when the heck did sps get so expensive
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TUSI
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+1 for sure
lakeviewink
Well-Known Member
Expensive compared to what? When you say SPS do you mean the latest and greatest acropora offered by some vendor? IME there are tons of common Montipora, Seriatopora, and acropora that are really INexpensive, but again, they are common. You are going to pay higher prices for the "new" and "different" whether it's SPS coral or something else. It's marketing and hype in a retail setting.
benzc01
Active Member
Yeah its really annoying, even the classics are starting to go up. Vendors and wholesalers are charging crazy prices for stuff that shouldn't be, I understand supply and demand but it's really getting crazy, frag pack for 600-1000+ is just insane. I remember buying a nice maricultured pieces for 30-40 bucks now there 100+ easily getting to around 200, that's just insane
Rob.D
Moderator
Not all the blame can be placed on the vendors, exporters are raising prices and shipping costs continue to go up. In regards to the newest and greatest over saturated micro frag for $300-$600, imo, is completely ridiculous.
coralfarm123
INDMAS Member
All the chop shops are driving up prices by doing what they do. Why would a wholesaler want to sell someone a cheap colony only to see that person make 20-50x mark up? Back when I first started in the hobby, wholesalers would cut people off if they were found to be chopping up wild colonies.
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EricTheRed
Community Member
I was just hit with this realization a couple months ago. I hadn't bought sps for over 2 years and then my tank crashed. When I re-booted it this summer I saw what happened to prices and almost had a stroke. I decided not to feed the fire and I refused to pay $500 for a 1/4 frag of some 3 month old harvested wild acro. Yes, there were a couple of online vendors who I did purchase packs from but they were not the advertised $500-$1000 packs. I found that when I asked to create my own pack the prices became acceptable on a per frag basis. If someone didn't cut me a serious break when I wanted to buy 7-10 acros then I passed.
That being said, I found the best deals from other reefers. There were several locals who, for $100, stocked me up with ~ 10 HE/LE frags. Since September when I began restocking I've accumulated 66 acros. I'd say 43 of them came from local reefers and 7 came from a reefer on R2R who had a good rep and shipped.
That being said, I found the best deals from other reefers. There were several locals who, for $100, stocked me up with ~ 10 HE/LE frags. Since September when I began restocking I've accumulated 66 acros. I'd say 43 of them came from local reefers and 7 came from a reefer on R2R who had a good rep and shipped.
mrcoffee2
Valuable Member
Agreed
Think about how many reefers there are now compared to how many there was 10 yrs ago. There is certainly no one thing that is causing the prices to fly up. Its a combination of things and it is a booming hobby now, lots of opportunity to make money. Much easier to keep things alive than it was 10 yrs ago. Also the reefers code is gone now from what I understand.
I contribute a lot of the prices going up to nano reefs. Easy to setup, perfect for the living room, low maintenance, very pretty. It's easy for the novice to be convinced to buy one and stock it with a bunch of pretty corals. Then months later they crash because they don't really understand the fundamentals to owning a full blown reef and all the pretty corals they had die. <- don't quote me on the last part.
Also I blame cornbred! A grade A coral might be $50-150... You attach the name cornbred to it BAM that baby is $500
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I'm not a huge fan of the little nubs. If there not fragged right they don't seem to grow right. I like the mini colonies that are a few branches. I have a green tort that keeps growing height wise but it has very few branches there isn't even any growing up from were it's encrusted. My mini colonies or multiple branches seem to do better.
Why blame the wholesaler? Blame the hobbiest who would buy a 1" piece for over 200 bucks. The wholesaler over the years have experimented with prices to see how far they could go and we took the bait. Started off 50 for a inch then 100 then 200 and we bought it at all those prices so up and up they went. If we would have nipped it in the bud when it was happening we would have vendors like reef raft selling a 1" piece for 2000 dollars oh and guess what he sold that piece for 2000 dollars so why would he stop?
Nowadays it would be like the pot calling the kettle black. Now, most wholesalers don't want to sell whole colonies. Many are even fragging maricultured pieces.
Could not agree more, how can we get upset at the people selling the frags for $100+ if we are the ones actually buying them. If people would stop paying that much, then the dealers would stop selling them for that much.
mrcoffee2
Valuable Member
How can you fault some one for wanting to make more money? As I said it is not one thing that is driving the prices up. Its multiple things. Its a booming hobby now LOTS of opportunities. Lets not all get narrow minded now
Yes but we are paying that much for something that doesn't really belong to any of us. It's sitting there minding it's business on the reef and all of a sudden it's plucked from the ocean. That person didn't grow it out. With gas prices and everything else up I can see it go up a bit but whole colonies that were $50 now we're paying 10 or more for nubs. It doesn't take anymore work to pull out a green slimey than a reef raft whatever. I don't mind paying 40 or 50 for a nice mini colony but 100 or more for a nub I'm all set. So I'm not part of this problem but I have to pay since others do. There's to many people with may to much money that don't care.
Keithcorals
Well-Known Member
Supply and demand. I have corals I can hardly give away and others people will wait six months and pay hundreds for. The trick is knowing when there really is a short supply and when someone is trying to hype a coral as more rare than it is. The other problem is some people will pay crazy prices for a fresh cut frag of a wild acro but will not pay good money for something truly tank grown. I think the problem is not the prices but that there is not a good effort to place value on true aquaculture. If people paid more for tank raised corals it would encourage more propagation and less chop shops. But people being people if they can get the same price for a frag of a coral they bought wholesale yesterday as they can for one they spent 6 months growing why would they bother growing anything.
The best is when A vendor renames a coral and sells it for more then what the original goes for and people still but it at the higher price LOL
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