How do you sell your coral?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I asked a similar question in my local forum and one thing I forgot to mention here is that I live in downtown Chicago. Getting a suburbanite to drive downtown and deal with traffic and parking is a no go for a lot of people. I was surprised how many people said that.

Anyway, here are some photos:

Beautiful colonies!

 

[jtshipley]

We will leave the porch light on for you!
But you know, for us this is a hobby. It is not a business. I don't think it should not be about greed! It should be about sharing these beauties that the ocean provides. The little bit of money we get (we trade a lot of corals too) pays for supplies/electricity and nicer corals to make available.
I have a 16 year old son and he loves to frag corals. He puts his phone away drops his guard and we talk for hours. He helps package corals up and gets a big chunk of the sales.
I have a bit of OCD and need to be always doing something. This hobby works for me. With 6 tanks packed to the limits with coral, there is always maint. to be done and if you keep up on the maint. you can produce frags pretty fast.
Cheers! Mark

do you ship?

 

[Daddy-o]

do you ship?

I do not

 

[savoyard]

I'll buy from you next time in downtown Chicago. I'm not far away in South Bend! PM me if you want to do a test run on shipping:)

 

[IWuzADuck]

Dirt Cheap! Here is our for sale list last month:
- Leptostrea - $5
- Forest Fire Digi - $5
- Red Cap Monti- $5
- Idaho Grape Monti - 2 left $5 each
- Rainbow Monti - 1 left - $5
- Chili Pepper Monti - 2 left - $5 each
- Sunset Monti - 2 left - $5 each
- Mystic Sunset Monti - $5 each
- Green Spongode Monti- $5 each
- Setosa - $5 each
- Tropic Thunder - $5 each
- Encrusting green Monti- $5 each
- Walt Disney - $30
- Miyagi tort - $10
- Tri-color Tort - fresh cuts only $5 each
- RR The Vihn - $10 each
- Thin branch green acro - $10
- Cali Tort - $15
- Red Robin Stag- 2 left - $10 each
- Bali Green Slimer - $5
- Copps CalaCali - $5
- Poccilopora - $5
- Bubble Gum Digi - $10
- Birdsnest - $10
- Tyree Ponape Birdsnest - $10each
- Meteor Shower Cyphastrea (regular and Brick Red) - $5
- Space Invader chalice - $10
- War Coral - $5
- Jack o' Lantern Leptosaris - $10
- AppleBerry Montipora - $15
- Space Invader Pectinia - $25
- SniperSPS Pink Dragon Tails ( Hugo Zuniga) - $15 frag
- ATL Strawberry fields Acro - $15 frag

Getting back in to reefs after several years on the sidelines.
Living in Fresno, so a road trip will be in order

 

[sawdonkey]

Well...I tried shipping again and it was a disaster. I shipped about ten frags to CO, priority overnight. I shipped in a Styro box inside a cardboard box. I included two of the smaller heat packs, and separated them from the cost by some bubble wrap. All corals were in shot glasses inside heat sealed tubing with plenty of water.

Here’s where I went wrong....I dropped the package at fedex at 8:00am and it probably didn’t even get picked up for ten hours. Then it traveled to CO and even though I paid for 10:30 or before delivery, it didn’t show up until 3:30 pm....so about 32 hours after bagging. Weather was actually unseasonably warm. Corals looked bad upon arrival and were whitewalkers by 10pm.

So, I refunded the buyer’s money and I’m out $70 in shipping, some frags, and my time and effort.

Oh well. I think my lesson learned is that I need to find out when packages leave my fedex location and drop them off right before that. Then if fedex holds up to their end of the bargain I can probably shorten time in bag to 15 hours or so.

 

[Daddy-o]

Well...I tried shipping again and it was a disaster. I shipped about ten frags to CO, priority overnight. I shipped in a Styro box inside a cardboard box. I included two of the smaller heat packs, and separated them from the cost by some bubble wrap. All corals were in shot glasses inside heat sealed tubing with plenty of water.

Here’s where I went wrong....I dropped the package at fedex at 8:00am and it probably didn’t even get picked up for ten hours. Then it traveled to CO and even though I paid for 10:30 or before delivery, it didn’t show up until 3:30 pm....so about 32 hours after bagging. Weather was actually unseasonably warm. Corals looked bad upon arrival and were whitewalkers by 10pm.

So, I refunded the buyer’s money and I’m out $70 in shipping, some frags, and my time and effort.

Oh well. I think my lesson learned is that I need to find out when packages leave my fedex location and drop them off right before that. Then if fedex holds up to their end of the bargain I can probably shorten time in bag to 15 hours or so.

What a bummer! Does FedX refund since delivery was late?

 

[sawdonkey]

What a bummer! Does FedX refund since delivery was late?

Not a big deal. It’s just coral. Although I wish I hadn’t thrown in the Merlin’s staff as a freebie! Not sure on the refund. I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to bother with it. Maybe they’d refund the $70 at best, because you’re most supposed to ship live animals anyway.

 

[Daddy-o]

Not a big deal. It’s just coral. Although I wish I hadn’t thrown in the Merlin’s staff as a freebie! Not sure on the refund. I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to bother with it. Maybe they’d refund the $70 at best, because you’re most supposed to ship live animals anyway.

That is exactly why I would rather sell them dirt cheap locally. I just can't deal with the stress and issues.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Daddy-o]

Not a big deal. It’s just coral. Although I wish I hadn’t thrown in the Merlin’s staff as a freebie! Not sure on the refund. I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to bother with it. Maybe they’d refund the $70 at best, because you’re most supposed to ship live animals anyway.

Any update? Have you tried to ship again?
Cheers! Mark

 

[sawdonkey]

I tried once and had a 100% loss, but some invaluable lessons learned . I shipped a box of frags to CO and mistake #1...dropped off the package at fedex at 8am, mistake number 2.....didn’t put in a big enough heat pack....mistake 3....trusted Fedex to meet their promised delivery time.

 

[nea]

That is a primary issue, i am sure i am not alone when i say that i have spent time and money to propagate the corals i have and do not want to lose money on them to sell them 'dirt cheap'. i think that people *forgive my frustration here* want corals cheap like a garage sale. and shipping is only going to cause more liability for me.

 

[Noctite]

This forum is a bit old, but I wanted to try selling some of my frags and I was wondering if there is any demand, I'm from NC and all my lfs exchange credits. i have some xenia and stuff and i see people sell coral on craigslist and marketplace but is there truly any demand?

 

[vetteguy53081]

This forum is a bit old, but I wanted to try selling some of my frags and I was wondering if there is any demand, I'm from NC and all my lfs exchange credits. i have some xenia and stuff and i see people sell coral on craigslist and marketplace but is there truly any demand?

Demand will depend on type of coral, price and if you will shiip

 

[Noctite]

Demand will depend on type of coral, price and if you will shiip

alright alright, thanks

 

[pytalways100]

SHIPPING AND SHIPPING COSTS ARE FACTORS.
Additionally, Price is always a factor, as well as size and type of coral. WYSIWYG always contributes to pieces sold.
I haven't seen your corals but would like to. Send me a Link or post a link so others can see

So I recently acquired a few different types of what i believe to be a few different types of coral, and have done a quite a bit if research however i have yet to actually speak to anyone directly about them. i was wondering and hoping you or someone may have time to take a look at what i have and possibly give me a litle advice/suggestions....

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I recently acquired a few different types of what i believe to be a few different types of coral, and have done a quite a bit if research however i have yet to actually speak to anyone directly about them. i was wondering and hoping you or someone may have time to take a look at what i have and possibly give me a litle advice/suggestions....

pics?

 

[felizreefin]

We sell a ton of coral. With 7 reefs running there is always trimming to be done. I also find the greed in the hobby to be a bit of an issue. It is hard for people (especially youngsters) to have a nice reef without breaking the bank. When we decided to sell our frags, our biggest hurdles were:
- Most every other reefer is 30+ minutes away from our house
- I cannot ever seem to get good pictures
- I dont want to ship
So we decided to sell frags cheap - real cheap
I was really surprised at the sheer number of frags that we are able to sell. A lot of people will come and buy 10-20 frags at a time to get their tanks set up. Our single sale record is 36 frags. Some drive almost 2 hours to get here and all leave happy. We are happy to trade frags and have traded for some really nice pieces. We have met a bunch of really nice reefers and we are surely knocking the price of corals down in our area.

Cheers! Mark

Where do you sell? Do you have your own website?

 

[AGBReef]

Q:. How do you sell your coral?
A:. At a loss.

:)

Unfortunately it’s hard to find a LFS that will take acro in my area. I don’t know the names of most of my coral. It’s a hobby and I don’t want to ship either, but trimming needs to be done all the time.

 

[Ef4life]

All my corals are priced $5-20, I don’t ship, not interested in shipping at all. If I had to ship, the prices would be significantly higher to cover the costs and hassles.