Prices are too dang high!!!

[ca1ore]

Bullpuckey! I have corals that I could frag for days. Once you have a good size colony or large coral, you can frag and frag and frag again. It continues to grow so $100 to $800 and up for a tiny piece of coral is just plain stupid greed.

Double Bullpuckey!

This is all stunningly simple. If there are people willing to pay what you might consider exorbitant prices, then folks selling that stuff will continue to charge it. I don't disagree that paying hundreds of dollars for fingernail sized coral frags is foolish, but if there are people willing to pay that price then it ain't changing.

Also keep in mind that high prices are generally reserved for 'new' corals. Once they get grown out in people's tanks the price comes way down. I frag my colonies and the trade bits for stuff I don't have. Much cheaper that way. Allows me to pay more for fish.

As to the price of some gear, consider that many of the 'companies' selling it are small, garage operations without either the scale or automation to be 'cheap'. I was asked some years ago to make somebody an ATS, but by the time I had factored in materials and my time to make it the cost became unreasonable, so I declined. If you don't want to pay for someone else's time, make it yourself.

Fortunately none of this is rocket science LOL.

 

[Mebbid]

If the prices are too high, then buy those expensive corals, grow them out, and undercut their prices.

 

[Dennis McGrath]

This is a thought provoking thread but....

Can anyone reasonably explain why this

Costs $99 ?

I truly would like to understand.

'Cause of the sticker in the bottom corner. If it said "Rubbermaid" on it, it would be $5.99

 

[count krunk]

A big reason, as many have pointed out. Production!

They're are not many companies (hardly any) that are large enough to capture those sweet sweet production gains in this industry. Simply not enough buyers.

A big reason why DIY is so big in this hobby. You can build and mod things to save a boat load of cash. Boat is actually an acronym for bust out another thousand.

Which is why I cringe whenever I see broken custom tanks. They must have an insurance scheme going on but I still cannot understand why the manufacturer wouldn't pack them with a bit more wood or whatever to keep them safe.

And many good LFS will have little nubs of things that are quite pretty for $5-$20.

You can buy something pretty, or you can build something that works just as good or better but it will probably be half as pretty.

That said, with 3d printing, and advanced cutting techniques/machines on the rise, Fab costs should be coming down for a lot of the more simple containers and adaptors / odds n ends.

And that concludes my $.02

 

[ritter6788]

Every time this topic is brought up I say search for the story of The $500 efflo. Imagine paying $500/frag for a purple acro back in the late 90s (err early 2000’s).

 

[ca1ore]

This is a thought provoking thread but....

Can anyone reasonably explain why this costs $99 ?

I truly would like to understand.

Come on, seriously?

Let's see .... $20 for materials; couple of hours of labor adds another $20; pack and ship another $10. Does it sell through retail? If so, two profit margins to cover. I'd certainly not pay $100, preferring to make my own. Seems a bit high, there are plenty on BRS in the $65 range. As noted, plenty of other commercial options to be had at a fraction of the price. I used to use large cereal containers .... $10 a pop.

 

[User1]

Dosing containers and ATO reservoirs upset me. It's a plastic bucket.

Might I suggest you pick up a couple Voss glass 800ml bottles Found a DIY link here somewhere and they make amazing dosing containers. Problem solved

 

[Dj City]

Im really liking the different views expressed on this thread.

 

[Dj City]

Prices are still too dang high though.

 

[squampton]

If people stopped paying the high prices they would drop.

I tend to refuse to buy the high priced things, I also don't buy the super low end either. I have Sicce pump for my return, I find the quality for the price acceptable, I however don't find value in those $400+ pumps out there, I just need it to pump water, pretty basic concept...lol

I won't buy ATO containers, my ATO container is a $5 plastic rubbermaid container, it holds about a gallon and some change.

My circulation pumps are Sicce and I think cost $40, they do their job good enough, I don't find value in the bells and whistles of the 200-300+ pumps, again just need it to move water.

I did my part in trying to reduce prices by not adding to the demand of the high priced items.......

I just dont find the bells and whistles some products have a value, I prefer basic and reliable at an affordable price.

For livestock, I splurged once and spent $70 on a fish.

 

[TaylorPilot]

Prices are still too dang high though.

Try being a pilot....a 7" GPS touch screen for a 60 year old plane is 20k before installation cost...you want a new autopilot also?! LOL...My buddy has a 6 seater (barely), single engine 45 year old A36 Bonanza. He is getting new avionics screens put in it. The bill is over $125k. It's a small market. Take GM or Ford for example. If they only sold 1000 units per year, their manufacturing procedures would be completely different. A Ford truck would cost 250k to manufacture. But they can spend millions on a single dash mold because that cost is split across millions and millions of trucks...Most people buy retail products where the manufacturing cost are spread across 2 million units. Niche, enthusiast driven markets like reef keeping aren't like that. When Ecotech gets 50k worth of new injection molds made, that cost is split across 2000 powerheads, not 2 million.

 

[TaylorPilot]

All that said, i'd never spend $300 on a "trademarked" 1 inch coral stick.

 

[Ranjib]

I have not found reefing to be very expensive. Particularly as initially everyone had told me. It its true it is expensive, but for me it was more around buying good and reputed equipment (pumps, led lights etc)., Rest is all hype. From saltwater mixing setup (RO buddie, reef crystal) to sourcing most of my coral from local reefers to using old water jugs as ato reservoir and finally my own controller. I really didnt feel it was tremendously expensive. But yes, I did notice there are ways you can really spend $$$ , but that's true many things (like there are watches that are crazy expensive), and sometime its expensive for right reason. But there are ample DIY and other tricks you can do (make friends, do community service/tank cleanup/ transfer help to other reefers) to get some stuff for cheap.

Small and niche market is also a factor, as others mentioned. I also think there always this new frontiers, like maintaining tanks with lots of advanced equipment and reagents etc.. but again most of it is not a necessity. Like a gravity fed ATO or a drip based kalkwasser doser is also good if you maintain it right

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

When it comes to corals I always buy stuff that has been in the hobby for awhile. Since lots of people will have fragged them the price goes down. Newer stuff also costs more since the hobby tends to have fads. For example purple death palys used to be very expensive at 40$ a polyp but the price has gone way down since.

 

[Retro Reefer]

As long as people are willing to pay ridiculous prices manufacturers and retailers are going to keep charging that amount.. I agree with others, nothing makes a ATO plastic water storage container worth $100-$200. I paid $8 for mine at Walmart and it matches my sump and skimmer

 

[Omer]

I'm bored at work so i'm ranting about this hobby we love.

PRICES ARE TOO DANG HIGH!!!
​

Why are corals that are soooooooooo small sooooooooo expensive? You can get a frag that's the size of a pencil eraser and it can be well over $100!
I don't care how colorful it is. IT'S THE SIZE OF A PENCIL ERASER!!!

THE PRICE IS TOO DANG HIGH​

Why is a acrylic box that holds 5 gallons of fresh water over $100??? IT'S A PLAIN OLD ACRYLIC (plastic) BOX!!! So what if it has a green top. It's ridiculous!

THE PRICE IS TOO DANG HIGH
​

Why is a fragging kit over $40 FOR A CHEAP BASIC KIT??? Let's face it. A fragging kit is really nothing more than a fingernail care kit. For a cheap basic bare bones frag kit they want over $40!!!

THE PRICE IS TOO DANG HIGH
​

Why does a dosing container cost anywhere from $40 for the BASIC single container up to 199.95???? The reasoning is beyond me!!!

THE PRICE IS TOO DANG HIGH
​

There is sooooooooo much more in this hobby that is just WAY overpriced. And I mean WAAAAAAAAY overpriced!

But, we keep buying so, they keep robbing, I mean charging us.


What's YOUR Overpriced rant?

Cause humanity is killing coral reefs

 

[Dj City]

This basic 5 gallon container cost $99

This exact same container in red cost $114

It's expensive at $99 for an acrylic box. Is it worth an extra $15 to have the same exact box in red tint?

Check out this beautiful 10 gallon basic acrylic ato container for $145

Now here's the delux version in stunning green for $169.99

It's the exact same container but now it's tinted green!


No matter what, at the end of the day, i'ts still just a plastic box that holds water.
There is no good justifiable reason for the prices to be so high for what in reality is...
An acrylic box.

If you want to pay those prices then by all means, go for it but I'm not a fan of paying that much for a product that has a fancy name on it.

 

[Merv49]

@Merv49 I see you are in South Carolina. I hope you are safe from the storms. It looks like they are getting a good bit of water on the coastal towns.

Here in Charleston we’ve had very little weather at all. The town has been on lockdown since Thursday for basically nothing.

 

[mrpizzaface]

This basic 5 gallon container cost $99

This exact same container in red cost $114

It's expensive at $99 for an acrylic box. Is it worth an extra $15 to have the same exact box in red tint?

Check out this beautiful 10 gallon basic acrylic ato container for $145

Now here's the delux version in stunning green for $169.99

It's the exact same container but now it's tinted green!


No matter what, at the end of the day, i'ts still just a plastic box that holds water.
There is no good justifiable reason for the prices to be so high for what in reality is...
An acrylic box.

If you want to pay those prices then by all means, go for it but I'm not a fan of paying that much for a product that has a fancy name on it.

For what it’s worth colored acrylic is more expensive than clear acrylic, thus the cost differences you pointed out.

It is also worth pointing out that current manufacturers pricing strategies allow for the research and development that results in all the new innovations we see every year.

As others have noted if people stopped paying these prices then things would change. I happen to be one of the people that thinks that kind of change would be bad for the hobby.

 

[Dj City]

@Merv49 and anyone else in the path of the storm,
I truly wish you well!
Be smart,
Be safe!