ReefPharmer
Active member
So we all know that "most" pro shops as well garage sellers photoshop. The extent of the PS differs but I don't know another field that accepts blatant misrepresentation of items as standard.
How many times do we hear the "corals look different under your lights", "corals stress from shipping", "your monitor isn't configured properly", "it's July and the ozone layer is thinner in your neighborhood" but sometimes (a good percentage of the time), the picture you bought will never show up in your tank because it's not real.
I contend that sellers who misrepresent the colors are committing fraud and could/should be taken to small claims court. Purposeful misrepresentation for financial gain is a crime and at least can be taken to civil court. On a larger/consistent basis, it can be a criminal offense. When sellers rename coral and photoshop, we are essentially buying the picture since the "named coral" doesn't have anything to compare to.
I am sure some of you are shaking your heads and that's fine. Ask the thousands who paid for one thing and got another or "browned" coral which never colored up even though the parameters are fine, and you would likely hear frustration and anger. If someone sold a scopas tang as a black tang with a picture at night or under blues, people would freak out.
I am mostly against regulation but when the hobby is pretty much like the Wild West, there should be some standard set. Whether it's a white card in the picture or RAW format, we, as consumers, should have access to unadulterated images. Borrowed this image from somewhere ..
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
How many times do we hear the "corals look different under your lights", "corals stress from shipping", "your monitor isn't configured properly", "it's July and the ozone layer is thinner in your neighborhood" but sometimes (a good percentage of the time), the picture you bought will never show up in your tank because it's not real.
I contend that sellers who misrepresent the colors are committing fraud and could/should be taken to small claims court. Purposeful misrepresentation for financial gain is a crime and at least can be taken to civil court. On a larger/consistent basis, it can be a criminal offense. When sellers rename coral and photoshop, we are essentially buying the picture since the "named coral" doesn't have anything to compare to.
I am sure some of you are shaking your heads and that's fine. Ask the thousands who paid for one thing and got another or "browned" coral which never colored up even though the parameters are fine, and you would likely hear frustration and anger. If someone sold a scopas tang as a black tang with a picture at night or under blues, people would freak out.
I am mostly against regulation but when the hobby is pretty much like the Wild West, there should be some standard set. Whether it's a white card in the picture or RAW format, we, as consumers, should have access to unadulterated images. Borrowed this image from somewhere ..
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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like I've seen someone on RC post on here that they bought a frag and it totally wasn't the color posted in the ad (pics were in the post) but they didn't spend thousands so unfortunately small claims court wouldn't be worth it. I feel like the majority of cons are going to happen in the smaller price range because they know they can get away with it here and there. It is wrong in my book. 
