What drives the price of reef related products?

[reefingBeAmazin22]

The purpose of this thread isn’t meant to make me sound like I’m cheap, nor is it to bash on certain companies that price their products a certain way. The purpose of this thread is purely for informal reasons. I personally don’t mind buying an expensive product, as long as I know why that product is expensive. I’m really new to this hobby, only been in it for 5 months. And I’ve been checking out BRS’s website, which to be honest, I really love it, I love the fact that theirs basically an Amazon selling reef items exclusively. However, I just don’t know why certain items are priced the way they are. Take Led lights for example, can anyone tell me how much it costs to make and produce one of those products, it’s just a bit frustrating at times when on YouTube, they explain how this 200$ light is dirt cheap in order to get your corals to grow, but why is that price point cheap, that’s what I’m trying to ask the reef2reef community, again I’ll spend the money but I have to have a reason you know. I mean I bought a $40 light off of Amazon which is capable of growing all of my coral, softies and lps, as well as a bta, which requires like sps level of light. I feel like it was a good deal, now I have no idea as far as the durability of the light, but at the end of the day it gets the job done, so convince me of why I should by a 300 dollar light. Now let’s transition to coral, why does an Aussie gold torch cost 350 dollars, why does a New York knicks cost 650 bucks, why does a Walt Disney sell for 300 bucks, why why why? See I feel like a coral should be priced based on rarity and how hard it is to get the coral, correct me if I’m wrong but, are those corals really that hard to get? I doubt it, are we just paying for eye candy, and to an extent I get that, slap a fancy name and sell it for a couple hundred bucks, but idk, that just feels a bit unfair for the buyer IMO, idk any insight guys?

 

[Hugh Mann]

Supply and demand would be my primary guess. And at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I'm sure there's some price fixing. With a relative handful of stores being supplied by even fewer distributors, they can charge just about whatever they want, and as long as there's enough people willing to pay it will keep happening.
Why sell 100 things for $10 each, when you can sell 20 things for $70 each?

I'm sure, especially with the price of livestock, factoring in the significance losses between capture and ending up in our aquariums.

 

[andrewkw]

The simple answer for livestock is supply / demand. This is true to a point to dry goods too, but like anything else there are high end, low end and mid range companies. How much R&D went into a $40 light and how much testing did they do before they deemed it ready for sale? Innovation costs time and money and some places simply value their products more. The goal for most things in the aquarium hobby is not to sell as many as possible to sell as many as possible while maintaining whatever profit margin per item.

 

[vetteguy53081]

yes on supply and demand and consumer wuillingness to purchase at given MSRP.
As for price point, there is patents, materials, research and developement, marketing, packaging and support.

 

[reefingBeAmazin22]

yes on supply and demand and consumer wuillingness to purchase at given MSRP.
As for price point, there is patents, materials, research and developement, marketing, packaging and support.

Yeah I agree, reefers are very willing to pay for pricy coral, so ig it’s because the demand is high enough for them to have it at those prices

 

[d_parker40]

supply and demand dictates pricing in all retail and wholesale business regardless of type. You have heard the saying "if the market will bear it" it rings true always

 

[BiggestE222]

The purpose of this thread isn’t meant to make me sound like I’m cheap, nor is it to bash on certain companies that price their products a certain way. The purpose of this thread is purely for informal reasons. I personally don’t mind buying an expensive product, as long as I know why that product is expensive. I’m really new to this hobby, only been in it for 5 months. And I’ve been checking out BRS’s website, which to be honest, I really love it, I love the fact that theirs basically an Amazon selling reef items exclusively. However, I just don’t know why certain items are priced the way they are. Take Led lights for example, can anyone tell me how much it costs to make and produce one of those products, it’s just a bit frustrating at times when on YouTube, they explain how this 200$ light is dirt cheap in order to get your corals to grow, but why is that price point cheap, that’s what I’m trying to ask the reef2reef community, again I’ll spend the money but I have to have a reason you know. I mean I bought a $40 light off of Amazon which is capable of growing all of my coral, softies and lps, as well as a bta, which requires like sps level of light. I feel like it was a good deal, now I have no idea as far as the durability of the light, but at the end of the day it gets the job done, so convince me of why I should by a 300 dollar light. Now let’s transition to coral, why does an Aussie gold torch cost 350 dollars, why does a New York knicks cost 650 bucks, why does a Walt Disney sell for 300 bucks, why why why? See I feel like a coral should be priced based on rarity and how hard it is to get the coral, correct me if I’m wrong but, are those corals really that hard to get? I doubt it, are we just paying for eye candy, and to an extent I get that, slap a fancy name and sell it for a couple hundred bucks, but idk, that just feels a bit unfair for the buyer IMO, idk any insight guys?

Black box lights might work but they also might burn your house down. There are some solid lights on Amazon but there is also no quality control. But if just wanting to get a cheap focused lenses light is enough them you can certainly save money.

 

[Ashibashi]

The purpose of this thread isn’t meant to make me sound like I’m cheap, nor is it to bash on certain companies that price their products a certain way. The purpose of this thread is purely for informal reasons. I personally don’t mind buying an expensive product, as long as I know why that product is expensive. I’m really new to this hobby, only been in it for 5 months. And I’ve been checking out BRS’s website, which to be honest, I really love it, I love the fact that theirs basically an Amazon selling reef items exclusively. However, I just don’t know why certain items are priced the way they are. Take Led lights for example, can anyone tell me how much it costs to make and produce one of those products, it’s just a bit frustrating at times when on YouTube, they explain how this 200$ light is dirt cheap in order to get your corals to grow, but why is that price point cheap, that’s what I’m trying to ask the reef2reef community, again I’ll spend the money but I have to have a reason you know. I mean I bought a $40 light off of Amazon which is capable of growing all of my coral, softies and lps, as well as a bta, which requires like sps level of light. I feel like it was a good deal, now I have no idea as far as the durability of the light, but at the end of the day it gets the job done, so convince me of why I should by a 300 dollar light. Now let’s transition to coral, why does an Aussie gold torch cost 350 dollars, why does a New York knicks cost 650 bucks, why does a Walt Disney sell for 300 bucks, why why why? See I feel like a coral should be priced based on rarity and how hard it is to get the coral, correct me if I’m wrong but, are those corals really that hard to get? I doubt it, are we just paying for eye candy, and to an extent I get that, slap a fancy name and sell it for a couple hundred bucks, but idk, that just feels a bit unfair for the buyer IMO, idk any insight guys?

I've only been in this hobby for a hot minute so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

In my opinion a lot of the "high end" reefing equipment is priced the way it is not because of manufacturing costs, significant technological differences or even necessarily any proven proportional benefit to the health of a tank. It appears mostly to be marketing/brand recognition, aesthetics, and something that I think is unique to this hobby - reef aquariums are low key kind of a rich person flex.

Yes you can have equipment for way less money that probably will keep the creatures in your tank alive, but it probably won't look as good. Kessil LEDs for example; people love the small streamlined 'ufo' look of the pucks, the futuristic clean lines and the shimmer effect from the dense array of LEDs. And of course like any hobby that chiefly involves picking things out and acquiring them, there's a lot of gatekeeping. It's appealing to people to get to feel like one of the elites in any niche, and getting high end gear feels exclusive and rewarding in that regard.

Some people like to have as much control as possible, which higher end equipment allows you do to right out of the box. Its fun to geek out and look at a bunch of graphs of various cyclical parameter changes from an apex controller for example, its fun to fiddle with the spectrum output of a radion light and see how different things look or respond to different conditions. Feeling like you're orchestrating some arcane alchemy to get these super esoteric exotic creatures to grow in your house is one of the biggest pulls of reerkeeping to many people, and the purpose of a reef tank at the end of the day is to look nice and to get the satisfaction out of getting it to thrive. Having more granular control over more details reinforces that sense of its success being a product of the owners labor. It gives you more ways to interact with it and be an active player.

Not everyone's top reasons for being in this hobby are related to the above. It can also be gratifying to try to find a way to succeed on the lowest budget possible, or to experiment and discover relationships between water parameters and shifts in the biome of the tank. Some people enjoy the act of nurturing a thing, being attentive and having a rhythm to the day that something as demanding as a reef tank necessitates. Those people may not be interested in the latest and greatest tech. It depends what matters to you.

Some people might believe that more expensive, in-demand products must be that way because they work better, irrespective of whether that's actually true. Its easy and straightforward to assume that, especially when a lot of very successful beautiful reefs utilize those products. And so that cycle perpetuates itself.

At the end of the day, the prices of high end reef equipment is what it is because people have been willing to pay them. The real question is why people want to pay those prices, whats going on in their heads that makes it worth it.

 

[pelicansreef]

Supply and demand is the primary answer. That is true of every industry, Yes you can buy a black box on amazon that will light your tank or you can buy a $900 SKY that will also light your tank. There are vast differences between them which I won't get into.

Ask any woman why they are willing to pay $500 for a Guchi purse. She could buy a nice leather purse at Walmart for $50. Why does a man pay $300 for a set of Rayban sunglasses when Target sells sunglases for $10. The answer is perceived value. I have 2 Neptune Apex systems because I like the ability to monitor my various tanks. Do I need them? No, But I perceive the value of having peace of mind about my tanks as worth what i paid for them.

 

[Saltyreef]

Supply and demand is the primary answer. That is true of every industry, Yes you can buy a black box on amazon that will light your tank or you can buy a $900 SKY that will also light your tank. There are vast differences between them which I won't get into.

Ask any woman why they are willing to pay $500 for a Guchi purse. She could buy a nice leather purse at Walmart for $50. Why does a man pay $300 for a set of Rayban sunglasses when Target sells sunglases for $10. The answer is perceived value. I have 2 Neptune Apex systems because I like the ability to monitor my various tanks. Do I need them? No, But I perceive the value of having peace of mind about my tanks as worth what i paid for them.

Edit: read your comment wrong lol.

I'd 100% buy the nice italian bag.
But thats just me....