Do you guys mind the big store price tag?

[Opus]

I hear ya. The bigger the store, the more overhead they have to pay for though. Also, Reefing is still very much a hobby for the wealthy, unfortunately. I got lucky and found a lot of Reefers in my area to trade with. I don't buy from the big box stores, and I sell at about 25-50% of what they charge. But I only sell locally. There are "basement sellers" everywhere, so I would look for local groups online.

Unfortunately for me most of the garage sellers are almost as much as the online stores. They do "raffles" to get people that don't want to pay $300 for a coral but will throw down $40 for a chance to win a $300 coral. They even have gone to the "mini" raffle where the mini raffle wins you a spot at the actual raffle for the coral. They also do auctions where it is out of control. I watched one where the guy had posting a couple of nice gold torches for $99 and they hadn't sold. He then put them on an auction and each one went for around $140!

Personally I have a couple of online stores I will buy from because I've dealt with them since their frag swap days. I also do most of my buying at our local frag swaps. I can usually pick up some great deals though frag swaps may have run their course around here. We had a nice one 2 weeks ago and I don't think 50 people showed up for it.

 

[afrokobe]

Unfortunately for me most of the garage sellers are almost as much as the online stores. They do "raffles" to get people that don't want to pay $300 for a coral but will throw down $40 for a chance to win a $300 coral. They even have gone to the "mini" raffle where the mini raffle wins you a spot at the actual raffle for the coral. They also do auctions where it is out of control. I watched one where the guy had posting a couple of nice gold torches for $99 and they hadn't sold. He then put them on an auction and each one went for around $140!

Personally I have a couple of online stores I will buy from because I've dealt with them since their frag swap days. I also do most of my buying at our local frag swaps. I can usually pick up some great deals though frag swaps may have run their course around here. We had a nice one 2 weeks ago and I don't think 50 people showed up for it.

i abhor raffles from garage sellers. They all should be banned

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

My first impression of this hobby walking into WWC for the first time was of how expensive everything is. I’m talking plus 300 for almost every frag. I thought that was the norm. Luckily in orlando there are many many local resellers, and i have yet to find those same frags for over $150. A dragon soul at WWC is $399, something absolutely absurd and i bought mine from a local reefer for $75. Just curious if stores like that are the “name brand” and some people just have no choice but to buy from them. What are your experiences? Do you guys mind the price tag? Don’t get me wrong i know if i buy from WWC i’m getting a good product but is it worth a 200 percent markup? What are your thoughts. Personally i refuse to ever buy a coral from these stores when the local market is so vast.

BTW i’m not hating on WWC it’s a great store with great employees who even know me by name. Every LFS here in orlando suffers from this dilemma.

I'm finding that a lot of the high end, named frags are being discounted quite heavily by some of the UK suppliers that specialise in the cult stuff.
I picked up a wwc grafted sunfire Monti with 30% off today.still pricey but acceptable.
I also had a delivery of a fantastic little Monti for £15 off eBay so I see both sides of the argument.id rather spend money with genuine hobbyists looking to recoup some money through excess frags everything unless it's something niche in which case I'll cough up once the discount codes appear on Instagram

 

[Doctorgori]

I don’t pay over $40 for anything anyway (maybe a torch or hammer) but acro frags, heck I forget the name 2 seconds after glueing it in place….
No bragging material looking at my tanks

Edit add: yeah I might pay more for a ORA plug, but those are bigger and will survive a tank filled with Morton Salt…

 

[Doctorgori]

Worth mentioning: to any newbie following; this topic/logic does not apply to buying online fish…
Trust me, its worth paying a lil more for a fat fish from small/mid sized vendors that is condition and/or quarantined than purchasing from the larger “retail” types …(although PETCO admittedly now is trying hard)

 

[Skay]

Worth mentioning: to any newbie following; this topic/logic does not apply to buying online fish…
Trust me, its worth paying a lil more for a fat fish from small/mid sized vendors that is condition and/or quarantined than purchasing from the larger “retail” types …(although PETCO admittedly now is trying hard)

yeah ngl petco has some good stuff now my local one just did a whole fish section remodel and they carry maroons bubble tips and even the occasional zoas

 

[PhishMonger84]

yeah ngl petco has some good stuff now my local one just did a whole fish section remodel and they carry maroons bubble tips and even the occasional zoas

I'd trust petco over live aquaria- for online orders that is. DD can be decent on occasion but their CA location is awful

 

[Gundy]

I’m in the doomsday camp and feel we are probably going to enter a recession in the near future. If the downturn is substantial, the cost of coral and fish will drop substantially and some large and small fish stores might close their doors.

Also, as the hobby gets larger, the local garage frag growers will continue to grow in number and hopefully force prices down in time.

I can afford to pay the higher prices at the big box stores but won’t. With shipping, the total cost at some online stores is staggering. Fortunately l as well as a lot of people have access to local sellers or LFS with lower prices.

 

[afrokobe]

yeah ngl petco has some good stuff now my local one just did a whole fish section remodel and they carry maroons bubble tips and even the occasional zoas

all the petcos near me have closed their saltwater. I did visit one 30 mins away and it was very well run. Great prices too

 

[jelazar]

Anyone remember Jeff's Exotic Fish in the late 90s and early 2000s? The everyday price for many bread and butter corals was 9 for $99 corals, not frags. Fluorescent green trachyphillia, lobophyton, whole zoanthid rocks, green bubble corals, full cup corals, sun corals, full mushroom rocks, etc.

 

[Skay]

Anyone remember Jeff's Exotic Fish in the late 90s and early 2000s? The everyday price for many bread and butter corals was 9 for $99 corals, not frags. Fluorescent green trachyphillia, lobophyton, whole zoanthid rocks, green bubble corals, full cup corals, sun corals, full mushroom rocks, etc.

man must’ve been nice that sounds crazy now

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

green bubble corals

I haven't seen those for sale in an LFS for ages. I guess it's because they aren't easy to frag, so coral growers don't bother. It's the same with wall hammers/torches, I don't see those for sale often. Pity, because they're really nice corals.

 

[Skay]

I haven't seen those for sale in an LFS for ages. I guess it's because they aren't easy to frag, so coral growers don't bother. It's the same with wall hammers/torches, I don't see those for sale often. Pity, because they're really nice corals.

man i’d love some wall hammers or torches, genuinely have never seen one in store

 

[kevgib67]

man i’d love some wall hammers or torches, genuinely have never seen one in store

Check out Corals.com they have wall hammers. Good store, I’ve ordered from them. Great customer service and great shipping.

 

[ninjamyst]

If anyone ever needs frag, I sell them for cheap in Orlando =). Selling a 4.5 inch blue hippo tang for $60 right now. Once my indo torches colors back up, $60 a head. Zoas $5-$10.

I love WWC because they have stuff you can't easily find and they do have monthly in store specials.

 

[OishiiSato]

My LFS store was selling a bubble for $200.. I bought that, 13 other corals, plus dip online for the same price. Needless to say I’ll probably stick to online sales and local sellers as it seems they can dish out way more discounts that a brick&mortar, probably because less overhead.

 

[Baka Mop]

The value on these things are whatever people are willing to pay for it. If people are willing to pay hundreds on a coral the size of a fingernail, the retailers will keep selling it for that price. I think zoas are the worst offender of price gouging. Some go for several hundred PER POLYP! What??

I prefer local groups and fish stores. Local reefers usually have a good selection of corals at fair prices. I actually bought a nice gem tang for $350 from my lfs that had them for about 3 months now. They were orginally asking $700, then lowered it to $500, and I was eyeing them for a good two months to make sure they were healthy. The owner offered to sell it to me for $350 as I'm a regular.

It's perfectly healthy and has no blemishes. I guess nobody was interested because of the high price tag. They also have long nose black tangs, but they're way out of my budget and frankly look ugly IMO.

 

[Skay]

I prefer local groups and fish stores. Local reefers usually have a good selection of corals at fair prices. I actually bought a nice gem tang for $350 from my lfs that had them for about 3 months now. They were orginally asking $700, then lowered it to $500, and I was eyeing them for a good two months to make sure they were healthy. The owner offered to sell it to me for $350 as I'm a regular.

you wont find a lfs in orlando doing that lol

 

[mrjoe]

So I get what the OP is saying with WWC, but I understand they have a business to run... Yup they have some awesome stuff and it take a lot of $$$ to keep a place like that going... That being said I bought my 2 clowns and some other stuff there when I priced in shipping from the online vendors it just made more sense to me $$$ wise... I do always buy my saltwater from them as it makes more sense for me than setting up a RODI and all the other **** needed for that... I go in buy 5 gallons and I'm out... That being said I find the store managers condescending and just unfriendly... I have made friends with some of the staff, but they usually are gone in 6 months or so because they pay them ****.... It is what it is and I just use them to my advantage as I buy most of my stuff from locals....

 

[Doctorgori]

FWIW to each his/her own … I’ve visited WWC’s site and I’m impressed by the stores look and the over all “presentation”, especially the inventory pictures …
but I’ve never purchased anything because of the pricing …