Do you guys mind the big store price tag?
- Thread starter Skay
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AstroCoral
Active Member
Haha, good point. I unfortunately don’t have any of those cheap corals anymore so I haven’t benefited from it. I left the hobby for about 5 years and it was sticker shock when I came back.
OP
OP
Skay
Well-Known Member
dude the only good deal they have on fish is a plain clown. and they only lowered the price after i bought my pair lol. i’ll buy fish from them again though never coralI visited WWC and was impressed… till I saw their prices.
I joke with @Petcrazyson in Orlando it would be cheaper to fly to me in Atlanta, buy the fish and corals at my LFS and fly back to Orlando
Sump Crab
Valuable Member
I honestly don’t know how places like WWC stay in business. Obviously they do well but I can’t figure out who buys coral from them lol. As OP said you can buy every coral you want locally (if you happen to be in a city) for pennies compared to the big stores.
kevgib67
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I have a great lfs that I try to support. They have been in business for decades. They have great inventory and if they don’t have what I’m looking for they will try and get it from their suppliers. Much less expensive but if they can’t get what I want I’ll go with the bigger guys online. Locally Tidal Gardens is within driving distance and it saves me shipping costs.
I've told this story a few times but I have a few LFS's I go to but there is one that I almost always shop at, Store A and one I like to sometimes peruse, Store B.
A is very cheap, like often 50% the prices I see anywhere else and basically a perfect shop in every way. Customer service, cleanliness, stock etc.
B also has pretty good CS, stock, etc but sells at often 3x normal prices. Store B buys fish and corals at 1/3 their selling price.
One day I buy a 6" Magnificent foxface from Store A for $140 but it doesn't settle in well at first. While at Store B I am talking to one of their employees and discussing things I could do with the fox. It is at this point that I hear of their 1/3 buying deal. Heres the crazy thing though. A "large" magnificent fox at store B are sold for $500! Or in other words if I were to sell them the fox I would make a $26.67 profit...
Anyway Store A now has the biggest store in the Atlanta area and is always full of people. Store B can be busy sometimes but not at the cash register.
billyocean
10K Club member
was on vacation in florida last winter and made it a point to stop at WWC...prepared to be amazed...i was, by the prices, not the selection...hoping to find zoa varieties i'd never seen before...nope...bought an overflow strainer so i may be the only person to get out of there for under $5...
Anemone_Fanatic
Valuable Member
There are lots of gullible people who believe the "saltwater needs to be expensive" hype. Then, when they learn it isn't so (usually after wasting their money on overpriced coral), they go online and defend their purchases from all criticism, lest they admit they made a mistake. I'm seeing some people on this thread responding like that.
No, the prices don't need to be that high. In fact, they shouldn't be like that. Only a decade ago, everything was so much cheaper. Even adjusting for inflation, the price of coral has risen. And yet, the quality has declined. It used to be that many people wouldn't buy 2" acros because they were too small. Now, they call that a mini colony, and triple the price. There're also way more fresh frags and single polyp pieces floating around. I always try to buy colonies, but that's getting hard to do. It's possible for prices to become artificially high, and that's what we're seeing. As much as I hate to admit it, coral has no intrinsic monetary value. When it comes down to it, they're just small colorful invertebrates. Are they valuable to us? Yes. Are they really valuable enough to spend 300$ on a single piece? I'd say no. Fish too. Is a yellow tang really any more valuable than a bluegill from your local pond, just because it has pretty colors? One may look nicer, but do either have a higher innate value? Both are fundamentally the same creature, but one of them is caught with worms and thrown on the ice, while we spend thousands of dollars on the other to preserve its life for our own viewing.
I'm begging people on this thread to not buy from a major online store if they can. Just don't, you'll get high prices and low quality. You'll also get more pests. Watch any video posted by a large vendor of a grow-out system, pause and try to look past the neon colors, and count the aiptasia. I can't really blame them, it's hard to remove pests from hundreds of colonies and tens of thousands of frags. Just go to your LFS. Even if you need to drive an hour to get there. You'll find much better prices and quality most of the time, and if you don't, just try a different store. If you must order online (totally understandable, I do that a lot) try to get stuff from a smaller business. CoralsAnonymous and AquaCorals are my personal favorites. You'll be supporting people who are in it as much for the hobby as the money, and chances are, you'll get higher value and better prices. The very best option is to buy from local hobbyists. That isn't possible for everyone, but if you look through EBay, you'll find people selling their extra frags for a fraction of the store value. Take a look, you may be surprised.
Rant over, hope I inspired somebody to waste their time on Ebay
No, the prices don't need to be that high. In fact, they shouldn't be like that. Only a decade ago, everything was so much cheaper. Even adjusting for inflation, the price of coral has risen. And yet, the quality has declined. It used to be that many people wouldn't buy 2" acros because they were too small. Now, they call that a mini colony, and triple the price. There're also way more fresh frags and single polyp pieces floating around. I always try to buy colonies, but that's getting hard to do. It's possible for prices to become artificially high, and that's what we're seeing. As much as I hate to admit it, coral has no intrinsic monetary value. When it comes down to it, they're just small colorful invertebrates. Are they valuable to us? Yes. Are they really valuable enough to spend 300$ on a single piece? I'd say no. Fish too. Is a yellow tang really any more valuable than a bluegill from your local pond, just because it has pretty colors? One may look nicer, but do either have a higher innate value? Both are fundamentally the same creature, but one of them is caught with worms and thrown on the ice, while we spend thousands of dollars on the other to preserve its life for our own viewing.
I'm begging people on this thread to not buy from a major online store if they can. Just don't, you'll get high prices and low quality. You'll also get more pests. Watch any video posted by a large vendor of a grow-out system, pause and try to look past the neon colors, and count the aiptasia. I can't really blame them, it's hard to remove pests from hundreds of colonies and tens of thousands of frags. Just go to your LFS. Even if you need to drive an hour to get there. You'll find much better prices and quality most of the time, and if you don't, just try a different store. If you must order online (totally understandable, I do that a lot) try to get stuff from a smaller business. CoralsAnonymous and AquaCorals are my personal favorites. You'll be supporting people who are in it as much for the hobby as the money, and chances are, you'll get higher value and better prices. The very best option is to buy from local hobbyists. That isn't possible for everyone, but if you look through EBay, you'll find people selling their extra frags for a fraction of the store value. Take a look, you may be surprised.
Rant over, hope I inspired somebody to waste their time on Ebay
Daenion
Active Member
On the coral side the sticker price is just there as a placeholder. I have never seen this many sales in any other type of goods. Did you miss a sale? Don’t worry the next one is at most 2 weeks away in that same shop or in another shop.
As you get accustomed to stores and trade names of corals. You will notice which one sells which type of coral at reasonable prices.
Local swaps cannot be beaten in price but you also kinda buy peace of mind from big stores. However, especially in acros I feel like we are heading in the direction of per mm pricing.
As you get accustomed to stores and trade names of corals. You will notice which one sells which type of coral at reasonable prices.
Local swaps cannot be beaten in price but you also kinda buy peace of mind from big stores. However, especially in acros I feel like we are heading in the direction of per mm pricing.
OP
OP
Skay
Well-Known Member
beautiful response, i wish anyone trying to get into this hobby would read this in it’s entirety. i know i wish i had.Rant over, hope I inspired somebody to waste their time on Ebay
I remember trading or buying from reefers on Craigslist!
fish farmer
2500 Club Member
Are their in store prices higher? Bigger pieces? I just looked at there online WYSIWYG and saw plenty of corals under $100 and most under $300.
I do feel they are a little higher than other places I shop. This past spring I put my first order into Pacific East Aquaculture....spent just under $300 for 6 corals and two peppermint shrimp. The most expensive frag was a brain coral at $80, but found where the cheap frags were, even got points for spending a certain amount for discount corals and free shipping All my corals were encrusted to the base. It all averaged out to less that $50 a coral.
I don’t like it and I also wonder if they are being short sighted for the hobby longevity and business. Sure “go capitalism”! Sell that frag for 1k if someone will pay it. But I wonder if they are playing smart capitalism where people can afford to stay in the hobby and attract younger potentially lower income customers. But I doubt most places care that far forward.
A lot of their businesses has to be new hobbiest because the price for size and the fact many big vendors stopped heavy aquaculture and now are more chop shops that put names with no lineage and rename coral - that doesn’t fly so well with longer term people in the hobby
A lot of their businesses has to be new hobbiest because the price for size and the fact many big vendors stopped heavy aquaculture and now are more chop shops that put names with no lineage and rename coral - that doesn’t fly so well with longer term people in the hobby
Really depends on what you are getting, IMO. The online sales are great for those of us who don't have a good LFS anywhere near their home. There are a few places with great selection and quality, and WWC is absolutely one of those places. They do have great customer service as well, so that should be noted...
They are able to charge so much because we pay it. I'm not in Florida, so online is where I usually look. WWC is one of the first ones to show up when you look for online corals, and that is why people buy from them. They have great marketing, and they have great reputation (let's be frank... those BRS videos did a lot for them). That is the key difference.
They are able to charge so much because we pay it. I'm not in Florida, so online is where I usually look. WWC is one of the first ones to show up when you look for online corals, and that is why people buy from them. They have great marketing, and they have great reputation (let's be frank... those BRS videos did a lot for them). That is the key difference.
UtahReefer
Active Member
Prices can be pretty crazy. Watch for the online sales many of them are very good. WWC just had their 16th Anniversary Sale weekend before last and it was good. TSA, Fraghouse and others also have good sales. Anytime I want to buy a "chunk" of corals this is how I do it. You can get some great corals this way at a considerable savings.
Petcrazyson
5000 Club Member
Your not wrong,I visited WWC and was impressed… till I saw their prices.
I joke with @Petcrazyson in Orlando it would be cheaper to fly to me in Atlanta, buy the fish and corals at my LFS and fly back to Orlando
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