Aquabid is just like Ebay and they both stinki! Its either hobbyists calling common plants rare and selling them overpriced, or auction sites in singapore shipping plants to you illegally. Planted tank.net is a forum like this one where people can sell plants out of their aquarium. I have gotten ripped off three times buying plants from people on plantedtank.net, and they were from "regulars".
Well... where ever you seen those plants for sale and shipment.. they are total rip offs. I go to big al's aquariums and the plants are great I get a lot of my sword plants there, and a lot of my cryptocoryenes.
They have big Als in japan? There are lots of aquaria stores in Japan, including Amano. Plants there are much higher priced there than here in the USA.
There are lots of LEGITIMATE online businesses selling quality plants in the USA. Not Ebayers but real businesses. I have bought from three of them without any major problems, but my favorite is Aqua Botanic. Great selection, good prices. Been around a long long time.They ship priority mail for $9.80 The owner is also a writer in TFH magazine and a column in freshwater and marine aquarium magazine. He has a blog that is pretty cool that has his published articles. The aqua botanic WEB site is pretty amazing too. Check out the galleries. aquabotanic.com