Joy, Pawpaw seeds need to be kept moist and stratified. They can also take a really looooooong time to sprout. Mine, planted in spring, just popped up a few weeks ago (the roots emerge earlier). Many people unfamiliar with growing pawpaws give up way too early. If you didn't keep them watered and didn't wait until about this time of year, that may have been the problem.

I know little about the Myrtle Beach area but if perchance you get near central SC (which unfortunately is not close to MB) you can see hundreds of pawpaes growing naturally in Congaree National Park simply aside the trails and with no off-trail wandering (or thousands or tens of thousands with off-trail wandering of just a hundred yards or so. They are OK but not outstanding in eating quality (more the whitish type rather than yellow fleshed) and do not fruit abundantly for some reason. There is also a wild patch in a ravine along a trail in Riverbanks Zoo that I have never seen fruiting. Perhaps it is all from rootsuckers of one genotype.

I do have pawpaws but got them as young trees. Still, I've grown many other plants from seeds and often when the seed is a hard one one is told to either crack it a little or sand it with sandpaper a bit in order to assist the seedling inside to break free and begin to grow. I don't know if that is what seller was doing for you, but it is a possibility. Like Tony said, all you can do is plant it and wait. Pam in cinti

I have paw paw seeds being stratified right now and am overwintering some that I grew from seed last year. Let me know if you are interested in seedlings at some point in the future.