GRADE THEM! Do they get an A+ or an F- or somewhere in between?

[Silverfish]

I don't have an LFS here anymore, the guy went belly up after I quit when he had me working from sun up to sundown. He couldn't find anyone to not only run 200 tanks, birds, reptiles, but also raise and hatch monarchs, guinea pigs, ferrets, stock shelves, maintain proper orders, plus do special orders for customers, and run the sales floor. The guy was a mess. I was there for 15 to 16 hours a day running his business for 13 years and he never once gave me a raise. Minimum wage, so I quit and now there isn't an LFS here anymore, and no one would work as I did for him. I still don't know how I did it. I loved my job though. Anyways, I have absolutely nothing in my tank due to a winter storm fallout a few years back and don't trust buying online anymore due to nearly a five hundred plus dollar rip off of all livestock coming back dead and them refusing to replace it. so just two clowns, a saddle, few mushrooms, and nine zoanthid heads... Oh and a few ball anemone.

I hope things turn around for you soon!

 

[Boomer1pug]

Today let's hand out some grades! The quiz has been taken now let's see if they passed!

What the heck am I talking about? Today let's talk about OVERALL ONLINE LIVESTOCK orders. Fish, coral, snails anything living what grade would you give them? So I know you might be ready to grade each individual online vendor but today I was thinking about grading them as a whole, as ordering livestock online overall.

1. If you were to give a grade to the whole class of online vendors, what would you grade them?

2. What kinds of things impact the grades positively and negatively?

3. What has vendors done to get an extra credit grade with you?

**Please don't call out any vendors as this is not what this is about and we want the discussion to stay on topic! Thanks.

I have only ordered two things online copepods and a purple tang. Qt the purple tang and when I finally add him to my main display the tank infected the entire tank with marine velvet killed all but four of my fish. Had a total of seventeen before adding the purple tang.

 

[ReefBeta]

That's a pretty impossible to grade the whole class overall. Some are deliberately terrible, some are best in the industry. The only thing I can compare against is online vs LFS.

For coral, I lean towards LFS, because the several LFS in my area provide good quality corals. Online vendors usually either cheap and mediocre quality, or great quality but very expensive, which probably also account into the cost and risk of shipping. So online coral vendors gets a B+ from me.

For fish, I lean towards online, because none of the LFS really provide good enough quality fish that I want to buy from. I really want buy fish that are already fully quarantined. Only several online vendors offer them. Also all LFS in my area have the fish tank pretty crowded, so many have tear fin here and there, and stressed. They just don't look all that good in the first place. Otherwise I will be more willing to QT myself. I haven't bought fish online a lot, but for the couple times I did, they all came in great condition. So online fish vendors gets a A from me.


Besides the quality of the livestock, live guarantee is definitely the most impactful perspective. Because of shipping process, bad things could happen. I can work with that as long as the vendors provide hassle free guarantee. There was one coral vendor that I have been buying from for years. From time to time a frag or two didn't make the trip. I only need to send one email and get credit back for it. So I kept on buying from there.

 

[Butakiya]

I have only recently began to shop the vendors online thru lives sales and their respected sites, and have found them to mostly be very decent in their offerings. I do agree there seems to be some inflated prices then " discounts", then after sales prices, which all reflect on the initial price tending to be high looking for those eager " refreshers" to click buy. Over all the live sale experience is ok depending on the style. The vendors that use the drops on a timeframe I find are more enjoyable overall and I have more success snagging something or trying for a deal compared to sitting and hitting refresh for a weekend. My advice/ suggestion is to have the time frames maybe be a certain % a type of coral for the drop ( example: zoa hour) then vendors might get me more glued to my chair rather then loosing interest. I graded B+ and have shopped with ARC, TSA, TCK, JF. Recently WWC ebay auctions ( and they gave me few hitchhikers )

 

[KWT]

I have you order fish online, however I have ordered 3 time for corals. All three were sales here on R2R. I am waiting on my most recent order. The other 2 arrived on time and in great condition. Nothing has expired, and I don’t expect any to be this time, three different vendors.
My grade was an A as I have not received the last order, but if everything comes as expected, my grade would be increased to an A+

 

[Doctorgori]

Names OK?
if not in general I’ve had good luck, maybe 2-5% DOA ... the big players do OK

 

[ca1ore]

I buy almost all of my fish online, but very few corals. Those I get via trades with local reefers. Online fish is LA/DD and NYAquatic, with an occasional Bluezoo. A+ means there’s nothing they could do better, which is silly .... there’s always room for improvement. To me A-/B+ is about right, and comparable with my best LFS experiences.

 

[RCeiver]

most online vendors are great. just got some great stuff from JF.

 

[KrisReef]

I just got a shipment from an on line vendor. I had given the class an A+ earlier in the day, but now I just changed my vote to F+

I ordered 4 corals, the box came (FEDeX tossed it onto my porch; appeared bending over to set the box down was too much work at 0800 when it landed-Thud!) with only 3 coral bags, and one was a montipora (I didn't order any monti's either?)

So I came back here and changed my grade, not because I think my vendor is poor but because no one had voted for F+ yet, and the grades seemed skewed toward the top which suggested to me that folks on here are too nice and give out to many passing grades to poor vendors? I evened out the curve a bit.

I also think my vendor is working a couple of jobs at the moment and mistakes do happen. I've got to go let my new Idaho Grape out of the bag and get on with life. Complaining about other human beings that make mistakes, honest or not, isn't going to be me a passing grade from the good lord, now is it.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Maybe we should just change the babe of the thread to who is you A or better grade online vendor. I've had mostly good existences when purchasing online, but nothing can beat in person wether at the LFS, hobbyist or frag swap. Seeing size and color in person leaves no room for surprises.

 

[Tony Tanks]

I have ordered fish , coral and live rock . Support your local fish store.

 

[Seabiscuit]

I'd give all the livestock vendors whom I've ordered from in the past few months a B-. The vendor that gets the extra credit for me sealed a macroalgae fragment in a heavy duty vacuum seal bag, then put another bag around it. I felt totally at ease that my plant travelled well!

 

[McPuff]

To me, the grade really depends on where you order and what you order. I rarely order online but when I do, it's pretty much only Divers Den fish. I have had 100% success with them and they have always been VERY good with customer service. Again, it depends on WHAT you order as well. Some species ship much better than others so if you choose properly you will set yourself (and the supplier) up for success.

 

[DC Reefer]

I graded a B+. I have made 20+ online orders. I have had a few livestock issues (a couple of DOA fish and coral [coral had a really strong smell when opened bag]). I have also had fish die in quarantine within the "warranty period". So far all the vendors I have used have made it right including one where the shipping was delayed for 2 days in the winter and all was DOA. I try to use vendors that have been recommended and have a good reputation in the industry.

 

[DrG]

D

Being in Canada, means none of the live fish, corals, live rocks, cheto etc or foods is available by online stores in the US. The selection online in Canada is poor at best. The Canadian online stores all appear to have physical storefronts. The physical store sells the more prime stuff. The leftovers are sold online. As much as US prices are complained about, they are way better than in Canada. Most of what I see in LFS, here was imported, transhipped , then fragged - for very high sums. Not much exotic here.