pelicanhill
Community Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2025
- Messages
- 28
- Reaction score
- 14
- Location
- The Florida Keys
- What state or country do you live in
- Florida
This was my first time buying coral from a hobbyist seller on R2R, and unfortunately it was a very disappointing experience. I am trying to stay factual in this feedback. I am not judging the seller one way or another. I hope future buyers can read my feedback and make their own purchase decisions.
I purchased two torches, a CC21 and a Holy Grail. Before the sale, the seller was very responsive and helpful. He showed me the available corals by video through R2R DM, and I selected the specific ones I wanted. They were shipped UPS overnight and delivered last Thursday.
CC21
The video shows the CC21 I selected, and the picture shows the CC21 I received.
The seller gave me two CC21 options. This is how he described the one I selected:
“Option 1. Double almost splitting into 3.” I specifically selected Option 1. The tentacles, skeleton, and overall condition looked great.
The one I received was small, and a large area on one side of the skeleton was covered with glue, apparently covering damage or a scar.
When I raised the issue, the seller immediately acknowledged a potential mix-up and said it had been a busy shipping day. However, when we discussed how to make it right, his initial response was:
“I’m not refunding because i stated double heads and i don’t have a WYSIWYG on that post. So you got what you paid for regardless.”
I told him WYSIWYG was not the point. He showed me the available corals by video, I selected a specific CC21, and a different one was shipped. In the end, he offered a $60 partial refund, which I accepted. Although I got the wrong one and I don't like the one I got, it certainly has some value, and I acknowledged that.
Holy Grail
This concerns me more. Again, the video shows the coral I selected, and the picture shows the one I received.
This is how the seller described the coral when he showed it to me:
“Here’s the best green torch. 2 heads splitting into 3 but I’ll still sell it as 2 like we talked about. It’s a holy grail skittles torch This thing is huge.”
The coral in the video had a long, relatively round, heavily purple/encrusted skeleton and looked very healthy. What arrived had a much shorter skeleton with a lot of exposed white skeleton and a shell-shaped structure attached, and looked substantially different.
When I questioned the difference shortly after delivery, his first explanation was: “I had to cut the bottom off of the green torch because it wouldn’t fit inside the cup.” After I questioned the other physical differences, he explained that he had also cleaned the coral and removed an attached clam before shipping: “I cleaned the coral and removed the clam before i shipped it. That’s why there’s a giant white spot that wasn’t in the original video.” None of this work was disclosed to me beforehand, and I was never asked whether I was comfortable with these changes being made to the specific coral I selected right before shipment.
About 24 hours after delivery, the Holy Grail began deteriorating very rapidly. Brown material developed in the center, white/gray tissue appeared around the heads, and some of the tentacles began breaking off and floating around the tank. While the coral was still alive, I sent the seller three R2R DMs asking for help and advice, including photos. I received no response. By the second day, the coral had essentially died. Now I also have to worry about the potential risk of a BJD outbreak affecting my entire tank of corals.
I understand that shipping live coral always involves risk, and I cannot say what ultimately caused the Holy Grail to die.
My negative feedback is based on the overall buying experience:
1) Defensive response when a mistake happened
The CC21 mix-up might have been a mistake on a busy day, which is understandable. Mistakes happen. What surprised me was his initial defensive response. Even though I had selected a specific coral from his video, his initial position was that the listing wasn't WYSIWYG and I still got what I paid for because I received a two-head CC21. To his credit, he eventually compromised and gave me a $60 partial refund.
2) The way he handles corals before shipping
This concerns me more. Based on my experience, the seller seems comfortable doing fairly aggressive work on corals immediately before shipping. In this case, he cut the skeleton because the coral would not fit his shipping cup, cleaned material from the coral base, and removed an attached clam close to the flesh. What concerns me is doing this much right before putting the coral through the additional stress of overnight shipping. More importantly, none of it was disclosed to me beforehand. I had selected that specific coral from his video, but I wasn't told that he planned to make these changes and wasn't given a chance to approve or decline them.
I cannot say whether any of this contributed to the coral's rapid deterioration afterward. But as a buyer, I would want to know how a seller handles corals immediately before shipping, and I would definitely want to be asked before significant changes are made to a specific coral I have already selected.
3) After-sale support when something goes wrong
Before the sale, the seller was extremely responsive and helpful. Unfortunately, my experience was very different once something went wrong. When the coral started rapidly deteriorating about a day after delivery, I reached out three times while it was still alive asking for help and advice and received no response.
I wasn't expecting the seller to magically save the coral or necessarily take responsibility for it. I was simply trying to save a coral I had just received from him. For me, every coral is a living animal. At least some response, concern, or advice would have meant a lot. When things go south, silence is not the answer.
Unfortunately, based on these three parts of my experience, I would not buy from this seller again. I hope my experience will help other reefers in the future.
Disclaimer: Everything I have stated here is based on our R2R DM conversation. If necessary, I can post the messages.
Original sales thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cc21-blowout-sale.1170362/
I purchased two torches, a CC21 and a Holy Grail. Before the sale, the seller was very responsive and helpful. He showed me the available corals by video through R2R DM, and I selected the specific ones I wanted. They were shipped UPS overnight and delivered last Thursday.
CC21
The video shows the CC21 I selected, and the picture shows the CC21 I received.
The seller gave me two CC21 options. This is how he described the one I selected:
“Option 1. Double almost splitting into 3.” I specifically selected Option 1. The tentacles, skeleton, and overall condition looked great.
The one I received was small, and a large area on one side of the skeleton was covered with glue, apparently covering damage or a scar.
When I raised the issue, the seller immediately acknowledged a potential mix-up and said it had been a busy shipping day. However, when we discussed how to make it right, his initial response was:
“I’m not refunding because i stated double heads and i don’t have a WYSIWYG on that post. So you got what you paid for regardless.”
I told him WYSIWYG was not the point. He showed me the available corals by video, I selected a specific CC21, and a different one was shipped. In the end, he offered a $60 partial refund, which I accepted. Although I got the wrong one and I don't like the one I got, it certainly has some value, and I acknowledged that.
Holy Grail
This concerns me more. Again, the video shows the coral I selected, and the picture shows the one I received.
This is how the seller described the coral when he showed it to me:
“Here’s the best green torch. 2 heads splitting into 3 but I’ll still sell it as 2 like we talked about. It’s a holy grail skittles torch This thing is huge.”
The coral in the video had a long, relatively round, heavily purple/encrusted skeleton and looked very healthy. What arrived had a much shorter skeleton with a lot of exposed white skeleton and a shell-shaped structure attached, and looked substantially different.
When I questioned the difference shortly after delivery, his first explanation was: “I had to cut the bottom off of the green torch because it wouldn’t fit inside the cup.” After I questioned the other physical differences, he explained that he had also cleaned the coral and removed an attached clam before shipping: “I cleaned the coral and removed the clam before i shipped it. That’s why there’s a giant white spot that wasn’t in the original video.” None of this work was disclosed to me beforehand, and I was never asked whether I was comfortable with these changes being made to the specific coral I selected right before shipment.
About 24 hours after delivery, the Holy Grail began deteriorating very rapidly. Brown material developed in the center, white/gray tissue appeared around the heads, and some of the tentacles began breaking off and floating around the tank. While the coral was still alive, I sent the seller three R2R DMs asking for help and advice, including photos. I received no response. By the second day, the coral had essentially died. Now I also have to worry about the potential risk of a BJD outbreak affecting my entire tank of corals.
I understand that shipping live coral always involves risk, and I cannot say what ultimately caused the Holy Grail to die.
My negative feedback is based on the overall buying experience:
1) Defensive response when a mistake happened
The CC21 mix-up might have been a mistake on a busy day, which is understandable. Mistakes happen. What surprised me was his initial defensive response. Even though I had selected a specific coral from his video, his initial position was that the listing wasn't WYSIWYG and I still got what I paid for because I received a two-head CC21. To his credit, he eventually compromised and gave me a $60 partial refund.
2) The way he handles corals before shipping
This concerns me more. Based on my experience, the seller seems comfortable doing fairly aggressive work on corals immediately before shipping. In this case, he cut the skeleton because the coral would not fit his shipping cup, cleaned material from the coral base, and removed an attached clam close to the flesh. What concerns me is doing this much right before putting the coral through the additional stress of overnight shipping. More importantly, none of it was disclosed to me beforehand. I had selected that specific coral from his video, but I wasn't told that he planned to make these changes and wasn't given a chance to approve or decline them.
I cannot say whether any of this contributed to the coral's rapid deterioration afterward. But as a buyer, I would want to know how a seller handles corals immediately before shipping, and I would definitely want to be asked before significant changes are made to a specific coral I have already selected.
3) After-sale support when something goes wrong
Before the sale, the seller was extremely responsive and helpful. Unfortunately, my experience was very different once something went wrong. When the coral started rapidly deteriorating about a day after delivery, I reached out three times while it was still alive asking for help and advice and received no response.
I wasn't expecting the seller to magically save the coral or necessarily take responsibility for it. I was simply trying to save a coral I had just received from him. For me, every coral is a living animal. At least some response, concern, or advice would have meant a lot. When things go south, silence is not the answer.
Unfortunately, based on these three parts of my experience, I would not buy from this seller again. I hope my experience will help other reefers in the future.
Disclaimer: Everything I have stated here is based on our R2R DM conversation. If necessary, I can post the messages.
Original sales thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cc21-blowout-sale.1170362/
