TSM Aquatics Concern

[kpoj9]

I‘m a big fan of TSM Aquatics. They are my #1 source of quarantined livestock. They have excellent customer service. I always recommend them to whomever is in the market for new fish.

I was frustrated to see that they have raised their minimum online order cost to $250 and offer free shipping over $500. I understand this is an expensive hobby but that‘s getting to be outrageous. Not everyone in the hobby needs to buy $250+ worth of livestock (especially at once). A lot of folks do not have unlimited budgets or the time/space to setup a QT tank. We rely on good, trustworthy businesses such as TSM. I really hope this is temporary price adjustment. I would rather not have to start looking for another vendor.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

I hope so as well. I too, just don't have the minimum order but I also do understand that the hobby is little on the high-cost side of things.

 

[RedReefer]

Everything goes up in price overtime. Agreed with @ShepherdReefer , this is not a cheap hobby.

 

[Crabby48]

Glad I can drive there. I find with needing to spend Certain amount of money for free shipping I always come under

 

[sdt11]

They posted on this before. The problem is shipping cost. They stated the actual cost of shipping a couple of fish is $90+ when they only charge a flat rate of $45. I purchased 3 fish from them and they came in well packed in thick insulated box with heaters. All this adds up and then add in next day shipping it gets expensive. An example, I shipped a 10lb box from Michigan to California today and it cost $54.

 

[Sarcazian]

Glad I can drive there. I find with needing to spend Certain amount of money for free shipping I always come under

Can you drive there? I order about a month ago and I had to ship it since the site mentioned no one was available in the store due to Covid. Granted, maybe that means door pick-ups are allowed?

I must have just slid under the radar since the site said $250 min price, but it still allowed me to order with about $200 including the $25 shipping. It was packaged extremely well and came with a mouse pad. I do agree though, given the cost of the boxes (paper+styfoam) and heat pads it must add up.

IMHO, the prices were not even much more than other places. Well worth it! Fish, inverts, and corals were all in great shape and eating.

I also added a few items to my order post order and this took a few emails back and forth. They were awesome through email - quick, polite, and super helpful.

 

[Coral Newbie]

I just ordered from biota last week and their shipping cost is $22 dollars fish came in today perfectly packaged all 3 fish alive and doing great. their selection is only tank raised but for $22 it’s worth considering

 

[Crabby48]

Can you drive there? I order about a month ago and I had to ship it since the site mentioned no one was available in the store due to Covid. Granted, maybe that means door pick-ups are allowed?

I must have just slid under the radar since the site said $250 min price, but it still allowed me to order with about $200 including the $25 shipping. It was packaged extremely well and came with a mouse pad. I do agree though, given the cost of the boxes (paper+styfoam) and heat pads it must add up.

IMHO, the prices were not even much more than other places. Well worth it! Fish, inverts, and corals were all in great shape and eating.

I also added a few items to my order post order and this took a few emails back and forth. They were awesome through email - quick, polite, and super helpful.

TSM is about hour 15 south of me. I’m in Hunterdon so TSM and Reefco are my go to places.
Not sure your location but Reefco fw dips and keeps tanks Therapeutic Levels of copper power and treats with general cure. Not perfect but also not bad for a small lfs.

Haven’t been to TSM since September. Way over stocked right now.
They where open for curb pickup though.

I use Tsm for fragile and rare wrasse mostly. Really bad addiction.

 

[kpoj9]

I get it....I build ecommerce websites for small businesses. Shipping is always a major issue. I hope they can find a happy medium which allows us budget conscious folks the ability to continue to do business with them.

 

[Hermie]

Everything goes up in price overtime. Agreed with @ShepherdReefer , this is not a cheap hobby.

uh, inflation is like 1 to 3 % I believe per year? That is not even close to what the increase seems to be

 

[Sarcazian]

uh, inflation is like 1 to 3 % I believe per year? That is not even close to what the increase seems to be

I think you forgot to factor in the covid % to the inflation %. Almost everything has gone up and gas was cheap. Now that gas is going up... we can expect things to go further up?

 

[Hermie]

I think you forgot to factor in the covid % to the inflation %. Almost everything has gone up and gas was cheap. Now that gas is going up... we can expect things to go further up?

I didnt forget anything, a lot of businesses are using covid as an excuse to be Frank

 

[Azedenkae]

As a former LFS manager, I just want to contribute my two cents.

The aquarium-keeping industry is... not exactly easy. The margin for a lot of products is very low, and shipping is one of those things that can be a very significant cost. We don't have the same economies of scale and scope other businesses have. At the same time, customers (rightfully) expect shipping costs to be reasonable, which can mean fish stores have to take at least some of the brunt of the shipping costs, while of course still having all those handling, bagging, packaging costs too.

In some cases, it can almost be a wager - a store may not earn much, or even make a small loss on a smaller order, to hopefully have the customer come back for more.

Unfortunately, when costs increase or revenue decrease even just a little bit, everything changes and while some stores can maintain their prices and so on, others have to end up compromising. This of course is worse for small stores than big stores, but still is nonetheless quite an issue.

It's also why one may be seeing some other changes recently too, like switches to 'cheaper' couriers, price hikes, smaller ranges of stock, and so on.