Buy Plants from Indonesia – 101 Import Plant

Buying plants from Indonesia can make us anxious. because it will take a long trip for plants to arrive in our home. 

Today we will talk about everything you need to know to buy plants from Indonesia. What should I expect and what should I do during the shipping process?

Check out our latest rare plants collection. You can also visit our US Rare Plant Shop Warehouse

Import Permit / EORI Number

Before you place your order, you need to check the import permit requirement in your home country. An import permit is a legal document that the national government issues allowing the importation of specific goods into its territory.

If you live in the US, you can check on APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), especially when you want to import more than 12 plants. You can get the permit for less than an hour.

For some countries in Europe, you also need an EORI number (Economic Operators’ Registration and Identification number) instead of the import permit. 

You can check the regulations in your country before importing plants. Sometimes they have additional declarations request for the phytosanitary certificate.

Phytosanitary Certificate

When buying plants from Indonesia, every country expects each package to have a Phytosanitary certificate.

But what is Phytosanitary certificate?

It is a document with the identity of the plants, including the genus, type, and health inspection of the plants. The seller will provide phytosanitary services.

Some sellers will charge extra to proceed with the document, but Labijo will do so for free. 

For US customers, since Q4 2023, you must have an import permit to get phytosanitary certificate. A quarantine agency in Indonesia required us to attach an import permit during the processing the phyto. Without the permit, we can’t get the phyto and can’t ship your plants.

If you buy less than 12 plants, you don’t need to worry about the USDA. The plants will be shipped directly to your address. Import permit only to get the phytosanitary certificate. If you buy more than 12 plants, read the section below.

For our Thai fellows, we will help you get non-GMO documents. So the plants will get through customs easily.

Import Process

Since more than 50% of our customers are in the USA, we can share with you how the import process in the USA works.

Do I need an import permit? YES! Since Q4 2023, everyone from the US needs to have an import permit to buy plants from Indonesia. Even if you order less than 12 plants, you still must have them.

Why? The quarantine agency in Indonesia required an import permit to get the phytosanitary certificate documents. Without an import permit, we can’t get the phytosanitary certificate.

Don’t need to worry about this change, you can get an import permit easily in USDA Aphis Efile and pick PPQ 587. Usually, you only need less than 30 minutes to get the permit.

If you buy more than 12 plants, the package must be shipped to USDA Plant Inspection. It’s available on a green yellow label that comes with an import permit.

Read more about : Import Plants to the USA

Find the Right Seller

The next step before you buy plants from Indonesia is to find the right seller. There are plenty of sellers out there.

When the seller is active on social media, that is better. It means that they keep updating their stocks, and it is highly likely that they are online, so they can respond at any moment.

Most online sellers will do their best to assist you in obtaining your plants. If something bad happens, they will find a solution in the quickest and best way possible.

Shops like Labijo are trusted because, as plant parents and nurseries, we understand the weird way to know the plants are still on the way before getting home. 

Patience

After Labijo got your payment, we will process the export permit to the authorized agent. This process itself would take 4-5 days.

Once we get the permit, we will pack your orders and send them to the quarantine office to inspect that the plants are healthy and free of any bugs or fungi. This process could take 1-2 days.

If anything is going well, your order will be handed to the shipping company. Their long trip begins. We will send you the tracking number, so you check where the package is.

Add extra patience when the tracker says your package is in customs. Neither the tracker nor we can say anything because the entire inspection will be controlled by customs. This includes checking phytosanitary certificates, tax calculations, and import permits/EORI numbers.

Trying to call the customs will not help anything, it doesn’t make their work faster or slower. The one that helping is only when a document (import permit/EORI number and phytosanitary are available)

Guarantee & Refund Policy

Sometimes, we will get tough luck. Some plants do not arrive in their best condition. It is unusual to happen but possible.

Minor damage:

• Yellow leaves: It is minor damage, you can just cut the yellow leaves and throw them away. The yellow leaves are not going to green anymore.
• Crisps leaves: Crisps leaves usually only happen in the minor part. It will be okay if the major parts are still green, it means that your leaves are still healthy. 
• Weak leaves: It is normal since they come from a big trip without the sun in few days. You can put your plants in freshwater for few days until they are fresh again and ready to put in the pot.

For minor damage, we don’t send any replacement nor refund.

Major damage:

• Root/Bulb rot: Unfortunately, your plants can’t survive during the trip. If it is the case, we will send you to get the new plants.
• Freezing plants: When the plants are frozen during winter shipping and start to rot.

The refund policy is applicable when we send a replacement but it still has major damage or at the first package but you decide to refuse a replacement for major damage. 

FAQ

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email!