Minimum order :

Our minimum order excluding transport cost is 40 $. ( or 32 $ after discount of 20% for a purchase of minimum 10 plants ).

Shipping Information:

We ship every week. EMS shipments are registered and can be traced at :
http://www.thailandpost.com/search_ems_en.asp
International Small Parcels Air are registered but do not have an online tracking number.
Delays can occur, up to 20 days or more both with International Small Parcels Air and EMS.
Transport costs and average durations are displayed in tables above on this page.

Refund and Return Policies:

We have selected for this shop plant types that have passed survival and re-cultivation tests after more than 20 days in parcels in stressing environments so they could be shipped internationally with door delivery if proper care is given regarding humidity heat light and disease prevention. We advise the use humidifiers, terrarium, plastic bags or similar devices. Pictures of plants sent are available on
http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/qq199/areya_photos/PLANTS%20SENT/
Ordering plants online involves more risk than buying plants in their original growing medium at a local nearby shop. We do not offer compensation or refund for dead on arrival plants or for delayed or non arrived parcels unless declared lost by a postal investigation. We replace the plants only if the cause of interception or destruction is mentioned in an official certificate issued by the phytosanitary authority and if this cause is not related to importers' misinformation regarding plant import rules or does not coincide with importers' indications or absence of them that made the shipment illegal or subject to an abnormal phytosanitary risk : whatever the cause of interception in such situations we do not replace the plants.
Importers are subject to prohibitions or limitations on species and number of plants.
Postal parcels must be gifts with a declared value or merchandise with an invoice/proforma inside, we will receive notification of your option.
We always ship plants with free of charge phytosanitary certificate in the box and registration. If need be these documents will be emailed as a proof of the sending. The registration number would only give the importer a proof that the shipment was sent however this number allows tracking online of EMS parcels only. It would allow the Thai post office to verify that the parcel is lost and is not with the customs, this investigation would take at least a month to proceed and would not give right to any compensation by the post as the content is plants but we would reship - only - parcels declared lost and not under customs custody.

Regarding live plants how does our buyer's protection policy compare to ebay buyer's protection policy ? When buying at Aleyagarden you are protected by Paypal buyer's protection policy against non delivery if the parcel is not at the customs. When buying on ebay, buyer's protection consists of the same Paypal's buyer protection plus a feedback rating : the buyer can use the feedback rating on ebay to force the seller to refund or resend the plants ( under a 98% satisfaction an ebay seller has a risk of being freezed by ebay and is at disadvantage in search engine placement ). When not buying on ebay only the threat of public critic or negative feedback on forum could force the seller, but there are limitations to that as readers will not follow and even will act the opposite way if they feel that the buyer is abusing and that the seller has acted in accordance with the conditions of sale on which seller and buyer agreed. Also legal retaliation is an option. The conditions of sale will be the main point in the court sentence.

Are Live Plants eligible for ebay-Paypal protection ? from our experience only the feedback rating on ebay could force a plant seller to resend / refund plants that arrived damaged : live plants are not eligible for ebay or Paypal protection against item not as described, they are in the non-tangible item category, although they are physical goods. Live plants are like other intangible items and like customs made items, services, cars, airline flight tickets, licenses, digital goods : a claim on the basis that the plants were damaged on arrival or that they were significantly not as described won't be accepted in buyer's favor by ebay or Paypal. If the claim is for a non received item, ebay / Paypal will wait for the postal investigation stating that the parcel is lost and is not with the customs.

Risks when importing our live plants :

We have selected for this shop plant species that passed survival and re-cultivation tests : our tests show that the less hardy species of our shop have a less than 5% dead on arrival rate ( DOA ) after traveling 12 days. When shipments were returned to us from a temperate country ( for absence of import permit ) we observed that at least 80% of the plants could be re-cultivated in our tropical setting after more than 30 days in parcels and two international travels. Our use of the term DOA excludes lost parcels and defoliated or dormant plants still alive and suitable for re-cultivation after arrival.
Prior deciding to import our plants a clear link has to be made between our prices and on the other hand DOA rates, average durations of travel and conditions of re-cultivation : we are cheap and we don't replace plants but this option may not suit everyone. Unless parcels weigh more than 500 gr it may be wiser to use the cheaper option Small Air parcel rather than EMS. EMS parcels rarely take more than 12 days but they also not often arrive in less than 5 days to USA and Canada. It may be that at some airports Small Air Parcels under 500 gr are the fastest shipments.

Below are pictures of Hoya plants and cuttings that arrived with yellow leaves or that defoliated after being delayed 2 weeks in transport ( plants and cuttings just below) and almost 3 weeks ( cuttings in the 4 last pictures ); we could have replanted in our tropical setting at least 90% of these plants and cuttings successfully as all of them still had stems green inside; but your setting may not resemble our natural environment so you would better not shop plants with leaves at aleyagarden.com hence help us keep low prices in our customers' interest ( most repeat customers are resellers ) if you feel that you would not cope with delays causing plant conditions similar to those :

Import & Export rules :

The Phytosanitary certificate is a document supplied by us the day of the shipping and travels with the plants inside the parcel.
An import permit, sometimes required by some countries, is the document that the buyer applies for and of which a copy is emailed to us. A paper copy will be in the parcel with the Phytosanitary certificate.
A CITES is not necessary for most plants of this shop. It concerns only the import of endangered species. For such species an application is required from the buyer to obtain an authorization to import CITES plants. Depending on the plants the CITES is issued in the exporting county without prior authorization on the buyer's side.
- We advise importers in Australia not to buy from us unless they are experienced with Australian plant protection regulations.
- Import permits are required in Hong Kong, a copy must be in the parcel with our phytosanitary certificate. This permit is free of charge and issued by the plant protection office within 2 working days from receipt of the application ( application can be emailed ). Application form and guide can be downloaded here : http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/quarantine/qua_plants/qua_plants_pq/qua_plants_pq_imp/qua_plants_frmindex.html
- Import permits are required in the USA for parcels of more than 12 plants.
For importers in the USA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a well-defined program for facilitating the legal import of plant material into the country. Here is a link http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/document_ep043 that describes how to obtain a plant import permit, how to prepare plant material for importation, methods of importation, special rules and regulations governing the type of plants that may be imported, Customs requirements, and the special handling that imported material must undergo both prior to and after it is shipped.
- European Union states do not require import permits in general but there can be exceptions, such as Italy where import permits are required for orders of more than 5 plants.

- Hybrid orchids at the annex II of the CITES are shipped with a CITES export permit to the USA where a CITES import permit is not required. The member states of the European Union apply a derogation to CITES documentation ( import & export permits ) if the plants are sent with flowers.
(CE n° 338/97 of the Council of the 9 december 1996 )

The original text is below.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 318/2008 of 31 March 2008 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein Official Journal L 095 , 08/04/2008 P. 0003 - 0062 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:095:0003:01:EN:HTML

[9] Artificially propagated hybrids of the following genera are not subject to the provisions of this Regulation, if conditions, as indicated in paragraphs a) and b) below, are met: Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Vanda:

a)Specimens are readily recognizable as artificially propagated and do not show any signs of having been collected in the wild such as mechanical damage or strong dehydration resulting from collection, irregular growth and heterogeneous size and shape within a taxon and shipment, algae or other epiphyllous organisms adhering to leaves, or damage by insects or other pests; and

b) i)when shipped in non flowering state, the specimens must be traded in shipments consisting of individual containers (such as cartons, boxes, crates or individual shelves of CC-containers) each containing 20 or more plants of the same hybrid; the plants within each container must exhibit a high degree of uniformity and healthiness; and the shipment must be accompanied by documentation, such as an invoice, which clearly states the number of plants of each hybrid;

or ii) when shipped in flowering state, with at least one fully open flower per specimen, no minimum number of specimens per shipment is required but specimens must be professionally processed for commercial retail sale, e.g. labelled with printed labels or packaged with printed packages indicating the name of the hybrid and the country of final processing. This should be clearly visible and allow easy verification. Plants not clearly qualifying for the exemption must be accompanied by appropriate CITES documents.













--------------