WHat happened to the sponsors?
- Thread starter weimers75
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The thing that bites my butt is most people have frag tanks and offer the high end corals that vendors normally cant keep in stock anyways...
People i know that use ebay and the boards to sell frags and frag packs turn around and use the money to buy from the vendors a lot the time.
I always assumed that sponsorship was purely for advertising purpose by telling us about the deals they are having and updating us to new stock and so forth.
If you look at the want to buy forum i don't see many items listed that are easy to come by from vendors.
this entire situation just stinks.
I spend hours ever day searching countless websites to find items i want badly only to end up going to the boards to find them anyways.
its the hobbyist that drive the industry and these guys just more or less tossed themselves on the floor kicking and screaming like an out of control toddler over something that they honestly have no control over. We want what we want when we want it it they don't have it then we will go else where to get it. Its not like its personal i look at my tank and its about a 50/50 mix of vendors/members frags...
it saddens me when these things happen
ok /rant
People i know that use ebay and the boards to sell frags and frag packs turn around and use the money to buy from the vendors a lot the time.
I always assumed that sponsorship was purely for advertising purpose by telling us about the deals they are having and updating us to new stock and so forth.
If you look at the want to buy forum i don't see many items listed that are easy to come by from vendors.
this entire situation just stinks.
I spend hours ever day searching countless websites to find items i want badly only to end up going to the boards to find them anyways.
its the hobbyist that drive the industry and these guys just more or less tossed themselves on the floor kicking and screaming like an out of control toddler over something that they honestly have no control over. We want what we want when we want it it they don't have it then we will go else where to get it. Its not like its personal i look at my tank and its about a 50/50 mix of vendors/members frags...
it saddens me when these things happen
ok /rant
ZooYorkUnderworld
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I for one love club-zoa!!! And have met,talked to,traded and bought from some of the coolest reefer's I have met in the hobby. I also liked the fact that the sponsors were actual members and feel of a hobbiest was there.
This is the place I go to get away from the "RC" and all the other "you cant post that or say that or sell that " sites, I actually frequent here more than my local site (club) due to the activity here. With any forum you are going to have sponsors come and go for one reason or another and thats just how it goes, but guys rather then them weed through the sites that most benefit them to sponsor when they drop it's a good way for us to have vendors that benefit club-zoa and that will always be returned by the members here because we do create bussiness for vendors!
I have purchased from one vendor here and my experience was nothing but great(thanks bryan!)
This is an awesome site and let's keep it that way and hopefully other sites will follow.....
This is the place I go to get away from the "RC" and all the other "you cant post that or say that or sell that " sites, I actually frequent here more than my local site (club) due to the activity here. With any forum you are going to have sponsors come and go for one reason or another and thats just how it goes, but guys rather then them weed through the sites that most benefit them to sponsor when they drop it's a good way for us to have vendors that benefit club-zoa and that will always be returned by the members here because we do create bussiness for vendors!
I have purchased from one vendor here and my experience was nothing but great(thanks bryan!)
This is an awesome site and let's keep it that way and hopefully other sites will follow.....
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BigBadZoaDaddy
Orange ya gonna Frag it!
OH geez whatever, I have been reefing for many yrs and some have seen my system and some love it some hate it! (Sponsors manly) Look the deal is if you are good at keeping corals they grow them self for criminy sake! All it takes is getting a hold of the ones you want! I have bought corals that I then decided weren't going to work for my set-up? SO what do I do with them, through 'em outside? Just cause some people live in a diferant type of world than most doesn't mean they are commercials buyers or seller? We all don't keep freakin NANOS! Look some people and I know many can buy $2-3000 worth of stuff in a month and then go "ya know I just don't like the way it looks?" or "that isn't going to color up like I thought". ANd away it must go! So they post it FS and it may be there for awhil and might not sell so you post it again! Look if your buying BOX LOTS of corals and trying to turn and burn your a dealer if you have a Tank that corals grow very well and need to be harvested once in awhile and sold you are a hobbiest! Every freakin hobby has resale, come on how many of you have garage sales every yr! To get rid of stuff you don't need or don't want! That is what it boils down to! I have so many Hammers. Torch and Frogspawn right now it isn't even funny? I wanted to do a wall of Euphillia thought it would be cool and know I have decided that I wanted Rics and Acans? SO what do I do with the Euphilia that cost me $400 all in all about, not including a 12" Wall hammer I bought for $200?
SO as I understand sponsor issues, it is plan and simple that almost every person getting into this hobby will have a frag tank or frag corals, they see it as a way to help with the cost of keeping a reef tank? Plus as some want more trading to happen how many people are going to want to trade my Euphillia for there Micros or SPS?, chances are slim so you sell it to get cash to put back into the tank! Maybe they don't relize that most of the time the money we would get from selling would go right back to them?
O well maybe a few people that are doing good propogating there stuff should get together and be sponsors, want to make a pack with 4 people that would be $5!!!!!!! per month for each person! LOL I'm in whos' with me lets support CZ to the end!!!
OH real quick, I want to add that sponsor that participat or encourage topics are much more likely to get more biz, plan and simple the more people see your name the more likly they are to check you out! Its call frequency, the more you have the better chance someone will stop by! CZ is a little slow on the converatation side and heavyier on the "look what I got", if sponsors assuming they are more knowledgeable than the average hobbiest would create intersting topics, we may see more people comeing and staying? Again just my opioin?
SO as I understand sponsor issues, it is plan and simple that almost every person getting into this hobby will have a frag tank or frag corals, they see it as a way to help with the cost of keeping a reef tank? Plus as some want more trading to happen how many people are going to want to trade my Euphillia for there Micros or SPS?, chances are slim so you sell it to get cash to put back into the tank! Maybe they don't relize that most of the time the money we would get from selling would go right back to them?
O well maybe a few people that are doing good propogating there stuff should get together and be sponsors, want to make a pack with 4 people that would be $5!!!!!!! per month for each person! LOL I'm in whos' with me lets support CZ to the end!!!
OH real quick, I want to add that sponsor that participat or encourage topics are much more likely to get more biz, plan and simple the more people see your name the more likly they are to check you out! Its call frequency, the more you have the better chance someone will stop by! CZ is a little slow on the converatation side and heavyier on the "look what I got", if sponsors assuming they are more knowledgeable than the average hobbiest would create intersting topics, we may see more people comeing and staying? Again just my opioin?
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I am saddened to hear about all of this. Club Zoa is a great site and I am glad that I stumbled upon it. I enjoy reading through the posts and everyone is friendly and helpful. I have been able to buy things here that I could not find other places. I look forward to buying more. I have bought from both sponsors and fellow reefers. In fact, my first purchase here was from a sponsor--I saw an addy here and went from there. For them to say that they were negatively impacted by member selling is sad.
I agree with a poster above--if you have more on the site, members will buy from you, but the price has to be fair. I have gone to the abovementioned former sponsers sites and did not find anything that I wanted. I come here and find what I want. Now, if I could only find some AOG's, LOTR..........(hint, hint).....
I agree with a poster above--if you have more on the site, members will buy from you, but the price has to be fair. I have gone to the abovementioned former sponsers sites and did not find anything that I wanted. I come here and find what I want. Now, if I could only find some AOG's, LOTR..........(hint, hint).....
If anything is unethical it's their little pact. If they were really wanting you to dictate pricing on things sold here by members that's VERY unethical. If they're trying to tell other hobbyists what they should sell things for imagine the price fixing that could be going on between businesses. If that's happening that's not just unethical, it's illegal.
korndogg091
Active Member
Really?, Looks like people were attaking there business. If no one was bashing them then why say "no mud slinging" and keep telling people to put those comments in the Feedback Forum?
I dont think anyone would agree to limiting what things sell for. I'm just saying why sponsor a place that has people selling things for way cheaper then you can.
Thats my point, if you are chaning your tank around or things over grow thats one thing. "Someone every week" might exagerate a little (and I do mean little). But if you honestly believe there are not people on here selling only to make a profit you need to check again. By the way, Im not going to start calling people out and say whom I feel is abusing the selling. Ill leave that to the Mods.
Thats the thing, you do have a free forum. Choose what ever forum you want and post in it. If you want to adverise, go ahead and show a picture of your tank and some macro shots of some of your nice corals you want to sell. You want to actually post it for sale with out a fee? Post it in the selling forum. Again, I personally dont look at silly banners flashing. I call them spam. I to can update a forum, all I have to do is hit reply to my own thread and type "Bump........"
I agree.
My personal opion is that if I had a business, I wouldnt advertise at a place that costed me money but let others sell for free. I dont blame them for leaving but sending it out in a newsletter isnt right either.
phisigs79
Community Member
i wasnt trash talking, i told the truth. Yes it comes out now because its kind of hard to talk bad about someone when they see the thread. I think this is one area that vendor/sponsors shouldnt be able to see. Its kinda hard to talk bad about someone when they are in front of you, right? Much easier to talk behind their back,right? Got my point? I do however feel like there is no loss. They obviuosly arent good people to do what they have done. Life moves on and people learn about vendors in the hobby. IMO no one should jump on the vendors side and act like they know them and defend them unless you know them personally. Just because you buy from them doesnt make them your friend or you their friend. You would be suprised what they would do when your not looking. There are alot of shaddy vendors out there in this hobby and most of them are out there to make a quick buck. This shows they were one of them!
ecotoxlady
Perpetual student
I don't think anyone can say it better than that! Very well put.
cardgenius
Paging Dr. Greenthumb!!
I think a lot of new people either dont know or are forgeting that this is why the site was set up. Its nice to be able to come to a site that lets you freely sell and trade without being hassled like RC and others.
Why should it be this sites fault that members have better collections than sponsers do and that they sell them cheaper? I for one am not gonna pay $75 for a polyp of Nuclear Green or Purple death when I can get one from a member or another sponser for $30 a polyp.
Maybe they should grow up and start spending the money they save buy sponsering this site verses others like RC and actually buy stuff that people want.
Why should it be this sites fault that members have better collections than sponsers do and that they sell them cheaper? I for one am not gonna pay $75 for a polyp of Nuclear Green or Purple death when I can get one from a member or another sponser for $30 a polyp.
Maybe they should grow up and start spending the money they save buy sponsering this site verses others like RC and actually buy stuff that people want.
I'll try to explain this a bit better.......
It wasn't that people were selling stuff cheaper, it was that they are getting vendor prices for it. So you as a privet member shouldn't get the same amount of cash for a PPE that they would if it was listed on their site. To me that is telling me that they would want you to sell the same PPE for less then what they can ask for it. This way you will not make as much per polyp as they would.
This at the same time is backwards cause if you are selling PPE for $25 because our rules state that you cannot get vendor pricing then who is gonna go to the vendor and pay $50 per polyp to begin with? That would be stupid. I think that if you were to sell them for let's say $65 they would still have a problem with it cause now your getting more then they can, although the odds of somebody buying it at that much is 50/50.
There is no website on the net that deals with reefs that does not have a trading forum or selling forum that I know of. Most site it is an arbitrary number or they have no limits at all. I have sold over $600 dollars of zoanthids and palys on RC before this site was created, not a word from the mods. This was over a 5 week time period, nothing......They never once asked me if I was commercial.......which I'm not..
To me there has to some solid evidence that somebody is commercial, for us to really come down hard on said member. The last thing we want to do is come down on somebody and make accusations and have them be false, that is the type of stuff RC does and some other boards that I frequent. If you guys have or think you might see somebody that is abusing the selling forum, report it. Your name will never be revealed to anyone and at the same time it helps us out when things fall through the cracks. Then we can discuss with said person and deal with it.......we want all sponsors to feel at home here but we are not going to force you as member to be captive to any one sponsor or tell you who or what you have to do with you money.
There are far more trades going on in this place then selling, what would be next? A cap on trading to?
See the problem is once these things gets forced on to the members it is hard to stop the downward spiral before it gets to far and the regulations become constrictive and a hinder to the growth of the forum, members and eventually the enjoyment of the site itself. This is one reason we have been open with the discussions in every forum....We like for people to police themselves with out our influence, unless absolutely necessary....
I also don't want us to be critical of sponsorships in general, they have a great place in forums and can and do help build great relationships with the members of these forums that they sponsor. I understand from a business perspective that it can be hard to do business with people that are trading and selling on forums that I would sponsor. But that in mind tells me I need to do more and make my business even better to draw attention to it. For me if I was a business to just sit back and make or hope people will come without any work makes for a bad business plan. We have some sponsors here that update their sites quite frequently and use their forums for posting deals, and sales. That is exactly what they are there for, in the end their business's will reap the benefits of that.
Well said, Azurel! I routinely check out some of the sponsors sites because I am looking for several things. Some of the abovementioned sponsors rarely have anything new. Some I can count on to have updates, like Randy. He has some awesome stuff and I check his site out frequently.
As the famous line goes, "If you build it, they will come!"
As the famous line goes, "If you build it, they will come!"
Stixbaraca
Zoanthid Pimp
I've had unmatched experiences with both Miguel and Bryan!
This rift between them and the site is a tough one to swallow loving this site as much as I do, and the second to none service that both of them have provided me for a last couple of years!
I know as long as I have been dealing with Byran that he routinely shelves the business in the winter in order to regrow his next to 100% captive grown stock.
I think as far as this topic goes...it shouldn't go any further. They have gone their separate way, and Club-Zoa will continue to grow into the positive community it has since its inception.
I think it is time to move on!!!!
This rift between them and the site is a tough one to swallow loving this site as much as I do, and the second to none service that both of them have provided me for a last couple of years!
I know as long as I have been dealing with Byran that he routinely shelves the business in the winter in order to regrow his next to 100% captive grown stock.
I think as far as this topic goes...it shouldn't go any further. They have gone their separate way, and Club-Zoa will continue to grow into the positive community it has since its inception.
I think it is time to move on!!!!
I agree!
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