Are we as hobbyists greedy???

ReefingWerewolf

New member
Many reefers scour craigslist and ebay for deals just to take the tank and sell the components. Many of us would lie for a good deal on a skimmer. Has the cost of reefing driven us to be greedy???

I'm not accusing anyone of anything just posting a question i often as myself and seeing if anyone else asks themselves the same question?
 
I don't think the long-term aquarist is greedy at all. The fly-by-nights, sure, but I don't even know if I'd go so far as to call them "greedy", but instead say that they are just as clueless about resale value as they were about the hobby they decided to jump into and quickly leave when their tank crashed.

On CL, in my experience, you're almost exclusively going to find the short-term aquarist. They didn't get into the hobby enough to find forums and local clubs to sell their stuff at so they take to the only resale outlet they know - Craigslist. They're the ones trying to sell their 20 gallon long with plastic plants for $300 because that's what they paid at Petco three months earlier.

The long-term aquarist, first and foremost, knows that a used skimmer, regardless of how much it was new, is only going to be worth about half of what they paid, if that, when reselling. More than that, the long-term aquarist is likely only upgrading or downgrading instead of chucking the whole hobby and so they tend to hook up other aquarists when we do buy from each other. For example, I bought some frags off a local reefers, got good prices AND a free frag - that's how we roll; helping others who are either new to the hobby, or who are essentially 'trading' equipment and livestock (I say 'trading' because odds are we've all bought AND sold any number of things so we are essentially just swapping the same money for goods and vice versa back and forth all the time).

I think it is extremely rare to find true "greed" from a long-term hobbyist.
 
Certainly plenty of opportunists out there...


I've personally given tons of stuff away over the years.
What really grinds me is when you run into someone selling stuff you gave them when they bail.
 
I don't think it's greedy to find good deals on equipment and make a little extra off it. I never did it before but I don't see where that's greedy.
 
I am guilty of looking through GL, FB, etc, for a great deal on something. My latest was about 6 months ago, while looking across GL I came across someone selling a 75 gal RR with everything(minus skimmer and light didnt work). They needed out there house by 7pm because they were moving. The couple asked for $200, but ended up taking $150. All I wanted was the sump and tank, I ended up giving the fish away(Butterfly, 2 fat clowns, shrimp, and some damsels) I took all the LR and sand and cleaned the heck out of it, everything was infested with bristle worms. I didnt use the LR at first because me and the guy talked and he really wanted to set up another tank when he settled down, so I offered to cook the rock and when he was ready to give me a call back, never did.

I am always giving away frags from my 180 or for cheap, There was a guy who got me started in 2002 and helped me out and I always believed in helping someone else get started. I never got into this hobby to have all the high end stuff and to make money anyway.
 
Greed is everywhere, and certianly is not limited to our hobby. If you want to see ripoffs on criagslist, hit up the computer section. I continually see borderline outdated, overpriced machines from around 2008 for 5-600 bucks.

Like Mazzy said, many people just haven't a clue about what their equipment is really worth, and since things likely didn't work out for them, they want to reclaim all costs associated with getting into the hobby.

Its the same way with computers, cars, and just about everything else.
 
Many reefers scour craigslist and ebay for deals just to take the tank and sell the components.
How is that greedy?? If the seller is too lazy to part out his whole system, I buy the whole system, and choose what I want to keep and part out the rest....how is that greedy?

That said, I've done similar things. I generally find out that it's not worth my time. Though I may walk away with a couple hundred dollars extra (at most), it took a great deal of effort and time. If it takes me 2 solid months of emailing/meeting people to piece out the entire lot, then it's a wash. It would have to be a stupid good deal before I go down one of these roads again.

All in all, things are worth what people are willing to pay. I think nearly every single zoanthid sold on RC is a hilarious joke. People pay $50+/head for some tiny polyp with an equally stupid name that sounds like a 16-year old stoner made up. Or how about the people selling tiny 1/4" SPS frags for $50+. You've got to be kidding me. On the surface, it sure seems greedy. But like I said, I guess it's worth it if people buy it. I sure as hell will not be one of them.
 
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In my experience, most reefers are ridiculously cheap people. :) There is a difference between wanting a good deal and just being a cheap ***!

Its a strange dichotomy; a wicked expensive hobby with the most frugal of people as its user base.

Perhaps it does make sense! We're all poor from buying this stuff.
 
Buying an entire system and parting it out is actually a service.

Imagine you are in Colorado and someone purchases a setup in Massachusetts. They keep what they want and then sell the rest on Ebay (or in a for-sale forum).

The seller gets what they wanted for the tank, the buyer gets what they wanted, and someone in Colorado gets to bid on or purchase equipment cheaper than they can find elsewhere (or they wouldn't be bidding on it).

Without these middlemen the person in Colorado has less choices and the seller may not find a buyer who is interested in purchasing and keeping the entire tank.

When you accuse someone of being greedy ask yourself this question: do you just want them to be less greedy than you?
 
Honestly, in general, I've never met more generous people than reef hobbyists. Want to talk about greed? Go see an insurance agent.
 
Who are we talking about here? Because the OP specifically said:

Thank you for being understanding :)

I wasnt talking about how us reefers are greedy or bad people. I was purely asking people if the high cost of reefing has made some people forget to be kind people sometimes, I know i have at times.
 
Thank you for being understanding :)

I wasnt talking about how us reefers are greedy or bad people. I was purely asking people if the high cost of reefing has made some people forget to be kind people sometimes, I know i have at times.

"Many of us would lie for a good deal on a skimmer."

"I'm not accusing anyone of anything"

I would not lie for a good deal on a skimmer and thank you for not accusing me of anything. :dance:
 
"Many of us would lie for a good deal on a skimmer."

"I'm not accusing anyone of anything"

I would not lie for a good deal on a skimmer and thank you for not accusing me of anything. :dance:

By the way, how can you get a good deal on a skimmer by lying? Maybe tell the seller that there is a pink elephant behind him, grab the skimmer, and run? :uzi:
 
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