LFS Prices

[beatle]

I've actually seen the price differential on livestock to swing closer in the past few years. Online livestock used to be 40-50% less than LFS prices, and now the difference is closer to 25-30%. Unless you're getting in on a club group buy or ordering a lot of livestock, there's much less incentive for me to order living things online. Unlike a pump or bucket of salt which is a known quantity, you don't really know what your fish will look like when he arrives, and they're more likely to perish given the shipping stress. By picking up livestock locally, they've already been through most of the traveling stress and the trip to your house is significantly shorter than the one from the ocean.

 

[mallorieGgator]

To make a profit, many LFS need to up their prices vs. the online stores. Plus, the online stores buy things in bulk where as the LFS must buy in smaller quantities. Now, I don't agree with the 100+% mark up on some items my LFS has (pumps, etc), but when something messes up, they are there to help me fix it or exchange it for something else. You don't usually get customer service online like you would at a nice LFS.

 

[Financial Panth]

I have the same problem with my LFS. I would love to support him but his prices are just WAY too high. $20+ for the smallest bottle of prazipro. $180 for a mag 9.5 He sells tank bred Osc. clowns for $30+. I would ok with a reasonable amount above online prices but CMON!

 

[sn4265]

I ran into exactly the same thing with SCUBA gear. I got into diving over the summer and went to a LDS. I mentioned a very popular online retailer and the manger proceeded to give me the rough side of her tongue. The moral of this story is that I left her store and have never returned. I found great gear online from a store that also just happens to be fairly local.

I don't mind paying more to a local outfit. This is no problem at all within reason, but when the price difference on a regulator was $200 for exactly the same product there was simply no way I could pay that kind of mark up. Some places don't seem to understand that you can make a modest profit from a customer or you can simply turn the customer away forever by preaching about the evils of the online retailers.

 

[EllieSuz]

A couple of our local LFS's give store credit for a portion of the value of any corals I bring in. I seldom pay cash for such maintenance items such as salt, two part, fish food, etc. It might pay to check with your local store to see if they offer a similar service.

 

[Rytek]

Ya my LFS gave me $40 store credit for two brown pulsing zenia the other day. it had 3 stalks with two splits each stalk but I was impressed. Passed that though the harware is current and at a better selection and greater price online.

I am even thinking about going with live aquaria for my organics now too.

 

[fishingfishout]

My LFS is really expensive for dry goods but the fish are pretty competitive. I'm fortunate that my fiance works part time at the LFS and we get a 30% discount! Sorry, had to brag

 

[n8ball2013]

My LFS does an excellent job of working with me on pricing. I think it helps that we have kept the lights on for a few months by ourselves though.

 

[Fishfish0001]

My LFS has pretty good prices on equipment and such. Nothing seems overly priced. The corals tend to be a little more expensive for such small things. $40 for a 1"x1" Eagle Eye frag seems like way to much, and $25 for a Bristle Worm infested frag is stupid >.<

 

[scubasteve06]

I'll bite. My old LFS had awesome prices on dry goods and livestock. 35 dollars for big yellow tangs, 18 for ORA clowns same prices as online only without shipping. I paid 58.99 for a koralia 1400 powerhead which is what it would of cost me online with shipping. Now when I moved to Greensboro, it is a lot different. The same koralia is 100 dollars at all 4 fish stores that are local to me. I buy all dry goods online, like the koralia I bought about 3 months ago for 49 dollars shipped. Now their livestock prices are a little bit more than my old LFS, but not enough to make me complain. Now that I have bought lots of things from the one I like the most they will always match prices online, and give me deals when I buy more than 1 or 2 fish or invert. Case in fact I wanted to add 2 more blue/green chromis to my school of 4. They were 6.99 for one and 5.99 for 5 or more. There where 3 left in the tank, and when I said I wanted 2 he said he would give me all three for the same price as two albeit for the 6.99 price, but it was still a dang good deal. Case in fact I wanted a diamond goby about a month and a half ago and a yellow tang. The yellow tang was 45 and diamond goby was 32.99. He gave me both for 65 including tax a 13 dollar mark down not counting what would of been another 7.7% in sales tax. One thing that really gets me there though is the dry goods. He gets them from another wholesaler separate from his livestock and can't budge from the price he has listed like 11.99/lb. for live rock!!! He has turned into a friend though instead of a place I go just for goods and he is really looking hard trying to find another supplier. He did say I am the only person to ever say anything about the price on dry goods. I didn't come out and say your prices are too high the first time I walked in. I learned this tact from my father. Coin up and spend the money the first couple go arounds and find out the person's traits. If they are a good decent person then talk to them politely at a later time about maybe getting a discount. IME 99.9% of the time dealing with decent honest people I always end up getting a good discount albeit it isn't 30 or 40% but i can live with a decent 15-20% decrease in price to save from having to wait a week on purchasing something offline. This is what I did in my case at my LFS with livestock.