Sensible Seeds, a reputable seed bank you can trust!

fearnoevil · Jan 14, 2018

So recently I've come across a lot of confusing posts while researching reviews for Sensible Seeds (sensibleseeds.com), and after learning the complete story, and realizing that I had actually heard of them years ago, I thought an update with the straight dope was needed. Maybe there's another thread buried somewhere, but who has the time to do all that digging, lol, and this will be current and up to date which, imo is better.

So first off, Sensible Seeds is a very reputable business, located in the UK and has been in business more than 20 years. All the research I could find points to this. That doesn't mean they are without their detractors, but then what seed bank isn't? Miscommunication, impatience, repeatedly seized/lost packages and sometimes just plain ignorance can account for most of these, and on the whole Sensible Seeds has managed to keep their reputation clean.

There is however, a major scammer who is trying to ride on their good rep by calling himself The Original Sensible Seed Company (referred to henceforth as OSSC) who apparently has ripped off many unsuspecting buyers, and in the confusion Sensible Seeds has taken the fall for this bad behavior. So people really need to be careful to make sure you're dealing with the good guys, and not some piece-of-shite thief, and one way is to just remember that their URL is pretty straightforward, their name followed by dot com.

I've talked to a few growers who personally had great experiences with Sensible, and read dozens of 5-star reviews on several sites, including this one, so I hope that anyone who appreciates dealing with a great company, with a solid rep, good customer service and better than average shipping speed and security, will chime in and add their review. Negative reviews are welcome too, but just make sure you are talking about Sensible Seeds and not that scumbag OSSC, cheers ;?)

fearnoevil · Jan 14, 2018

I just placed an order with Sensible Seeds yesterday, and have both pros and cons to add here.

First the cons:
1) Site looks dated right off the bat, a little confusing at first (but on the bright side, that could be an indicator of just how long they've been in business, lol)

2) Some confusion about whether they accept credit cards. When I arrived I went straight to the FAQ's and checked where I found this, "All transactions are discreet and will show as coming from a clothing store based in China.." This is incorrect as they are encountering the same problem lots of seed bank are, namely that CC companies have been refusing to do business with companies they discover are selling beans for a living (kinda behind the curve if you ask me). So their workaround is that you CAN use a CC, the only hitch is that you have to go to amazondotcodotuk and buy a gift card which they'll receive that way.

3) In reference to #2), there aren't good instructions on how to do this and can be a little confusing if you've never done the gift card thing before, which can create unnecessary worries imo.

Now as for the Pro's:
1) Regarding payment - they take wires/bank transfers, money orders, Bitcoin, cash and yes, you can use a credit/debit card, it's just a bit more convoluted but it does work. Not sure if I'm missing anything else, I'll update this if I find otherwise.

2) Great selection - while they don't have everything (who does) they do have a really broad selection, but since they're located in the UK that may mean no access to a lot of smaller, up and coming breeders popular in the US. But overall great selection, had some stuff I couldn't find elsewhere, and they have a discount line of seeds called Sensible Seeds Premium, a line of great genetics you could think of as sort of a generic line, so you get the same genetics but at a discount. Mix and match singles also available.

3) Decent prices - they claim to offer the same or lower prices as others and, using seedfinder as a baseline, most everything I saw was within a few bucks or the lowest price available. Others have found them to be higher priced but the cool thing is that they offer Price Match which, according to the site, means if you can link them to another bank selling the same product for less, they will match or refund you the difference. THAT is pretty nice and should cover that objection (provided it works, I have no xp with that issue, but have no reason to doubt their promise either).

4) Great customer service - I can personally vouch that they get back to you ASAP when you email them your concerns. I was a bit frustrated Saturday night as I was trying to figure out how to get them paid using my cc to buy the gift card, so I sent them an email, and I should have waited to hear back first, but my impatience to pull the trigger over-powered common sense, lol, causing me to just guess on a couple of key steps. Afterwards, of course, I got paranoid, wondering if my $350 bucks wasn't going to get lost in some black hole in the ethersphere of the Internets, so I sent them another email. To my great surprise, when I woke up the next morning they had answered my email and, happily, they had received the gift card and were preparing my package for shipment. IMO you just can't beat someone getting back to you so quickly AND on a Sunday to boot, so kudos to Sensible for checking that box.

5) Shipping Options - They have lots of options to choose from including stealth and superstealth as well as international tracking and even an option for private courier delivery, which is REALLY nice even if it is around $80. I will add that I think their options beyond regular shipping are a bit pricey, but then I imagine there's a bit of manual labor involved in removing seeds from their breeder packs and then carefully hiding them in the stealth packages, and for peace of mind I don't mind a few extra bucks as I'm always reminded that penny wise is often pound foolish ;?)

6) Bonuses - I should mention that despite the slightly clunky and dated look of the site, using the drop-down menus as well as the filters worked well and helped me find potential strains that I hadn't heard of or considered. They carry lots of feminized seeds, offer smaller packs starting at 3 beans on up (as well as singles) and some pretty decent freebie and bonus offers. You do have to search through a lot of them because lots of breeders offer freebies of their own so that's a big bonus imo, but I'll make a final judgment based on what I get when my package arrives.

Well that's all for now, hope to hear from others about their own experiences with Sensible Seeds, cheers ;?)

greencropper · Jan 15, 2018

fearnoevil said:
I just placed an order with Sensible Seeds yesterday, and have both pros and cons to add here.

First the cons:
1) Site looks dated right off the bat, a little confusing at first (but on the bright side, that could be an indicator of just how long they've been in business, lol)

2) Some confusion about whether they accept credit cards. When I arrived I went straight to the FAQ's and checked where I found this, "All transactions are discreet and will show as coming from a clothing store based in China.." This is incorrect as they are encountering the same problem lots of seed bank are, namely that CC companies have been refusing to do business with companies they discover are selling beans for a living (kinda behind the curve if you ask me). So their workaround is that you CAN use a CC, the only hitch is that you have to go to amazondotcodotuk and buy a gift card which they'll receive that way.

3) In reference to #2), there aren't good instructions on how to do this and can be a little confusing if you've never done the gift card thing before, which can create unnecessary worries imo.

Now as for the Pro's:
1) Regarding payment - they take wires/bank transfers, money orders, Bitcoin, cash and yes, you can use a credit/debit card, it's just a bit more convoluted but it does work. Not sure if I'm missing anything else, I'll update this if I find otherwise.

2) Great selection - while they don't have everything (who does) they do have a really broad selection, but since they're located in the UK that may mean no access to a lot of smaller, up and coming breeders popular in the US. But overall great selection, had some stuff I couldn't find elsewhere, and they have a discount line of seeds called Sensible Seeds Premium, a line of great genetics you could think of as sort of a generic line, so you get the same genetics but at a discount. Mix and match singles also available.

3) Decent prices - they claim to offer the same or lower prices as others and, using seedfinder as a baseline, most everything I saw was within a few bucks or the lowest price available. Others have found them to be higher priced but the cool thing is that they offer Price Match which, according to the site, means if you can link them to another bank selling the same product for less, they will match or refund you the difference. THAT is pretty nice and should cover that objection (provided it works, I have no xp with that issue, but have no reason to doubt their promise either).

4) Great customer service - I can personally vouch that they get back to you ASAP when you email them your concerns. I was a bit frustrated Saturday night as I was trying to figure out how to get them paid using my cc to buy the gift card, so I sent them an email, and I should have waited to hear back first, but my impatience to pull the trigger over-powered common sense, lol, causing me to just guess on a couple of key steps. Afterwards, of course, I got paranoid, wondering if my $350 bucks wasn't going to get lost in some black hole in the ethersphere of the Internets, so I sent them another email. To my great surprise, when I woke up the next morning they had answered my email and, happily, they had received the gift card and were preparing my package for shipment. IMO you just can't beat someone getting back to you so quickly AND on a Sunday to boot, so kudos to Sensible for checking that box.

5) Shipping Options - They have lots of options to choose from including stealth and superstealth as well as international tracking and even an option for private courier delivery, which is REALLY nice even if it is around $80. I will add that I think their options beyond regular shipping are a bit pricey, but then I imagine there's a bit of manual labor involved in removing seeds from their breeder packs and then carefully hiding them in the stealth packages, and for peace of mind I don't mind a few extra bucks as I'm always reminded that penny wise is often pound foolish ;?)

6) Bonuses - I should mention that despite the slightly clunky and dated look of the site, using the drop-down menus as well as the filters worked well and helped me find potential strains that I hadn't heard of or considered. They carry lots of feminized seeds, offer smaller packs starting at 3 beans on up (as well as singles) and some pretty decent freebie and bonus offers. You do have to search through a lot of them because lots of breeders offer freebies of their own so that's a big bonus imo, but I'll make a final judgment based on what I get when my package arrives.

Well that's all for now, hope to hear from others about their own experiences with Sensible Seeds, cheers ;?)

hmmmm tried to order yesterday with the CC/paypal option, no response...sent email to ask...no response, dunno man they seem asleep on the job? or maybe that UK Cheese is taking its toll?

fearnoevil · Jan 15, 2018

greencropper said:
hmmmm tried to order yesterday with the CC/paypal option, no response...sent email to ask...no response, dunno man they seem asleep on the job? or maybe that UK Cheese is taking its toll?

<EDIT> Well I misread their blurb about credit cards and so was waiting for a response for an hour or two before I went back and realized that what you have to do is go to amazon.co.uk and pay for your seeds by buying a gift card. When it asks how you want to sent it, choose email. and then use the email addy they post in their confirmation email which is I think is sensibleseeds @ hotmail . com.

It may be that they only bother to respond promptly if you've already paid? Sounds a little shitty on the surface, but when you think about how many emails they probably get on a daily basis just from curious types just kicking the tires, I suppose they do have to prioritize who they'll respond to right away.

greencropper · Jan 15, 2018

fearnoevil said:
Well I misread their blurb about credit cards and so was waiting for a response for an hour or two before I went back and realized that what you have to do is go to amazon.co.uk and pay for your seeds by buying a gift card. When it asks how you want to sent it, choose email. and then use the email addy they post in their confirmation email which is I think is sensiblegifts @ hotmail . com.

So you placed your order and didn't get an email confirmation?

i also included in my message to them if they could match the price of a competitor on a pack of seeds...they never messaged at all, that was 24hrs ago

fearnoevil · Jan 15, 2018

Huh, that's odd, I just checked my email and discovered that they sent another in response to my email thanking them for emailing me Sunday morning, lol. They just wanted to let me know that my gear was being prepared and would ship tomorrow.

So just to be clear, you actually placed your order already?

greencropper · Jan 15, 2018

fearnoevil said:
Huh, that's odd, I just checked my email and they sent another in response to my thanking them for emailing me Sunday morning, just to let me know that my gear would be shipping out tomorrow. <EDIT> That's today Monday, lol.

So just to be clear, you actually placed your order already?

yup, got order number that says pending, dont think im gonna bother jumping through the hoops for sensibleseeds, i had good years with these guys but its all a bit of a circus now, i will wait for other banks i know will respond in a more positive way, im sorry man, i see you're trying to promote this bank & im not trying to be a wet blanket, hope you kickon with your grows!

fearnoevil · Jan 15, 2018

Could be that on weekends maybe they only respond when an alert tells them a payment was sent, lol, I honestly don't know otherwise. At least today isn't a holiday across the pond, so should have opened ye olde shoppe by now ;?)

fearnoevil · Jan 15, 2018

greencropper said:
yup, got order number that says pending, dont think im gonna bother jumping through the hoops for sensibleseeds, i had good years with these guys but its all a bit of a circus now, i will wait for other banks i know will respond in a more positive way, im sorry man, i see you're trying to promote this bank & im not trying to be a wet blanket, hope you kickon with your grows!

Hey no problem man, I'm just trying to help out, but I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm just cooped up in the house cuz of the weather and thought it would be a help to clear up the confusion from that other scammer OSSC.

Plus trying to find seed banks that you can use a credit card with is a special quest of mine, lol, I'm the impatient type, and when I decide to pull the trigger, I want to get it paid for NOW and not have to hassle with the delay of sending cash or m.o. or bank transfers, then only to find out that what you want is out of stock. IMO in this day and age these guys are going to have to get with the 21st century and figure out how to take Bitcoin or some form of online payment. But good luck dude, been nice talking with you ;?)

fearnoevil · Jan 17, 2018

Got an email last night telling me the order is processed and preparing for shipping, so I imagine they're on their way by now - so far they have sent me 4 emails so again props for keeping me informed.

fearnoevil · Jan 18, 2018

Got another email this morning saying my gear is now in the mail with tracking number too, so now let's see how long this takes from the UK to my door ;?)

fearnoevil · Jan 26, 2018

YES!!! My order arrived today and I have been holding my breath wondering if I'd see the dreaded green tape - that's because following the tracking info, it sat at the NY postal center for 4 days before finally leaving and I was worried they were on hold for a bad reason, lol.

But considering it took 8 days from the UK, I'd consider that decent shipping time, and I did pay for the stealth shipping with insurance so my biggest worry was mostly lost time.

My order (all feminized) included Humboldt Seeds Blue Dream, Cali Connection Girl Scout Cookies, Expert Seeds Gorrila Glue #4 plus Gorrila Glue #4 x White Widow and finally I thought I'd try a couple of Sensible Seed's Premium strains, Seriously Citrus and Night Nurse (their versions at a slightly lower cost ;?). Total was around $315 plus $50 for stealth shipping w/tracking plus insurance.

AND the icing on the cake was the freebies which included 6 Advanced Seeds Critical Soma and 20 Sensible Seeds Premium Mega Mouth (also all feminized). Going by their list price that's around $240 worth of free seeds!!! THAT was a serious surprise, especially considering I just received a shipment from SHN (Ethos Genetics Citral Glue and Cannarados Cherry Fucker) which offered a 10% discount and 12 instead of 10 CCF and those 2 extra seeds are small, pale runts.

My favorite pack is the Humboldt Seeds Blue Dream, a block of wood that's been drilled out with a glass tube inserted for the seeds and engraved with their logo and seed information, nice souvenir ;?D

fearnoevil · Jan 26, 2018

Haven't heard of Mega Mouth but with what seems to be a dozen new strains dropping every day, it's hard to keep up with what's out there. But they sound really interesting, here's the data from SS:

Mega Mouth Feminized Marijuana Seeds
Mega Mouth Feminized Marijuana Seeds by Sensible Seeds Premium Selection: The Mega Mouth cannabis strain is an indica dominant delight with a bite! Derived from the cross of three Exotic strains from Hawaii, Afghanistan and Nepal.

Heavy Yields (especially outdoors) High THC, mould and disease resistant make this a must for the commercial grower. Side branches can sometimes be stretched due to the weight of the sticky buds so may need support towards the end, suitable for cooler climates as well as being hardy.

The flavour and aromas from Mega Mouth are sweet and sugary, with a hint of berries, and the flavour when smoked is of sweet mango with a hint of nutmeg. It offers a potent and balanced effect which is cerebrally stimulating as well as deeply relaxing.

Mega Mouth - Loud and proud... a good addition to your collection!

Features

Sex: Feminized

Type: 75% Indica / 25% Sativa

Grow: Indoor/Outdoor

Flowering Type: Photoperiod

Flowering Time: 8 to 10 weeks

Outdoor Harvest: Early October

Yield: Indoor: 400 to 450g/m2 – Outdoor: up to 650g/plant

Height: Indoor: 70 to 80cm – Outdoor: 80 to 140cm

THC: 22%

CBD: 1.1%

Genetics: Afghani x Nepalese x Hawaiian

Medicinal Properties: Medium

Medical Conditions: Stress relief, Insomnia, Depression, Headaches

Taste/Flavour: Sweet, Mango

Effect: Relaxing and cerebral high, euphoric

Grow Difficulty: Easy

Not much info out there on the internets, but what there is sounds promising, but with my current lineup, it'll probably be a while before I can give them a try, but I'll post something when I finally get a round tuit ;?D

fearnoevil · Feb 8, 2018

One more update on some of the seeds I purchased from Sensible Seeds.

I took 10 of the Mega Mouth, along with the GSC from Cali Connection and the three singles of Seriously Citrus, Gorrila Glue #4 and the GG#4 x WW and germinated them in the normal manner, and was pleasantly surprised to find all 19 beans popped and are looking good (if a little leggy as I was behind on getting the light down to a proper height.

While the quality of the genetics (especially the MM which was their own bred line) remains to be seen, overall I can say that aside from a couple of minor hitches, I've been very happy so far (if any bad news arises I'll post back).

fearnoevil · Feb 8, 2018

SUMMARY FOR SENSIBLE SEEDS

Before summing up let me again state that I am in no way affiliated with this company, nor have I asked for or received any special treatment for this review. I started out simply wanting to help clarify that Sensible Seeds is a long-standing and reputable company as opposed to that SCAM site OSSC, (and that's because I have a SERIOUS grudge against online SCUMBAGS who take advantage of people's trust while ruining the good reputation of others).

Another reason to look into this company is because I've been looking for companies that except some form of electronic online payment, especially credit cards, due to the fairly recent problem with card companies refusing to work with companies that sell cannabis seeds (asinine, imo, but that's an issue for another post ;?). I'm just the impatient type and more often than not do not want to hassle with sending payment via snail mail and all that entails, lol.

Of course as I explained, while SS is also having the same problem, they have come up with a very easy workaround by letting you use your credit card to pay for your order by sending them a gift card through Amazon.co.uk which, once you learn how to go about it, really isn't much more of a hassle, AND does actually give you the peace of mind of protecting your card from potential fraud since Amazon (love em or hate em ;?) is one of the most secure shopping sites on the www.

Bottom line, I have been buying seeds online for around 13 years, and I have to say that my initial experience with Sensible Seeds rates near the top along with a few others I've dealt with. Aside from a large selection and the fact they've been in the business for over 15 years, the FREEBIES I received were way more than I expected and more than I've gotten from any other bank in years.

And I really appreciated that they responded to all my emails and then some, which certainly made me feel like they actually cared about me as a customer. That peace of mind is very important to me, especially considering all the nerve-wracking hurdles and delays you have to go through waiting for your babies to arrive, lol.

However that may only apply to paying customers, since someone else on this thread had a different experience (but considering it was the weekend, maybe more patience was necessary). I did put my payment through right away which may be the difference, but when you consider that they probably have to field a lot of such questions from tire-kickers and lookiloos, can't say as I blame them (as they say, "money talks and bullshit walks" ;?).

This was just one transaction of course, and maybe others have had different experiences, although oddly I haven't read many on RIU. I hope others will chime in, good or bad, because more info is certainly needed, cheers :blsmoke:

Nirrity · Mar 14, 2018

just received a parcel from them. my impression is
they are really nice guys, and what touched me is their patience and responsiveness with emails. they respond really fast. ive got my issues with payment options, having unsuccessfully gone through amazon gift card then bank transfer and Paul was always polite. the super-stealth package i choose is quite witty. they also sent generous amount of free seeds (twice the amount of the main order). almost forgot one thing: the price on one of the strains i ordered was quite higher than official seed bank price, so they did match the price. all that service is for sub-100$ order. if you ask me - highly recommended.

xtsho · Apr 6, 2018

I use them and have absolutely no issues. Their promotions are really good.

"Buy Any Pack from the Sensible Seeds Premium Range and we will include a similar sized pack from another Seed Bank.

Spend £160 on any seeds and receive 15 Free seeds FEM Free Seeds Will be a Lucky Dip of Top Fem strains from our Sensible Seeds Premium Range

For every £50 Spent on seeds and paid by Bitcoin and we will include these seeds for free.. 5 Seeds of Premium OG Kush Fem ( or the Auto version if you prefer )"

I took advantage of all those promotions. Customer service is top notch as well. And they have a huge selection of the strains I want which are mostly landrace regular seeds or well established hybrids. Their shipping is fast as well. They get it out the door right away. Thumbs up from me.

pupkin · Jul 25, 2018

Hi guys. Whats the real webpage of Sensible Seeds and webpage of scam OSSC? I placed an order on the Original Seeds Store. This company name is
“OSSC Souvenirs SL”
I have paid with BTC and asked for simple shipping without traking and with keeping it in the original breeders packs. I found out that company from seedstores rating sites, but after i placed the order i checked reviews more deep and got a lot of complains to ossc that this is scam and so on. I recieved my parcel in India in 3 weeks, it was packed simple but good, no one seed was damaged, all my order was completed right. But it shipped repacked with no original packs. So about shipping there is no any issues just no original packing is issue. They say on the web page that they are repacking for some of countries, but anyway i got some paranoic hesitation.
When i look this seeds its all look aproximately same size and color. There is 10 different hybrids and its strangely looks almost same. Usualy seeds of a different hybrids have a different size and print, but in my case its almost similar. What are you thinking guys is it ok or they just put some shit and its soft kind of scam?

xtsho · Jul 25, 2018

pupkin said:
Hi guys. Whats the real webpage of Sensible Seeds and webpage of scam OSSC? I placed an order on the Original Seeds Store. This company name is
“OSSC Souvenirs SL”
I have paid with BTC and asked for simple shipping without traking and with keeping it in the original breeders packs. I found out that company from seedstores rating sites, but after i placed the order i checked reviews more deep and got a lot of complains to ossc that this is scam and so on. I recieved my parcel in India in 3 weeks, it was packed simple but good, no one seed was damaged, all my order was completed right. But it shipped repacked with no original packs. So about shipping there is no any issues just no original packing is issue. They say on the web page that they are repacking for some of countries, but anyway i got some paranoic hesitation.
When i look this seeds its all look aproximately same size and color. There is 10 different hybrids and its strangely looks almost same. Usualy seeds of a different hybrids have a different size and print, but in my case its almost similar. What are you thinking guys is it ok or they just put some shit and its soft kind of scam?

https://www.sensibleseeds.com/ is the site I've used without any issues. All seeds came in original breeder packs except for some of the free seeds which were in black packaging with Sensible Seeds labels on them.

xtsho · Oct 5, 2018

Another successful purchase from Sensible Seeds. Ordered and received my order in under a week delivered to the US. Got a bunch of freebie fem seeds as well. OG Kush and Chem OG. Those are going to friends since I grow regulars myself.

Sensible Seeds, a reputable seed bank you can trust!

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