Are there rules or laws about posting wholesale prices?

[rynek23]

There are fewer and fewer stores because this hobby is hurting as a whole. You can talk to anyone weither its a huge online dealer or a mom and pop shop everyone is down from last year. So everyone is trying to stay in bussiness weither its wholesalers going direct or shops marking stuff up more. I've been running my shop for 5 years and this time last year was way better than now. Tulsa Oklahoma has lost 4 shops in a year period. On a total sidenote being a store owner I'm pumped that noone has based local stores in this thread it makes me happy that finally there is a site where people in the hobby can talk about things in a civil way. ha long live reef2reef!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R rynek23!

 

[BayCorals]

Welcome rynek23. This is a civil group here.:smile:

There is no law against it, just unethical. I don't see a problem if they tell a few of there friends, but to post it out would hurt alot of the lfs. Some clients don't consider the rent, elec, water, misc overhead of lfs when they make purchases.

When times are tough, ethics seem to become more and more of an issue. I went to a wholesaler the other day, hundreds of frag plugs all laid out. A whole section to color up corals. What is a wholesaler doing fraging and saving cherry picks if they only sale wholesale?:confuse:

 

[Aloha Corals]

There was a diver in Hawaii selling flame wrasse harems to local clubs about a year ago. Far below retail but I would guess just a bit more than wholesale.

This guy is well known in Hawaii and not for good reasons... When you are black listed in this state, desperation will result in what you talk about.

 

[Acrokeeper3729]

If you ask me, there should be laws and regulations in place for this type of thing that holds wholesalers liable for these actions in the form of heavy fines and even license suspention or revocation in cases of multiple offenses. I owned a liquor store a few years back and you sure won't see wholesalers selling retail or they won't be selling at all (obviously) bad example but thats how it should be in any industry. Unfortunately this part of this industry is obviously not very well regulated, as if the lfs don't have it bad enough competing with all the hobbyist selling and trading they cant even trust the wholesalers they buy from to do the right thing. The economy is bad yes, that doesn't make it o.k.

 

[gooch Verified Sponsor]

This guy is well known in Hawaii and not for good reasons... When you are black listed in this state, desperation will result in what you talk about.

I hope your talking about the diver and not me? I was just stating an instance I knew about. I first thought it was an isolated incident till I heard other groups talking about it.

I have always felt that if you sell wholesale you should encourage people to buy from the stores that sell for you. If you sell both retail and wholesale you should not undercut the vendors you sell to. And you should never be cheaper than your MAP price.

 

[Ian]

I hope your talking about the diver and not me? I was just stating an instance I knew about. I first thought it was an isolated incident till I heard other groups talking about it.

He's talking about the diver and Im 99% sure I know who he's referring to....

 

[Aloha Corals]

I hope your talking about the diver and not me? I was just stating an instance I knew about. I first thought it was an isolated incident till I heard other groups talking about it.

I was talking about the diver... I re-read what i posted and i wasn't clear. Sorry about that.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I need some of the flame wrasse. Anyone have a contact for that diver? LOL!


No I know who your talking about too.

 

[Aloha Corals]

I need some of the flame wrasse. Anyone have a contact for that diver? LOL!


No I know who your talking about too.

LOL I've personally seen him walk into an LFS with a 5 gallon bucket filled with 20+ flame wrasse. These fish had so much ammonia burn it wasn't funny. Poor fish... This was my only personal experiance with him. Though i've heard horror stories from reputable people on island.

 

[gooch Verified Sponsor]

If you ask me, there should be laws and regulations in place for this type of thing that holds wholesalers liable for these actions in the form of heavy fines and even license suspention or revocation in cases of multiple offenses. I owned a liquor store a few years back and you sure won't see wholesalers selling retail or they won't be selling at all (obviously) bad example but thats how it should be in any industry. Unfortunately this part of this industry is obviously not very well regulated, as if the lfs don't have it bad enough competing with all the hobbyist selling and trading they cant even trust the wholesalers they buy from to do the right thing. The economy is bad yes, that doesn't make it o.k.

I agree....wholesalers should wholesale and retailers should retail. Sounds simple. But when you have a small company that makes say 20 products. One or two stores pick up the full line but sell locally to one area. 60 or 70 stores pick up one or two products in the line. Yet the demand is there for your products with no place for people to buy. That said wholesaler then has no choice but to sell retail or discontinue the product. As long as that wholesaler is selling at a retail price that is the same as his retail customers I have less problems with it. I use to feel otherwise but after three years of wholesale only I think I may have to start selling some retail just to offer my product to areas that have no other place to purchase.

 

[BayCorals]

I do not like wholesalers that sell to LFS or online vendors and then turn around and sell to the public. That is not right and there is no way that a LFS and online vendor can compete with their wholesaler.