Enough with the live sales already

Mike N · May 5, 2020

I've made my feelings known about these live sales... not my thing. The frequency is getting annoying though.
My main problem is the lack of stock for people that don't want to participate in live sales. Either participate in a live sale, spending multiple hours trying (unsuccessfully) to get a particular coral, or buy local.
IMO, the live sale bubble will pop eventually. Some people will remember how they felt manipulated and no longer buy from that vendor(s).

tehmadreefer · May 5, 2020

Anyone know if r2r gets a share of the live sale profits or if vendors have to pay for the ability to do them?

Mike N · May 5, 2020

tehmadreefer said:
Anyone know if r2r gets a share of the live sale profits or if vendors have to pay for the ability to do them?

Even if they don't, imagine all the ad revenue that comes from 987,976,876,308 people refreshing their browser every .5 seconds...

I may have exaggerated the number of people

lapin · May 5, 2020

Reminds me of adds for Penny Auction sites

NS Mike D · May 5, 2020

Mike N said:
I've made my feelings known about these live sales... not my thing. The frequency is getting annoying though.
My main problem is the lack of stock for people that don't want to participate in live sales. Either participate in a live sale, spending multiple hours trying (unsuccessfully) to get a particular coral, or buy local.
IMO, the live sale bubble will pop eventually. Some people will remember how they felt manipulated and no longer buy from that vendor(s).

agree they are still new and vendors will need to compete for the hobby $$$ like everyone else. Last week's WWC live sale had 1000+ viewers in that thread and I don't know what many corals they sold along with the ebay sale and post sale, but that had to have a ripple effect on the available money for the subsequent live sales for a while.

rkpetersen · May 5, 2020

I don't care for them and won't participate again.
And in general I'm not a fan of the massive monetization of this site.

pdxmonkeyboy · May 5, 2020

IMO they are like black friday sales. Fortunately I make enough money that I don't need to sit obsessively in front of my computer to try and score a "sweet deal" and save $20. They are a brilliant marketing technique that combines desire with competition but for me, just seems a little silly.

BrandonS · May 5, 2020

rkpetersen said:
I don't care for them and won't participate again.
And in general I'm not a fan of the massive monetization of this site.

Monetization can definitely make a lot of things not fun. Not saying it has done that yet here. Just saying. Also on the other hand it cost money for moderators and servers. The servers needed to keep a live sale stable can't be cheap. And as a free market system if you can make money then good on ya. I just think the community can dictate what it tolerates. The frequency is getting annoying for me.

tehmadreefer · May 5, 2020

NS Mike D said:
agree they are still new and vendors will need to compete for the hobby $$$ like everyone else. Last week's WWC live sale had 1000+ viewers in that thread and I don't know what many corals they sold along with the ebay sale and post sale, but that had to have a ripple effect on the available money for the subsequent live sales for a while.

Wwc has another live sale in like a week or 2

pdxmonkeyboy · May 5, 2020

Here is an idea.. buy pieces from fellow hobbyists on the forum for even better prices... (earth shattering i know)

wrasse man · May 5, 2020

I’m surprised the mods haven’t shut this thread down yet. Every time a discussion comes up like this, the thought police get all totalitarian and stifle discussion.

LRT · May 5, 2020

pdxmonkeyboy said:
Here is an idea.. buy pieces from fellow hobbyists on the forum for even better prices... (earth shattering i know)

This is exactly what I've done. Lol now that the secrets out.
You can find any piece you desire and all you have to do is start a thread for it in WTB section seriously. I've found everything I wanted at a fraction of the price and gotten some real nice high end freebies on top of it. As well as met some really cool people here! @reefflow @NeSsyAqua @DanielCervantes @diverdown and many more. Sorry if I didnt mention you all!
There are a couple vendors here @PacificEastAquaculture and Jason Fox that actually stock signature pieces on the websites.
I can tell you that there are some vendors here I will not do business with specifically because of the flash live sales every week.
But I'm not knocking it either.
There are other ways to get what your after here though all you have to do is start a thread lol

BrandonS · May 5, 2020

wrasse man said:
I’m surprised the mods haven’t shut this thread down yet. Every time a discussion comes up like this, the thought police get all totalitarian and stifle discussion.

I haven't experienced that and hope they don't. We acknowledge that it's a great sales tactic and is smart to play to that part of the human mind. We also think that every week is a bit much and that it appears some sellers hoard there stock for these events instead of having things on there website.

Bottom line is discussion is a good thing and promotes community. At the end of the day only way to vote is with your wallet.

Aquavaj · May 5, 2020

Pardon my ignorance but what are these Live sales and how do they work? I've only started ordering corals online due to current events and lack of LFS in the area.

BrandonS · May 5, 2020

LRT said:
This is exactly what I've done. Lol now that the secrets out.
You can find any piece you desire and all you have to do is start a thread for it in WTB section seriously. I've found everything I wanted at a fraction of the price and gotten some real nice high end freebies on top of it. As well as met some really cool people here! @reefflow @NeSsyAqua @DanielCervantes @diverdown and many more. Sorry if I didnt mention you all!
There are a couple vendors here @PacificEastAquaculture and Jason Fox that actually stock signature pieces on the websites.
I can tell you that there are some vendors here I will not do business with specifically because of the flash live sales every week.
But I'm not knocking it either.
There are other ways to get what your after here though all you have to do is start a thread lol

Thank you for the name drops as it's a great resource to check out these sellers. And a great reminder that you can buy stuff here to and not just from a store!

BrandonS · May 5, 2020

Aquavaj said:
Pardon my ignorance but what are these Live sales and how do they work? I've only started ordering corals online due to current events and lack of LFS in the area.

A sale is posted and sometimes has a YouTube video associated. Every hour coral is posted to the forum. You rush over to the website of that company and try to buy the coral before the next guy. Got to be quick and checkout fast. They do not have very many of the advertised pieces in some cases.

LRT · May 5, 2020

Honestly this could become a real positive thread if everyone just dropped the names of favorite sellers with the fire.
As well as vendors there are some on here that dont even live sale bro...
I've seen tons of threads with str8 fire. From all the live sale vendors.
Just post them up in here.

Dilan Patel · May 5, 2020

I did my 2nd livesale and the one coral I purchased made the wole sale worth it I got a mini colony of AOI zoas dirt cheap.

Bob Weigant · May 5, 2020

I did it once and it was a complete waste of my day. Haven’t done one since

sixty_reefer · May 5, 2020

IMO I find this kind of rants more annoying, live sales are just a thread on the forum and like any other thread if it’s not of your liking just dnt click on it. Tagging sponsors on this rants it’s a lack of respect for this platform, what are you actually looking to get out of it?