What the Catalogue Tells You Before You Contact the Supplier

Before a shop sends its first seed enquiry, it helps to know which decisions are already yours to make and which only the supplier can settle. The catalogue is the working surface where you choose seed groups, species, named varieties and quantity targets, and where you note destination and packaging needs. Everything beyond that — availability, pack sizes, final prices, shipping charges and import conditions — moves into the review that produces a quotation. This orientation draws that line clearly so a first-time trade buyer can plan realistically and avoid treating a catalogue listing as a confirmed supply offer.

What the catalogue is built for

The catalogue serves seed retailers, garden shops and resellers buying seeds for resale, not members of the public buying garden packets. That framing alone tells you how to read it. Entries are organised by seed group — vegetables, flowers, herbs, microgreens and sprouts — then by species and then by named variety or reference. The listing gives you a vocabulary and a selection space. It is a starting point for an enquiry, not a stock list, and a catalogue entry does not by itself confirm that a particular variety can be supplied to your destination.

Decisions your shop can settle alone

Several choices belong entirely to you and need no supplier input before you begin. You can decide which seed groups to add or extend, which species within a group matter for your shelf, and which named variety or reference you want rather than a vague category. You can set your own quantity targets and packaging preferences, and you can write down your destination country and postal code. You can also prepare your business contact details and any documents you know your business requires. These are the inputs that make an enquiry meaningful, and you control all of them before anything is sent.

Decisions that only the review can settle

Other questions cannot be answered from a catalogue page. Availability for the requested items, the pack sizes actually on offer, final prices and quantity tiers, applicable taxes, shipping charges, payment terms and delivery arrangements are settled in the quotation after your selection has been reviewed. Import eligibility for a destination is a further matter: a listing is not a confirmation that a variety can be supplied everywhere. Where official import conditions apply, the applicable case for each botanical name has to be checked against the current official guidance before a shipment is arranged.

Reading species and variety correctly

Group and species labels are coarser than they look, so avoid inferring qualities from the category. A pepper group, for example, spans more than one species, and the category alone does not tell you sweetness, heat level or any comparable measure. The named cultivar, colour and reference number identify the individual seed entry, and that is what you should name in your enquiry. The same discipline applies across groups: choose the botanical name and the variety, not just the headline category, so that the review is working from a precise request.

Comparing quantities on a fair basis

Quantity targets are yours to set, but comparisons between offers need care. A price based on seed count and a price based on weight are different bases of comparison, and a seed-count price keeps its stated denominator when set against a kilogram price elsewhere. When you draft your targets, state the unit for each selection rather than a bare number, so the quantity means the same thing on both sides. This keeps your own planning honest before any supplier figure arrives.

Where the line sits in practice

A simple way to hold the boundary: everything that describes what you want is yours, and everything that describes what can be promised is the supplier's. Your side covers group, species, variety or reference, quantity with unit, destination and packaging notes. The supplier's side covers availability, pack sizes, prices, taxes, shipping, documentation and timing. Submitting a selection or sending the form does not conclude a purchase contract, and no payment is taken through the website, so the catalogue stage stays a planning exercise until a quotation is agreed.

A realistic frame for a first enquiry

Use the catalogue to narrow your range decisions and to write a precise selection, then expect the quotation to correct and complete it. Do not build a shelf plan that depends on a variety being available until the review confirms it, and do not assume a listed price is the final delivered cost. Ask for the documentation your business needs for the proposed shipment, state your requested delivery date while accepting that a requested date is not a confirmed commitment, and keep your enquiry reference so you can correct details after sending.

Seeds, knowledge and growing possibilities.

Seed trade journal