of what to expect.

As far as I am concerned it is an appropriate use of the "Vendor experiences" forum.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
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For me, all these things are 1.

The tree price, shipping price, and packing method which takes time, even of it doesn't take time, that may be why the tree was $35.

At Home Depot that's a grafted POS for $50.

I wouldn't want anything else taking up space in a box full of TN Bjorvala air!

Sniff it in!

Sorce
 
D

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Dang I was going to buy one of those but I let them get sold out. Looks like a great tree
 

HENDO

Shohin
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Seems appropriate for this section of the forum for sure. It would still be good to relay this feedback to Eisei-en regardless, so they're aware.

I think you'd find that if this was an $100+ bonsai container the packaging from Eisei-en would be top notch. When I visited Eisei-en I inquired about having some larger pots shipped, and was pretty much told no due to the risk of breakage, only smaller containers could be shipped. Even though it meant a potential lost sale for them.

Bjorn is definitely aware of the importance of items reaching their destination intact - the guy receives and ships amazing items on a regular basis. With this in mind, perhaps a <$50 piece of undeveloped material doesn't get the same attention.
 

Canada Bonsai

Shohin
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No damage to the tree and only 14$ for shipping a big box seems like a win win scenario .

Totally agree with @arjun

As somebody who ships many hundreds of trees per year, there is an art to finding the sweet spot in between doing what is both cost-effective and safe for the tree.

Another thing to consider is that using standardized box sizes at established fixed rates streamlines many aspect of the process of online retail. This means that sometimes a box will be slightly oversized for a specific tree, and other times it will look like the tree was squeezed into a box.

Doing what is best for the environment is another important consideration, and filling boxes with 'peanuts', 'popcorn', padding, styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap is often unnecessary
 

Cadillactaste

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I'm curious what brand of tape was used. Some brands are crazy,ridiculously strong adhering. I have a feeling, it was ridiculous heavy duty, quality tape.

I've had all but two trees shipped to me. I don't think I've ever paid that low of shipping except when one came free shipping because the nursery had a deal with trees over $100 shipped free. Even for small tiny trees. I've had all sorts of packaging methods... as long as the tree came in good condition I never complained. I've raised an eyebrow of sorts... I've even been amused at windows put into the box the tree my olive was shipped in. But never had an issue if the tree arrived in a timely, and unharmed manner.

Looks like some good material. Fun project!
 

Karliah

Seed
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The shop I'm purchasing from charges 7€ ($8 roughly) per shipping and their packaging is top notch. They carefully wrap their trees in layers of corrugated cardboard that's wired to the pot and depending on the tree shape, extends upwards in a cone shape or straight up the whole length of the tree. The pot is additionally wrapped in foil to prevent it from drying out. All trees I have received from them arrived unharmed.

I'm living in Europe though, shipping in the same country, so keep that in mind for the price.

That being said, just because the tree you posted arrived unharmed this time, doesn't mean it was packaged correctly in my opinion. It might as well have ripped itself free, tumbling around in the box and snapping off all the branches. So yeah, I agree with you there. Some more effort would've been nice.
 

keri-wms

Shohin
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I don’t think beads should EVER be used when shipping “normal shape” trees. The strongest part of a tree is the base/roots, holding the tree “by the pot” (wrapped in film/tape to hold the soil and retain moisture) is the best bet, combined with a box that won’t crush.

If the box gets wet it loses all strength and collapses.

If the root mass/pot are heavy and the tree is loose in with beads, it it’s dropped upside down the beads will snap all the branches off. (If it’s a conifer whip in a light plastic pot then mayyybe beads are ok)

I normally clingfilm the pot/roots, then tape to a padded layer to protect the underside of the pot and help hold it central in the box, then cut holes in the bottom of the sides of the box and apply strong packing tape “seatbelts” to the pot. Then tape all joints of the (double wall) box to maximise stiffness.

Alfter that I treat it like any other parkel, upside down, even a short drop (not by me!) are all fine, the “tree” weights nothing compared to the pot/roots!

DE6F369E-38F7-4C16-B2E1-89E8036039A3.jpeg
 
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Thanks for thoughtful review. Tree is good value, arrived in great shape - and shipping is cheap.

Will be taking a look at the site today.
 

sorce

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Time for another episode of TSaGH!

Sorce
 
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