Australian Acan's

[smp]

I'm loving Toronto these days

Though, I'm in the middle of a tank upgrade / move so I'm not buying anything right now. I know a lot of my local people have frags that i can buy or trade for down the road so I'm not sweating it.

BUT, i will say this about prices ..

Some people forget that most corals come from third world countries in Indonesia .. the collectors are really just poor fisherman and the wholesalers aren't getting a lot for their corals. A little of our money goes a long way over there.
This isn't the situation in Australia, which is a first world country and you can bet your *** that the people collecting the corals over there are surfing these threads and others like it on RC and every other message board in NA and they KNOW that people are paying 450 a colony, so what do you think they will charge our importers?!!!

It's not a crime to sell something for a ridiculous markup. The issue isn't the sellers, it's the BUYERS that are driving up the prices, so go complain to your friends that have money and spend it by the boatload.

If I am running a business and someone wants to buy my wares for 300% profit, I would be a fool to refuse them.

 

[Chads29]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10283895#post10283895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smp
I'm loving Toronto these days

Though, I'm in the middle of a tank upgrade / move so I'm not buying anything right now. I know a lot of my local people have frags that i can buy or trade for down the road so I'm not sweating it.

BUT, i will say this about prices ..

Some people forget that most corals come from third world countries in Indonesia .. the collectors are really just poor fisherman and the wholesalers aren't getting a lot for their corals. A little of our money goes a long way over there.
This isn't the situation in Australia, which is a first world country and you can bet your *** that the people collecting the corals over there are surfing these threads and others like it on RC and every other message board in NA and they KNOW that people are paying 450 a colony, so what do you think they will charge our importers?!!!

It's not a crime to sell something for a ridiculous markup. The issue isn't the sellers, it's the BUYERS that are driving up the prices, so go complain to your friends that have money and spend it by the boatload.

If I am running a business and someone wants to buy my wares for 300% profit, I would be a fool to refuse them.

I am sure that they are all aware of the current pricing of the corals you don't even need a post like this to see what they have been selling for when most of us know the websites selling them as that would be the first place to look.

Heck even ebay is loaded with them from time to time so they see real time what people are paying for the corals they are exporting.

It would be nice to see more colonies floating around from the next couple of shipments reasonably priced. I for one would be more intereted in a nice colony for ~$200 - $300 vs. 3 or 4 polyp frags for $70.

 

[Scythanith]

I buy gorgeous aussie acans locally for ~$300 for 20 heads which I consider a colony, I also bought a aussie scolymia, a favia. I did pay $130 for about 8 heads of a blood red aussie acan.

They cost a helluva lot more than indo corals. Australians aren't stupid, they are making the cash before the government closes the doors.

$300

$130 (about half of this colony)

I've also been buying some pricey zoa's..... am I supporting the artificial inflation of the market.... maybe....do I care.....Nope.

 

[water hazzard]

It is all about the colors. How many 4-5 color corals do you see. The more colors the more money it will be. To show how crazy these have become. Recieved emails from canadian supplier with some nice pics but the nicest were up for auction. No more flat polyp rate there just whoever has the most money. Like someone said earlier the Aussies are laughing at how much we are paying for these things but they sure are sweet.

 

[All Delight]

I don't have any

 

[fishdoc11]

I do and boy are they nice

 

[Hypertek99]

Yes they are.

 

[vessxpress1]

I think the prices have come way down. The craze is starting to subside and many people have what they want now. It seems like many of the aussie acans are similar to each other and some are almost becoming common.

The prices just dropped by 50% on DLC a month ago and people aren't getting what they think they should be getting on ebay anymore. I've watched a bunch of them and people set their buy it now prices in the 150-250 range but the actual ending bids are lucky to reach 40-50 dollars. Usually not meeting the reserves. So now I see more selling with no reserve so it's whatever people are willing to pay again.

I'm not offended by people paying 300 dollars for a coral. That blue one posted above is sweet and I'd say well worth the 300. If it's 20 heads, that's 15 bucks a head and it doesn't look like the guy's going to chop it for profit, even though he could.

Everybody has to make their own judgement. If I saw a PPE polyp for 40 bucks, I'd buy it and feel like I got a good deal. Non-hobbyists or beginners might gasp and laugh over that but many of these corals are what they are. Anybody that's been buying knows 'about' what they should be paying for something, or, what a fair price is for a given coral.

Acan lords are hot right now and they're pretty cool. They're my favorite at this point and I'll be looking for good deals. You could get 5 people together and have 5 different interpretations on what a good deal is. You just have to let it be.

 

[Chads29]

I do watch ebay a lot and have found the same thing.

When I see one selling for a higher price it really makes me question wether or not they are shilling some of the auctions to try and keep the price up on certain morphs.

If they are auctioning off corals at the Wholesaler level I hope they think the crazy is just starting...

We all seen what happened when the indo lords flooded the market like the Aussie acan's are doing right now; even if Australia Government shuts off exportation of corals the number of corals they shipped out all ready has made them so easy to obtain some of the bids on ebay don't get past $40.

 

[gflat65]

From what I've seen, there has been more hyope about the price than actual sales at those prices. The online stores that have things marked at $150 a polyp (IMO) are working on a marketing scheme that isn't working in this case. Post it at a high rate, but say it's sold out so people think others are snatching them up so that when they are "In Stock" more will jump on them. I haven't noticed anything going for high dollar on ebay (I was surprised to only find a few Aussie Acans for sale, but none got very much). The retail prices have sdropped, but fdrom what i understand, the wholesale prices have actually increased through at least a few of them. They'll come right back down, though, because no one seems to want these things...

 

[Shawnts106]

With the amount of them coming into the country and the prices going down at the wholesaler level do you think we will see a considerable price drop as the final consumer?

Yes, and Prices are dropping, however not at a wholesale level, I do not know of an instock wholesaler that ACCTUALLY HAS THESE INSTOCK... only transhippers can receive these corals right now as far as I am aware... and there are only 3 of them that can get aussie stuff.. not to mention that, the problem doesnt sit in the transhippers hands, its in australia itself... There are simply not many collectors yet...

I have seen tranship prices for Ducans come from 40 dollars per head a few months ago to now, just yesterday 4 dollars per head!!!

BUT! Dont be fooled into thinking that your LFS is hiking the prices up on you, they NORMALLY ARE NOT...

for those of you that do not know, transhipping can get expensive!

Yes, the ACCTUAL PRICE PER HEAD of DUNCAN is only 4 dollars, but You have to add in the following:

CITES FEES
DOCUMENTATION FEES
RE-BAGGING FEES
OXYGENATION FEES
BOX CHARGES
HEATING/COOL PACK CHARGES
CLEARANCE CHARGE
PACKING CHARGE

THEN comes
FRIEGHT FROM AUSTRALIA TO LA
FRIEGHT FROM LA TO YOU

Not to mention some company also include a Box Commision Charge

So, in the end when you take all these charges and divide by the number of peices your adding on an additional 15 to 30 dollars PER PEICE.. which brings those ducans from being 4 dollars to 20-25 dollars PER head...
Which in turn retail for 40-80 dollars...

Some people have been able to offer them at REALLY LOW prices,
I have seen them listed as low as 15 dollars per head, and I suppose they are ordering in MASSIVE quantity to reduce the price of shipping PER ITEM... OR
They are only taking the 4 dollars, doubling it and adding shipping charges to make the price around the 20 dollar mark.
These people arent making a profit off shipping.
BUT TO MOST LFS this just isnt feasable for them to do, because they are only making 4 dollars for every head of duncan that they receive.. and when the quantity is limited, they are only getting 10 - 20 heads... making their profit only 40-80 dollars off of a $600+ dollar order... its just not worth it to MOST...


ANYWAY!, point is, that yes, prices are reducing, but it will take time to get them really low!

 

[jeremy76]

Acans

Acans

Aussie Acans anyone :smokin:

 

[Hypertek99]

Nice!!!

 

[Hypertek99]

Nice!!!

 

[Chads29]

Oddly enough I have seen one website seperate the the Aussie acan's from the Jap. acans.

My guess is they know the price is so unstable on the Aussie ones that they don't want them to hurt the prices on the rest of the acan's they are selling.

Jeremy,

Yes they are purdy no doubt about it. You have a nice collection of them also.

 

[zeppelin]

As far as I know, Japanese acans are still illegal to import into the U.S. I dont know why any retailer would publicly say they have japanese acans at all. Its definitely not worth the jail time, whatever the cost per polyp.

beautiful aussie acans man.

 

[Shawnts106]

Japanese acans are still illegal to import into the U.S.

Key word, Import.

They are illegal to cross US boarders/take out of Japanese boarders...

They are oddly enough, NOT illegal to own or sell once they are past the boarders.

Its stupid, I know!

 

[Chads29]

Sorry my bad, they didn't actually say Japanese on the website... But the Aussie acan's where not on the same page as the "other" more pastel colored acan's they where selling

 

[zeppelin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10299201#post10299201 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106

They are oddly enough, NOT illegal to own or sell once they are past the boarders.

I think US Customs and US Fish and Game would disagree with you. But thats another thread/topic altogether. Lets get back to these beautiful, worthless corals we have spent so much bandwidth talking about.

 

[jeremy76]

Thought i might comment on Aussie Acans

The ones in my post I collected recreationally (as frags mostly - a few whole colonies) in an area that is off limits to commercial collectors (AFAIK)

I have NEVER seen colours like them in any of our LFS here. Always boring browns with occasional bits of green or red. If you search the Aussie forums you will find very few ppl have fabulous Acans here - before or after exporting was allowed.

Im wondering why/how all of a sudden collectors are finding the fabulous colours that you folk are posting?! I suspect the increase in profits for them arent great enough to justify significant change in collector behaviours (eg distance offshore they are prepared to go)

Surely these colour variations would have been targeted for collection/ sale here in oz before exporting started - we do prefer buying, and pay more for, colours over browns too!

confused...