MixedFruitBasket
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2019
- Messages
- 1,426
- Reaction score
- 1,732
- What state or country do you live in
- North Carolina
I have decided to start doing vendor reviews. We all know how expensive this hobby is, and while it costs money to grow/sell corals or run a store for dry goods/supplies, I don't think it's beyond reason to expect a level of transparency for vendors. There are things a vendor cannot help, acts of god, stupidity of shipping company, neglect from buyer leading to damage or death of item purchased.
Most of my reviews will be specifically about livestock, because that is where it is mostly the burden of the seller to represent an item as best to their ability and show that item to the best of their ability.
The following is based on my opinion and experience .
I may elect to use photos from their site, my photos from my tank, and screenshots from personal email when inquiry about product representation was made depending on my experience.
Quite often, the lower the vendor score, the more evidence I may post to prove why I gave that score.
My scoring system goes as follows
5* Excellent--Exceeded expectations.
4* Good--Seller did to the best of their ability.
3* Okay--Seller made a valiant attempt.
2* Poor--As a buyer very disappointed with seller's sales practices.
1* Cheated--I feel as if there was no effort made for clear and precise representation and or customer service.
Buy from again ranking:
Yes
Maybe--depends on overall experience such as seller's response to issues.
No
Finally, total amount of losses from purchase: US $$$
Added: I want to make this clear I am not doing any of these reviews to force any vendor to right what I feel like was a wrong. And I will NOT change my overall review if an offer to do so is made or done. I might change whether or not I will buy from again to a *maybe*, but that is the only thing that will be altered with each review experience.
********AquaSD********
I watch AquaSD a lot because I know they do get corals I want on rare occasions. Since they can't give any info on when or what they're getting in, it's a crap shoot and it means stalking their site and working up the suspense of finally seeing what I want.
The other day they had a pink tree coral advertised. I, in my excitement, thought I'd found a goodie and bought it. When it arrived, I realized my error. It wasn't a pink tree coral, it was a sinulara.
I don't blame my disappointment on AquaSD. I blame it on my quick trigger finger.
So I am going to try to fairly judge my experience without prejudice, to the best of my ability.
Realistic representation: 3*/5*--I feel that correct identification is important (and could have prevented this) but they did not do anything purposely misleading. Incorrect species ID of soft corals, especially octocorals (double for the tree like ones) seems to be pretty standard for most vendors.
And again, I'm the one who jumped the gun.
The 5* is for their clear, concise photo, that showed the coral. I noticed no alteration of it's appearance between what was on their site and what I received. They used an honest photograph to represent it.
Response to buyer concerns: 5* When I messaged them they were very polite and stated they'd sent the exact coral photographed which is 100% true. I did not ask for a refund. They did not offer. And that, imho, is really how it should be in this situation.
Reason for discrepancies: 4* They photographed the coral to the best of their abilities. Physical attributes were used to describe it rather than species name.
Shipping/Packing: 5* Fast receipt and nicely packed with the proper amount of water and with a much needed heating pad.
Buy from again: Yes
I'm not going to rate my loss on this because again, this was due to my "too quick" to buy. As a buyer I have certain responsibilities and one of them is to *ask more questions. The other, *request more photos. Then based on those responses decide whether or not to make the purchase.
I skipped those two details, so shame on me for that.
Most of my reviews will be specifically about livestock, because that is where it is mostly the burden of the seller to represent an item as best to their ability and show that item to the best of their ability.
The following is based on my opinion and experience .
I may elect to use photos from their site, my photos from my tank, and screenshots from personal email when inquiry about product representation was made depending on my experience.
Quite often, the lower the vendor score, the more evidence I may post to prove why I gave that score.
My scoring system goes as follows
5* Excellent--Exceeded expectations.
4* Good--Seller did to the best of their ability.
3* Okay--Seller made a valiant attempt.
2* Poor--As a buyer very disappointed with seller's sales practices.
1* Cheated--I feel as if there was no effort made for clear and precise representation and or customer service.
Buy from again ranking:
Yes
Maybe--depends on overall experience such as seller's response to issues.
No
Finally, total amount of losses from purchase: US $$$
Added: I want to make this clear I am not doing any of these reviews to force any vendor to right what I feel like was a wrong. And I will NOT change my overall review if an offer to do so is made or done. I might change whether or not I will buy from again to a *maybe*, but that is the only thing that will be altered with each review experience.
********AquaSD********
I watch AquaSD a lot because I know they do get corals I want on rare occasions. Since they can't give any info on when or what they're getting in, it's a crap shoot and it means stalking their site and working up the suspense of finally seeing what I want.
The other day they had a pink tree coral advertised. I, in my excitement, thought I'd found a goodie and bought it. When it arrived, I realized my error. It wasn't a pink tree coral, it was a sinulara.
I don't blame my disappointment on AquaSD. I blame it on my quick trigger finger.
So I am going to try to fairly judge my experience without prejudice, to the best of my ability.
Realistic representation: 3*/5*--I feel that correct identification is important (and could have prevented this) but they did not do anything purposely misleading. Incorrect species ID of soft corals, especially octocorals (double for the tree like ones) seems to be pretty standard for most vendors.
And again, I'm the one who jumped the gun.
The 5* is for their clear, concise photo, that showed the coral. I noticed no alteration of it's appearance between what was on their site and what I received. They used an honest photograph to represent it.
Response to buyer concerns: 5* When I messaged them they were very polite and stated they'd sent the exact coral photographed which is 100% true. I did not ask for a refund. They did not offer. And that, imho, is really how it should be in this situation.
Reason for discrepancies: 4* They photographed the coral to the best of their abilities. Physical attributes were used to describe it rather than species name.
Shipping/Packing: 5* Fast receipt and nicely packed with the proper amount of water and with a much needed heating pad.
Buy from again: Yes
I'm not going to rate my loss on this because again, this was due to my "too quick" to buy. As a buyer I have certain responsibilities and one of them is to *ask more questions. The other, *request more photos. Then based on those responses decide whether or not to make the purchase.
I skipped those two details, so shame on me for that.
