Vendors Gone Insane?

[AquaRaider44]

Does anyone think that companies have gone insane?

I have been around aquariums since I was born and was one of the first customers in WWC when I started my reef tank in 2011-2012. I bought many things from them, some that I still have today. When I started prices were reasonable on corals and there were very very few coral frags over $100 and the ones that there were were based on size or super rare. Now it seems like everyone has gone crazy and thinks that their stuff is worth $$$.

I was looking at WWC today and noticed this hilarious piece, one of the worst I have seen in a very long time.

First off, quality Acropora frags should at the bare minimum be starting to encrust the plug and shouldn't be fresh cut.
Second, this is not even close to XL and should be listed without a size at all or listed as small. This is the minimum size any Acropora should be purchased at which is about 1.5 inches with a new branch starting. The frag is hardly any bigger than the dang plug! An XL frag would start to look like a mini colony with like at least 5 branches like this one from AquaSD.
Third, this price is insane. I don't care how rare a coral is the price should never be over $500 for a frag of anything, honestly, even over $200 is getting expensive. People are forgetting that this would be about 3-6 months of growth of an Acropora in an established system.

You can argue all day that it's rare or looks nice or whatever but this is just silliness.

I'm not here to throw hate just on WWC either they just happened to be the ones I saw today.

https://worldwidecorals.com/collections/acropora/products/walt-disney-tenuis-acropora-2842

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes- Been buying locally.
Cannot justify AS MUCH as I want to support ALL vendors taking 3-4 days of my pay to buy something that can quickly perish.
I am disappointed in a couple who run the same corals weekly and Mark them up and do 30 or 40% off , then nest week mark them down and 10% off and so forth. I realize there is market prices but there is also consideration needed for what is fair especially when some vendors have 20.30 or more of each piece and call it rare

 

[mtdaly85]

If they didn't sell for that price, they wouldn't price them like that. That piece, in particular, is insanely overpriced. You can find a WD for less than $100 from local reefers if you look. Many online shops sell them for $100 to $200. I would never pay anything north of $200 for a WD.

WWC has insanely rigorous quarantine procedures, so you are definitely paying for that. You aren't going to get AEFW or any other pests from them. Just need to determine if the price is worth it

 

[Sump Crab]

No simply because the market sets the price. YES it does suck that frags cost that much but as long as the consumer is willing to pay a price then I don't think a company should undersell the product just to make people like you happy.

 

[Realposition]

WD is pretty easily found for under a $100 now a days. I got one for $60 on a live sale. This price is nuts.

 

[AquaRaider44]

Yes- Been buying locally.
Cannot justify AS MUCH as I want to support ALL vendors taking 3-4 days of my pay to buy something that can quickly perish.
I am disappointed in a couple who run the same corals weekly and Mark them up and do 30 or 40% off , then nest week mark them down and 10% off and so forth. I realize there is market prices but there is also consideration needed for what is fair especially when some vendors have 20.30 or more of each piece and call it rare

Completely agree with you and I have seen a ton of them do that. I mean if you have ever seen the grow-out systems of these places most all of them have 50+ frags of the same coral plus one or two colonies at any time. Vendors definitely need to take a step back and look at what is fair.

 

[James M]

Yes but people will continue to buy frags at that price.

 

[ScottR]

I think it’s amazing that I can go to my LFS and get an acro colony the size of my hand for $50.

 

[C. Eymann]

If I was setting up tanks/mini aquaculture deal to make some extra $$ in the future, eh I might pony up, but I generally like bright crisp white ~12k halide /t5/LED lighting on my tanks, I like to emulate a shallow reef crest environment with my tanks for MY enjoyment. So kinda pointless for me to buy a $500 frag when it's never going to look like a $500 frag under my lighting.

That being said, the lure of growing, collecting and propagating such expensive pieces brings more interest into the hobby, bringing more people into it/growing the hobby and, comic book names or not, that's a good thing!

just my two pennies

 

[AquaRaider44]

If they didn't sell for that price, they wouldn't price them like that. That piece, in particular, is insanely overpriced. You can find a WD for less than $100 from local reefers if you look. Many online shops sell them for $100 to $200. I would never pay anything north of $200 for a WD.

WWC has insanely rigorous quarantine procedures, so you are definitely paying for that. You aren't going to get AEFW or any other pests from them. Just need to determine if the price is worth it

WD is pretty easily found for under a $100 now a days. I got one for $60 on a live sale. This price is nuts.

Just got my WD for $50 about that size but mostly encrusted and got two other corals free lol. Local reefers are the best

I understand WWC has "insanely rigorous quarantine procedures" but this isn't even a frag that has encrusted the plug yet is listed as XL.

 

[AquaRaider44]

No simply because the market sets the price. YES it does suck that frags cost that much but as long as the consumer is willing to pay a price then I don't think a company should undersell the product just to make people like you happy.

Never met a person who would buy this for this price. Whoever buys this frag must have money falling out of their pants when they bend over.

 

[AquaRaider44]

I think it’s amazing that I can go to my LFS and get an acro colony the size of my hand for $50.

I agree lol. I get 5-20$ frags of pretty much any acro from my LFS.

 

[Dvanlier05]

Yes some vendors have gotten crazy with prices and that's definitely an excellent example. That's a $100 frag at most today, even from Bigrcorals where the Walt Disney originated from. I dont even look at their coral bc prices are alway crazy high.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Well, since many, many frags of acros with comic book names actually sell in that range, if I was a vendor, I'd do the same thing. In my opinion, "fair" isn't a reasonable consideration in regards to price - you charge what people are willing to pay.

"Fair" does enter into misrepresenting corals by photographing them under actinics and using a photo-editing program to jack the saturation. At least the photo manipulation doesn't seem to be the case for more reputable vendors like WWC and others, but on fleabay, you're taking your chances.

 

[Nasir]

LOL, I have been posting about this same bull. It’s sad but as long as these stupid people keep going crazy over a name given to a coral or willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a frag that’s a few centimeters tall, then the vendors will continue to raise prices for less produce. I remember in the early 2000s you could buy a nice frag for 20.00 or a big colony for 50.00. These high prices take the fun out of the hobby. The thing is, is that when your showing your tank to people, 98% of the people looking at it could care less about a name and wouldn’t know what you where talking about anyway. Pacific East Aquarium is going in the right direction.

 

[TheHarold]

Look at WWC's new multimillion dollar storefront lol. Guess where that comes from?

 

[AquaRaider44]

LOL, I have been posting about this same bull. It’s sad but as long as these stupid people keep going crazy over a name given to a coral or willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a frag that’s a few centimeters tall, then the vendors will continue to raise prices for less produce. I remember in the early 2000s you could buy a nice frag for 20.00 or a big colony for 50.00. These high prices take the fun out of the hobby. The thing is, is that when your showing your tank to people, 98% of the people looking at it could care less about a name and wouldn’t know what you where talking about anyway. Pacific East Aquarium is going in the right direction.

So true. I show my tank to my family and friends and nobody cares about the names or prices they just look at the colourful and pretty ones.

 

[DibsOnMcRibs]

I have noticed that WWC prices are a bit higher than most of their competitors. It’s tough to argue with their success. But they charge whatever the community is willing to pay

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

The one thing not mentioned her is about all the different avenues of obtaining coral have been shut down. Basic supply and demand comes into play. More and more vendors are starting to farm their own coral, which will help to sustain this hobby. Of course vendors are going to charge more if they are growing corals from a market that isn't available anymore. I still Indonesia corals for a decent price from some vendors as well.

 

[tautog83]

My favorite is the $ 80 green slimer . It's just laughable . The only time I look is when they have a 30% off sale just to laugh at the "sale price ". I mean it's a top tier store , all healthy stuff , knowledgeable but pricing is a bit extreme imo.