I guess I am in the minority here but I am 100% OK with vendors charging whatever they want for their corals. Before you flame me, hear me out. For one, I am a huge proponent of the free market. The market will ultimately decide the "fair" price and as long as people are willing to spend four figures on a 1 inch frag, then by all means it is within the vendors rights to sell it at that price. This point has been made already.
What hasn't been covered so much is the following point in which I will use the pharmaceutical industry as a reference point. People like to get on big drug companies for charging exorbitant amounts of money for certain drugs in the US - especially those used for terminal illnesses. They also point to places like Canada and the EU because the cost of prescription drugs is so much cheaper. What they fail to acknowledge, and likewise, what I think goes unacknowledged too much in our hobby, is the effort that goes into developing those drugs/procuring those continually new and interesting corals. The US leads the world in developing new drugs. These drugs cost billions to develop. The motivation for developing these drugs is that they can be patented and sold for a large profit in the US. It's when the patents wear off and the drugs become available through generics that the cost comes down. I would argue that if the US didn't reward drug companies with patents and the ability to set whatever price the market will buy, the motivation of these drug companies to continue to find new drugs would diminish. And ultimately, the rate of new drug discoveries in the US would diminish. Likewise, the amount and variety of corals available in the hobby would diminish if vendors couldn't make such profits on new corals.
In my mind, vendors are like the drug companies putting out the R&D and when a certain coral gets sold, grown out, and fragged and shared, that's like the equivalent of a drug coming off patent and having generics available. There is one particular vendor which comes to mind that I can remember posting videos of their efforts undertaken in order to procure new corals for the hobby. This particular vendor makes trips to some very remote and inhospitable areas of the world, living in squalid conditions and putting their own personal safety at risk, all in the name of finding new corals. Now I really understand that love of the hobby has a lot to do with it but I have to think $$ profits play some role as well. Even if a vendor simply just has a connection in Japan or some other supply chain, fostering that relationship, maintaining it, and keeping it going takes effort. I don't have the ability or desire to visit third world countries and dive in dangerous waters, nor do I have the first clue about establishing relationships in foreign reef dwelling countries in order to get my coral. So if a vendor wants to charge $500 for a crazy coral I can pay that price and have it all to myself. Or alternately I can go travel across the world, dive 100 ft, and get it myself. I'd rather pay $500 (or do what I normally do and wait until the cost comes down in a year or two).
So if a vendor wants to charge an insane amount of money for their stock, I am OK with it. I won't be the guy paying the up front cost (because I can't afford to spend that kind of money), but months or years down the road when the coral goes "generic" and is widely available at a cheaper cost, I'll be able to pick it up. In the meantime though, I am thankful for that vendor and likewise, thankful for the guys with deep pockets who buy the hot issues because I think they serve an important purpose. Think about it. How many chalices and acros are available to the hobby?! A ton. Same thing with acans and zoas, etc. I think that has to do with vendors being motivated to constantly find newer and hotter corals so they can sell them for real high prices. The hobby in general benefits with the amount and variety of corals that come through this relationship.
