Online vendor Acro frags are sure getting pricey$$$$$$$$$$

[Jonreefer]

yes I remember back in the day and in around 2005 the high end acros and any of the higher end stuff was like a max of $75 for a frag and usually frags were 1.5" not 3/4"
Micromussa use to be the BIG hit back then and they use to get expensive like $50-70 a head. Still no where near the prices of today when there seems to be a larger abundance of it.

 

[Kurt Grant]

Nice Aussie Sps frag in my Lfs here in Denmark, Price: 50$, i Think prices is rediculous in USA!

LOOK AT THIS like I said they want to break your backs with Over pricing and fo those people who say if you cant afford dont buy if can afford and I wont buy I work way to hard to give my money away for something i know it 40 to 50$ iv been in this hobby now for 14 years and I have dealers friend and still wont shell out that kind of money.. I've seen the list from Bali and Australia where my friend buy from your getting colonels for 40 or 50$ not frags PEOPLE WAKE UP!!! ITS A HOBBY! pay that money for your kids education not frags of corals pfft!!!!

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Nice Aussie Sps frag in my Lfs here in Denmark, Price: 50$, i Think prices is rediculous in USA!

50 krone for each Aussie frag? If so that's a dream come true for you! . Slap me hard if it's really True

 

[ShawnSaucier]

I blame the Kardashian’s

 

[CC13]

Blah blah coral prices going up; have you bought a car or a house recently and compared to the same one or similar ten years ago? Yea... coral is cheap in comparison.

LOL when you buy a car or home, your getting exactly what you pay for whether the price is inflated or not. Your not buying a photo enhanced house that looks to have beautiful masonry until you see it in person after you buy it to which it then actually has stucco.

 

[acro-ed]

50 krone for each Aussie frag? If so that's a dream come true for you! . Slap me hard if it's really True

I'm certain he means equivalent $50 USD.

We "could" have prices like that here, but most vendors realize that's not where the money is at so they chop them or mark them up and make a better margin because the market will bear it.

The reality is this entire conversation begins and ends with "...because people will pay it."

 

[peder]

50 krone for each Aussie frag? If so that's a dream come true for you! . Slap me hard if it's really True

No no 250-300 Danish kroner, so 40-50 US dollars ;-) and there are Big not small (US frags)

 

[peder]

Forget` no all blue light on my foto! They really look like that!

 

[ShawnSaucier]

I love our sponsors, and this isn’t a dig at them, just the current trending here in the states.
Yes I have the $1000+ IPhone, but not every year. Yes, I sometimes overpay on clothes that has a certain name attached. Yes my tank is full of $$$$ equipment, when there were cheaper bits that could have been purchased. And yes I drink bottled water or enjoy a Starbucks.
But no I won’t pay some of the ridiculous prices for a corn kernel nun of coral that may or may not grow to look like a picture.
I am fortunate that my job takes me around the world. On my time off and when I’m missing my tank I try and find a LFS that is reef based. It is utterly amazing the differences in cost and what you get there compared to here in the US. Especially with how easy it is to ship here to the US as compared to these other countries.

 

[BoomCorals]

Really I think the major problem is the shipping. I understand that they really cant do anything about the shipping, but if they could find a way to drop it to $15 it would totally be worth it. I don't mind paying the $50 - $75 for a acro or coral at a fish store, but I just feel like its not worth it online because they get stressed during shipping and usually don't make it in the tank.

I support this 100%! I charge $35 for shipping but actual cost usually ends up more like 45-55. That's just FedEx costs, not including box/styro/heat packs. And when you spend over 250, I cover shipping completely. That's like getting a 20% discount on a $250 order. And with a 2 week guarantee, there are times when I need to ship replacements.

Sadly, I don't see prices going down on shipping anytime soon.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I blame the Kardashian’s

This is my stance on most things I find infuriating now days.

 

[RinTinTin]

Well my prediction is it Will keep on rising. Specialy with no more corals from Indonesia. A couple of years of now you will long for the days of today

Just a heads up ... last i read they were lifting that ban and trade was going to resume out of Indonesia.

https://reefbuilders.com/2018/10/03/indonesian-corals/#

 

[ShawnSaucier]

Speaking of shipping, that’s an area that service is getting worse in. Many times I don’t even know something has arrived until I receive an email or walk out my front door. Delivery people stopped ringing the doorbell and just through things on the front porch. Wether a signature is needed or not. What’s with that?

 

[Jonreefer]

Speaking of shipping, that’s an area that service is getting worse in. Many times I don’t even know something has arrived until I receive an email or walk out my front door. Delivery people stopped ringing the doorbell and just through things on the front porch. Wether a signature is needed or not. What’s with that?

i have had the post office deliver my package to the wrong house 3 times in a month. They actually argued with me on the phone claiming it was geo tagged my house and I was SOL only for them to call me 20min later and say yes it was delivered to the wrong address. Thats another reason why I dont know if i would ever buy online coral.

 

[JBNY]

The prices are going to be what people are willing to pay. I still trade and give frags to friends for free. In return I have been able to get most of what I want from others doing the same. Once in awhile I still buy frags and pay the price, but even then I give the frags away. I used to think that $45 for a frag was robbery.

 

[CMatlosz]

To me it's a shame that many of the premier online vendors focus mainly on the "high end" with little, or no, availability of "classic" SPS corals that likely have higher survive ability and growth rates, stuff people will ultimately be happy and successful with. They'll be more likely to stay in the hobby and continue purchasing in the future. I'm not talking about worthless chunks of orange monti caps but things like older ORA stuff, red/green planet, slimer, garf bonsai, torts, generic milles, etc.

I have no issue spending $300 or $400 on an order if the quantity is right. I wish there were more quality vendors participating in the low to mid range, specifically in SPS. It's my opinion that the WWC's of the world are missing out on a decent section of the market and pricing themselves out of a good chunk of potential customers like myself.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

The prices are going to be what people are willing to pay. I still trade and give frags to friends for free. In return I have been able to get most of what I want from others doing the same. Once in awhile I still buy frags and pay the price, but even then I give the frags away. I used to think that $45 for a frag was robbery.

Thats why I like to try and find people to trade with you end up finding cool people that will make you happy. The last time I found a cool vendor who made me happy was when live aquaria gave me my money back for a coral that died a week later and a when I bought a box of coral from a janky website for the price of a vendors home wrecker frag
By the way I just bought a home wrecker 1/2' frag from a reefer for $80.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

Like said above, it is a pity that some of the larger vendors are stepping away from the BnB corals. Some of the sites have pages of “ out of stock” selections, where you could choose your size of coral. Nothing worse than spending a bunch of money, mounting what you purchased and your tank still looking like just a pile of rocks.

 

[PeterG]

I’ve only bought time from an online vendor one. They were a well respected dealer who got good/great reviews here on R2R. Was running a package special and I bought five frags. When they arrived all were sort of brownish in color; from the shipping I was told. Put them in QT and within a week or so two were in pretty bad shape. After supplying photos, vendor did refund $$ on those and I kept the other three in QT for the recommended 76 days.

All in DT now and I’m optimistic about one, hopeful on one and pretty sure the third one is dead, but we’ll see.

Gonna stick to buying from my LFS from now on. At least I can see for myself what the coral looks like and select the exact frag I want. Might be somewhat limited in selection compared to big online vendors but I can get the frag dipped and into QT within a hour or so of purchase.

 

[Waynerock]

You think that’s bad this summer I bought a 400.00 rc jet. Took me a week to build and about 5 min to crash! I had Interference from a fellows remote that should of been off. On top of that it is still up in this evil tree taunting me. I could of fixed it if I could of gotten to it but oh well it’s not worth falling out of a tree for. So minimum 400 bucks and about 40-50 hours gone In 5 min. I just think it’s the nature of the good hobbies. The cool ones are expensive. My brother is a caver and holy cow his stuff is expensive. I will spend within reason and say no ( most times) when it gets crazy costly that’s just the way it is I guess. Crappy hobbies are cheep and not as fun or nice to look at. I will pay for the ooooh’s and the ahhhh’s though. Don’t even get me started on what we spent for the Fourth of July I am a bit of a Pyro and all but that stuff is crazy expensive