Does Neptune Aquatics buy / give credit for frags?
- Thread starter alazo1
- Start date
Psionicdragon
New member
don't think anyone gives retail
Lordhelmet
Active member
I think what vhuang168 meant to say was, get ready to bend over for them. I've found most places will give you between 25-35% of retail for store credit. For Rbta I got 25%, Acropora less then 10% retail from Neptunes. it's good if you just want to dump some frags no trouble, bad if you want to get any kind of spending money.
Good luck.
Good luck.
My store credit experience with Neptune's was very poor. It's a given that you'll get almost nothing when trading in regardless of where you go so you can't fault them for that. However, the attitude from Robert (the owner, whom handles all trade ins) had me feeling like I was getting hustled by a used car salesman. An almost comical example: he handled my largest sps piece thoroughly and placed in on a bath towel and said it was crap because there was no polyp extension. After that handling no **** the coral is ****ed and retracted!
The only reason to trade in imo is if you have tons of low value corals and no time to sell them.
The only reason to trade in imo is if you have tons of low value corals and no time to sell them.
Robert4025
Member
Seriously??? Was that part even make sense to anyone? lol
In your own words...you brought in "low value corals" and expected me to give high dollar? Come on buddy, throw me a bone here. I never force you do anything during the transaction. If you didn't agree to my price, then just walk away. Beside, you brought stuff in unannounced and it was stuff I already had plenty of in the shop, so what do you expect? You don't need to come on here and bash me like this. WTH.
You missed my point. Myself and others should expect low trade in values, that's part of the business and that's the same everywhere. The part I didn't like was how I was treated through the process.
D-Nak
Active member
If you've been to Neptune, you know that they have plenty of nice frags starting at only $10. If you bring in a common coral, why would the expectation be that you'd get even a decent amount of credit for it? Why would a store pay retail only to lose money?
If you owned a hot dog cart and I brought hot dogs to you and tried to sell them to you for the same price you'd sell them for, you'd tell me to get lost.
Many times we fail to realize that the LFS is a business, and if a business doesn't make any money, then there isn't a business anymore.
What if the LFS used a consignment model to sell your frags? They agree to take your frags, you name the price which they negotiate with you to ensure that the price makes sense, they take a cut for holding the corals in their shop (using up real estate in their tank, energy for lighting, water, maintenance, etc.) and then you wait for the pieces to sell. If they don't sell quickly, then you continue to pay the LFS to "rent" the space in their tank or you can take them home. To be honest, I don't think any LFS would do this. If they did, they'd basically be suckering you into paying "rent" on corals that won't sell well.
As others have mentioned, it's better to sell frags to others here or via places like Craigslist. You'll get a chance to experience the time and effort it takes to do it. And you'll have a lot of fun filtering out the weirdos who contact you via Craigslist. And then you may have a better appreciation for what the LFS does day in and day out.
If you owned a hot dog cart and I brought hot dogs to you and tried to sell them to you for the same price you'd sell them for, you'd tell me to get lost.
Many times we fail to realize that the LFS is a business, and if a business doesn't make any money, then there isn't a business anymore.
What if the LFS used a consignment model to sell your frags? They agree to take your frags, you name the price which they negotiate with you to ensure that the price makes sense, they take a cut for holding the corals in their shop (using up real estate in their tank, energy for lighting, water, maintenance, etc.) and then you wait for the pieces to sell. If they don't sell quickly, then you continue to pay the LFS to "rent" the space in their tank or you can take them home. To be honest, I don't think any LFS would do this. If they did, they'd basically be suckering you into paying "rent" on corals that won't sell well.
As others have mentioned, it's better to sell frags to others here or via places like Craigslist. You'll get a chance to experience the time and effort it takes to do it. And you'll have a lot of fun filtering out the weirdos who contact you via Craigslist. And then you may have a better appreciation for what the LFS does day in and day out.
Robert4025
Member
I am sorry man. I just don't have the patience anymore when people haggling for better price on trade-ins. This is an example why I am slowly considering avoiding all trades-in in the future. It's just not worth the headache.
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d0ughb0y
Active member
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2591243
you can be patient, and someone will eventually buy.
or give them away to make someone happy (good karma is priceless).
or last resort is to just toss them.
xCry0x
Active member
Just curious, why not implement some sort of flat "We offer x% of our retail price for trade ins".
If someone brings in a bunch of $5-$10 retail frags and you offer 10% of retail, it gives you a clear "policy" to stick to.
I know I would appreciate a clear policy -- at least for me I don't try to trade in to get a great deal, I try to trade in to avoid having to deal with haggling. If I wanted to haggle I would go on craigslist. Being forced to defend myself at the store I go to every week doesn't make me feel great. I would love to know I could bring in 10 $5 frags and get $5 in credit to get a different $5 frag etc.
Am sure you would need some sort of catch based on space availability.
I think Neptunes is in a bit of a unique situation across the bay area in that you guys already have a good amount of good coral (and fair prices). I have been to other stores that were super dismissive and their coral selection was overpriced/awful. Expectation as a customer is a little bit of conversation/interest.
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Psionicdragon
New member
Ya. I get mini colonies for 20 bucks!
Robert4025
Member
LOL. I charge you more next time?
It has to do with supply and demand too. If they already have 50 of your common $10 frags sitting in their tank, they don't want to pay you to add more to it. on the other hand, if you have that same common frag, but the store is out of them, they may be willing to pay you more than they would if they had some. Also, if you have something rare and nice, you aren't going to want to get the "standard x%" for it.
Also retail prices fluctuate, based on the same supply and demand. if you bring them in one week and retail is "X" and you get 10% of "X", and next week retail is "X-2" you are going to want 10% of X that you got last week, not 10% of X-2. and then there will be an argument over what the retail price is.
It IS in fact like a used car sale, he's going to want to give you the least you will accept for trade in, and turn around and sell it for as much as someone is willing to pay. That's how he stays in business.
If you don't like the price at Neptune, go down the freeway to the other shop... oh wait... that one is out of business because everybody wants a deal...
EDIT: not all of that was aimed at you xCry0x, you were just the last message about it
Robert4025
Member
I wish it was that simple. I actually do have a basic guidelines for trade-ins. For Softies/LPS - 1/3 credit of fair market value. For SPS and other high risk corals, 1/4 of fair market value. However, sometime it's not that clear cut as there are other factors also involves, such as my on-hand inventory. If I have a lot of similar items already, I obviously can't give that much. If it's the other way around, I'd give more. Often though, people always think their corals worth a lot more so that's when thing often get screwy and messy. In addition, people just don't seems to understand that whenever they bring in stuff to LFS, they are generally competing with what the LFS get at wholesale. Remember that.
Robert4025
Member
It has to do with supply and demand too. If they already have 50 of your common $10 frags sitting in their tank, they don't want to pay you to add more to it. on the other hand, if you have that same common frag, but the store is out of them, they may be willing to pay you more than they would if they had some. Also, if you have something rare and nice, you aren't going to want to get the "standard x%" for it.
Also retail prices fluctuate, based on the same supply and demand. if you bring them in one week and retail is "X" and you get 10% of "X", and next week retail is "X-2" you are going to want 10% of X that you got last week, not 10% of X-2. and then there will be an argument over what the retail price is.
It IS in fact like a used car sale, he's going to want to give you the least you will accept for trade in, and turn around and sell it for as much as someone is willing to pay. That's how he stays in business.
If you don't like the price at Neptune, go down the freeway to the other shop... oh wait... that one is out of business because everybody wants a deal...
EDIT: not all of that was aimed at you xCry0x, you were just the last message about it
You're getting it!
D-Nak
Active member
He'll kill it anyway and then will be back. :beer:
