SPS Insanity

[HerbieK]

I can't believe the prices of frags these days on our very own reef central. People are hawking a 1/2 inch stub of a frag? Are you kidding me? I guess I am giving away the farm when I am trying to sell good quality stuff (2 inches and up, branching frags) for 20 to 30 bucks.

Maybe if I price my stuff higher, people will think, wow that must be a great frag.

What is this hobby coming to? We are not here to get rich folks. What ever happened to paying it forward?

Are we all in this for ourselves? What about the greater good of the hobby.

Any comments appreciated, and sorry for the rant.

Herb

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

depends on what you are looking for...I've paid $80 bucks for an awesome 1/2 inch stub and been happy...and if you are selling two inch frags for 20 bucks you are giving them away, my general rule of thumb is I sell for 1/2 what I paid for original

 

[HerbieK]

Bucky:

That's what turns this into an elitist's hobby. Not everyone can lay out 80 bucks for a piece of coral. After laying out the dough for lights and all of the other goodies that allow us to raise SPS, some folks come up a little short for livestock. Should they be relegated to the ranks of just having caps in their tank and maybe a green slimer?

What say you?

Herb

 

[M88A2]

that why reef clubs are where it's at. not only can you meet very informative ppl but my exp. has been that they also give great deals. now im not sayin that they'll give you today trendy coral dirt cheap, but you can get some very nice stuff at reasonable prices, heck sometimes its basicly a steal.

 

[HerbieK]

Yep. Clubs rule. NJ Reefers also rule:lolspin:

 

[CUNAReefer]

Hi HerbieK,

Hope all is well!

Supply and Demand! We all cannot afford a Bugatti Veyron, but people still buy many of them for $1,500,000 and the company reamains profitable. If someone was to sell that same Bugatti for $100, I'm sure they would sell it in a heartbeat but it would have no effect on the market price of a Bugatti Veyron. The price of a good is what the market is willing to pay. The reason why people charge what they charge is because people pay the price. Now they could lower the price where demand exceeds supply, but that is not efficient. The goal of a business is to set a price where supply equals demand and profit is maximized. I could type for hours on this subject but it all comes down to what people are willing to pay.

Lets try a little experiment with your frags... Would you mind posting pics of your $20-$30 frags? If your PMs for the coral far outweigh the number of corals for sale, then you are charging a low price. If you do not get any PMs for the coral, then your price is to high. If your PMs are enough to sell all your frags and maximize your profit, then your price matches market demand. Of course this is an over simplified experiment, but it does help prove my point... So lets see those $20-$30 frags :bounce3::bounce2::bounce1:

Warmest Regards,
James

 

[iap]

^ sure if you are a business....

But all these people selling frags on here for crazy prices got into this hobby because I assume they like reef tanks, not to try and screw people over. And if they do want to be a business and sell frags all day everyday then they should pay for that business license and become a legit coral dealer. Otherwise they should stop being whores and selling little nubs of crap for outrageous prices.

I'd laugh if the feds decided that they had enough and wanted their cut of all these profits being made illegally.

I hope all you people selling 1 eye chalices for 300 dollars that your tanks crash and you can no longer sit on your computer all day long and are forced to go out in the real world and get a job

 

[hybridazn]

My view on this is as follows:

If u don't want to pay what it costs for the high end frags then don't. But don't complain about it either. I undstand where u are coming from but for the ppl selling the frags they have to try and cover costs of pretty much what lfs's do minus labor fees. Its easy for me to understand since I have another expensive hobby in drag racing. "U gotta pay to play" is the old motto.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[buy_baff]

I agree that the tiny 1/2 in stubs realy suck. But on the other hand if every coral was dirt cheap then you would have beginers buying corals that are very hard to keep and killing them left and right.

 

[CUNAReefer]

There are two sides to every coin. If we do not compensate folks for aquaculturing corals in high demand, then folks have no incentive to grow corals and we resort back to harvesting more wild corals to supply demand. Granted, most of the corals supplied to the hobby are harvested from the wild. Profit also spurs innovation and new approaches to keeping corals. On the other hand, if you want to protest outrageous prices, your most effective action is to not buy the coral.

For those that do protest high prices, what business do you support that you feel has fair prices? Could you provide an example of a fair price? Please do remember that businesses have overhead and do need to make a profit.

Several years ago, I remember seeing the actual cost of ORA Corals for a LFS. When I seen the $20 cost for the store and the $65 price I paid, I was outraged. I refused to purchase corals from this store for a lengthy period of time. I instead purchased browned out versions of the same ORA corals from local reefers. The frags were smaller, but I ended up paying the same price on a 1/4" by 1/4" basis. I did get to meet some pretty cool reefers in the community, though.

Now, for those that feel that prices have become outragously high compared to several years ago... Inflation averages about 3% annually. A coral that costs $35 10 years ago would cost $47 today.

Can you tell I'm a financial analyst :lolspin:

Regards,
James

 

[ryanb91]

supply and demand

 

[basser1]

Anyone see what a frag of the Red DRagon acro goes for? @300 bucks!

It's just crazy I tell ya! :crazy1:

 

[Toadally]

I try to sell my frags in the club at reasonable prices. Most frags I sell for $10 - $20 for a 1 inch piece.

I also ask questions about the system that it's going into and the experience of the hobbyist.

 

[jasonrp104]

The red dragon is my killer actually. I want a frag of that stuff real bad but I WILL NOT pay the price for it....yet. Someday I have every intention of buying a frag, growing it out, and fragging it right down to a stub just to crash the price of it. I have a vision of a world with $5 red dragon acros and it is a wonderful place.

 

[keith sprague]

i give mine away. you are right about size though. at least ORA frags are a pretty generous size IMO. people outta take lessons on here from them huh.

 

[iap]

The red dragon is my killer actually. I want a frag of that stuff real bad but I WILL NOT pay the price for it....yet. Someday I have every intention of buying a frag, growing it out, and fragging it right down to a stub just to crash the price of it. I have a vision of a world with $5 red dragon acros and it is a wonderful place.

Thats exactly what I do. I buy stuff grow it out and either trade for other frags or sell them at local meetings for 5$ a frag. And even then they don't sell so I just give them away cuz I dont want to take them home.

 

[chadfarmer]

if you thank sps are bad i used to buy all these corals for next to nothing and big colonys of everything about 15 years ago before all the name game

 

[HerbieK]

Cuna:

Here are some examples of 20 - 30 buck frags, specifically the superman and the Setosa. The bonzai and other frag are some I got from a friend in trade. Also, that large piece of Miami Orchid in the upper right was sold for 30 too. When folks come over, I usually package stuff up, and also throw in freebies. This is usually the result of real "trimming" where I need to cut stuff back. I love when people say they are trimming their colonies and manage to sell 1/2 to 1 inch frags. Pretty pathetic.

Herb

 

[Alex T.]

I agree with paying it forward. I've been given some frags that have done exceptionally well and recently started buying and restocking my SPS tank after an alkalinity nightmare last April. My goal is to grow them out and share them with local reefers so that if something ever happened to my tank again I could get a frag back.

I've given many people frags from my tank and never asked for money or anything in return unless there's something they may have that may be a good trade. I never got into this hobby to make money, and I think it's sad if this is not your full-time business with an on-line store and your prices are raping people. Trust me, none of you have anything "rare". You simply have a morphed color or growth pattern that is making its' rounds this year, or possibly a coral that just recently has been allowed to be harvested. Stop calling them rare. The only thing that will be rare if this price gauging continues is an unsustainable hobby with people that actually have money left in their pockets. I don't care what the coral is, you bought it to enjoy it for its' growth pattern, color, yada yada yada. Selling it with "Supply and Demand" in mind is non-sense to me. Some say they frag and sell their corals to supplement the cost of the hobby. This in itself is disheartening to hear.

There's many on the sales forums that are willing to give 10 frags for $100, which in my opinion is awesome. We're not talking about high end, status symbol sports cars here are we? These colorful sticks are a product of our skills in husbandry, patience and a keen understanding of the precious animals we keep. We should be proud of them and willing to share our knowledge with anyone new to the hobby or SPS keeping. You'll never see my name selling frags in the sales forum, but if you're local and would like a frag of something I have, shoot me a PM and I'll let you know when I'm cutting it.

Nuff said.

 

[CUNAReefer]

Cuna:

Here are some examples of 20 - 30 buck frags, specifically the superman and the Setosa. The bonzai and other frag are some I got from a friend in trade. Also, that large piece of Miami Orchid in the upper right was sold for 30 too. When folks come over, I usually package stuff up, and also throw in freebies. This is usually the result of real "trimming" where I need to cut stuff back. I love when people say they are trimming their colonies and manage to sell 1/2 to 1 inch frags. Pretty pathetic.

Herb

Hey Herb,

Thanks for the pics! Now those are legit $20-$30 frags. Nice colors and nice size. When I was selling coral back in Madison, Wisonsin, I was always giving folks free corals to try. Now some of the corals I gave away for free were 1/2" frags, but I was giving them away. I also started a PIF (Pay it forward) thread for pink palys. I'm sure you would have no problem selling those corals!

Warmest Regards,
James