New Hawaii order thread

after what I and Alex have been through with this order I would love for everyone to know how greedy the LFS guys are
 
LFS people are inflicting themselves in an online transaction by viewing a thread in an online bullitin board? Hows that for irony:D
 
wow that is a tease that's like dangeling a candy in front of a kid and taking it away and eating it telling the kid how it good it tastes
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11395871#post11395871 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roadracn
after what I and Alex have been through with this order I would love for everyone to know how greedy the LFS guys are


I thought thats what Alex didn't like. Greedy, nagging people... I would cut them off :D and pick up a new lfs XD
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11396403#post11396403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Grim Reefer
LFS people are inflicting themselves in an online transaction by viewing a thread in an online bullitin board? Hows that for irony:D/B][/QUOTE

I really hope no names are mentioned, it might give them death sentence from members on this forum....although I can empathize with their postion....just don't agree with it.
 
Part of the email from Alex..."Hawaii has had some crappy weather, I have had very little water days. State of Emergency stuff. I think its going to have to wait till after Xmas, if weather starts looking up. I have the list but could you email as attachment just in case. Lets stick with that list, then I will start diving for it ASAP and ship maybe Jan 5th or so." He has also requested that we shut down this thread, so I will need everyones email and phone number and I am going to add it to my master list. I am guessing he is still getting flak from the LFS shop here as well as several across the country now. Im sure we are hurting their business also... Is that cool with everyone? I will close this thread after I get everyones info, and after I have that list complete, we can keep in contact via email or PM's. I don't want to cost Alex any business
 
im so ticked off. we should find out if rc has any rules against lfs employees and owners using this site to impose their will and profit margin on rc members.
 
When this is all said and done, I plan on posting a letter to all LFS sotores suggesting how to earn our business so that we don't purchase elsewhere. I assume all of us would much rather support our LFS, right? Most of you know how I feel about this topic. As a business owner, you are not entitled to sales. You MUST earn them. Which is of course much tougher today with the internet. However, as seen by the successes of Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Best Buy etc., it can be done. Anyone who would like to provide input is welcome.
Pat
 
This whole ordeal irks me also and I’d like to know which lfs’s are complaining about our fish order. I’m curious what lfs’s resort to what can be construed as mafia-esque type tactics to bully their way into a private business transaction. One can only assume such suspect ethics permeate into other aspects of their business and it’d be nice to have a heads up on that. Not looking at boycotting anyone, maybe just be a bit more careful when shopping.

I agree with Aspenimages, business must be earned. Do the lfs’s actually believe that anything dealing with money and marine orders in the metro area must go through them so they can get a piece of the action? A little off the top, so to speak. That’s like saying anyone purchasing electronics online should pay a 50% premium which will be distributed among the local brick and mortar big box electronics stores so that they can bump up their bottom line. Ridiculous.

Also, the order is for Hawaiian fish which represent only a percentage of the total livestock typically sold at a lfs. The people participating in the order where found through and belong to the Rocky Mountain Reef Club, which only represents a percentage of the total shoppers at lfs’s. And furthermore, this opportunity to buy directly from a diver is kind of like stumbling upon an incredible sale at a store. As such, if the order would fall through, I would bet most of the people participating in this order would not rush out to a lfs and fulfill their wish lists at greatly higher prices. In retrospect, lfs’s probably aren’t losing a whole lot of business through this order at all and it’s definitely not going to put them out of business. They should be MUCH more concerned about the online retailers who have great selections of fish from all over the world, are available to order from 24-7, and offer incredible 14 day guarantee’s. How can you compete with that??! Hopefully the lfs’s will expend their energy figuring that out rather than quibbling over a local reef club’s business transaction with a diver in Hawaii.

Just my 2 cents…..
 
I propose at the next Club meeting we put together a proposal to the LFS stores explaining why we buy on-line. By the way, there are a number of group buys on here for hard goods with no complaints from the LFS's. Back to my point. For instance, how many of you are offered to make or have made requests for let's say Achilles Tangs? The typical response is something like they don't ship well, they're to hard for the average aquarists to keep or they're too expensive. The point of this order was to allow some of the experienced aquarists out here a chance to select some fish that we hardly ever see, or when we do they are so outrageously priced. It isn't to take biz away from the LFS. If they would allow (Uh oh, I feel myself getting on my pedestal, so this will be the last sentence) us to do exactly what we've done through Alex, they could have taken a 20% cut let's say (instead of the 50% increase that only Alex gets) and we would have gone through them!!! The end for now.
 
I have to agree with aspenimages.

The reality is that the fish being bought through Alex are almost impulse buys. I'm willing to bet that not even 1% of the people purchasing Mystery and Christmas wrasses would have gone out and bought those same fish from a LFS.

The LFS's aren't losing business through this deal, they're losing a lot of goodwill though.
 
Unless I find out which LFS(s) did this, I am done with all LFS's in the area. There's nothing I can't get online or from locals on the forum.
 
Check it out! I stopped by a LFS today and scored.

I got 16 anthias, a mystery wrasse, and a whole harem of flame wrasses!!!!! I couldn't believe they had them all in stock, it must have been my lucky day

It only cost me $1156+ tax! What a steal :rolleyes:

I bite my thumb in your general direction (you know who you are)

PM sent with conact info.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11409889#post11409889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stonkers
Which lfs do we bill our DOA's to? I assume if they're snagging profits that they also are assuming risk.

They absorb the DOAs and all the other fish that die before we buy them. I worked at three different LFS's when I was in school. Not one of them made money off of their saltwater stock. Salt fish at my stores were typically marked up to 3x to 4x the wholesale price and yet we were always significantly in the red on livestock. These shops were each successful businesses that had been open for many years.

I will probably participate in the next Hawaii order, but I'll be throwing the vast majority of my dough to the LFS community. They have been there on many occasions to save my butt. For example, I broke my return pump on a Sunday morning four hours before leaving on a two week vacation overseas - they were there to provide a replacement. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't have been there to save me. I buy my VHO bulbs cheaper locally than I can get them on-line. I have recieved numerous frags at very reasonable prices that I might have never found in another RMRC member's tank.
 
Back
Top