Selling and trading with a store advise

[Alexd330]

I need advise on how to sell corals locally myself and how to gage what you should ask a store for in credit or a trade. Guidelines on knowing what my corals are worth, to a store with a trade or store credit and value of tank grown coral and where to post them for local pickup only. Pretty much how to be fair and a pleasure to do a transaction with. Example, I have a colony of frogspawn. 7 heads. What do I ask for them with a trade or store credit with local coral store. What to I ask for them to frag and sell to anyone local and where to post besides Craigslist.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

try to find a local reef club cause usually the store pays almost nothing and they sometimes have strict use of store credit. you can advertise on here, the marketplace or craigslist

 

[guylaga]

I would recommend finding your local reefer club and try to sell to other reefers first. If you dont have any takers then try to get some store credit.

Its been awhile since I brought anything in to a LFS but I would get $10 per head for hammer coral (purple tips w/ green tentacles) and $5 per inch for monti caps.

You would likely get substantially more by selling to local reefers than trading in to an LFS.

 

[Alexd330]

try to find a local reef club cause usually the store pays almost nothing and they sometimes have strict use of store credit. you can advertise on here, the marketplace or craigslist

Thank you for the advice. I’m noticing that stores are probably not the way to go. How do I price corals to sell myself? Do I do half price of what stores charge? I’d rather me to low than to high. But not short change myself to bad.

 

[mdb_talon]

It is going to vary so much by where you are and the specific store. For stores near me i can get a pretty good value for more "rare" pieces if they dont have them as they cant just easily buy wholesale. If its anything they can buy wholesale though they wont pay more than wholesale cost and even then probably going yo try to just do store credit. For determining prices you can use the how to price it forum here which may help. Also keep an eye on all the sales threads. See how much people are asking and if the pieces are selling for those prices.

As for stores i think most of them are going to pay you as little as possible and then want to give you credit. Negotiate and hopefully they work with you if they are a decent store. Of course that does depend on you having done your research and knowing the standard price(both retail and hobbyist prices).

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Agree with above on local reefers. Don't overcharge them and use it to build relationships. Price gauging others who are equally price gauged only fuels it. $20 a head is what I paid in a store for frogspawn. Make a friend and offer it up for trades for $100.

 

[Opus]

Check to see if there are any local reefing facebook pages. My area probably has a dozen groups that you can sell in. A lot of them are doing porch pickup right now.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

members in my reef club sell most things for $10/frag. does not include torches or more than 1 head of frogspawn. certain high value items are only traded. larger colonies go for more depending on the number of heads. some higher value frags can also go for more than $10. high end sps usually goes for half of what you might see online.

there is a new thing called coral regional banks that give away corals for free. you are going to start seeing more of this over the next few years where you can recieve free corals with the agreement not to sell them, that frags from your colonies will also have to go for free.

you might also think about having a second system at your home for redundancy, meaning if one day you have a system crash, you still have a frag tank full of clones.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

members in my reef club sell most things for $10/frag. does not include torches or more than 1 head of frogspawn. certain high value items are only traded. larger colonies go for more depending on the number of heads. some higher value frags can also go for more than $10. high end sps usually goes for half of what you might see online.

there is a new thing called coral regional banks that give away corals for free. you are going to start seeing more of this over the next few years where you can recieve free corals with the agreement not to sell them, that frags from your colonies will also have to go for free.

you might also think about having a second system at your home for redundancy, meaning if one day you have a system crash, you still have a frag tank full of clones.

I love the idea of coral banks and clubs eliminating price gauging. Also the redundant system is the way I go for any that reach colony size. Had a MP40 break on me which knocked out several chalice/trumpets and luckily I had my nano upstairs to help rebuild.

 

[Alexd330]

Agree with above on local reefers. Don't overcharge them and use it to build relationships. Price gauging others who are equally price gauged only fuels it. $20 a head is what I paid in a store for frogspawn. Make a friend and offer it up for trades for $100.

The store I traded to sells them for $70 a head on sale so I offered $35 and most heads I call 1 look like 2 heads merged into one so I figured they profit 100%. But my question is so I don’t sound greedy.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

If the local store sells for $70 a head then $35 is fair. Lets them negotiate a little if you desire. The main point is if you sell that to a LFS you will only get $35/head anyways so cut them out.

 

[Alexd330]

If the local store sells for $70 a head then $35 is fair. Lets them negotiate a little if you desire. The main point is if you sell that to a LFS you will only get $35/head anyways so cut them out.

I actually had 10 heads and got $250 in store credit. I’m good with that but I agree with selling cheap to other reefers and now know to frag them and let heal up before doing anything

 

[Jekyl]

I need advise on how to sell corals locally myself and how to gage what you should ask a store for in credit or a trade. Guidelines on knowing what my corals are worth, to a store with a trade or store credit and value of tank grown coral and where to post them for local pickup only. Pretty much how to be fair and a pleasure to do a transaction with. Example, I have a colony of frogspawn. 7 heads. What do I ask for them with a trade or store credit with local coral store. What to I ask for them to frag and sell to anyone local and where to post besides Craigslist.

I would sell via the livestock forum on here or various Facebook groups. I'd never trade to the LFS. Their selection isn't as good and quality is lower.