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British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

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  • Please Ensure all sale of bees are checked & sold within the correct guidelines, State the location, Type and package/nuc/hive
Please Ensure all sale of bees are checked & sold within the correct guidelines, State the location, Type and package/nuc/hive
 #10992  by AdamD
 24 May 2021, 09:19
Sellers on Ebay tend to 'hide' the fact that a hive actually contains bees and I think they are still not supposed to sell them on there but seem to get away with it.
As far as swarms are concerned, they are very variable in quality and I would never consider selling one. I did hear of someone that was collecting swarms and selling them on as nucs and found that he had EFB in the apiary; believed to be from a swarm, and had no idea where his customers came from so had no record for the bee inspectors to follow up. Very poor practice indeed!

There is also a seller on Ebay who is selling a box of bumblebees as pets. They have apparently sold loads of them. It looks like they are imported and bumblebees are supposed to be used commercially for fruit pollination within greenhouses to contain them so they don't pass pathogens to the local bumblebee community rather than put in the garden as a talking point. I twice messaged the company enquireing whether the bees were imported. No reply came back.
 #11007  by Bobbysbees
 26 May 2021, 20:04
I get the concerns so far as the source of a given nuc or hive of bees and also over disease/pest issues.
And yes its true that generally good suppliers will offer some degree of assurance and come back on any purchase made.
The thing is a large company can afford to have a couple of complaints (trust me I have plenty about at least 2 of the larger companies in the uk having totally terrible customer service and as for delivery time they can be laughable.)
Where as some one selling on ebay, with you having to go collect them might not wish anyone to come back asking awkward questions. That said if its being mailed to you well it is buyer beware.
There is an ethical issue regarding what exactly you can and cant sell but that is down to ebay actually bothering to police their site which they try to but generally they fail at it.
I wish I had a local supplier near me but its a good long journey south to Haltwhistle to find a nuc seller and thats if you happen to know 6 months before the season starts that you want a nuc as by this time of year everywhere I have tried is sold out.
So you resort to fishing about on ebey and gumtree.