Sales forum has gotten out of hand

[Falreef]

I’ve provided to the kids in high school programs for free for years

 

[Reefer Matt]

Every seller has overhead. They pay for housing, electricity, natural gas, equipment, water, salt, lights, and the coral. Not to mention spending their time propagating the coral. The market decides what people pay. I personally aim for 50% or less of retail prices, and do not sell online. I have also given away over 1k in coral to reefers. However, I support the free market. If people don't like prices, they can shop somewhere else.

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

Cost of airfreight has doubled a couple years ago. First it was lack of flights from Indo, then it was gas prices. I use to be under 50 to get a box shipped from LAX, now its 100 for the same 40# box. Add on the cost from indo to LAX - you end up with $80 heads of hammer/frogspawn instead of $10/20.

 

[bert236]

most claim to be hobbiests, but majorityt are profiteers. just looking to turn a big profit. if you pay a $100 for a frag when it grows sell a frag for $20 not $100. thats what people are doing.
before i got back in i used to give frags away often. gave a few to guy on another forum and 6 hours later he had them for sale on the same forum.

You really think it's a good idea to just crash the market on every coral? All i see in here are people whining they aren't getting dirt cheap coral at other people's expense. If I paid $100 for a frag, grew it out and then frag it why should I sell it for $20? Oh I forgot, it's so you benefit not me. I have to pay for my tanks, gear, hydro, salt and additives not to mention time spent on the tanks but if you believe people in here I have no overhead and put no work into anything. Again, you guys are just whining someone else isn't footing the bill for you and selling you corals at a loss.

 

[kevgib67]

I have given away frags, torches, frogspawn, bird nest , zoas and have sold very cheap but always with the stipulation that if something happens to my coral I can get a frag back at no cost or at the cost I sold it.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Just take a look @ Rock Flower Anemones.
2 years ago they were selling $15-$20 a piece.
Take a look now, make sure you are in a chair!

 

[yanetterer]

Just take a look @ Rock Flower Anemones. 2 years ago they were selling $15-$20 a piece.
Take a look now, make sure you are in a chair!

I don’t think I’ve seen them that cheap in ages unless it was someone breaking down a tank, but I can find them for $35-$45 pretty reliably as long as they haven’t been given a silly name.

 

[Snoopy 67]

OH the NAME GAME!
THAT AUTOMATICALLY ADDS $$$

 

[paragrouper]

OH the NAME GAME!
THAT AUTOMATICALLY ADDS $$$

Think I can get $500 for my Universal Astroterrestrial Wonderstool?

 

[Troylee]

Don’t like it don’t buy it… it’s really that simple! Crying will never change the price of anything.. not purchasing said items will…..

 

[[email protected]]

I hate pricing things. I know what I would pay for something, but I don't like trying to figure out what I would charge someone else. So I usually offer items in trade.

 

[[email protected]]

As far as thinking about other people's prices, I feel like coral prices are all over the place, so I don't usually hate on what someone else charges. I just don't buy it if whatever it is isn't worth that much to me.

 

[Troylee]

I hate pricing things. I know what I would pay for something, but I don't like trying to figure out what I would charge someone else. So I usually offer items in trade.

I hate it more when I’m trying to buy something.. they always say make a REASONABLE offer… I make one and they get offended… hahahaha if there’s no price I don’t even ask any more..

 

[yanetterer]

Don’t like it don’t buy it… it’s really that simple! Crying will never change the price of anything.. not purchasing said items will…..

In the end, that is it. If the price is ridiculous I’ll just roll my eyes and move on. If I can’t justify the price of a hot new coral I’ll consider it again when everyone else have proven it will thrive in captivity long term and there are multiple sellers to choose from.

I think some markup in the classifieds is fair though. There are still PayPal fees and the risk of refunding DOAs when dealing with shipping that you wouldn’t have to deal with when selling locally.

 

[reefinatl]

Having been in the hobby in 2006-2011 and reentering in 2021 i believe the LED lighting spectrum along with Instagram and social media really worked together to destroy the joy and goal of building big coral colony type tanks. That's fine in some respects because it seems to have grown the base and made for more innovative gear.

The flip side is the name game is just reaching the point of ridiculousness. Look folks if you can stand back if you can't identify one colony from the next at a foot or two away it's the same coral. The idea of near identical if not identical corala being named 6 different things by 6 different vendors is just silly. Color spectrum manipulation has reached peak insanity.

I simply just don't play the game. I buy 99.9% from local club at cheap prices based on the overall color and species. Generally stick to the old classics. Green acros and red acros are still green and red whether it's a joes rainbow or wwc zomgbbqwtf nuclear fall out zombie rainbow unicorn acro.

Don't get me started on RBTA strains. I bet a lot of money you could take 75% of the named strains put them in a tank and a week later you'd have no idea which was which. To charge hundreds for one is shameful but if a fool is willing to pay who am I to fault the seller. They grow like a plague at least Acros take time to grow and frag.

I still laugh at AOI zoa prices. I remember seeing blue zoas like that out of the cheap Florida vendors decade back for dirt cheap. Along comes lights to give them the right pop and boom $100pp.

Tldr, sell for whatever the heck you want to sell for, buy for what you are willing to spend.

 

[Asagi]

Think I can get $500 for my Universal Astroterrestrial Wonderstool?

LOOL!

 

[reefinatl]

What happened to hobbies just being fun? Everything now has to make you money. The first thing I got asked when I told a friend I was getting into the hobby was how can you make money off of it? I hate that mentality. Don't get me wrong, I've got side gigs but I'm not in the hobby to make money. To that end, I try to give everyone that I deal with a good deal and try to get one for myself. Most of the time people get really good deals from me because once I decide I'm selling something I want it gone.

I loathe resellers. They are a cancer in this world.

Absolute truth. I'm a business owner and therefore absolutely a capitalist but everything is so out of control right now.

I tend to just about give away all my stuff as it grows. I had one guy give me more than I was asking. The real fast stuff like monti cap and forest fire digi I tend to list for free and use that to sell a few frags for $10-$20 of other stuff.

The chop shops finding new names for indo grown acro have always been around but the easy money of this economy has allowed the pricing to get nutty.

 

[reefinatl]

Think I can get $500 for my Universal Astroterrestrial Wonderstool?

Black the background out crank blues until the tan body gets a streak of orange then retire.

 

[StatelineReefer]

Think I can get $500 for my Universal Astroterrestrial Wonderstool?

 

[albano]

That’s the one that I want… what’s it called and what’s your PayPal address?