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11) Lily Auction policy on Rust: Please note, you must never ship a plant that has any visible signs of "rust" or is known to have "rust". It is the responsibility of every seller on the Lily Auction to know what rust is and to be reasonably sure that rust is not being spread to uninfected gardens. For information about rust, please consult the AHS dictionary: http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/daylily_rust.html .

Not everyone is concerned about rust and, in fact, the USDA has downgraded the disease to a "Nuisance". Some gardeners feel that using poisonous chemicals to control rust is worse than the rust itself and will only use "organic" means to control rust. Nevertheless, to be fair to everyone, we must all be reasonable sure that we are not shipping infected plants. Moreover, if you have seen rust in your garden at all, you should disclose such in your auction descriptions, even though the plant you are selling has no visible sign of rust and even if you have sprayed fungicides on it.

Rust is transmitted through microscopic spores which can travel in the wind and from plant to plant without noticing a full-blown infection. It will help to mitigate the spread of rust, by soaking your apparently "uninfected" plants in a bleach solution before they are shipped. This will certainly help to kill any possible hidden spores and mycelia but, unfortunately, it is not a guarantee. Spraying with fungicides, even systemic fungicides, also does not guarantee that your plants are completely rust free. Rust spores and growing mycelium, can hide in the portions of the plant that are impossible to see and anything you spray on them or soak them in, may not get to those areas of the plant. Indeed, many plants from gardens that spray fungicides, have later developed rust in gardens that have not continued the use of fungicides. No one has established the exact strength of the bleach solution to be used for daylily rust but it has been recommended that 150 ppm is effective for asparagus rust. Many people are successfully using this strength of bleach to soak their daylilies before they ship. For the exact proportion of bleach to water to use when making your bleach solution, please consult your local gardening or daylily association.

The important point to understand here is that, while plants may appear healthy, if you have had plants in your garden infected with rust, and even if they have been sprayed with fungicides, you may still have hidden spores or growing mycelium which could then erupt into a full-blown rust infection after they have been shipped. Disclosing that you have seen rust in your garden is essential to the honest and ethical sale of daylilies on the Lily Auction. This is a controversial area as some people feel that if your garden is infected, you should not ship at all. There are extremes on either end of the spectrum. The decision to sell is, of course, up to you. However, to be fair to everyone, please be sure that you have honest disclosure statements in your auctions. If you have had rust in your garden, state so. If you spray fungicides, state so. Do whatever you can ethically do to mitigate the spread of rust. Buyers, to further protect yourself against rust, here is a link to another suggested way to reduce the risk of introducing rust into your garden: http://web.ncf.ca/ah748/newplants.html.

12) If a Cultivar is Tissue Cultured: The seller must disclose if a plant is Tissue Cultured in the description of the auction. The seller must state "this auction is for a Tissue Cultured plant". Adequate disclosure will avoid disputes after the auction. If you purchased plants from a "super-store" such as Home Depot or Wallmart, the likelihood of these plants being Tissue Cultured is very high. In this case you must disclose the source of your plants.

13) Very Small Daylily: A very small daylily, smaller than 1/2" in diameter (the size of a dime) at the bottom of the fan just above the crown, MUST always be disclosed as a very small plant, stating the actual size, in the auction description. If, at the time of shipping, the seller finds that the plant is less than 1/2 inch diameter at the crown, and this has not been disclosed in the auction description, then the seller must contact the buyer and give the buyer the option of accepting the smaller plant as it is or offering a refund. Of course, sellers may always offer a substitutions, additional fans or bonus plants to make up for any unexpected problem like this, if they wish. A buyer should be consulted with options, before shipping them a small plant that was undisclosed in the auction description.

14) Plant Quality: All plants sold on the Lily Auction should be healthy and in good condition. However, in addition, the Lily Auction requires certain disclosures related to plant quality when applicable:
a) If any Daylily was recently, within 2 months of listing the same plant on the Lily Auction, used for hybridizing as a pod parent:, or
b) if any Daylily was recently, within 2 months of listing the same plant on the Lily Auction, purchased or received, bare-root, from another seller or nursery:
Then the seller must disclose such in the item description.
Both of the above factors can affect plant quality and performance after the buyer receives it, and they have the right to know.

15) Selling Pollen is not allowed on the Lily Auction. A couple of seller tried to sell pollen but we had several complaints from buyers who found the pollen to be not viable. The Lily Auction no longer allows the sale of pollen on the site.

16) Amendment 01/05/09: Re-Selling Seed: If the seller wishes to re-sell seeds that were purchased from someone else, the seller must make this disclosure in the auction description. In addition the seller must disclose the date that the seeds were purchased and who the seeds were originally purchased from.

17) Amendment 05/22/09 (further ammended on 09/07/19): SPRING DELIVERY PLANTS:
The selling of plants in the Fall for Spring delivery can be risky business unless the plant has been established for an adequate period of time in the sellers garden. If a seller wishes to list a plant on the Lily Auction in the Fall OR Winter for Spring delivery, the seller must be able to deliver the plant within 7 months of the close date of the listing unless they have obtained permission from the Lily Auction to list plants sooner. The Lily Auction may grant permission to list earlier only for proven sellers with a positive feedback rating of at least 100. Please Contact Us to obtain permission.

In addition, if the following 2 conditions apply:
a) THE PLANT IS LISTED MORE THAN 6 WEEKS BEFORE THE PROJECTED DELIVERY DATE;
b) THE PLANT IS EITHER GROWN IN A POT, OUTSIDE OR IN A GREENHOUSE, OR HAS NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THE SELLERS GARDEN, IN THE GROUND, FOR AT LEAST ONE WINTER.

Then, if both a and b above are true, the following 3 actions must be taken by the seller to provide adequate disclosure to potential buyers:

1) It must be stated clearly in the Auction Description that this is the case (ie, the plant "has been grown in a pot, and is outside or in a greenhouse", or "has been in the ground in my garden for only 4 months" (state actual length of time the plant has been in the ground).
2) In addition, the following disclaimer must also be stated in the auction description: "Because of potential adverse weather conditions, which sellers have no control over, there may be greater risk that plants that have never previously over-wintered, in ground, in the sellers garden, could be adversely affected over the winter. In the remote possibility that a plant dies, the buyer will be promptly issued a complete refund. If the plant is too small to ship, the buyer will have the option to either accept the plant as it is or receive a complete refund." (see also #13) Very Small Daylily) You may, of course, also state your experience with this practice if you wish.
3) Regardless of the weather, the seller takes the burden of total responsibility: In the event that a Spring Delivery plant cannot be shipped, the buyer must be refunded promptly and, depending on the circumstances, there may be no refund of the seller fees.
4) Many seller offer several of the same plant for Spring Delivery. If any of the plants of the same cultivar dies, then one or more of the buyers may not get their plant. If there is not enough to fulfill all orders, this situation brings up the question of which buyers will get the available cultivar. Different sellers will manage this in different ways and buyers will want to know what they can expect. Therefore, the Lily Auction has set up a default policy: Unless otherwise stated in the Seller's 'description' or 'aboutMe', shipping priority, is determned by order date, not shipping date. The Lily Auction feels that this is the most fair way to handle this situation and that this policy also encourages more confidence among potential buyers, especially northern buyers who generally receive shipping later in the season than southern buyers. The seller is, of course, free to state their own policy if they feel differenty about the situation, but buyers have the right to know if they can reasonably count on receiving what they ordered and paid for in advance.
PLEASE DO NOT LIST PLANTS IN THE FALL FOR SPRING DELIVERY UNLESS YOU ARE VERY CONFIDENT THAT YOU CAN DELIVER THE PLANT IN THE SPRING, WITHIN 7 MONTHS FROM THE START DATE OF YOUR LISTING.

18) Amendment 06/02/09: FAUX IMAGE: If an image that is used in an item is NOT an image of the actual item being sold, it must be CLEARLY disclosed what the image is and why it is being used with this listing. To avoid any confusion, the disclosure must also state "Please note: The image provided here (or to the left, or at the bottom, or wherever it is) is not an image of the item being sold".

19) Amendment 06/05/09: Re-Selling Plants that were received less than 2 months prior to being listed: As always, all plants must be in the seller's possession before being listed on the Lily Auction. In addition, the Lily Auction does not condone the selling of plants that were received by the seller less than 2 months prior to it being listed. If the seller wishes to re-sell a plant that was received less than 2 months prior to it being listed, regardless of what season it is being listed in, the seller must make this disclosure in the auction description. If for some reason, a listed plant dies unexpectedly, the seller may ship a plant that was obtained from another source less than 2 months prior to the listing date as long as the buyer is informed and agrees to accept this condition. (If this is a spring delivery plant, #17) Spring Delivery Plants above may also apply).

19) Amendment 01/01/20: The default GUARANTEED GERMINATION RATE for all seed sold on the Lily Auction after February 2, 2020, is 80% unless the seller has disclosed a different percentage in their item description or aboutME page. This means that if a seller lists 5 seeds, the buyer can expect seed germination of at least 4 of the seeds from the cross purchased. Seed sellers who want to insure that their customers are happy with their purchase, may state their own preferred guaranteed seed germnination percentage in their item descriptions, including 100%. Most seed seller also provide bonus seeds to make up for any possible seeds that may not germinate. As with other situations, it has been proven that the more a seller works to make their customers happy, the more repeat business they get and the better they do with their sales.

Added June 24, 2022 to clarify the statement "unless the seller has disclosed a different percentage in their item description or aboutME page": The policy of some sellers is to not refund for seeds that do not germinate. Usually, these sellers will replace or subsititute seeds that do not germinate. This policy must be stated in the Item Description or aboutME page prior to the buyer's bid or buy. Informing a specific buyer through the Lily Auction Messages is allowed but only for future bids or buys of that particular buyer, when there is no such policy stated in the Item Descroption or aboutME page.

If you have any questions or suggestions about these guidelines please contact us.