Milwaukee-Waukesha area swap meet-Reef show.

[Thorium]

Those are my thoughts exactly, GTR. I just don't think there is that much diversity in coral selection with those who are willing to swap. Those that have the rare ones and off the wall corals are business people who want cash for there merchandise and rightfully deserve it. They know they have the goods and are just unwilling to swap. This is constantly written about on the boards. So, again I'm with Prugs on this one -crowds, hitch hikers, leeches, cash exchanges not for me. I'd rather tour Chicago stores where my credit card is happily accepted and I get frequent flyer miles and some kind of guaranty/discount. An auction would probably be better suited for this area, that might work.

 

[TropTrea]

Personaly I have a tendency to lean to the auction on my experience as well. If you have a good number of people and someone puts up a rare coral or an exceptional quality coral there will be some bidders willing to pay a good price for it.

I remember my first Betta auction in Milwaukee. There were 3 opaque white males and three opaque white females at that auction and I wanted a pair. The first male sold around $300.00 and I ended up getting the last male of the three for over $100.00, and a female for almost the same price. Before that I'd think any betta would pull that kniod of money.

The next year I ended up with several of my bettas selling for prices that dropped my jaw, especially since they were not out the opaque stock that I paid dearly for.

The way the betta auctions worked was if people showed there fish as well as auctioned them they got 75% and the club got 25%, if they auctioned without showing the fish or other merchandise the split was 60% to the individual and 40% to the club. Whnile bettas are not that ig a think in Milwaukee through national advertising there are entries from across the country as well as people flying in from as as far as California for these auctions.

Now considering our hobby we could be talking, fish, coral, inverts, dry goods etc. But the key is making sure you have some quality material being offered and letting a wide audience know that it will be available.

Dennis

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9247675#post9247675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thorium
Those are my thoughts exactly, GTR. I just don't think there is that much diversity in coral selection with those who are willing to swap. Those that have the rare ones and off the wall corals are business people who want cash for there merchandise and rightfully deserve it. They know they have the goods and are just unwilling to swap. This is constantly written about on the boards. So, again I'm with Prugs on this one -crowds, hitch hikers, leeches, cash exchanges not for me. I'd rather tour Chicago stores where my credit card is happily accepted and I get frequent flyer miles and some kind of guaranty/discount. An auction would probably be better suited for this area, that might work.

 

[keyhole]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9247513#post9247513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TropTrea
Okay here are some new questions for those that know.

How many people attended the last MARS swap meet? It could be a good starting point for calculating the size of facility needed.

the next question is what would be the thoughts about an auction rather than just a swap meet. Many fish clubs run auctions and it can be fish, corals, or even hard goods?

Dennis

This past swap we had 130 people donate, another 25 did not donate to get in. The year before we had appox 80-90 people.

Thorium comments sound valid, but IMO you will find alot of people that do not belong to your club will come. When I was collecting donation at the door aleast 5 people made comments "I didn't know you guy where around, how do I join?"
A swap chould bring in new blood to your club.
I saw alot of people that have not been to any meetings before the swap, our last meeting we had a few knew faces.

 

[steve414]

keyhole, Does your lfs let you post the frag swap in there store's

 

[keyhole]

Most of them did, We had some fliers put up in supermarkets, public forms and post in other local reef form on RC.

 

[klasiksb]

I personally, don't like the sound of an auction. Things going to the highest bidder doesn't sound like what a swap is really about. Sure, people make money at the swaps, but isn't the main idea of a swap spread things around for cheap/free/traded? That's what my definition would be.

When I go to a swap, i'm expecting to find cheap (cheaper) frags. If someone has something I want and I have something they want, we'll trade. I've given quite a few things away as well, and i've sold many. (It's amazing how fast $5-$10 frags can move!)

 

[nait002]

I agree with klasisb. When I hear swap meet I think of
"Got a VCR in
the back of my car
that I ganked from the Slauson Swap Meet"

Either that or 7 mile fair thats where. Cheap cheap cheap. Never seen ridiculously priced crap at the 7 mile fair. It is also true that $10 frags do move in this town. I can only imagine if Tyree and Ora frags were moving at $10 a frag. Silly thought, never going to happen thats why sometimes trades are better.

Whatever happens I'm going to either an auction, swap meet or anything else that happens. It's something to do.

 

[jeffgp]

that's the best thing to meet more people that do the same thing that we do ... and to help out others with there porblems .... i know prugs and nait002 has help me out alot and ya sero where ever he is ......
ive gotten some much from them and alot other that i cant even think of now..

you bring what you bring if you want to sell and sell olny that your deal but i dont think that its fair to have the same corals at two different boths for 2 way off prices ... if you want then just bring the picture of it to keep it fresh in the tank for that person ... then they can get a first hand look at your tank and see what a good job youve done ..

i think it will work and bring alot of people to this hobby .....

 

[Limpit]

I think a swap in the Milwaukee area would be good.
Heck, I drive all the way up to Rhinelander for the F&S swap and I live in Slinger.

 

[TropTrea]

Some general thoughts here on my past experiences with auctions.

The Betta Association had put a minimium bid of $5.00 on on any object fish or otherwise to be auctioned off. The individual owner of the merchandise can increase that amount to what ever he/she wants.

In one case when we went through the auction items we had several items with high minimiums set by the owner (mins of $30.00 to $50.00) after anouncing the minimiums no one made opening bids. Then after everything else was auctioned we took a second pass at these items only anouncing that there was a mystery minimum and if that was not meet the item wioll not be sold. In the end once the bidding fgot started each of those items went for at least twice the minimium the put up by the owner.

The auction offerings are something that it times and past history to establish. No one wants to put a frag out there that they might get $10 for when they paid $300 for the intitial frag it came from 5 years ago. But once the word gets out thaqt there were 50, or 100 bidders and some fraqs or corals went for $300 then the following yeart you will have at least two times the offerings from across the country.

Whgen I ran the show/auction for the Milwaukee Betta Association for three consecutive years. The fist year we had roughly 60 auction items, the last year we had over 250 auction items. At the last auctions we had shipments for betta breeders from as far away as Hawaii, Florida, California, and Maine. We had individuals showing up for the speaker and auction from California, New Jersey, Iowa and Kentucky.

did the club make money on this? yes but in reality it was not nearly what many people thought we did. In reality the first show gave us more profits than the last show because with it being so much bigger the expenses we so much larger. We had rented two halls for three days each capable of handling 300 people for a dinner and we were buldging at the seams.

Now
I do not expect to be able to do something this big in one year. But lets look over time if it works out it could grow. How many people attend the big annual reef show in Chicago?

Dennis

 

[prugs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9256168#post9256168 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TropTrea
How many people attend the big annual reef show in Chicago?

Chicago is a huge city with lots of $$$ compared to Milwaukee.
What Milwaukee does have going, we are a suburb of Chicago. :lol:

 

[TropTrea]

And very simularly Chicago is much more expensive than Milwaukee. A show that might cost $20.000 to put on in Chicago would probably cost well under $5,000 in Milwaukee suburbs, or $10,000 oin downtown Milwaukee. Now if your expenses are 1/2 or even 1/4 then your chjarges can be reduced and it males it much more worth while for someone considering traveling to a show.

And as far as big money being in Milwaukee, yes it is there. The only think is it is no longer centered at the center of the city anymore.

Dennis

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9256920#post9256920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prugs
Chicago is a huge city with lots of $$$ compared to Milwaukee.
What Milwaukee does have going, we are a suburb of Chicago. :lol:

 

[srlumaye1]

I agree. This is Milwaukee. What can you do for a few HUNDRED dollars...:lol:

 

[Thorium]

Yeah, cost of living is different here than in Chicago, the true difference though is the way we spend our money. Most of the active people on the site are hard working DIY'ers who take care of their own tanks and truly enjoy the hobby. Some try to make their dollars go a little further while others just feed this addiction and rack up frequent flyer miles. Then there are those who have a little more disposable income, have tank sitters and don't really get into the hobby other than to show their tanks at dinner parties (so I've read). Those guys wouldn't go to a frag swap, when they don't even know what a frag is. So, why not just do an auction type arrangement on the new and improved WRS site and do a sort of trade only frag swap at a monthly meeting. I dont know, I just think this is a great topic and its interesting to see how others interpret the overall economic situation in good ole milwaukee and the surrounding burbs.

 

[srlumaye1]

If I read between the lines correctly, that is an interesting concept: Get the WRS web site set up to display pictures of everything, and then have a means of incorporating an online auction/bidding process over the course of a couple days or so. Kind of like a WRS Ebay!

Boy if I mention that to Frank I'd like THAT feature, he'd probably quit on the development of the site right now! Ha Ha Ha!

It is an interesting concept though... Hmmm.:rollface:

Steve

 

[Thorium]

Well sort of Steve, I was thinking more of an archive. A member puts up a pick of a colony and states what he/she is willing to accept for it and so on. I think it would be nice to have an archive of the available corals in the area. I know about frags dot org, but on the WRS website it might get more traffic and it would be the local guys.

 

[carpediem360]

Just wondering Would that force more people like myself to join WRS to gain access to this archive?? I guess I haven't found a reason to join yet. Maybe that's another topic in itself.

 

[carpediem360]

Whatever happens I'm going to either an auction, swap meet or anything else that happens. It's something to do.

I'm going to have to agree with this statment I would like to see something happen in Milwaukee though

 

[jeffgp]

well there is allways the wireef site to make a trade forum in it ... if he will aprove it or even tankprofiler .. see if sero will take in any part of this .. i know hes a busy guy . but ...........

 

[srlumaye1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9258582#post9258582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thorium
Well sort of Steve, I was thinking more of an archive. A member puts up a pick of a colony and states what he/she is willing to accept for it and so on. I think it would be nice to have an archive of the available corals in the area. I know about frags dot org, but on the WRS website it might get more traffic and it would be the local guys.

1. People can always post pics of what they have for sale. This happens on all the forums every day. If it doesn't sell in a week, post it again a few weeks later and you get fresh buyers. Works great!

2. The original WRS website did have a section/listing of frags available for sale. We will eventually have a place to post pictures in a format like that also. The only problem was the stuff would stay up there for 5-6 months even though it may have been sold the first day cause no one told anybody it was gone...

By the time we got around to stating that things could stay up there for one week only unless a message was sent saying it was still available, the old leadership had become too busy and burned out doing everything without much help from anyone else that the site deteriorated. That was what, 3 years ago???

When we get a few more features important to the main operation of the site completed, that can be just another of the topics that gets reviewed for feasibility. But, we did have something like that once before already...

Steve