Live sales

[zibba]

Y'all are looking way too far into this, it's just a person with a store showing you a bunch of corals for sale and if you want them you can buy them. That's it, no trickery at all.

Good perspective, Brett. I had a great time last live sale and got some insane deals. In addition to a chance to interact with new R2R members, I got acquainted with an awesome vendor here on R2R. I give a lot of business to the LFSs but the live sale interaction gave it a personal touch that I liked and wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

 

[Pappy]

Well here is my personal opinion on all these live sales and the reefers involved in it. First off, its a very clever idea. "live sale" wow. then promotions, half price corals, draw in hundreds of people to the thread. Now comes the real truth. With 500+ possible buyers loaded waiting to buy corals of any kind, and the pushy live sale "salesperson", and a limited quantity of corals show up at one time, chances are they will be gone fast, good or bad, no matter the prices. No offense to the live sale owners, they are strictly here for business, just like in the NFL, no hard feelings, not here to help out a fellow reefer to transform their average reef into a dream tank at a low cost. lol
On the other hand, there are many reefers here also trying to pick up a few rare pieces so they can grow and frag them in a year or two to make their money back. Believe me, they dont just make their money back, they are actually selling their frags for almost the same price as all the vendors without a storefront and all the expenses of a business owner. Those are the worst seller of all. They are the ones to blame for all these jacked up coral prices.
Sadly all these talk about helping nature to restore its original state, or all aquacultured coral hobby is nothing but a phrase with these sky high prices. There are only a handful of people that might have that mindset in this hobby.

I disagree just for the sake of argument here. Not to be too off topic BUT!...lol

If I pay $200 for a 1 eye chalice and sell when it grows out for $100-$200 that is the hobbyists prerogative. We have almost the same expenses minus storefront (bulb replacement, electric, salt , foods, etc...). "Getting the prices jacked up" would be completely inaccurate. The vendors are jacking up the prices and we are paying.

The hobbyist that keeps the prices up is actually doing all "us" "collectors" a favor preventing the watering down of the market. The thrifty often get mad when this happens because they are looking for the high end stuff cheap. Why should I pay top dollar and sell to another cheap?

Contrary to your statement there is nothing worse in my experience than me paying $100 a head for a zoa and then I see someone selling:
1. The same for $20
2. An inaccurately named one for the same.

There are plenty of cheap corals (non collector pieces/LE PIECES for the thrifty) however for the good stuff we should all pay top dollar to ensure these pieces stay sought after. Just my opinion and meant no offense it just frustrates me when people expect I pay $100 an inch for an acro and expect me to sell it for $15-$20.

 

[Smnparish]

I disagree just for the sake of argument here. Not to be too off topic BUT!...lol

If I pay $200 for a 1 eye chalice and sell when it grows out for $100-$200 that is the hobbyists prerogative. We have almost the same expenses minus storefront (bulb replacement, electric, salt , foods, etc...). "Getting the prices jacked up" would be completely inaccurate. The vendors are jacking up the prices and we are paying.

The hobbyist that keeps the prices up is actually doing all "us" "collectors" a favor preventing the watering down of the market. The thrifty often get mad when this happens because they are looking for the high end stuff cheap. Why should I pay top dollar and sell to another cheap?

Contrary to your statement there is nothing worse in my experience than me paying $100 a head for a zoa and then I see someone selling:
1. The same for $20
2. An inaccurately named one for the same.

There are plenty of cheap corals (non collector pieces/LE PIECES for the thrifty) however for the good stuff we should all pay top dollar to ensure these pieces stay sought after. Just my opinion and meant no offense it just frustrates me when people expect I pay $100 an inch for an acro and expect me to sell it for $15-$20.

Exactly, I agree 100%
I don't want to see the value of my high end pieces drop, and this is coming from a 16 year old reefer who has to earn money for all of his corals through either selling frags myself or doing a boatload of chores around the house!

 

[Diesel]

It's all about being in business for the vendor.
It's his way of doing business.
You either buy or you don't!
And if you feel it's not for you than don't log-in and if you think you find a crazy fox for $50 you're in the wrong hobby.
I for one don't have much time for the live sales but love to read the post on it later on, seems a lot of fun.
I work my butt of as a contractor and bring home 100k a month and because of that I log-in to JF myself get what I want and be done with it.
Not shy of put down about $400 a week for a few corals.
Just lets have fun and enjoy this wonderful hobby as is.
I like all kinds of setups from members here, when you put hard work and lot of time in it, even you have your tank stocked with freebies.
Ok, let me get of my soap box now.

Btw, I have two 1 eye frags JF crazy fox for sale...............oops wrong forum!! LoL

 

[k2parkstar]

I disagree just for the sake of argument here. Not to be too off topic BUT!...lol

If I pay $200 for a 1 eye chalice and sell when it grows out for $100-$200 that is the hobbyists prerogative. We have almost the same expenses minus storefront (bulb replacement, electric, salt , foods, etc...). "Getting the prices jacked up" would be completely inaccurate. The vendors are jacking up the prices and we are paying.

The hobbyist that keeps the prices up is actually doing all "us" "collectors" a favor preventing the watering down of the market. The thrifty often get mad when this happens because they are looking for the high end stuff cheap. Why should I pay top dollar and sell to another cheap?

Contrary to your statement there is nothing worse in my experience than me paying $100 a head for a zoa and then I see someone selling:
1. The same for $20
2. An inaccurately named one for the same.

There are plenty of cheap corals (non collector pieces/LE PIECES for the thrifty) however for the good stuff we should all pay top dollar to ensure these pieces stay sought after. Just my opinion and meant no offense it just frustrates me when people expect I pay $100 an inch for an acro and expect me to sell it for $15-$20.

Agreed, and what really burns me up is when I pay $100, sell a same sized piece later on for $50, and that person grows it out and tries to sell a piece for $100! Why would I pay full price, give you half price, so you can charge full price again.

 

[tchan]

ok, this is off the topic but u didnt get my point completely. the reason i dont like coral prices in a sky high prices is because less reefers can afford them, hence less knowledge will be learn from that certain group of corals. i didnt ask anyone to lower the prices of their high end pieces. if i cant afford it i wont buy it,simple as that.
by the way, the expenses that u pay goes to every reefers in here. they are not expenses, its called the joy of hobby. u take both the good and bad. of course mintenance is the bad. :tongue:
on the other hand, vendors' expenses goes beyond any reefers, plus many of them its their only income to support their family. not all venders are lucky enough to have a success one, most are struggling to pay bills. so dont compare ur hobby needs to their expenses.
now what if later on for whatever reason, the ocean reefs dont make it, will u wise enough to donate if u are the only one to have that specific piece of high end coral back into the wild assuming the conditions are good? or trying to jack up the price of that piece for ur own profit? u dont have to answer it. its a matter of different type of people in this modern world.

I disagree just for the sake of argument here. Not to be too off topic BUT!...lol

If I pay $200 for a 1 eye chalice and sell when it grows out for $100-$200 that is the hobbyists prerogative. We have almost the same expenses minus storefront (bulb replacement, electric, salt , foods, etc...). "Getting the prices jacked up" would be completely inaccurate. The vendors are jacking up the prices and we are paying.

The hobbyist that keeps the prices up is actually doing all "us" "collectors" a favor preventing the watering down of the market. The thrifty often get mad when this happens because they are looking for the high end stuff cheap. Why should I pay top dollar and sell to another cheap?

Contrary to your statement there is nothing worse in my experience than me paying $100 a head for a zoa and then I see someone selling:
1. The same for $20
2. An inaccurately named one for the same.

There are plenty of cheap corals (non collector pieces/LE PIECES for the thrifty) however for the good stuff we should all pay top dollar to ensure these pieces stay sought after. Just my opinion and meant no offense it just frustrates me when people expect I pay $100 an inch for an acro and expect me to sell it for $15-$20.