Tannermule
Active Member
Hello all,
If you want to just give help on pricing start at SWAP PRICING. If you want more context, keep reading.
I am trying for the first time to sell coral at my local frag swap. It is LEAR in Cleveland. I am trying to figure out how to do this effectively and the proper pricing. If you want to follow along please feel free to follow me on Instagram @excelreefer. I am pulling direct inspiration from Remi @bahamalamacoral on Instagram and YouTube. I plan on giving regular updates up to the frag swap including cost and profits (if this happens). I am excited and welcome any help from others. If you want to understand my logic and reasoning please read the below.
Current Pricing Methodology
I want to bring a variety for the beginner to the collector. Usually when I sell frags I take one of three approaches.
1. What did I pay?
2. What are others selling it for?
3. WWC*1/3= my price
This isn't meant to throw shade at anyone either. I don't have the brand recognition as WWC, the overhead, or the employees. I am doing this out of my apt and trying to buy new salt, frags, or fish. Currently saving up for a new tank.
Data Gathering
I usually use WWC because they are the most diverse of coral vendors. I created a spreadsheet of the coral I plan on selling and different vendors selling the corals. WWC is used because they have the most corals actively being sold IMO. Top Shelf Aquatics because I feel they are a close competitor of WWC. Tidal Gardens was selected because they are local, I really like them and to see how they would stack up. I also searched R2R for prices. Finally I plan on going to Cincinnati Frag Swap to see the prices there.
In order for the data to be selected a few things needed to be normalized.
Softies
1. Used the prices before sales
a. I know you could get cheaper with some of the sales, but I felt that before sales was best
2. I looked at the description for the dividend
a. If it said WYSIWYG then I counted the visible polyps, took the main price and divided it by the count.
b. If the description was written as 2-3 I took the larger of the numbers
c. If It stated "4 or more", "4+" or similar I simply added 1 making it 5. I felt as though this would encompass the average frag size.
3.R2R only: It had to have been sold in the past 3 months and used the most recent sold as the baseline.
a. If needed I extended the deadline, but still needed to be sold
b. It could not be in a pack
c. If I could only find one it was used, but if I had multiple they were weighted by A*.6 +B*.25+C*.15= price . Price being ABC based on date. I never needed more than that because it didn't make much of a difference.
d. This also showed the change in the market
4. Cincinnati show has yet to happen so nothing here yet
LPS and SPS (used above reasoning too)
1. I saved images of these on my phone for comparison to my frags for pricing.
2. I understand that hobbyists will likely have better deals than retailers but still useful data point
3. Some frags by R2R needed asterisks due to size or increased perceived value (i.e. fully encrusted)
MISC
1.Work in progress and difficult to find 1-1 comparisons of what I have for the vendors and R2R because no shipping cost associated with mine and subject to change day of or if I bring them.
Equipment
Frag Tank from BRS
AI Prime
Aquatop Return
Egg Crate
Bio Brick
New bulkhead and LocLine
Swap Pricing
I want to give fair pricing for local hobbyists as well as provide a variety regardless of your budget. In the images you will see some of what I am bringing as of now.
Softies are Per Polyp
SPS are by 1in frag
LPS are going to vary the most. I was trying to do Per Head, but not easy on blastos from just using photos.
Any and all help here would be appreciated.
Thank you all sorry for the long post.
If you want to just give help on pricing start at SWAP PRICING. If you want more context, keep reading.
I am trying for the first time to sell coral at my local frag swap. It is LEAR in Cleveland. I am trying to figure out how to do this effectively and the proper pricing. If you want to follow along please feel free to follow me on Instagram @excelreefer. I am pulling direct inspiration from Remi @bahamalamacoral on Instagram and YouTube. I plan on giving regular updates up to the frag swap including cost and profits (if this happens). I am excited and welcome any help from others. If you want to understand my logic and reasoning please read the below.
Current Pricing Methodology
I want to bring a variety for the beginner to the collector. Usually when I sell frags I take one of three approaches.
1. What did I pay?
2. What are others selling it for?
3. WWC*1/3= my price
This isn't meant to throw shade at anyone either. I don't have the brand recognition as WWC, the overhead, or the employees. I am doing this out of my apt and trying to buy new salt, frags, or fish. Currently saving up for a new tank.
Data Gathering
I usually use WWC because they are the most diverse of coral vendors. I created a spreadsheet of the coral I plan on selling and different vendors selling the corals. WWC is used because they have the most corals actively being sold IMO. Top Shelf Aquatics because I feel they are a close competitor of WWC. Tidal Gardens was selected because they are local, I really like them and to see how they would stack up. I also searched R2R for prices. Finally I plan on going to Cincinnati Frag Swap to see the prices there.
In order for the data to be selected a few things needed to be normalized.
Softies
1. Used the prices before sales
a. I know you could get cheaper with some of the sales, but I felt that before sales was best
2. I looked at the description for the dividend
a. If it said WYSIWYG then I counted the visible polyps, took the main price and divided it by the count.
b. If the description was written as 2-3 I took the larger of the numbers
c. If It stated "4 or more", "4+" or similar I simply added 1 making it 5. I felt as though this would encompass the average frag size.
3.R2R only: It had to have been sold in the past 3 months and used the most recent sold as the baseline.
a. If needed I extended the deadline, but still needed to be sold
b. It could not be in a pack
c. If I could only find one it was used, but if I had multiple they were weighted by A*.6 +B*.25+C*.15= price . Price being ABC based on date. I never needed more than that because it didn't make much of a difference.
d. This also showed the change in the market
4. Cincinnati show has yet to happen so nothing here yet
LPS and SPS (used above reasoning too)
1. I saved images of these on my phone for comparison to my frags for pricing.
2. I understand that hobbyists will likely have better deals than retailers but still useful data point
3. Some frags by R2R needed asterisks due to size or increased perceived value (i.e. fully encrusted)
MISC
1.Work in progress and difficult to find 1-1 comparisons of what I have for the vendors and R2R because no shipping cost associated with mine and subject to change day of or if I bring them.
Equipment
Frag Tank from BRS
AI Prime
Aquatop Return
Egg Crate
Bio Brick
New bulkhead and LocLine
Swap Pricing
I want to give fair pricing for local hobbyists as well as provide a variety regardless of your budget. In the images you will see some of what I am bringing as of now.
Softies are Per Polyp
SPS are by 1in frag
LPS are going to vary the most. I was trying to do Per Head, but not easy on blastos from just using photos.
Any and all help here would be appreciated.
Thank you all sorry for the long post.
