$520 for a single polyp?

[Jon Fishman]

Personally I couldn't look at myself in the mirror trying to get away with selling that.

Probably pick up a pretty nice mirror from my local antiquities shop for $520

 

[Ling_Thing]

cornbred's site has it for $399 for a 1/3-1/2 inch frag. This is just somebody trying to gouge or make the other frags they have for sale seem like a good deal.

He has the cornbred golden jawdropper for $399 were talking about reef raft Canada jawdropper two different acros

 

[helms20]

From what I can tell, it’s all about tales of “rarity” and nifty-sounding names. Call it the “Kissed Directly by God” coral, or “Muliplex Fragzilla,” and charge an extra $250 (lol).

I have one of those each for a steal....$249

 

[SeaDweller]

From what I can tell, it’s all about tales of “rarity” and nifty-sounding names. Call it the “Kissed Directly by God” coral, or “Muliplex Fragzilla,” and charge an extra $250 (lol).

In San Diego there’s a shop that sells an acro called “Gods gift” and the guy wants $750 for a frag. God must have grown it himself under those heavenly Lights and had Jesus and Mary dip it for him daily in holy water too!

 

[TheHarold]

if only we can detect this and bid up the price only for them to have to buy it in the end

That is not effective. Because then they can just relist the item. It happens frequently

 

[Opus]

Just in terms of these high-priced, named acros/other corals (like $200 pp zoas etc) I don't know the names of them unless someone tells me...... and I spend all of my free-time at work (which is a lot) on this site looking at corals etc. I can't imagine that the average person (or anyone I personally know) is going to walk in my house and say "Holy cow! You have a Burn-and-Bet Peepers acro and Skeeve-Martian zoas?!?! that's crazy! What a jerk!" I'm guessing It would be more along the lines of "Oh wow.... those purple things are nice"


Most of these crazy high priced things have VERY similar looking alternatives out there that grow faster etc...... I guess when someone refers to corals/zoas/acros etc. as "From my collection" or "I have this in my collection" it's kind of a pet peeve of mine.....

It really is no different from me looking at my dad's coin collection. I just look at the quarter and say look a nice shiny quarter, must be worth a quarter, but it is worth $500. Rare or not it is still just worth a quarter in my mind.

 

[Opus]

As much as we gripe about the prices of corals on here, this site is probably one of the biggest reasons it goes on. The for sale section is littered with high dollar corals and so is the dealer section. Just the other day a holy grail torch sold for $3500 on here in 2 hours. I was shocked but that is where we are at in this hobby. As I've said in other threads like this, I figure in the next 10 years I will be priced out of it.

 

[Boonz28]

This seems like simple economics to me. There are more people coming into this hobby now than ever before due to technology advances making it easier/ more viable. More people wanting corals = an increase in demand. Indonesia is closed so supply is down. An increase in demand plus a decrease in supply = higher prices.
I wish I could still buy a mint 69 Camaro for 3k but unfortunately so does everyone else lol

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I believe most of these crazy priced corals are basically only bought by people looking to make money off of them.
The only way to truely get corals for what they are actually worth is to deal with people who have been in the hobby for a long time and know what is rare and what is not. Going through vendors to find rare high dollar stuff is just more expensive in every way and risky in some situations as well. Highlighted by all the people in this thread giving warnings about buying from a certain person.
Normally I give away tiny frags of nice stuff for free but this is not even a tiny frag, it’s barely a coral yet and I don’t think it’s right. Major discounts should come with a “frag” like this. Honestly I see this becoming an easy way for vendors to make money and I don’t want any part of it. They can cut a tip off and have it grow back in a few days and profit greatly, buyer taking all the risk and waiting a year to see it become even a fragment.
The future great coral sellers are going to be the ones who can provide large frags and keep a large selection for sale. These days only a couple guys fit that description.

 

[tnyr5]

I believe most of these crazy priced corals are basically only bought by people looking to make money off of them.
The only way to truely get corals for what they are actually worth is to deal with people who have been in the hobby for a long time and know what is rare and what is not. Going through vendors to find rare high dollar stuff is just more expensive in every way and risky in some situations as well. Highlighted by all the people in this thread giving warnings about buying from a certain person.
Normally I give away tiny frags of nice stuff for free but this is not even a tiny frag, it’s barely a coral yet and I don’t think it’s right. Major discounts should come with a “frag” like this. Honestly I see this becoming an easy way for vendors to make money and I don’t want any part of it. They can cut a tip off and have it grow back in a few days and profit greatly, buyer taking all the risk and waiting a year to see it become even a fragment.
The future great coral sellers are going to be the ones who can provide large frags and keep a large selection for sale. These days only a couple guys fit that description.

And this is where the simple economics ends and the pyramid-scheme-like practices of the unscrupulous vendors begin. The high price (which isn't a problem in and of itself, as all new things have high demand) is a false, implied promise to buyers that this coral is valuable and they have a good chance of making money off of it. People are dazzled by this fabrication, and buy these tiny frags, which are cut at that size specifically because they will go dormant and do nothing until they either die or begin active growth a year later. In this way, the vendor stays at the top of the pyramid. High mortality keeps the piece "rare" for a couple years, and by the time the skilled reefers nurse that speck along into a colony, it will have been thoroughly devalued and the vendor will have moved on to the next coral.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Tnyr5, exactly! Well put! They are cut small exactly for that reason, that’s why seeing tiny specs with one polyp at the top tilts me the wrong way so much. It’s all part of these guys plans for staying at the top, the price is high just to make the buyer feel like they got something special. I was trying to say something along those lines but my thoughts are scattered, that’s for sure

 

[RCS82]

Tnyr5, great viewpoint.
This thread just bothers me. Not the prices, hell I'm all for owning a few high end nice things, lol. I'm not rich but we all have our preferences. I just can't stand looking at the size of that frag. I would be embarrassed to glue that to a plug and offer it for sale. Just pathetic.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

I just looked on Ebay theres small colonies of what they call cornbread jawdropper for 70 bucks. This for 500 is a joke its someone that thinks they have something special or they bought a small frag and paid through the nose for it and the fraged off a small piece trying to get some money back.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

I just looked on Ebay theres small colonies of what they call cornbread jawdropper for 70 bucks. This for 500 is a joke its someone that thinks they have something special or they bought a small frag and paid through the nose for it and the fraged off a small piece trying to get some money back.

 

[Reeferguy365]

I've actually bought from cornbread quite a few times his frags are small but stuff grows and I've gotten insane deals like when homewrecker was still selling for $900 a frag I won an auction for one for $200 also won my rr jaw dropper for $280. One way or another the jaw-dropper is expensive wherever you get it from even local reefers it's expensive now that is a very small nub for 500 but if someone bought it and they're happy then good for them

 

[Jeff Koger]

Never,cornbread...look on Ebay with the bizarre common corals and look at the crazy,my opinion photo coloring to the pictures.

 

[Saveafish]

The game of coral chop shops. Cornbread # 1 game. Cut the cherry part out of a frag and jack up the price. He been doing that a while now. Buy cheap coral with a small polyp pretty color in it. Cut the 1/3" part out sell it for a grand. Geees people still fall for it. Lol

 

[av8]

Anything over $5.20 is too much. I've been in this hobby 45 years, have a fish that is 29, and can assure you, it is a waste of money.

 

[Hemmdog]

I just looked on Ebay theres small colonies of what they call cornbread jawdropper for 70 bucks. This for 500 is a joke its someone that thinks they have something special or they bought a small frag and paid through the nose for it and the fraged off a small piece trying to get some money back.

This one is RR Canada jawdropper. It’s one of our friends to the north’s finest acroporas. I’d love to have one..

 

[RCS82]

This one is RR Canada jawdropper. It’s one of our friends to the north’s finest acroporas. I’d love to have one..

I won't argue for a minute that it isn't an awesome acro and I would love one too. The price doesn't even bother me, the market will dictate that. I just don't like looking at the size of that thing in the original post lol.

 

[ca1ore]

If you hold it really close to your eye it looks bigger .....