Same Coral?

[mandaxpanda]

I purchased a cosmic candy bounce chalice (reg. $879.99) during a sale and snagged it for a steal. Below is the picture they showed in their listing. The other picture is the coral I received in my tank and what I say is a neon cosmic candy bounce chalice.

I reached out to their customer service team on two separate occasions only to be told it was the same coral and that it just lost its color during shipping.

I have a horrible coral addiction so I’m well aware that coral can lose color during shipping. However, there’s no question that what I received, is not what I purchased.

Curious to get others thoughts.

 

[Timfish]

My two cents nickles worth: Did you use the same filters and lighting and photo processing with your picture as the supplier did with thiers? Have you duplicated the same conditions as the frag in their photo? I've seen very different colors expressed from different parts of the same colony so if the frag you purchased is from the same colony as their photo it's easily argued it's the same coral regardless of color. As far as the sellers customer support, thier response strikes me as a brush off but I don't see any easy resolution, especially if they can show your frag is from the same colony as their picture.

 

[rayadog]

Was the listing a wysiwyg? I’m struggling to see the same shape in both pictures if it was. If it wasn’t wysiwyg… Maybe it’ll color up.

 

[Shirak]

You can look at the plug in the vendor photo and see it's nearly black and the stuff around is very deep blue and white specks around the frag glowing. Heavy blue light, filtered and processed photo. GL trying to see those colors in your tank.

 

[14 foot reef]

This is whats wrong with this hobby, processed overpriced frags. I cant believe people still fall for this.
All vendors should be required to show the true colors under normal lighting. One of the best parts about Than at Tidal Gardens, he shows the coral from 6500k all the way to 20,000k for almost every coral he sells.
I sell corals online, I refuse to show any corals not in normal natural lighting. I shoot all corals between 10,000 - 14,000 k with ZERO editing.
Their "Show" photo you attached is ridiculous, anytime you see a blacked photo like that, just know when you get it, it will look nothing like that. Shame on all these vendors, and also you would think by now, the customers would know this.

 

[rayadog]

Colors aside, y’all think it looks the same?

 

[Art Calde]

I purchased a cosmic candy bounce chalice (reg. $879.99) during a sale and snagged it for a steal. Below is the picture they showed in their listing. The other picture is the coral I received in my tank and what I say is a neon cosmic candy bounce chalice.

I reached out to their customer service team on two separate occasions only to be told it was the same coral and that it just lost its color during shipping.

I have a horrible coral addiction so I’m well aware that coral can lose color during shipping. However, there’s no question that what I received, is not what I purchased.

Curious to get others thoughts.

It should have more than one color. Did u receive it all green or did it turn green? Here’s how mine looks for reference:

 

[Shirak]

It should have more than one color. Did u receive it all green or did it turn green? Here’s how mine looks for reference:

I think there is a difference in lighting here too. The sand in OP post is very white and natural looking. Blue fingers in your photo.

To answer Rayadog. Probably same coral. Bubbles could have deflated a bit and angle or direction the frag is turned could be different. Neither is a top down shot. It is what I would expect though for this chalice under the white lighting in the OP. I would like to see a shot under blue by Mandaxpanda.

 

[Art Calde]

It should have more than one color. Did u receive it all green or did it turn green? Here’s how mine looks for reference:

I think there is a difference in lighting here too. The sand in OP post is very white and natural looking. Blue fingers in your photo.

To answer Rayadog. Probably same coral. Bubbles could have deflated a bit and angle or direction the frag is turned could be different. Neither is a top down shot. It is what I would expect though for this chalice under the white lighting in the OP. I would like to see a shot under blue by Mandaxpanda.

Under whites

 

[PapaFishRocks]

reg. $879.99 !!!!!

What was the sale $ ?

 

[Tinklez]

Following

 

[mandaxpanda]

It should have more than one color. Did u receive it all green or did it turn green? Here’s how mine looks for reference:

I think there is a difference in lighting here too. The sand in OP post is very white and natural looking. Blue fingers in your photo.

To answer Rayadog. Probably same coral. Bubbles could have deflated a bit and angle or direction the frag is turned could be different. Neither is a top down shot. It is what I would expect though for this chalice under the white lighting in the OP. I would like to see a shot under blue by Mandaxpanda.

For reference, I have two radion xr15 g6 blues and two grows.

First picture is what it currently looks like in my tank. 2nd picture is a Neon cosmic candy bounce chalice they currently have listed for sale. 3rd is what I purchased (wysiwyg).

 

[mandaxpanda]

Was the listing a wysiwyg? I’m struggling to see the same shape in both pictures if it was. If it wasn’t wysiwyg… Maybe it’ll color up.

It was wysiwyg, all listings for the sale they were having were. I got 7 other corals from that sale with no issues. I understand corals lose color, but this one just looks exactly like the neon cosmic candy bounce chalice they have listed (I put pictures of what that looks like in one of my replies below).

 

[mandaxpanda]

My two cents nickles worth: Did you use the same filters and lighting and photo processing with your picture as the supplier did with thiers? Have you duplicated the same conditions as the frag in their photo? I've seen very different colors expressed from different parts of the same colony so if the frag you purchased is from the same colony as their photo it's easily argued it's the same coral regardless of color. As far as the sellers customer support, thier response strikes me as a brush off but I don't see any easy resolution, especially if they can show your frag is from the same colony as their picture.

All valid points and I know that some of these suppliers use heavy filters and that coral isn’t going to look identical in my tank as it does in their pictures. I wouldn’t even be questioning it if it wasn’t sold as a wysiwyg.

 

[NanoSteam]

It's hard to tell if you have that exact coral in your possession color aside... even if you got the neon cosmic by accident, that photo is a very good example of how deceptive some vendors are. 100% blues, bump up the saturation, contrast and vibrance slider and it no longer looks anything like the real thing.

At this point it sounds like a very expensive purchase and worthy of a CC dispute. Sounds like you spent a good chunk of change overall with this vendor so I would think it's in their best interest to make it right to keep you as a customer.

 

[mandaxpanda]

reg. $879.99 !!!!!

What was the sale $ ?

Got it for $44.99 ( was one of their “hot” drops they had every hour).

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Colors aside, y’all think it looks the same?

Nope. Topography looks different. So does the shape of the perimeter.

 

[NanoSteam]

Got it for $44.99 ( was one of their “hot” drops they had every hour).

Now i'm wondering if they made a price mistake and sent you this cheaper variation hoping you'd just let it go lol.

 

[exnisstech]

There are very few vendors I'll even buy from online because almost all manipulate their photos. Seeing is no longer believing in the digital age.

 

[mandaxpanda]

Got it for $44.99 ( was one of their “hot” drops they had every hour).

Now i'm wondering if they made a price mistake and sent you this cheaper variation hoping you'd just let it go lol.

I thought the same thing. Which had they said that, I would’ve been more understanding. It’s the fact that they doubled down on it being the same coral that drove me up the wall and wanting others opinions lol.