Sow Seeds Avis 

I had delivery of three orders of seeds from Sow Seeds. They have a great site, a good selection and all, I repeat all, the seeds I’ve grown have been productive. I’ve had some interesting and healthy plants. I can’t wait to start browsing their collection and shopping for next year.

On time delivery and great seed. All what I expected for my allotment.

Lack of response . This is serious because you get no reply. My last lot of White Clover is completely wrong and I have nobody to talk to

Will be looking for an alternative supplier. Pity as have been buying g from them for years

The original order was dispatched promptly however I had an issue with one pack of seeds being incorrect.
Having sent a message and not receiving a reply within the relevant timescales advised I read the Trust Pilot reviews that are frankly incorrect. It took almost a week to get a reply but the correct order was swiftly fulfilled and done so politely. A little more patience was all that was required

Ordered four boxes of seeds (herbs/chilli/flowers/microgreens) as christmas gifts.

After initially disappointing resuts with the herbs, i tried again, and again. Different composts/pots etc. All in a greenhouse.
The hype and packaging are - it appears - all that this company can do well.
When i planted some out of date competitor seeds at the same time in May, this was key to me writing the review as the out of date seeds are flourishing, the sowseeds still anaemic or dying.
When the person who received the flower seeds as a gift confirmed yesterday that all of theirs had died after only 6 weeks (again lots of other plants sown at the same time from competitor products were flourishing) it is clear that sowseeds product is not fit for purpose.
Avoid.

I spent a lot of money on 2 box's of seeds. Very disappointed with them. I got 3 tommato plants from a 2 packets of seeds. I popped a slice of tomato in the same compost in another a and had great results. Same with the parsnips 8 from a full pack. Runner beans are poor. Broad beans are okay

I ordered 10 packets of padron peppers 99p a pack last May 2024 which thought was excellent value. There was 100% NO germination, I sowed the rest this year, May 2025 yet again 100% No germination. I emailed them & they said they would give me a refund, I emailed them again & they said their system would not let them refund my money, I emailed again asking them to send me a cheque, they replied, it was a good will gesture & all seeds are tested before they leave, well mine clearly wasn’t tested, absolutely shocking service, offer a refund & then don’t, will not be buying from them again.

Thought it was fair to write a review because:

I ordered from Seeds Sow blindly as they were the first website on Google when I googled cheap microgreen seeds. I placed my order, and only after did I look at the Trustpilot very bad reviews and instantly felt disheartened. I emailed the company straight away asking for a refund - with no response, but all my order did arrive. Ordered May 7th, shipped May 9th, delivered 12th May.

When they arrived, the seeds were in silver foil packets - a tad frustrating as some had the name printed on the foil, some did not. I can not talk about the quality of the seeds or if like some review suggest, they are very old, or of not good quality.

Honestly my order arrived in a good time, but I wouldn't have ordered from them to begin with if I saw the reviews first. Also, customer service did email me back on the 12th May to say that my order was shipped and they now trade under a different company (for those wondering why Sow Seeds Ltd was dissolved)

So Sowseeds say they have refunded my money. They have NOT. Why lie?

Customer service is bad. They failed to dispatched my order for two weeks. I contacted them "no stock ". I cancelled the order. They sent it the same day. Seeds don't want to germinate.

*EDIT, 16th April 2025: The seeds arrived an hour ago. Two days ago, I had an email from Rita - who I believe left the company in 2023 - to say that my seeds had been dispatched. Then Royal Mail emailed to say they'd be delivered today. And they have.

Between writing my first review, below, and writing this update, I was emailed by Will at Sow Seeds in response to my web form enquiry. Will explained in his email two weeks ago: "I can confirm that the broccoli is out of stock, but is due into us tomorrow, so your order should be delivered to you towards the end of this week. Kind regards, Will."

My seeds didn't arrive last week, but at least they arrived today.

Recommendation: STILL avoid this company.*
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This is my third order in 12 months. My first two orders were fine: The first (April 2024) was super quick, the second, in August '24 a little tardy. All my orders were Broccoli micro greens which consistently produced a high yield of sprouts.

I didn't feel I had reason to take my business elsewhere.

On March 20th of this year, I ordered my usual 1kg broccoli micro greens. I allowed 2 weeks, as per their advice, but checked my account on day no. 14, to see "unfulfilled" next to delivery status. The word "fulfilled" was written next to my previous two orders, along with a "paid" status for all three. Payment for my last order was taken on the 20th March 2025.

So far, all my correspondence is yet to be acknowledged.

I ought to have done due diligence and checked TrustPilot first before using the company, but hindsight and all that...

Curiously, several commentators here have pointed out that they had a few good interactions with the company - initially at least.

I noticed that the five-star reviews are heavily weighted in the 2022-2023 period. The one star reviews tend to start around 2024, suggesting that the company started well, but is now under some kind of pressure or severely understaffed, or just in chaos.

Another interesting and curious review by another dissatisfied customer reported having checked with Companies House a year or so ago, only to discover that Sow Seeds ceased trading or was no longer registered from 2023/2024. I haven't bothered to check, but it would help explain the decline in service from what seems to have been a genuinely conscientious and good-quality company at their startup, to a basement-room, ad-hoc customer lottery, as most of us seems to be experiencing now.

Recommendation: avoid this company.

Order received does not seem to be correct. Have contacted Sow Seeds via their online contact form. Nobody from Sow Seeds has bothered to respond! Disappointing! Company is not living up to its promises! Unlikely to order again given this poor experience!

I placed an order with this company for the microgreen kit and other seed packets for sprouting. The web site says despatch within 24 hours so I was looking forward to early delivery. In the meantime I was offered a 10% coupon if I ordered again within 7 days! I then checked trust pilot and companies house. To be honest I thought 'well thats 20 quid down the drain'. After emailing delivery request a couple of times the goods did arrive. All as ordered except the journal notes were missing (not too worried about that). Not a lot of instruction but then there is Google. One of the seed packets had been swapped out but again that can happen. I have tried most and those have sprouted and seeded. All in all I am cautiously optimistic that the other seeds will be okay. My order was placed on 10th delivered on 17th. I just wish companies would be a bit more honest on their despatch/delivery dates. I dont mind waiting if I know about it and am kept informed. Please dont answer delivery queries after the goods have been delivered! Saying that, if the rest of the seeds sprout/grow I will possibly order again. Not a bad experience if you hold your nerve!

Only part of my order arrived and the firm does not answer my emails asking about the missing items. Looking at the reviews it seems this is not a unique experience! Wish i’d looked here before I gave them my business.

I recently ordered some seeds from sow seeds and neglected to check trustpilot first. When I checked Trustpilot i then saw all the negative reviews and was really dissappointed. So i decided to email sowseeds and said I had seen all the poor reviews and would be happy to write a good one if all my seeds turned up and turned up promptly.
My seeds all arrived within a week of purchase and I got an email pre delivery from Will to say the warehouse had dispatched my seeds.
So heres my 5 star review.

Place order on 23/02/2025 and finally arrived on 10/03/2025, not the best services for some simple seeds.
Contacted Sow Seeds after 10 days to be told "should be with you in couple of days"
Finally arrived 15 days from placing order.
Will not be rushing back to Sow Seeds in the future.

If I could give no stars I would. Every negative review about this shambles of a seed supplier are true. They take your money then send emails saying part of the order is out of stock. DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM. One month after the order and still no contact from them.

Edit: Since leaving this review, I did, eventually get my money back. I thought that was an end to the matter, however, today, I recieved my order from them, for free it would seem! Their customer services are appalling, "Will" seriously needs to go on a course or something, however, I need to edit this review, so I'm no longer calling them "scammers", and I've given them another 2 stars, simply because I now have a load of seeds for free which I was not expecting, and certainly hadn't asked for.

Having used this company a couple of years ago, I had no hesitation in using them again. If only I had looked at reviews first. They've taken my money, after a couple of weeks I contacted them and they said one item in my order was out of stock but would be back in stock soon. Since then I have sent numerous messages and am now just asking for my money back, which of course they are ignoring. Going to Google now to find out how and who to report them to, they're just scammers taking people's money.

Order placed 3 weeks ago never turned up. Despite contacting them on their website and by email, not received a response. Requested a refund via PayPal luckily.

I’ve given as many as two stars simply because I did receive my order promptly, and did get replies to my emails. HOWEVER - on their website, it’s claimed this is a family business based in Yorkshire Wolds. It’s not - the business has been wound up (ref Companies House). It appears to have been taken over by another company, based in Gloucestershire, that’s main business is - again, ref Companies House - "Retail of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised store” - nothing even remotely horticultural. Further, the seeds I ordered bear no indication of how old they are, or when they should be used by, which is concerning. I queried this via email email and was told that, if stored correctly, they can be kept for one year - information that is meaningless if one has no idea when the seeds were gathered. Only time will tell if the product is viable. The Austen Group - the company now operating Sow Seeds - is selling under false pretences, either through incompetence or deliberate misrepresentation. For me, it was the “family business based in Yorkshire” line that tipped me to chose buying microgreens from them, rather than another seller. I urge anyone to avoid this company until or unless they trade honestly.