Rant - Why do hobbyist price their corals like a store???

[Naturalreef]

Did you see the orange torch for sale in chicago locals for 70?? I threw a fit!

I didn’t, lol

I had all the torches and scoly and now switched to all sps with my latest reboot.

 

[Goaway]

Coral FS. Moving out of state. [Expired]

Hi, We will be moving out of state, so I need to tear down my tank. I’ll be selling Coral first, then Fish, then hi-end equipment to follow! Thanks for looking. WYSIWYG Orange Torch- 3” $75 Marbled Hammer- 2 1/2” $40 Orange and purple clove polyps- 50+ $50 Gold Hammer 1 1/2” $30 Grandis...

www.reef2reef.com

This old thread. He had some nice prices. I would have bought it all. Again, distance.

Close to chicago.

 

[Naturalreef]

Why dont you sell your car to me for $2500? The dealer wants $5000 but they have to pay for their lot and workers so you shouldnt charge so much.

Things have value based on what people are willing to pay, and are usually determined by the market. Do you not try to get as much as you can for anything youre selling whether a car or a house? Why would coral be any different?

I sell frags and i try to be a little cheaper than the vendors but lots of the higher end coral are actully quite difficult to grow. Not everyone can throw a super rare acro or zoa in their tank and have it flourish enough to make frags. And even when they do grow well it can take months sometimes over a year before you can frag it. There are still cheap corals out there, i have plenty of mushrooms, zoas, montis, etc under $20, but i also have zoas where a single head is worth over $100. You dont need to have the fanciest high end coral, so buy within your budget.

I agree with what you are saying… but I give a lot of stuff away or at ridiculous low pricing to share the hobby with others. To your other point about cheap corals, I was reading a article of a members tank recently. I think it was pong pit’s sps nano. I was amazed at the beauty of it and I believe it was all maricultured sps. Not amazing colors, but amazing how beautiful the tank looked when full of sps.

This $600 fad of crazy sps frags took a back seat to pong pits tank. I had to reset the reason I joined this hobby. To watch delicate creatures flourish in our tanks, Not to find the latest named crazy color frag. I say this currently with a tank full of named sps. Lol. Epiphany was right after that article

 

[Naturalreef]

I was just putting up a car example when you posted. lol. Here it is anyway.
I put my car up for sale at $20,000, because I knew someone would buy it for that. Would I sell it to someone for $15,000 just to show I'm not greedy or overcharging? Of course not. Isn't it the same with corals? No one needs corals. It's not bread. I don't think you can gouge. Is it too much? Don't buy it. You don't need it.
Personally, I don't think people should try to overcharge, but I don't blame them. If a stranger will pay you $100 for something, why should you charge them $80? If someone will pay a high amount, you can't be criticized for charging a high amount. Can you? Tell me why. Honestly, I would like to know. Not trying to be confrontational, I would just like to hear the reasoning.

No arguing here, people can charge whatever someone is willing to pay. Just calling it what it is, capitalizing…..But, There is always someone willing to sell it cheaper. You just have to wait a little longer searching and be ready to jump on it. For me it is a lesson learned.

 

[Goaway]

If you're willing to look and wait, there's plenty of Deals and steals. You just have to be willing to go and get it.
Ignore the over pricers. Buy from those you can negotiate with for prices you like.

No arguing here, people can charge whatever someone is willing to pay. Just calling it what it is, capitalizing…..But, There is always someone willing to sell it cheaper. You just have to wait a little longer searching and be ready to jump on it. For me it is a lesson learned.

I agree

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I agree with what you are saying… but I give a lot of stuff away or at ridiculous low pricing to share the hobby with others. To your other point about cheap corals, I was reading a article of a members tank recently. I think it was pong pit’s sps nano. I was amazed at the beauty of it and I believe it was all maricultured sps. Not amazing colors, but amazing how beautiful the tank looked when full of sps.

This $600 fad of crazy sps frags took a back seat to pong pits tank. I had to reset the reason I joined this hobby. To watch delicate creatures flourish in our tanks, Not to find the latest named crazy color frag. I say this currently with a tank full of named sps. Lol. Epiphany was right after that article

I have given away mushrooms, montis, xenia, and the like to friends getting into the hobby. And i still sell them for really low prices, but theyre also all really easy to grow. I gotta trim my montis almost monthly. The high end stuff is another story cause ita much more time consuming to grow.

I do agree that you dont have to have the most recent and hottest corals around to have a beautiful tank. I used to have a tank full of cheaper corals but i just had massive colonies of them and the tank was still stunning. I only recently started collecting some of the fancy stuff cause ive been blown away with some of the colors that have came into the hobby the past 5-10years.

 

[RedSeaReefer1]

Why are y’all randomly commenting on this weeks later

 

[OREGONIC]

If people pay the price there is no reason to sell for less. I personally usually only charge about half of what a lfs charges and often give frags away to other reefers as well. That being said I would rather pay close to lfs pricing for a coral from a reefer that has grown it out in their tank. Tank grown corals are healthier and seem to adapt and start growing faster then ones purchased from lfs. I think even if the coral a lfs is selling came from another reefers tank it still has to acclimate to the lfs then to your tank increasing stress with the 2 changes instead of just 1.

 

[Naturalreef]

Why are y’all randomly commenting on this weeks later

Because it’s still pertinent…

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

As someone who grows things out to frag and resell, some of it ends up on the buyers shoulders. No matter how cheap you list an item someone will always go out of the way and low ball you on prices or ask you to drive and meet them half way. I don't mind doing it at times and I never ask for the same prices as online or at stores but when you do have say a tank filled with Euphyllia (frag tank not main display) it requires dosing, monitoring, feeding, and water changes. You may not have the rent of a store but you do have everything that comes with it including electric bills.

I wrote a post about this before..i think the obligatory frag tank is part of the reason. Too many people now are seeing this as a monetary investment so the first thing they think about is a frag tank over a gorgeous display tank (over generalization, i know). People are complaining about how expensive the in demand corals are so that they can buy them, put them in their frag tank then sell them at the same price they complained about buying them at in the first place. Not going to rant about someone trying to make money...if it is something i want and am willing to pay for it..so be it. If not, i keep looking or decide for something else. The only reason prices are high is simplistically because people are willing to pay.

 

[Gqch]

This market is never been balanced, how many sellers in our forum selling their tiny frags for way expensive than store price as they've selling diamond lol, also there are countless lowballer buyers and flake too. But most of reefers are nice descent with reasonable price and negotiations

 

[Goaway]

This market is never been balanced, how many sellers in our forum selling their tiny frags for way expensive than store price as they've selling diamond lol, also there are countless lowballer buyers and flake too. But most of reefers are nice descent with reasonable price and negotiations

I maybe alone on this. Diamonds are the biggest scam in this world. How anyone would even pay these outrageous prices for those, is beyond me. To each their own.

But you are right, people sell their coral like precious gem stones. Perhaps they are? As long as someone will pay the price, they will sell it for that price. Buyers are more at fault here.

 

[Lyss]

I hadn't seen this thread before, and just read through it. I think corals are for many more like collector's items, and in that case high prices can be justified no matter who is selling it. But generally I get where OP is coming from -- a hobbyist doesn't have the overhead that a business would, so doesn't need to mark stuff up in the same way a business would.

 

[Bpb]

I’m going a coral haul and I usually buy my corals from local hobbyists or stores with good deals going on or from store owners who usually hook me up. Anyways, I’m finding a lot of hobbyist are now pricing their corals out of the market. Either pricing their corals just as much as a store or higher. Why? It makes no sense. They don’t have the bills and many expenses that a store has to pay so why price that high? If someone is going out of their way to drive to your house to pay for a frag that you didn’t even buy wholesale then why price high. It’s just a coral frag that grew from one of their established corals. People are really trying to sell me regular torches for hundreds of $$$ a head and plain mushrooms for close to $70 a piece now. And FYI to these people online is not a good reference for pricing as online is ridiculous now. 5x higher than what you should be paying. Don’t mean to rant just wanna know why….

There’s a few camps in this hobby.

You've got the collectors/traders. Exclusivity is the name of the game. No price too great, and a quick turnaround is high up on the priority list. Heavy into the social media side of the hobby.

Hoarders: Appreciation for common and exotic alike. Sometimes willing to pay a premium. Typically load up and let em grow big. Usually somewhat silent on social media and this forum alike. Usually have the most impressive displays and collections, but don't brag and share near to the same degree the collectors/traders do

Average joe: The name game is a silly money grab. Typically hates the collector/trader camp and blames them for ruining the hobby. If it looks good and is cheap, they'll buy it.

I fall more in the hoarder category. Do I like the fact that torch corals cost closer to a grand per head than not? No. But that just means I'm not torch guy. Don't love them enough. If I did, I'd ensure my tank could make them thrive, and I'd make the investment.