Cost per head

[rwreef]

Just looking for opinions on cost over head for this neon bicolor hammer coral. I was thinking $25 to $30 per head but don't wanna be too high. Local shops tend to sell higher, but they if course have overhead to cover.

 

[MoshJosh]

Sounds pretty fair to me, at my LFS would cost like $60-$70

 

[Reefing102]

My LFS sell hammer (doesn’t matter the color) for $30-$40/head. On FB, it’s closer to $25-$30/head

 

[rogersb]

I picked up a 3 head purple with gold stem hammer at my LFS for $60. Your area could be different but I wouldn't ask for more than $15-20.

 

[rwreef]

Another question!!

Should a larger colony that is selling for $20 a head be reduced in head cost? Say to like $10 is it is 30+ heads? Or does the cost stay the same because it is larger and harder to get because of the time to grow? I appreciate the help!

 

[potatocouch]

Another question!!

Should a larger colony that is selling for $20 a head be reduced in head cost? Say to like $10 is it is 30+ heads? Or does the cost stay the same because it is larger and harder to get because of the time to grow? I appreciate the help!

IME bigger colonies sell at higher cost.

 

[Dburr1014]

That's pretty common coral.
LFS are higher priced, you are a hobbyist.
I'd pay $20 for it. Taking about the second pic.

 

[Reefing102]

Another question!!

Should a larger colony that is selling for $20 a head be reduced in head cost? Say to like $10 is it is 30+ heads? Or does the cost stay the same because it is larger and harder to get because of the time to grow? I appreciate the help!

Generally the more heads the lower cost in my experience. However a small colony I would say could sell for more. Say 10 heads for $200 doesn’t sound unreasonable. You may be hard pressed to find someone wanting to pay full price per head on a colony (especially if they are a coral flipper) though because, let’s say you went higher at $30/head. No one, in my experience, would give you $900 for your 30 head colony. Just my thoughts

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

My locality..it is closer to 30

 

[Dburr1014]

My locality..it is closer to 300

For the whole colony or the 3 head frag?
If it's the frag, I'm moving closer to you! LOL

 

[Matt L]

It depends on your goals. If you sell too low, someone may just resell it at a higher price. Medium range is 30-40 a head for frags. Retail range is 60-80 a head. Frags always sell better than colonies.

 

[rwreef]

This is an example colony that I am selling. For reference it has 32 heads and lots of bicolor and some splatter.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Sounds pretty fair to me, at my LFS would cost like $60-$70

SAME!!

 

[rogersb]

At my LFS the cost goes down for the larger pieces. One even promotes buying larger pieces as something you can frag up and take to swaps if it's too big for your current tank. I was looking at a large rock once and told the owner it was too big for what I had space available and he told me that frags should sell for $15-20, so buy the whole piece for $200 and sell the other half as roughly 10 frags and I would be getting it almost for free.

 

[Chrisv.]

In my market, buying directly from other reefers, I'd expect about $25 a head, with a significant discount for more than one head. E.g. 1 head frag = $25, 2 head frag $35, 3 head frag $40-45.

These are common corals that grow like weeds, which is why we see a thread like this weekly. It's a shame that people over pay and then plan to pass along that mistake to other reefers.

As for the notion that people will just buy it, frag it and flip it if you sell it to them at a fair price-- I'm not sure. When I give someone a really good deal, I often explicitly explain to them that I know they are getting a really good deal and ask if they would be willing to pay it forward by selling frags of the coral to other reefers for a really good deal when the time comes.