Rant - Why do hobbyist price their corals like a store???

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Not sure what the hassle is?

+1 this, meeting up with a local reefer seems to be a lot less hassle than having stressed corals due to shipping, taking a day off from work to receive the package, or paying extra for Saturday deliveries that may or may not actually show up on Saturday.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Ok honestly, this is FANTASTIC!!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Fascism is a very specific thing which really has nothing to do with this convo.

While communism is a system based around a theory of economic equality and advocates for a classless society, fascism is a nationalistic, top-down system with rigid class roles that is ruled by an all-powerful dictator.
The media is HAPPY to lump them together but we should know the difference.

I have always wondered that if people knew the terms for what they are suggesting, like fascism or communism, then maybe they would not suggest it?

 

[Goaway]

I always find it ironic that most people are against anything but capitalism, except for when they don't want to pay more... but otherwise it is fine. I have always wondered that if people knew the terms for what they are suggesting, like fascism or communism, then maybe they would not suggest it?

Market - supply and demand. Pure capitalism. Let the buyers tell the sellers what to charge.

I run a small business. The best way for a true store to keep their prices up is to have hobbyists charge nearly the same amount, but have lower supply. I would be OK with a hobbyist selling coral X in the market for $100 so that I could sell 10 of coral X also at $100. Getting undercut by selling coral X for $20 hurts stores.

I like hunting for the coral I want at the price I want. I am all for capitalism.
If I can sell a frag of a 700$ shroom for 700... I made back what I spent. The sad part about this now. That coral is no longer a piece I bought just to have and grow. It became an investment. This is why I don't play that game. Other can. Go for it.
With that said...
I just want an aquarium I can fully enjoy. It is not my investment. If I make a little from my frags I am grateful. Just keep on the hunt and hope you get lucky.

 

[Hoang Han]

I’m going a coral haul and I usually buy my corals from local hobbyists or stores with good deals going on or from store owners who usually hook me up. Anyways, I’m finding a lot of hobbyist are now pricing their corals out of the market. Either pricing their corals just as much as a store or higher. Why? It makes no sense. They don’t have the bills and many expenses that a store has to pay so why price that high? If someone is going out of their way to drive to your house to pay for a frag that you didn’t even buy wholesale then why price high. It’s just a coral frag that grew from one of their established corals. People are really trying to sell me regular torches for hundreds of $$$ a head and plain mushrooms for close to $70 a piece now. And FYI to these people online is not a good reference for pricing as online is ridiculous now. 5x higher than what you should be paying. Don’t mean to rant just wanna know why….

A store has more over head cost yes. But more access to major wholesale under brick and mortar, how ever not every store sells aquaculture corals nor do some stores have extreme quarantine process like some of the hobbyists. And because some hobbyists are extreme and have fewer things to focus on they tend to produce some of the higher quality and rare pieces. End of the day you’re paying for some one effort and if their work is true to what they claim. To say these are just regular frags is kind of a nee jerk way of thinking as these are life organisms, you might want to reevaluate your approach to reefing maybe then you can see the value of these creatures and the people that put effort into morphing or caring for these animals that brought fourth these crazy colors you see. A hobbyist can sell equal or more value as long as they promote growth of equal or higher caliber then a retailer chances are they becoming a retailer themselves isn’t a far fetched.Capitalism is nice huh? The ocean isn’t abundant with corals just saying …if more peeps take the time and find the success in propagation of corals through research with a bit of effort then more aquaculture corals could be produce then just maybe prices might go down ….actually no unless someone time ,effort and utility cost should be disregarded aquaculture isn’t cheap. Inflation is a b…h isn’t it? Hey tomatoes went from 50 cent a lbs to 3.75 in some areas. I bet if I grew my own tomatoes ate some then sell the rest at some what the cost ,I’m sure we going see raising price on tomatoes on the vegetables forum.

P.s just my opinion rant”

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Most I will charge is typically $5-$10 or do trades. Freebies and IOU are also acceptable payments in my area. Lower variety and nothing higher end but atleast it encourages others to price lower.

 

[jda]

Nobody sees a suggestion of classes in types of coral sellers as a form of fascism? Stores are higher class and sell for more? Hobbyists less so and sell for less? Sure, nothing is pure, but it is down that road. I guess that my point is that people are all about fair-market except for when they want something that they cannot afford... then it sucks.

I sell a few things, but I don't care if they sell. Most of what I sell, you cannot find in any of the dozens of store in the Denver area - high end, classic SPS, bounce and real JB mushrooms, CSBs. I sell these for what most online store sell them for, but mine are not out of stock with just photos. I also get rid of a lot of basic stuff, but I auction it and have the buyers donate their winning bid to the local club (who does wonderful things), MANSA or some other marine related community. The first has no impact on stores in the area since they are not in competition. I don't really know about the second... I have to think on this, but I am happy to see that some non-for-profits get some money.

 

[Frostblitz20]

i honestly found lower prices at some LFS then some hobbyist. Found Torches for just 80$ at a very well known fish store compare to the 200$+ online hobbyist prices. I think alot of things are being way over valued for no reason as some of these corals are easy to frag and populate like crazy kinda like how Zoa's can turn into a colony in a 3 month peroid but people still charge about 200$ a head for a predator zoa which i find absurd.

 

[NomadRVLife]

A good hobbyist just may have better quality stuff than your LFS. If not, let them know and tell them about the pricing. Just an opinion. Inflation is really hitting hard its not just wood pricing going up, livestock too! Petco was charging $55 each for Orange Ocellarus and the LFS had a heathier mated pair for $35 for the pair.

When you get a chance check out the shipping cost now for livestock... It's insane! These big companies eat that cost with thousands of shipments to offset and discounts. Some hobbyist can't keep up! #Inflation

 

[RedSeaReefer1]

Yeah but this guy I was talking to is selling his tank and all his Coral and his post has been up for over a month. He said he was selling his coral individually as well so I figured I’d go buy some. Come to find out his corals are priced out of the market. It’s no dang wonder why his stuff hasn’t sold in over a month. He hasn’t sold a single coral. And he wanted to get sassy when I asked why he’s pricing higher than a store. Dudes literally selling his tank and getting out of the hobby and still pricing high. And this happens more than you would think.

 

[coralfishreef]

Maybe I lucked out but I have a local reefer that has always been extremely reasonable when selling coral. Most corals Ive purchased from him were $10 or less each, and he always throws in a freebie

We are lucky to be in an area that has quite a few established reefers with many inexpensive frags. I have over 300 frags in just my 30g frag tank. There are several local reefers with hundreds of gallons of frag tanks filled with frags.

But, there is also a downside to this. Many of the SPS and zoa frags in this area sell for so little that a few local reefers who I’ve talked to are now selling their frags to retailers or resellers. LFS sometimes also give more $ than local reefers. Euphyllia are a different story.

 

[workhz]

Not sure what the hassle is?

Maybe hassle isn’t the right word. Sometimes the selection isn’t there or the prices are all over the place with a local reefer. When they aren’t lower than retail I’d rather just buy online or support an LFS.

 

[Dolphins18]

All for capitalism, it's one of the things that makes this country so great at the end of the day. With that being said, I've no doubt that great deals are available locally and via swaps as I participate in this all the time. If you are looking to buy a 500 dollar coral and save a few bucks by buying it locally, its worth remembering that the same person you are buying the coral from once paid 500 for one head of it as well, whilst taking all the risk involved. The stores get them for far cheaper than the other hobbyists, over 50% cheaper in many cases, so don't blame the hobbyists.

 

[fish farmer]

Yeah but this guy I was talking to is selling his tank and all his Coral and his post has been up for over a month. He said he was selling his coral individually as well so I figured I’d go buy some. Come to find out his corals are priced out of the market. It’s no dang wonder why his stuff hasn’t sold in over a month. He hasn’t sold a single coral. And he wanted to get sassy when I asked why he’s pricing higher than a store. Dudes literally selling his tank and getting out of the hobby and still pricing high. And this happens more than you would think.

He probably doesn't want to sell/trade his stock to the LFS for cost. He is either not in a rush to sell or waiting for the right buyer.

 

[Biokabe]

All for capitalism, it's one of the things that makes this country so great at the end of the day. With that being said, I've no doubt that great deals are available locally and via swaps as I participate in this all the time. If you are looking to buy a 500 dollar coral and save a few bucks by buying it locally, its worth remembering that the same person you are buying the coral from once paid 500 for one head of it as well, whilst taking all the risk involved. The stores get them for far cheaper than the other hobbyists, over 50% cheaper in many cases, so don't blame the hobbyists.

Of course you should blame the hobbyists. No one is forcing them to price their corals any which way; they don't have store overhead to worry about. The choice as to where to price something is solely up to the hobbyist.

Of course, it goes both ways. Why should the hobbyist accept less for a coral than they could get? There's nothing saying that they have to sell their coral at the lowest possible price. Each hobbyist seller is free to sell their corals at whatever price they like. Want top dollar for it? Expect to sit on it for a while. Want to sell it fast? Be prepared to leave some money on the table.

Really, if someone wants to get mad - get mad at the hobbyists who buy those corals at the prices you believe are exorbitant. Ultimately, if there isn't a buyer at a given price, then the price will eventually fall, especially on a luxury good with no practical purpose. If I take a frag of GSP and list it up for $200, I'm probably going to be sitting on that for a while, especially if there's a bunch of $5 frags of GSP available from other hobbyists. But if I list a bounce mushroom for $700, and I sell it for $700, I'm going to price my next bounce mushroom at $700. If it sits for a month, I might lower the price to $600, and list any future bounce frags at the same price. It's all dependent on what people are willing to pay.

 

[burningmime]

As someone who grows things out to frag and resell, some of it ends up on the buyers shoulders. No matter how cheap you list an item someone will always go out of the way and low ball you on prices or ask you to drive and meet them half way. I don't mind doing it at times and I never ask for the same prices as online or at stores but when you do have say a tank filled with Euphyllia (frag tank not main display) it requires dosing, monitoring, feeding, and water changes. You may not have the rent of a store but you do have everything that comes with it including electric bills.

Worth noting also that stores have something of an economy of scale. The time it takes to test, feed, and monitor a 600 gallon frag system is not signifigantly higher than it takes to test and monitor a 40 gallon. Even things like water changes don't scale linearly, since stores (especially major online retailers) have deals with suppliers. Their salt is cheaper than your salt.

 

[RedSeaReefer1]

I feel like y’all defending the hobbyists pricing their corals out of the market are the ones doing it themselves lol

 

[Alaeriel]

Not sure what the hassle is?

+1 this, meeting up with a local reefer seems to be a lot less hassle than having stressed corals due to shipping, taking a day off from work to receive the package, or paying extra for Saturday deliveries that may or may not actually show up on Saturday.

I have exactly two free mushroom polyps, so definitely an outside-looking-in perspective: I think "hassle" is rather referring to the increased risk of bad hitchhikers coming from other hobbyists rather than LFSs. There's always some risk as per the nature of the hobby, but many consider the wildcard hobbyist tank to pose a greater risk.

Of course, there are hobbyists with immaculate, quarantined tanks and there are LFSs that have aiptasia in every tank, so as always, a grain of salt with any generalization.

 

[uhgster1]

So let me get this straight. Someone who spends their own money, probably hundreds of dollars a year in man hours, and grows an awesome colony should sell a frag for less than what they paid for it? Think about it.

 

[jda]

...not only that. Just wait until you sell your wares to another hobbyist thinking that you did a good thing and they end up on FB marketplace a few hours later for full retail. This will kill any remaining faith in the humanity of our hobby pretty quickly. People need to have a fair amount of skin in the game. Here is how I handle my extra corals...

Zoa Garden Raffle for the Quest Predator tank

I put a small zoa garden together for a raffle scheduled the 1st or 2nd week of Dec. The proceeds will go to the purchase of 1 or 2 rays for the school. The rest will go the MASC website maintenance. Gaging interest. Is it better to have more tickets? I was thinking 10 tickets at $40 20...

www.marinecolorado.org