Brs or saltwater aquarium.com

BRS

Saltwater aquarium.com or brs

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Top Shelf Aquatics
BRS, love the sales, but never buying open box again.

The 365 day return policy runs right into this. People are most definitely returning stuff after 300+ days and it’s being resold as open box at 10% off.
 
Manpeckz said:
BRS, love the sales, but never buying open box again.

The 365 day return policy runs right into this. People are most definitely returning stuff after 300+ days and it’s being resold as open box at 10% off.
Click to expand...
reselling USED equipment or stuff that someone bought for a build and never opened and then returned?
2 completely different animals there
 
Deltec
GlassMunky said:
reselling USED equipment or stuff that someone bought for a build and never opened and then returned?
2 completely different animals there
Click to expand...
Sorry if you think otherwise. I’ve got personal experience with this so I’ll stick to my guns here.
 
Whoever has the best price between Saltwater Aquarium, Aquarium Specialty, BRS, and Premium Aquatics.

There are a surprising number of non-equipment items where one place will be more expensive than the others. Usually it is only a few dollar difference. I think I have noticed it most with Tunze.

If the prices are the same, then more often than not I go with Saltwater Aquarium because I can add some frag plugs or a tube of glue as a freebie.

My go to LFS gets priority, but they are only open weekends. They’ll do little things for me that I appreciate. Like break open a package large frag tiles and sell them individually at the same per unit price as if I bought a 10 pack.
 
I got the majority of my stuff from chewy.com lol. I dont really like brs, shipping is fine, prices are ok, but their product descriptions are faulty a lot of the time, the only times ive searched for a specific product and wound up on brs was because I clicked a defunct marinedepot link. SWA seems off to me in a scammy kinda way. And so far aquacave has been the one online store that has come through for me when no one else had an item in stock they had it.
 
Deltec
Manpeckz said:
BRS, love the sales, but never buying open box again.

The 365 day return policy runs right into this. People are most definitely returning stuff after 300+ days and it’s being resold as open box at 10% off.
Click to expand...
It has definitely been hit or miss for me. I’ve gotten stuff that was mint. Some stuff missing little pieces that may not be a big deal, like a pump missing a foot or an additional fitting that I didn’t even need. Then there is stuff that was clearly used, like a constantly fluctuating heater or an Innovative Marine reactor that someone cut a bunch of rubber off the top to get it to fit properly, but only made things worse. All were listed as A rated.

Saltwater Aquarium has been better, but I am hesitant to buy the stuff they label as used because there typically isn’t much info on the use except that it was tested and works.

Some of the open box pricing could be better too, a lot of times the frequently occurring sale price will be the same or less than the open box price.
 
I try Premium Aquatics first if they have what I am looking for. they have always gone above and beyond. As an added bonus they are close enough to me that their regular shipping is pretty much next day.
 
Tidal Gardens
So I use a mix of both, plus a few others (premium aquatics, fish tanks direct, etc)

I've found that the deals are pretty smiliar, but occasionally BRS will have some better flash sales on equipment. Saltwater Aquarium seems to have better stocking (or maybe more people go to BRS so SA keeps stock better? just a guess).

As far as media goes, I almost exclusively use BRS (carbon, GFO, etc)
 
Manpeckz said:
Sorry if you think otherwise. I’ve got personal experience with this so I’ll stick to my guns here.
Click to expand...
I’m not saying one way or another, I was asking a question.
If it’s used and sold as new that’s grounds for a chargeback from the CC company. I’m not a fan of BRS and their business practices myself but I don’t think they did that kind of slimey sales.
 
Deltec
My go to is AquaCave. I think just because I am a creature of habit. I have also ordered from BRS. For many products the price is the price on all these sites. AquaCave does give you discount points for every purchase. At least that is something. I do shop around for big purchases.
 
BRS charges sales tax, others do not. I try to go to saltwater when possible for lower overall cost.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
I use both BRS and saltwater aquarium but tend to order more from BRS.
 
I use both - BRS for things like RO resin and SWA for most others.... they both are reliable, ship quickly and prices are ok. I also use specialty sites for things like Bergia (Salty Underground) etc
 
I get most of my fish at saltwater (ora) so i buy there sometimes to build points. Brs is my go to. Ive learned a ton from them so im loyal. Same with tidal gardens. Great videos on everything so they get my business.
 
Tidal Gardens
I’ve ordered from both and am now trying to resolve an issue from SWA and after nearly two weeks and multiple attempts they’ve yet to resolve the problem.
The issue involves a pump that failed days after the 30 day return, but manufacturers warranty. Seems at this point the retailer, SWA, would step up and resolve issue and still hoping.

Never had any issues with BRS and wishing I’d done this particular order through them as they seem to have excellent customer support. Still, try to support small business and spread purchasing to keep from monopoly, as much as can.
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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