Help us fix our LIVE SALES!

[Smarkow]

I only hate them because vendors hide most of their inventory for these live sales and try to pass them off as good deals. If it was a good deal then why can't I buy the bad deal on the website? WWC has 3000 corals for sale this weekend, but less than 20 acros on their website. I find this incredibly shady.

This type of thing is sending me back into my LFS... which thank the lord is finally open for business again!!!

 

[jsvand5]

In short because shopping at your convenience gives you too much time to change your mind. Now throw a couple hundred people in a pot all looking to score those same corals and now, well, now you either buy it or lose it no time to think. Great sales strategy really.

You’d still have to be pretty quick to get the in demand pieces though. If you have 300 people all waiting for the list to drop you still wouldn’t have time to really sit back and think rationally about your purchases.

 

[kkiel02]

I don’t do live sales because my internet is too slow. I shop the after sales but usually they are just filled with the stuff no one wants. I’d much rather everything get loaded at once that would be better for us with slower internet. At least we’d get a chance at the nicer coral.

 

[EMeyer]

This thread reminds me of when a new hobbyist comes to the forum with a questionable idea (e.g. "I want to keep a mandarin in a brand new tank, how should I do it?")... the community helpfully pitches in and almost universally says "Thats a bad idea"... then the OP comes back and says "so I did it anyway, what now?"

Seems to me the question about how to improve live sales has been pretty clearly answered, no?

 

[Mike N]

Over 70% of people are voting for the option that's the farthest from traditional live Sale model.
Can we dismiss the notion that only a small % of people don't like live sales going forward please?

 

[IKD]

Over 70% of people are voting for the option that's the farthest from traditional live Sale model.
Can we dismiss the notion that only a small % of people don't like live sales going forward please?

There's only 70 votes. Not sure that's really a representative sample size for the community of thousands. There are 1000+ watchers on the WWC Live Sale right now. That's more overwhelming statistic that this pole currently.

To be fair, I'm indifferent. I look for corals in all options (LFS, Live Sale, R2R Sales forum, Ebay, etc.)

 

[BobbyCline]

Just post them ALL on your website....like the good ole days.

Tired of scrolling through 100's of random comments during live sales, to find pieces I like, that are sold within .2 seconds of being posted.

 

[Mike N]

There's only 70 votes. Not sure that's really a representative sample size for the community of thousands. There are 1000+ watchers on the WWC Live Sale right now. That's more overwhelming statistic that this pole currently.

To be fair, I'm indifferent. I look for corals in all options (LFS, Live Sale, R2R Sales forum, Ebay, etc.)

Fair point, I guess. People who bring this up are always dismissed as being one or two people, which clearly isnt the case here.
And to your point about the watchers of the live sale; Its been established that they're mostly comprised of new people that haven't yet experienced the downfalls of these types of sales.

 

[IKD]

Fair point, I guess. People who bring this up are always dismissed as being one or two people, which clearly isnt the case here.
And to your point about the watchers of the live sale; Its been established that they're mostly comprised of new people that haven't yet experienced the downfalls of these types of sales.

That is true about newer users. Hopefully it’s indicative of growth of population in the hobby too. More tanks = more frags to share

 

[h2so4hurts]

Or, create an auction site, because buying by forum might be one of the least efficient sales models ever conceived.

 

[Potatohead]

I can't even buy from TSA living in Canada so my opinion might not mean much, but for me I just want things to be as simple as possible.

I don't walk into Home Depot but then wait 40 minutes for the 2x4's to come available. Then after snagging those I have to wait around another 30 minutes for some nails, then another hour for some concrete mix. I don't have to wait around for four to eight hours to make it worth going there and then I'm somewhat committed after buying my first item because its useless or too expensive without some more (combined shipping) Maybe I am old school but I just don't get it.

I can see how from a sellers point of view its a good thing. You work hard shipping for a few days and then you have a couple weeks or more to cut new frags, grow some out, reorganise, catch your breath. For consumers though it's not for me.

 

[MCatano]

I like option 1 and 2. Side note I need more Acanthophyillas.

 

[Tompickles]

I love how you did your last live sale just post a bunch of corals every hour so I can do things in between. Staring at a phone or computer all day waiting for 5 corals to post gets boring fast

 

[KrisReef]

I read the first page and jumped in here. @TopShelfAquatics FYI:

How about instead of starting a poll you just dropped a few discount frags on here at random times and see how that goes for you? Put some random specials out here and let folk shop the site afterward (combine shipping) and see if you can't increase traffic that way?

Shopping: I looked at an auction and a frag sale on here today and purchased nothing. I like looking but I don't need coral at the moment. GL

Thanks for supporting the site!

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[Mike N]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Thank you for starting this thread. You knew the discussion would probably not be so favorable towards vendors such as yourself, yet you did it anyway. Thank you for encouraging discussion and not stifling it.
Classy move, TSA.

 

[Conor_K]

Man this is interesting.
So much negativity. But when the sale starts there will be 500 plus people on all day.
Of course a good portion of them are whining the whole time too..
I really enjoy the live sales. It's generally a lot of fun interaction with the vendor and fellow reefers. (as long as you can tune out the whining). I'll hop on most of them for while even if I am not in the market for more frags just for fun.
They are the best sporting events going right now..
I went with option 2 as I liked that format the best last time.
But, my twist would be you turn up the heat in the last hour or two. Either by working your way to 15 minute drops, or throwing in good amount of "easter eggs" not initially dropped at the top of the final hour or two.

Cheers,
Conor

 

[Scurvy]

Ive given up on live sales for numerous reasons but prefer the flash sale format with x amount of pieces dropping at a set time and letting the consumers have at it.

The POTO flash sales are where Ive soent my money the last year or so. That said they actually have to be sale prices and not dumps of pieces that can't be sold any other way. $300/piece does not make a sale, I dont really care what it is anyones selling at that point.

 

[Billldg]

Truth is, I never had any problem with your live sales the way they have been. I enjoyed the hunt, I enjoyed talking with other reefers, and I enjoyed talking to you @TopShelfAquatics.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Man this is interesting.
So much negativity. But when the sale starts there will be 500 plus people on all day.
Of course a good portion of them are whining the whole time too..
I really enjoy the live sales. It's generally a lot of fun interaction with the vendor and fellow reefers. (as long as you can tune out the whining). I'll hop on most of them for while even if I am not in the market for more frags just for fun.
They are the best sporting events going right now..
I went with option 2 as I liked that format the best last time.
But, my twist would be you turn up the heat in the last hour or two. Either by working your way to 15 minute drops, or throwing in good amount of "easter eggs" not initially dropped at the top of the final hour or two.

Cheers,
Conor

Conor,
We were just discussing these ideas in a meeting here with the team.