The best pepper seed comes from vendors who have earned growers’ trust. This directory scores seed vendors by what growers actually harvested, so the good ones rise to the top and the next buyer knows who to order from.

Vendors

Bought seed from one of these vendors? Open their page and report your order. A good report helps a great vendor as much as a bad one warns off the rest.

Don’t see your vendor? Add them

How scores work

Every score is simple arithmetic you can check yourself. Every report is on the vendor’s page.

1. Each report earns points

• 100: grew true to the variety advertised
• 25: didn’t germinate
• 15: never arrived
• 0: grew out as something other than what was sold

A wrong grow-out scores lowest because it costs a full season. A missing order can usually be refunded; a lost season can’t. Reports still waiting on germination or harvest count toward a vendor’s report total but don’t change the score until the grower updates them.

2. Every vendor starts at 60

A vendor with no reports starts at 60, counted as if it already had three reports of 60. That keeps a single glowing or angry report from deciding where a vendor stands. As real reports come in, the starting 60 matters less and less.

3. The formula

Score = (60 × 3 + total report points) ÷ (3 + number of scored reports)

• No reports: (180 + 0) ÷ 3 = 60
• One report that grew true: (180 + 100) ÷ 4 = 70
• One report that grew out wrong: (180 + 0) ÷ 4 = 45
• Ten reports that all grew true: (180 + 1,000) ÷ 13 = 91

Scores are rounded to the nearest whole number.

4. Colors

• Green, 70 and up: growers recommend
• Grey, 50 to 69: not enough reports yet, or mixed
• Red, below 50: growers report problems

Only a grower’s most recent report on a vendor counts. Reports are checked for spam and abuse before they appear; they are never removed for being negative. Vendors can respond to any report, and they’re welcome to ask customers to report their orders. Reports must describe a real purchase, and offering discounts or freebies in exchange for reports isn’t allowed. Every vendor, including the ones we listed ourselves, started at the same 60.

Had a bad order? How to report it and get your money back

A report here warns other growers, but it won’t get your money back. File with the agencies and payment companies that can act. Before you start, gather the seller’s name, shop name or social handle, and website; the order date and amount; how you paid; any tracking number; and screenshots of the listing and your messages.

U.S. Postal Inspection Service

For orders shipped, or promised to ship, by U.S. Mail.

1. Open the USPIS report page.
2. Under What type of crime are you reporting?, find Mail Fraud and click its Report button.
3. Enter the seller’s details and describe what you ordered versus what you received: nothing, the wrong variety, or seed that never germinated.
4. Keep the envelope and any seed packets. Inspectors may ask for them.

Federal Trade Commission

1. Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and start a report.
2. Describe the purchase and what went wrong, including the seller’s name and website.
3. Save or print your report on the final screen. You can’t get a copy later.

FTC reports go into a database used by federal, state, and local law enforcement.

State attorney general

1. Find your state’s attorney general through NAAG.
2. On their site, look for Consumer Protection or File a Complaint.
3. File in the seller’s state too, if it’s different from yours.

Getting your money back

• PayPal: Open a dispute in the Resolution Center as Item not received or Significantly not as described. Only Goods & Services payments are covered, not Friends & Family.
• Credit card: Dispute the charge with your card issuer. Federal law gives you 60 days from the statement date to dispute billing errors.
• Debit card, Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle: Protections are weaker, but contact the provider anyway.

Seed that grows out wrong is often discovered after these dispute windows close. That’s when the agency reports above matter most.

Reports reflect the individual experiences of the growers who submit them, not findings by Heat & Harvest.