Am I showing my age.....

[Ladipyg]

but I look at the zoas on E-bay and other various sale sites and I have noticed a trend. When they take a zoa that's been around forever and just give it a new name to make it seem "cutting edge" and desirable. I'll be looking at different site and see a "new and rare" zoa for some off the wall price. I'll go and look at pictures I took of mine, maybe 12 or more years ago and SURPRISE...it's the exact SAME zoa. I guess there are unscrupulous people who take advantage of the newer hobbyists...which is sad....:worried:

 

[jayball]

I guess there are unscrupulous people who take advantage of the newer hobbyists

Yeah, this is basically it. Jack up the price on something and that makes it desirable to a subset of people. it is the same in many other retail areas.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

To be honest...I think the whole naming game is ridiculous...unless there is paper work from the original grower stating that such and such coral is so, then the whole name game is a scam...Joe blow finds a coral a local shop fit 10$ puts it under his fancy lights photoshops the heck out of it calls it utter chaos...next guy bus it aims it is and now there are a crap tone of corals that kinda look like the acclaimed coral...I think it is BS and pretty much refuse to buy any coral from people chaining it is the real deal...to each thier own I suppose...I know this guy doesn't deal with it though...my biggest pet peeve is all these posts asking for id's of coral they just bought for next to nothing...if you just bought a wild harvested coral or a coal from someone with no lineage how can it have some super rate name and price tag

 

[MrNurse]

To be honest...I think the whole naming game is ridiculous...unless there is paper work from the original grower stating that such and such coral is so, then the whole name game is a scam...Joe blow finds a coral a local shop fit 10$ puts it under his fancy lights photoshops the heck out of it calls it utter chaos...next guy bus it aims it is and now there are a crap tone of corals that kinda look like the acclaimed coral...I think it is BS and pretty much refuse to buy any coral from people chaining it is the real deal...to each thier own I suppose...I know this guy doesn't deal with it though...my biggest pet peeve is all these posts asking for id's of coral they just bought for next to nothing...if you just bought a wild harvested coral or a coal from someone with no lineage how can it have some super rate name and price tag

Well said. I get a kick out of seeing corals listed as "rare morphs" of an already over priced zoa.

"rare morphs" + already overpriced frag = way too much $$$

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Well said. I get a kick out of seeing corals listed as "rare morphs" of an already over priced zoa.

"rare morphs" + already overpriced frag = way too much $$$

Lol it would have been if my phone's auto correct wasn't so dumb, and I toon the time to reread it.

 

[organism]

It's because your average hobbyist doesn't buy corals anymore, they buy a really nice picture that contains the idea of a coral. It's the new normal thanks to hype forums like r2r that were built entirely around renaming common corals.

 

[Ladipyg]

The truth is, what looks great in one person's tank, may not look the same in a different tank with different parameters. I refuse to pay huge prices and instead used to like trading with fellow hobbyists. One of the best coral frags I ever got came from Joel Ostrow...he called it a radiator fluid green digi. I got a small piece that grew like crazy and we so beautiful. It died in a tank meltdown while I was on vacation along with hundreds of other corals, fish, LPS, SPS, etc.

 

[Fish finder]

WWC has a Zoa for $150 per polyp. I saw the same polyp (maybe different lighting) on a different site for $60 with 3-4 heads

 

[sde1500]

Some names stick, some don't. I've bought most of my corals in person, but if I'm going for names, its names that are well established. There are a significant number of named corals that are well recognized, practically everyone knows what a Rasta is, or a Sunny D.

 

[enveetie]

The naming and "branding" of zoas certainly has helped create some demand I think. Although not always best for one's wallet, probably helped in more ways than one to generate interest in reefing. It was certainly what sellers needed, for sure.

 

[honeycombz]

just like any other collectible item, there will be high priced ones and lower priced ones too

 

[enveetie]

And many deals to be had. For example, my LFS runs auction for many of the fragged high end zoas and they're dirt cheap at times because there's not a large enough of a market that is bidding on those frags.

 

[organism]

just like any other collectible item, there will be high priced ones and lower priced ones too

To phrase it in a way that actually applies here: "just like any other generic item, there will be high priced scammy vendors trying to get one over on people by changing its name and lower priced ones too."