Vendor pricing or lack there of!

[Reef Pets]

I think prices should be listed unless the vendor is just advertising the coral and it's listed on their site already with a price.
Price can differ from one customer to another and that goes for about any industry. The more you purchase or purchase more frequently the better pricing you get. This goes for online vendors and fish stores. I have certain customers that have purchased unbelievable amounts of coral from me and it's only reasonable to offer them a better deal. That's just business and has nothing to do with favoring one person over another.

 

[luke33]

No price, no purchase. They are losing money with this practice, do I care? No, they can just stay in there parents basement as long as they need to.

 

[Streetcred]

It is quite simple, if the LAW says you must advertise your prices then in any environment you MUST advertise your prices or face the consequences should somebody feel p'd enough to take it up with the LAW. If vendors don't advertise prices with their goods then avoid them like the plague, they are playing with you to determine what price they can gouge from you. These are people that you don't want to do business with so don't even bother to respond to them. As for this forum, it is poor practice to allow vendors to dictate to the owner; without any subscribers the owner doesn't have a viable forum to sell participation to commercial interests or, for that matter, capital value. Find the right equilibrium and always remember that forum members are what makes the forum successful, not vendors. Incase you are wondering, I've been around marine forums and on the management committee of one for a long time.

 

[Chris Adams]

I think prices should be listed unless the vendor is just advertising the coral and it's listed on their site already with a price.
Price can differ from one customer to another and that goes for about any industry. The more you purchase or purchase more frequently the better pricing you get. This goes for online vendors and fish stores. I have certain customers that have purchased unbelievable amounts of coral from me and it's only reasonable to offer them a better deal. That's just business and has nothing to do with favoring one person over another.

You make some very good points about prices being listed on sites. I whole heartedly agree. If I could go to the site and see the piece and get price I would be more willing to do that. I actually used to go to the sites to try to find the piece posted and nothing, no where to be found.
I must say I have seen improvements in many of the Vendor sites and although not rich I love to look.
As far as taking care of the loyal customer "man you are on fire". When I had space in tank my go to coral shop took care of me. The more I went the better the deals.

I think we can all appreciate the fact that many of the Vendors due this for a living.
Just look at this thread as potential customers that some of you can reach just by listening to a not so crazy request!!!
Shoot maybe some of the people on hear would be happy to post the prices for you at a small cost of a frag

 

[dodgerblew]

Much ado about unimportant things. You deal with the vendors you feel comfortable with, however they price their product.

Ditto.

I appreciate that Hobe Sound Frags and Gary of ReefPets chimed in. That in my opinion is "good business "

 

[nc208082]

Everyone here has made some great points and I hope all take notes from both sides.

People should be more respectful in vendors threads and not question their pricing scheme, if you don't like the price move on.

Vendors its pretty clear from the amount of people here and all the other threads that your losing customers by not posting prices. Your here to make money so put in the extra work. If someone craps on your thread about price just report them instead of defending and explaining yourself.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Theres just a few vendors that you have to lookout for. Not just r2r but everywhere you go. I dont like the pratice in general, but 98% of the sponsers on here are just refering you to their website, or just to showoff some goodies they have.

That is a good idea.

Never thought of that.

Go to their site to see more Corals that you want that you did not know were for sale.

Win/Win for Buyer and Seller.

 

[that Reef Guy]

As a vendor I have posted both ways. One thing I see over and over is that when a vendor posts up pricing with pics there will always be that one person who feels the pricing is too high. They will then consistently post up of how ridiculous the pricing is and how anyone who pays that price is an idiot. Yes sometimes the pricing is out of hand but there are times a vendor paid a lot for that piece and after all it is a business to make money for the most part. So most vendors these days would rather not deal with the drama. Would rather not have to justify themselves and their prices. When I have posted up pics with prices I spent more time having to justify my pricing than anything else. So now I post both ways depending on what I have for sale. I'm writing all of this to speak up for the vendors so hopefully people will read this and understand a little better why we post without prices.

Makes sense.

That Drama would be very bad for business.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Everyone here has made some great points and I hope all take notes from both sides.

People should be more respectful in vendors threads and not question their pricing scheme, if you don't like the price move on.

Vendors its pretty clear from the amount of people here and all the other threads that your losing customers by not posting prices. Your here to make money so put in the extra work. If someone craps on your thread about price just report them instead of defending and explaining yourself.

I agree with most everything said in this post, but I do want to give one small caveat to that last statement. The staff will be fair in dealing with sponsors and members alike. So if someone is intentionally harassing a vendor who is legitimately handling their sale thread, we will of course uphold forum rules. However, when people ask legitimate questions that anyone interested in purchasing might ask (i.e. "would you post prices?" or "why don't you post prices?"), we will not remove those questions, and the vendor would do well to answer those questions.

 

[robby2782]

To not post prices appears dishonest, period. It's the lack of transparency that is the issue; whether the intention was to gouge certain people or not. Clearly they're not giving the same prices to everyone, despite the same questions being asked on different threads. Otherwise, they'd simply post prices to placate those people who recognize these pernicious practices to the aggregated vendor reputation.
People ad nauseam say 'take your money elsewhere' who don't understand the poor logic in this practice, but they are technically correct. However, if other vendors adopt this practice, it may drive away members who are already recognizing the negative perception it presents.

 

[fbodykiller]

Maybe if people crap on the thread about pricng being to high that is where the moderators should step in.
I think myself along with others have missed good pricing on coral because of the no listed prices. It is what it is..
I also thought with many people in agreeance with me would show the wevdors its woth just posting prices. If a vendor is going to give a good customer better pricing they can still do that via PM

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Maybe if people crap on the thread about pricng being to high that is where the moderators should step in.

Agreed. And we do. If you see an instance where we haven't, it's probably bc we haven't seen it yet, so please report it. Remember, the mod staff is made up of volunteers, and we can't possibly see every thread, so please help us by reporting issues where there are rule violations.

I think myself along with others have missed good pricing on coral because of the no listed prices. It is what it is..
I also thought with many people in agreeance with me would show the wevdors its woth just posting prices. If a vendor is going to give a good customer better pricing they can still do that via PM

I also agree with this. It is our hope that vendors will listen to the feedback (like has been given in this thread). The rules allow vendors to advertise as they choose, but I personally avoid sale threads where prices aren't posted. I think that is the practice many of us have.

I also want to reiterate what Rev said earlier. Perhaps one way to deal with this is to request prices, and then start a thread where you post the prices you were given. This is within forum rules and an effective way to help other hobbyists who may also want prices on those pieces to know if they're getting the same rate offered to them. Just my .02.

 

[jt17]

If it truly bothers you then pm for pricing on all of them. If everyone floods the vendor with PMs and the vendors mailbox fills with enquires, that have no intention of purchase, eventually the vendor will realize it's more efficient to list pricing than wade through fruitless PMs.

 

[RMS18]

If prices aren't posted not only do I move on but I don't even waste anymore time looking at the products available on that page.

 

[BIGSHOW]

One person ask for prices to all pieces and then post on seperate form all the prices. Done

 

[M&M]

No prices, no purchase, I just move on, there is always another vendor/site I can buy from.

 

[TheEngineer]

I think prices should be listed unless the vendor is just advertising the coral and it's listed on their site already with a price.
Price can differ from one customer to another and that goes for about any industry. The more you purchase or purchase more frequently the better pricing you get. This goes for online vendors and fish stores. I have certain customers that have purchased unbelievable amounts of coral from me and it's only reasonable to offer them a better deal. That's just business and has nothing to do with favoring one person over another.

This sums it up for me. I don't mind if there aren't prices in the thread as long as it links to a page with prices.

 

[Jonty]

No prices, no purchase, I just move on, there is always another vendor/site I can buy from.

Yep me too and I love high end stuff but having to constantly send PM's to get a price is a pain, the dealers I spend a lot of money with will give a discount off the asking price when I buy so the whole I give a better price to some customers is why I don't post pricing just doesn't hold water. Given the state of exagerated pricing in the USA compared to elsewhere in the world at least we could have some transparency on pricing. When I have asked for a price on an item I always feel like I am being played (which buy the nature of the transaction I am) I have walked away because I have no idea of what the "real Market price".

 

[Jonty]

"I also want to reiterate what Rev said earlier. Perhaps one way to deal with this is to request prices, and then start a thread where you post the prices you were given. This is within forum rules and an effective way to help other hobbyists who may also want prices on those pieces to know if they're getting the same rate offered to them. Just my .02."


loving this idea.

 

[Clayalaleona]

I have two very different opinions on this.
As a buyer: Its kind of annoying to see "pm for price" and 8/10 I wont bother sending a PM. By the time they get back to me its probably sold

As a seller: I'm REALLY lazy so when I'm posting 20+ "show off" pictures I will admit that I skip that step(I usually go back after it is put on the website and update). But I also don't tell people to PM for price.

Some people also use this as a method of bumping the thread. Inevitably someone will post about the pricing and bump it up without you having to. This IMO is not fair usage and very clearly baiting. Its generally a pretty annoying way to advertise.


I say do the price comparison thread! Keep everyone honest (although, I'm sure vendors don't give people different random numbers just based on your screen name or something lol, they have to make their money...)