crappy frag swap presale pics=better sales????!!

customcolor · May 16, 2011

ok i dont get it...i see people doing presales in swap threads that im doing them in to and there pics are crappy and prices are high and people want them...

my pics are nice with no blue and prices are cheep!!

all i ever see is people buying from every one else!!! what the hech am i doing wrong???

crappy pic(in my opinion) from another vendor
they are asking like $60 for these

here is a chalice of mine..
and i am asking 10 for it...nobody wants it!! am i missing the "NAME" to make it more appealing?

or how about this...

theirs ..

mine..

drainbamage · May 16, 2011

are you asking why other peoples stuff is selling better than yours? Not sure what to tell ya except to maybe look at what's selling and see the differences with yours. Not sure how to give you any other advice without either putting down 'their' stuff, or telling you what's 'wrong' with your stuff- neither things I really like to do.

customcolor · May 16, 2011

may be i just need to make a name for my self...most of the people that have pre saled alot where this club swap repeaters...this is my first one there....??

customcolor · May 16, 2011

but come on...my war coral frags in the bottom pic are 25....ITS an insane pattern!! others have sold wars too.

extremehobbyist · May 16, 2011

it does look nice. dont worry to much about the pre sale man ive been to a couple frag swaps and i never paid attention to the pre sales u will sell dont worry

Reef Pets · May 17, 2011

customcolor said:
may be i just need to make a name for my self...most of the people that have pre saled alot where this club swap repeaters...this is my first one there....??

Bingo! It does take some time to get known in this business. You and I have done business for several years now and I gotta say that CustomColor is a stand up guy and can be trusted in this business. How often do you guys see frags like the first photo? Those frags have been healing for a LONG time and are nice and healthy.

dougers31 · May 17, 2011

To my knowledge that vendor (FR) doesn't have any sales on those corals at the moment.... I guess I would refrain from calling their pics crappy, but your pics are better. For accuracy's sake the $60 frags are for the large frags in the pic and the smaller are $40. Also the ($60)chalice frags seem to be blue with some red(?) and have a green rim with what appear to be yellow eyes while your chalice seems to be green and a little less in demand, nice prices and pics though either way.

I know I myself have been a bit frustrated with pre sales even though I've done ok so far.... seems like there are way more presale threads than last year. HTH

Troylee · May 17, 2011

Ha never did a presale before but what I have noticed is the more you charge the more intrest it draws fwiw.... Sure there is a $10 crowd but the more money it is the more of a crowd it draws sucks but it's true.... You would be amazed put that chalice up for $50 and see if you get a hit then people think hmmm what kind of gem is it I don't want to miss out and they jump.... I see it locally every day.....

dougers31 · May 17, 2011

Troylee said:
Ha never did a presale before but what I have noticed is the more you charge the more intrest it draws fwiw.... Sure there is a $10 crowd but the more money it is the more of a crowd it draws sucks but it's true.... You would be amazed put that chalice up for $50 and see if you get a hit then people think hmmm what kind of gem is it I don't want to miss out and they jump.... I see it locally every day.....

I've seen that myself.... now to go mark up all my frags to $50 and up

customcolor · May 17, 2011

dougers31 said:
To my knowledge that vendor (FR) doesn't have any sales on those corals at the moment.... I guess I would refrain from calling their pics crappy, but your pics are better. For accuracy's sake the $60 frags are for the large frags in the pic and the smaller are $40. Also the ($60)chalice frags seem to be blue with some red(?) and have a green rim with what appear to be yellow eyes while your chalice seems to be green and a little less in demand, nice prices and pics though either way.

I know I myself have been a bit frustrated with pre sales even though I've done ok so far.... seems like there are way more presale threads than last year. HTH

i was saying crappy in "my opinion" only and i bet they have ben healed for a long time and i did say "like $60" and yes (fr) does have a thread up on them...the pic of mine was a week after it was cut....looks much better now and it is a fast grower!

i know ....i must be venting because it seams like i just cant get any where with pre sales no matter what swap i do

and i know that (fr) is a club sponsor and is well known...but there are others too...and yes many more presale threads.

now you say in demand...i wish this would have colored up more in the last month...it is popping sweet color though!! look around the rims..

12 mouth Moseleya

customcolor · May 17, 2011

Troylee said:
Ha never did a presale before but what I have noticed is the more you charge the more intrest it draws fwiw.... Sure there is a $10 crowd but the more money it is the more of a crowd it draws sucks but it's true.... You would be amazed put that chalice up for $50 and see if you get a hit then people think hmmm what kind of gem is it I don't want to miss out and they jump.... I see it locally every day.....

i was thinking of not taking it with me and hide it for a wile and bring it back called " the green monkey nipple chalice" and charging like the $50 your saying...lol!

brannock_16 · May 17, 2011

I think that perhaps pics of the colonies that the frags came from may help people purchase from you. I know that sometimes frags can vary drastically in color from the mother colony. Just my .02 though.

drainbamage · May 17, 2011

I'm also curious why you're not adding any blue suppliments to your LPS's? I don't run a 7-9k lit tank, so seeing LPS's under that spectrum doesn't do me any good, ya know?

customcolor · May 17, 2011

its called white balance on the camera

they are under 6 blue and 4 white led set up...so there is plenty of blue for light

drainbamage · May 17, 2011

customcolor said:
its called white balance on the camera

they are under 6 blue and 4 white led set up...so there is plenty of blue for light

so what kelvin are you balancing to? just saying, your pics show up way to yellow for my tastes, perhaps I'm not the only one feeling that?

customcolor · May 17, 2011

the highest setting on my 20d which i think is 10k then i do auto color in photoshop...thats it.

more examples

drainbamage · May 17, 2011

not sure, but to me the photo's look like they were taken with a flash- not quite to that level, but fairly close to it. For LPS's especially, not the best way to show them off IMO- better to have something with some of the blue still in it.

Keep in mind, the auto White balance in photoshop isn't going to balance to a 10k spectrum, depending on how it's set up, it's used to looking at the sun's 3500~6500kelvin lighting, or if indoors, a cool white of around 7500k.
So yea, I run my tanks in the 20k spectrum, many reefers with LPS look to at least a 10~14k range, if not even bluer- if you're coming in with a sub 10k photo, it's not going to represent as well

customcolor · May 17, 2011

thanks for some hints!

chappy · May 17, 2011

i think its the cat in the photo
i know others hate cats as well:xd:

2FarNorth · Jun 1, 2011

So I take it the show went well for you Dave? Ya looked pretty busy!

I totally stopped doing presales, mainly because I wanted pre-payment along with a pre-sale. Most people that see a pre-sale thread, buy from the people that let them pay at the show.
Some people like the feeling that they'd be able to back out if they want...

It was kinda funny you say this about everyone doing pre-sales at the last show we went to, I had a customer hang out at my tank for quite a while, and offered me 3 different low-ball prices on a nice frag of 'Rasta's'. I finally told him that I will not lower my price on that frag, he got kinda snotty, and I overheard his buddy tell him "I told you not to spend all your money on presales first dude!".... I laughed to myself even more when just then some lady walked up and bought my last frag of them in front of him!! :xd:
So his buddy must've been telling him to not pay for the presales until later incase he finds something better, which in turn would cause the vendor that he had the presale with lose out...

I don't even bother with them anymore, well unless it is a valuable, or really high end piece that I normally wouldn't bring to a show, then of course it's talked over on the phone ahead of time, and a down payment is made....