REEFERS: I'd like to hear what frustrates you most about buying corals online

[VintageReefer]

What do you mean, like you place the order but they won't deliver it? Or just making you buy a certain amount to even place an order? Either way sounds scummy lol

This happened to me. A major vendor on here put a new “minimum order” policy on their website but they didn’t update any of their eBay auctions with this info

I won 3 items, and paid for them along with the full shipping price.
They message me on ebay to confirm a ship date. I confirm the date.

On the afternoon of the ship date they didn’t message me on eBay…they called me on the phone…got my number through PayPal. I have never had an eBay seller for anything call me instead of using eBay message system. Red flag 1

Some kid is on the phone and says that “they ran the numbers and they are barley making any money on the order and I need to buy more coral or they won’t ship”

I was like what the heck. I won these auctions and I paid the sh charge.

He said it’s not worth it for them to bag and pack and ship the corals and they are barely making any money at this point and I need to buy more coral or they will cancel the auctions and refund me. Red flag 2.

I asked them why is this happening when I paid in full and you admit you are not making a lot, but you are still making money. He said I didn’t need the minimum shipping policy. I said there is nothing in the listing about that even intended fine print. He said it’s on their website. Red flag 3 I told them, you can put whatever you want on the website, that’s for website orders. eBay is it’s own thing and all the terms are in the auction and none of my auctions mention anything about a minimum order total needed to ship. He said it’s a new policy and they didn’t update eBay listings yet. Well…not my problem. I won legal auctions you can’t change the terms after

At this point I briefly considered ordering more just to be done with this. I asked, how much more do I need to spend for you guys to ship? He said ohhh just like one or two more corals. Anything extra really. Red flag 4. Sooo you have a “new policy” and can’t even tell me what the minimum is! At that point I said I’m not buying any more and he said something about the order will be canceled if I don’t buy more and we hung up.

I went to vendor feedback and posted this story and the vendor forum rep replied back promptly and said my order is being packed and will ship today as planned.

Great.

The next day my order arrived. Red flag 5. And I didn’t get the wysiwyg corals that I bought. I got discolored, crappier versions. And more than that, the number of heads was wrong! Clearly the wrong coral. I win a 4 head dendro colony, the bag has two corals on two plugs, a 2 head and a 1 head lol. All the corals were wrong head count. Bought 2 head fat head dendro, Got a 1 head.

And also got free aiptasia and hair algae that was not in the wysiwyg photos

If all came to me at once. They called me so I couldn’t report them to eBay. If they use the message system, it’s documented and I can report them for threatening to cancel my legal binding auction wins. So they called to prevent me from having evidence to report them.

When they were forced to sell the coral, that sold for less than they wanted, they substituted cheaper crappier versions.

I went back to my vendor feedback thread and started posting pics and let the forum rep know.

They refunded me for everything but the sh. So still I was out $40 and got 3 junk frags, nothing like what I wanted. Pale and dying.

What a nightmare. Never again

 

[AW001]

Live sale rules: I recently purchased some frags from a major vendor who had a live sale. I had never done this before, and just purchased the items from his website and didn't follow here. Apparently the "rules" were posted on this forum, and not on his website. The "mystery frag" I ordered didn't ship and no notice was provided. When I contacted the seller the explanation was that I didn't buy enough regular priced items. This was not on his site, and no notice was given that the frag wouldn't ship. Given how expensive shipping is this proportionally increases the cost of each coral a lot. My kiddos were quite disappointed as they were really excited about getting a mystery frag.

Frag sizes: To make matters worse, the zoa frag we received never completely opened once, and I think it's dead. (1, maybe 2 polyps) It is placed fairly close to two thriving zoa frags I purchased at a frag swap/in-person sale and is microscopic in size in comparison. The other two frags were I received with the order were fine, but this seller is known for zoas..

It will be awhile until I order online again, despite not having LFS within ~2 hr drive. The frag swap was great, and the vendors were really helpful with suggestions for corals for beginners, placement, care etc. I think I will try to make it to these events when I can instead.

 

[VintageReefer]

Photo/video editing - or their loophole - using effects on the camera while recording and saying they didn’t edit it. Well. It’s recorded with settings so tweaked that the camera is recording inaccurately !

Paid 400$ for a orange torch from a vendor here. After a lengthy convo where I was told the torch is orange and not yellow or gold. They gave me photos and video

Skin tone and plug base seemed like they should under blue lighting. And there in with it…an orange torch. And in convo they are promising me this is how it looks in person. And then they said if I order by midnight they would include a free “orange hammer”. So I bought it and I made sure to use PayPal.

What arrived at my door. A regular Indo gold torch and a odd hammer

I tried all different lighting combos. There was no way to make this orange. It was a regular gold torch

I complained to the vendor and said flat out this isn’t orange and they told me “it’s still a nice torch, give it a chance and you’ll grow to like it”

Nope. Nope. I didn’t just spend $400 on a regular Indo gold.

They then told me they would “take the loss” and offer a 25% refund.

Nope. I’m not spending $300 on a Indo gold either. I offered to pay $150 for it and they refused to do any mlre than 25% and gave a sob story about how I’m harming their small business. You harmed yourself when you deceived me and conned me

I ended up going to PayPal claim, sending pics of the advertisement, all the conversation, and what was delivered. PayPal handled it for me thank goodness.

 

[mrjoe]

usually 95% of the time I buy from local hobbyists... much easier as I see what I'm buying and i get to make friends in the process..

 

[MrGisonni]

The shipping is the scary part. I'm always concerned about delays, or the box sitting in the South Florida heat for too long. I understand that the online photos are enhanced a bit, but also know what the average specimen will look like in my reef. Believe it or not, I have been pleasantly shocked at times by the size of the frags received. They were much larger than I anticipated. That's a nice surprise.

 

[EliMelly]

This happened to me. A major vendor on here put a new “minimum order” policy on their website but they didn’t update any of their eBay auctions with this info

I won 3 items, and paid for them along with the full shipping price.
They message me on ebay to confirm a ship date. I confirm the date.

On the afternoon of the ship date they didn’t message me on eBay…they called me on the phone…got my number through PayPal. I have never had an eBay seller for anything call me instead of using eBay message system. Red flag 1

Some kid is on the phone and says that “they ran the numbers and they are barley making any money on the order and I need to buy more coral or they won’t ship”

I was like what the heck. I won these auctions and I paid the sh charge.

He said it’s not worth it for them to bag and pack and ship the corals and they are barely making any money at this point and I need to buy more coral or they will cancel the auctions and refund me. Red flag 2.

I asked them why is this happening when I paid in full and you admit you are not making a lot, but you are still making money. He said I didn’t need the minimum shipping policy. I said there is nothing in the listing about that even intended fine print. He said it’s on their website. Red flag 3 I told them, you can put whatever you want on the website, that’s for website orders. eBay is it’s own thing and all the terms are in the auction and none of my auctions mention anything about a minimum order total needed to ship. He said it’s a new policy and they didn’t update eBay listings yet. Well…not my problem. I won legal auctions you can’t change the terms after

At this point I briefly considered ordering more just to be done with this. I asked, how much more do I need to spend for you guys to ship? He said ohhh just like one or two more corals. Anything extra really. Red flag 4. Sooo you have a “new policy” and can’t even tell me what the minimum is! At that point I said I’m not buying any more and he said something about the order will be canceled if I don’t buy more and we hung up.

I went to vendor feedback and posted this story and the vendor forum rep replied back promptly and said my order is being packed and will ship today as planned.

Great.

The next day my order arrived. Red flag 5. And I didn’t get the wysiwyg corals that I bought. I got discolored, crappier versions. And more than that, the number of heads was wrong! Clearly the wrong coral. I win a 4 head dendro colony, the bag has two corals on two plugs, a 2 head and a 1 head lol. All the corals were wrong head count. Bought 2 head fat head dendro, Got a 1 head.

And also got free aiptasia and hair algae that was not in the wysiwyg photos

If all came to me at once. They called me so I couldn’t report them to eBay. If they use the message system, it’s documented and I can report them for threatening to cancel my legal binding auction wins. So they called to prevent me from having evidence to report them.

When they were forced to sell the coral, that sold for less than they wanted, they substituted cheaper crappier versions.

I went back to my vendor feedback thread and started posting pics and let the forum rep know.

They refunded me for everything but the sh. So still I was out $40 and got 3 junk frags, nothing like what I wanted. Pale and dying.

What a nightmare. Never again

Which vendor was it?

 

[BryanM]

RE: ebay, in my life I've had very good luck with ebay, but I have yet to bother inside this hobby.... I'm sure I'll get there, but not any time soon.... And I simply don't buy from vendors I research and find they've only been there for a month, have sketchy feedback, etc.... That's done well for me in other ventures.

I like that there's no votes for customer service in this poll... I think that's a win.

 

[timmyrules]

Charging f ull shipping rates yet refusing to deliver until you buy a minimum of a hundred dollars.

Yes! I literally just had an issue with this!!!! My order was like 115$ including shipping, they had already charged me. and then I got this email saying they wouldn’t ship unless I spent 15 more dollars! Like , what the heck?! So then I didn’t end up getting my corals until 2 weeks after my original order because they decided to just hold it for a long time and weren’t responding to my emails. And they were one of the more reputable vendors!

 

[SaltyBear]

What do you mean, like you place the order but they won't deliver it? Or just making you buy a certain amount to even place an order? Either way sounds scummy lol

They had an ebay auction going on and nowhere on thee auction or description did they say you had to purchase a minimum of $100 before they would ship and that's after winning the bid AND paying $45 in shipping.

Scummy, yes. They went and changed the photos, I had screen shots ebay canceled the bid.

They pull thus on their website also.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

I wish I could answer the question but I’ve never bought a coral online.

 

[cobraz]

Receiving frags with Aiptasia on them from a vendor...this should never be the case.
Tells me their buying from local fraggers or they don't keep clean systems..which means what else could you get...spiders, red bugs its limitless.

 

[exnisstech]

What annoys me even more than the cooked photos is when a bunch of people are oooing and ahing over the photos like they are real and they get ticked when I comment to say it's a cooked photo.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

1. Photo editing- This is by far the worst offender. And I'm tired of the old age "well it looks different depending on your lighting". Okay sure, then take pictures under blue and white spectrum. Also why is it so difficult to only use an orange filter and call it a day. Instead they edit multiple parameters to make other colors pop. Something you still wouldn't see in person.

2. Stop using black backgrounds- This provides a false perception on size.

3. Stop using generic terms- like single frag. The industry has yet set a standard on sizes. So just tell us how big it is or polyp count.

Its so obvious, anytime a local vendor puts something online and I like it. I go see it in person and then disappointed lol.

 

[Oscaror]

This happened to me. A major vendor on here put a new “minimum order” policy on their website but they didn’t update any of their eBay auctions with this info

I won 3 items, and paid for them along with the full shipping price.
They message me on ebay to confirm a ship date. I confirm the date.

On the afternoon of the ship date they didn’t message me on eBay…they called me on the phone…got my number through PayPal. I have never had an eBay seller for anything call me instead of using eBay message system. Red flag 1

Some kid is on the phone and says that “they ran the numbers and they are barley making any money on the order and I need to buy more coral or they won’t ship”

I was like what the heck. I won these auctions and I paid the sh charge.

He said it’s not worth it for them to bag and pack and ship the corals and they are barely making any money at this point and I need to buy more coral or they will cancel the auctions and refund me. Red flag 2.

I asked them why is this happening when I paid in full and you admit you are not making a lot, but you are still making money. He said I didn’t need the minimum shipping policy. I said there is nothing in the listing about that even intended fine print. He said it’s on their website. Red flag 3 I told them, you can put whatever you want on the website, that’s for website orders. eBay is it’s own thing and all the terms are in the auction and none of my auctions mention anything about a minimum order total needed to ship. He said it’s a new policy and they didn’t update eBay listings yet. Well…not my problem. I won legal auctions you can’t change the terms after

At this point I briefly considered ordering more just to be done with this. I asked, how much more do I need to spend for you guys to ship? He said ohhh just like one or two more corals. Anything extra really. Red flag 4. Sooo you have a “new policy” and can’t even tell me what the minimum is! At that point I said I’m not buying any more and he said something about the order will be canceled if I don’t buy more and we hung up.

I went to vendor feedback and posted this story and the vendor forum rep replied back promptly and said my order is being packed and will ship today as planned.

Great.

The next day my order arrived. Red flag 5. And I didn’t get the wysiwyg corals that I bought. I got discolored, crappier versions. And more than that, the number of heads was wrong! Clearly the wrong coral. I win a 4 head dendro colony, the bag has two corals on two plugs, a 2 head and a 1 head lol. All the corals were wrong head count. Bought 2 head fat head dendro, Got a 1 head.

And also got free aiptasia and hair algae that was not in the wysiwyg photos

If all came to me at once. They called me so I couldn’t report them to eBay. If they use the message system, it’s documented and I can report them for threatening to cancel my legal binding auction wins. So they called to prevent me from having evidence to report them.

When they were forced to sell the coral, that sold for less than they wanted, they substituted cheaper crappier versions.

I went back to my vendor feedback thread and started posting pics and let the forum rep know.

They refunded me for everything but the sh. So still I was out $40 and got 3 junk frags, nothing like what I wanted. Pale and dying.

What a nightmare. Never again

Sounds like a nightmare, and lots of replies telling similar stories, which is a practice I wasn't even familiar with yet seems to be a lot more common than I anticipated

 

[Oscaror]

A lot of great replies here, very grateful for the feedback everyone! Sorry to hear all the unfortunate stuff you've faced at the hands of some scummy vendors, important to remember these are just a few bad apples in this great reefing community but if we highlight these issues we can work to make this industry a better place, so thank you.

 

[SaltyBear]

Sounds like a nightmare, and lots of replies telling similar stories, which is a practice I wasn't even familiar with yet seems to be a lot more common than I anticipated

Oh it's become common and a favorite practice of a well known vendor.

 

[Oscaror]

Oh it's become common and a favorite practice of a well known vendor.

Good to have open discussion about it then, I understand bulk suppliers that retailers have to order certain sized shipments from but at the end of the supply chain to the consumer is no place for stuff like that

 

[BryanM]

For the magical new minimum order issue, I'm ornery enough that I'm confident I would just cancel the order and move on. That just sounds manipulative and exploitive.

 

[winxp_man]

My biggest thing is gripe with the online sales is shipping, then everything else haha. Bought two nems, and one already died, and the second doesn’t look like it will make it. Rip to both. The dead one was a nice aussie.

 

[Oscaror]

My biggest thing is gripe with the online sales is shipping, then everything else haha. Bought two nems, and one already died, and the second doesn’t look like it will make it. Rip to both. The dead one was a nice aussie.

Shame to hear about that, hope it manages a turnaround