FAIR shipping fees for live coral and fish.....sticker shock?

[revhtree]

I remember the first time I found out you had to pay an extra fee to have coral shipped to you! I was sticker shocked! But after thinking about it of course it made perfect sense. Shipping live goods can get quite expensive considering the weight and location and it's just a fact that it has to be factored in.

What would you consider to be a FAIR price to have a regular sized box of coral frags shipped you?

 

[dadnjesse]

I just bought some corals from Boom Corals they charged me $35.00 for FedEx overnight.

 

[Waynerock]

Can’t complain about WWC’s shipping fees at all (25.00 is nuts cheep). The other items not so much. ASD,CR, and UC all charge 40.00 and I think that’s more than fair. Of course I’m just jealous cause I can’t afford the minimum amount for free shipping[emoji31]

 

[Rukk]

I voted $16-$25. So, $20 bucks for shipping seems reasonable to me. Of course, the actual shipping may be more.

It's kinda a combination of things for me. If the livestock cost seems reasonable and shipping seems reasonable, its just easier for me to come to the conclusion that it would be a good purchase. Naturally the Companies want to encourage more Sales and minimize their costs so the more livestock they pack in a box the better for them. Understandable.

All that understood, say you want something and its $70 and then the shipping is $40, that just seems off to me. I'm guessing a fair number of folks would see it the same way and that the number of small sales are limited. Again, understandable, but not necessarily consumer friendly.

I do like how some places you can order a relatively small dollar amount and get "free" shipping or a "freebie" something, it just feels more palatable.


But like a lot of hobbys, reefing can be expensive so overall if I see something I like and I can live with what it costs, it will probably end up in my tank.

 

[Geebs19]

The shipping fees stops me from buying just 1 coral at a time. I feel I need to make it worth the purchase and just pay a 1 time shipping fee.

Side note, does anyone know if you win the WWC ebay auctions if they will allow 1 fee for shipping or you have to pay multiple?

 

[lilfish717]

The shipping fees stops me from buying just 1 coral at a time. I feel I need to make it worth the purchase and just pay a 1 time shipping fee.

Side note, does anyone know if you win the WWC ebay auctions if they will allow 1 fee for shipping or you have to pay multiple?

1 fee. Website and eBay combined also.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

This is a tough one because as hobbyist, its hard to get low shipping costs. There is a site that you can ship through to bring costs down, but still a lot. I think its fair to pay all or most of the shipping, but the free shipping after $xxx is always a nice incentive to buy a little more. In all honesty, I don't care as long as I feel like I am getting good bang for the buck.

If shipping is not factored into prices, the prices of stuff should be cheaper. Sure people want low shipping, but if these sites are not making money, then they cut corners or go out of business. I'd rather pay more and support a good operation than cut corners and get less than healthy livestock.

 

[miyags]

Now that the weathers breaking,I wish more companies would offer cheap 2 day shipping.I had a couple acros priority mailed for $10,in December 2 years ago survive. I think allot of corals would survive.

 

[Sod Buster]

What is a regular sized box for most people? My average would hover around 4 pieces, in a northern climate like me, $10 extra a specimen is fair for shipping next day.

 

[miyags]

The normal I pay on Ebay is $35 to $50. But when mushroom corals/most corals are now in the hundreds,Shipping should be free. Divers Den shipping is free after $99.

 

[NinnJinn]

When I started this Hobby I thought shipping was downright ridiculous. But I went on UPS and FedEx websites check out overnight shipping and I quickly realized that the companies were charging me less than what it would cost me to ship overnight to them. So I'm not too worried about it.

However when I order fish I wait until I have X amount to get free shipping.

And it drives me nuts when Live Aquaria runs a special order $179 and get such-and-such percent off because that usually means I get a free fish so with this little tactic they get more of my money. Lol

I know this thread is about fish and corals but I wasn't very enthused about the flat $19 shipping from LiveAquaria for frozen fish food but when I received my package I had 22 of those reusable ice packs so my thoughts quickly changed.

 

[hyprc]

When you consider water is heavy and it is EXPENSIVE to ship something overnight (usually guaranteed morning delivery), that's an costly proposition. You have to do VOLUME with a carrier to get them to give you a reasonable rate on a service like that. Something like $35 from a small operation is MORE than reasonable as I'd venture to guess they're losing money on some shipments at that rate still. For larger companies that do large volume with their carriers, I'd expect them to pass the savings they can leverage onto the customer. Either way, if the order is significant (like $200+), the vendor *should* be willing to eat the cost of shipping in light of that larger order (again, with a nod to the larger companies that can afford to).

 

[Nburg's Reef]

For me to ship a regular Battle Corals sized box, it would be at least $80 with a discount, closer to $100 retail for overnight... and I am not talking first overnight, just standard by 10:30 am overnight. If I used my business account from work, I could cut that by more than 50%, so the larger shippers do get a nice discount. The smaller guys have a lot of shipping to eat if they want to keep things comparable.

 

[lilfish717]

If you want me to be honest I'm sort of glad there's shipping prices. It stops me from buying anything I see and can afford. If there was free shipping on everything I would be broke 24/7

 

[gonzo620]

Buying. The shipping rates don’t really bother me for livestock. Never payed more than $50. What really bothers me is the rates for me to try to ship my stuff. I mean I only cut on my corals a handful of times a year. So when I try to look up rates it’s $80+!

 

[AtlCPA]

Someone could make a fortune if they could figure out how to do 2-3 shipping for corals

 

[JaimeAdams]

The thing that bothers me here is that the majority of people feel that between $16 and $35 shipping and handling is fair. So I go and look up the price of an styro cooler box, it's about $10. Then I'm going to either add heating packs or cooling packs, what are we thinking another 2 or 3 bucks there. Let's say I am a small retailer, I'm going to pay someone to pack up those coolers and then drive them to a shipping outlet. I think right there I have eaten up the low end of $16 before I even pay to have it shipped. When I wanted to sell some frags out of my tank I looked up the price to ship overnight. It was close to $100. Now I know that if I have an account I can get that knocked down maybe 60%. So then I'm only actually paying $40 to the shipping company. So I'm realistically looking at $55 or so out of pocket expense to ship a 1 cubic foot package with a shipping account. I have no problem paying actual shipping costs for some coral or livestock that I want.

 

[Michael Gilbreath]

Lol i just wish i could get shipping here lol

 

[Cassian]

shipping for us little guys is crazy

 

[12gallonsofhex]

I recently shipped an old compact florescent light the size of a shoebox and it cost $35 for the cheapest option. The fact that businesses are packaging live animals with some sort of temp support and shipping it across the country overnight to our doorstep for $25 to $40 is awesome. Makes me think they are probably eating a lot of the cost to increase sales. I am not saying that $40 is cheap, but I think it's less than actual packaging + labor + shipping.