We are our brothers keepers

[benny z]

what if there was one point of sale for all of the high end colonies, who was able to photograph, control, keep track of, and document everything entering the country and its initial distribution? this person could then provide an accurate, trusted, tracable point of lineage, so this mess would end.

 

[turbo21]

what if there was one point of sale for all of the high end colonies, who was able to photograph, control, keep track of, and document everything entering the country and its initial distribution? this person could then provide an accurate, trusted, tracable point of lineage, so this mess would end.

I know of something along those lines already being worked on

 

[benny z]

Hahahaha! Good!

This person would also be able to control limited releases so the value stays where it needs to stay for the initial investors.

This is truly a winning scenario for everyone.

 

[ZoaJunky]

Hopefully your posts don't get edited mike&terry lol. Some shady bidness going on... more than one person sold a fake from the same vendor... hmmm... must be black magic...

 

[freakit]

Probably a group not a single person. All set with a coral god.

 

[turbo21]

Hopefully your posts don't get edited mike&terry lol. Some shady bidness going on... more than one person sold a fake from the same vendor... hmmm... must be black magic...

And with 7 of your 11 total posts as being a member here coming in this thread. Just wondering if you have a second screen name or have been banned from this site before

Because you sure seem to know a lot of people around here.

 

[RichieT]

what if there was one point of sale for all of the high end colonies, who was able to photograph, control, keep track of, and document everything entering the country and its initial distribution? this person could then provide an accurate, trusted, tracable point of lineage, so this mess would end.

Sounds like greed talking and bad news for the hobbyist. It also solves nothing because after the first couple transfers lineage becomes muddy again unless you are planning to provide paperwork like akc. But maybe you are.

I would love to see one importer being able to get all the "high end" stuff. That should cause quite the problem for every other distributer in the country.

 

[benny z]

Sounds like greed talking and bad news for the hobbyist. It also solves nothing because after the first couple transfers lineage becomes muddy again unless you are planning to provide paperwork like akc. But maybe you are.

I would love to see one importer being able to get all the "high end" stuff. That should cause quite the problem for every other distributer in the country.

i suppose that depends on your point of view. in this hypothetical scenario there would be a monopoly on the extreme high end pieces, but that's just business and of course people would be upset. however, there are plenty of other very nice more common ultra grade corals to go around to keep everyone happy, in my experience.

would be interesting to see this come to fruition.

from my point of view, it's a great concept which really actually benefits everyone.

of course, it's just my seasoned opinion.

 

[turbo21]

Sounds like greed talking and bad news for the hobbyist. It also solves nothing because after the first couple transfers lineage becomes muddy again unless you are planning to provide paperwork like akc. But maybe you are.

I would love to see one importer being able to get all the "high end" stuff. That should cause quite the problem for every other distributer in the country.

The project I know of is basically a coral lineage verification system

It will let vendors create a family tree of sorts for their higher end pieces and allow buyers of said coral to get real verification of true lineage. Almost like a certificate of authenticity

 

[cdness]

Hahahaha! Good!

This person would also be able to control limited releases so the value stays where it needs to stay for the initial investors.

This is truly a winning scenario for everyone.

All other issues aside, this is actually scary for the coral market to be honest. Have you seen what happens when the oil companies "control" the release of oil to maintain value for investors? It is a win only for those in the oil industry, not for anyone in the consumer market. I am by all means in favor of a "registry" system but not a governing body to control releases of a certain coral. Supply chain control is already done at the vendor level.

i suppose that depends on your point of view. in this hypothetical scenario there would be a monopoly on the extreme high end pieces, but that's just business and of course people would be upset. however, there are plenty of other very nice more common ultra grade corals to go around to keep everyone happy, in my experience.

would be interesting to see this come to fruition.

from my point of view, it's a great concept which really actually benefits everyone.

of course, it's just my seasoned opinion.

In this hypothetical scenario you are suggesting stripping the whole means of your average capitalist methodology where there is a basic supply and demand which determines the market price of a coral. As supply increases, prices go down in the standard situation. In the hypothetical situation it sounds more like a communist approach where the general people only need certain amounts of things, determined by the central governing body, while the higher end products are either denied or priced out of reach for the common folk. This will not go over well with the majority of people in this hobby...

The project I know of is basically a coral lineage verification system
It will let vendors create a family tree of sorts for their higher end pieces and allow buyers of said coral to get real verification of true lineage. Almost like a certificate of authenticity

This sounds like a great system or at least a great idea/theory. If done well it could eliminate the guess work.

 

[benny z]

Great discussion - all good points for thought.

I guess the primary difference as I see it is that coral grows whereas oil is consumed. We are also talking a luxury market v/s a necessity.

Give me some time to mull this one over some more. Love it!

 

[RichieT]

i suppose that depends on your point of view. in this hypothetical scenario there would be a monopoly on the extreme high end pieces, but that's just business and of course people would be upset. however, there are plenty of other very nice more common ultra grade corals to go around to keep everyone happy, in my experience.

would be interesting to see this come to fruition.

from my point of view, it's a great concept which really actually benefits everyone.

of course, it's just my seasoned opinion.

I'm sure from your point of view it sounds fantastic.

 

[hybridazn]

Communism seemed like a good idea too, we all know how that turned out.

Like you stated, this could be a bad thing. Keeping supply down will surely drive the prices up on these much sought after corals. If so we will all dream of the days when we could get a krakatoa for $1k.

 

[benny z]

In the auto world, there are economy cars and there are luxury cars. Everyone (well, most people I know anyway) only dream of having a luxury car. This is also true with corals. It's been true for the last many years, and it will continue to be true. Market ups and downs happen in every economy. We happen to be in an "up" market, and I think we are seeing the result of that.

Did you happen to know my personal business was named "Benz Marine World"? I was a sponsor here for a short time as that business years ago, and did sell nice corals. Do you see the parallel of the business name being the acronym "BMW"?

 

[Mallard]

Personally, I'd rather see individual coral vendors have a COA for their pieces they deem necessary to have one. If there is a main project to track/store/issue COA's, even better. But limiting supply to only one distributor is never good for the consumer.

 

[Mallard]

In the auto world, there are economy cars and there are luxury cars. Everyone (well, most people I know anyway) only dream of having a luxury car. This is also true with corals. It's been true for the last many years, and it will continue to be true. Market ups and downs happen in every economy. We happen to be in an "up" market, and I think we are seeing the result of that.

Did you happen to know my personal business was named "Benz Marine World"? I was a sponsor here for a short time as that business years ago, and did sell nice corals. Do you see the parallel of the business name being the acronym "BMW"?

While I agree that there are different target markets within the coral business as there is with autos, I don't see it quite the same as you. In the automotive industry you have multiple manufactures depending on your tastes, budget, etc. There isn't one company the controls the entire luxury market but instead a number of manufactures that live and die based on demand for their product.

Oil is a commodity and I'd say so are corals. Prices fluctuate based on supply and demand. Instead of oil, try thinking of corn, wheat, hogs, etc. All grown and "mostly" governed by supply and demand. I say mostly because you then get into government subsidies, artificial barriers of entry into a given market, etc.

 

[benny z]

Agree and disagree and here's why.

There are various other "ultra" grade nice corals that no one supplier would be able to monopolize on. It works today and it worked years ago when a single group of buyers got their hands on some of these awesome pieces we haven't seen since.

There are plenty of corals in the ocean - the hobbyists have deemed the ones pulling the highest price most valuable. Maybe the hobbyists will turn the other direction and all the GSP will become scarce and pricey.

 

[Mallard]

Agree and disagree and here's why.

There are various other "ultra" grade nice corals that no one supplier would be able to monopolize on. It works today and it worked years ago when a single group of buyers got their hands on some of these awesome pieces we haven't seen since.

There are plenty of corals in the ocean - the hobbyists have deemed the ones pulling the highest price most valuable. Maybe the hobbyists will turn the other direction and all the GSP will become scarce and pricey.

That is what you'd call collusion and potentially a cartel.... While I don't disagree that what you said is true, its also illegal. I doubt the justice department would get involved but if someone choose to file a suit, it could have legs.

 

[benny z]

Yikes! I don't think it's all quite that serious, but I suppose worth some consideration. I know I wouldn't want to be involved in anything illegal.

 

[Mallard]

That's technically speaking and someone would have to demonstrate that it caused harm to the consumer. It happens all the time and attorney generals aren't usually kind to price fixing, collusion, etc. To the average hobbyist it probably doesn't matter much.