How many of you purchase from local stores vs. local individuals?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

As the title states, how many of you stick with the local stores, and how many of you are on local clubs/forums and purchase from individuals? Or do most of you stick with online vendors?

 

I'm finding out, the hobby can be much more affordable for me if I go through local individuals. I recently picked up a 8-9 head frogspawn for $45, and just today I picked one up with close to 15 heads for $40. One is purple tipped, one is green tipped.

 

In a LFS, that would have cost me probably close to $250 (for both pieces combined). A guy sold me a 6 head bicolor hammer for $35. The last hammer I bought in a store cost me $15 a head.

 

How many of you have taken this approach? Other than the standard concerns like safety when going to a stranger's house, hitchhikers, etc., I'm extremely happy with taking this route. Granted, there are some things you'll only find in a store. But honestly, I'm not looking for the exotic stuff anyways. So maybe that's why it works better for me...I think if I was looking for a specific piece, I'd probably look into online sellers.

[Boggers]

I look local before I buy online. There are two reef clubs in town with used equipment and livestock and 3 LFS. Only if I can't find local or the LFS takes too long to order in, do I order online. You always get a better price from a hobbyist than business owner as they have no overhead to cover.

[ajmckay]

I buy whatever I can afford LOL. The stores by me aren't the best for prices and their selection is only okay - but that being said it seems like a lot of people buy corals from them and they're usually good quality. It's mostly fun to browse their selection and talk to the employees if they're not too busy. Because I like going to the stores I usually buy something almost every visit (not always something alive - but food, spare parts, LR chunks, etc...)

 

As for locals - it depends. I find the occasional gem like what you describe with the frogspawn but more often than not locals by me seem to want to fetch top dollar for stuff. More or less selling stuff for LFS prices. Also I get a lot of people by me who are very hard to deal with. For example someone wanting to sell multiple unrelated things as a package. I recognize that it's their choice but even if I offer more than what they ask they often stick to their "package" deal. I had one tool that I wanted to buy a flame angel from and he was selling the flame angel and a sailfin tang for $50. He wouldn't sell just the angel to me, even when I offered him $50 for just the angel!!!! It was one of the most frustrating string of PM's of my life.

 

So I suppose it totally depends on where you live whether local deals are good or not. I do like going to frag swaps. Other than the crazy show corals you can usually find decent frags for a good price.

 

I order a lot of small equipment online and tanks and larger equipment at an LFS if the shipping costs make it more expensive. I've never ordered fish or anything alive online as the shipping usually makes the cost even out and I like to see the fish I buy first.

[Astinus]

I like to support my LFS. They have been in business 17 years. Granted they have a somewhat limited selection.

It's hard for me to say. I have only been to this 1 store. They do have a "Sister" store in the next city over.

With that said, I have also bought from online sites like Reefcleaners, LiveAquaria and Salt Critters.

But I have only made maybe 4 or 5 purchases online. Shipping is the deal buster for me.

[squamptonbc]

Mostly from 1 store for livestock, the shipping isn't worth ordering animals online. For supplies mostly from stores, either online or brick and mortar.

 

My area has a tiny reef community and there just isn't much for sale on the hobbyist/forum level so easier and quicker to just buy from a store.

 

I also like to support the only marine store in the region, they keep prices reasonable, and have good service, if they went under, I would just leave the hobby as there would no longer be anywhere to get livestock and supplies without having to buy online/ship and pay high shipping, paying $50 in shipping for a nano sized fish or a couple hermit crabs makes no sense...lol

[lkoechle]

I found the best stuff local. Mainly at swaps. you can great stuff in swaps. I only buy super cheap... because I am cheap. Kind of do that whole craigslist trade up type thing. I get cheap coral, grow it out, go to frag swaps get nominally better stuff and go up and up. Zoas, fyi, are great for that. I kept a zoa collection almost exclusively to trade for the sps I actually wanted.

[Clown79]

I'd love to buy from local reefers but haven't found any and we have no clubs either.

 

I'm stuck with a few stores which are costly for nice pieces.

 

I haven't ordered online for livestock, here in cda shipping is $$$ and even more so for livestock.

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I found the best stuff local. Mainly at swaps. you can great stuff in swaps. I only buy super cheap... because I am cheap. Kind of do that whole craigslist trade up type thing. I get cheap coral, grow it out, go to frag swaps get nominally better stuff and go up and up. Zoas, fyi, are great for that. I kept a zoa collection almost exclusively to trade for the sps I actually wanted.

 

That's pretty interesting...I've noticed zoas seem to be the currency of marine aquariums. People will trade anything for some high end zoas.

 

It seems like the San Diego area is pretty good for reef keeping...lots of people here with a "pay it forward" type of attitude...most guys cut really good deals on corals/fish, unless it's a really rare or expensive piece.

 

As much as I'd like to keep supporting my local fish stores, my last several experiences have been fairly poor. We were sold a duncan with 3 heads that looked iffy, but the employee more or less forced it on us because he didn't want to pull a different one out of the tank. All three heads either popped off the skeleton or succumbed to brown jelly disease. Which really sucked because then it spread to my dad's other HUGE duncan and wiped it out. Nearly every fish we bought from that store died soon after bringing it home.

 

The coral and fish I've gotten from local people have been easy and happy.

[uwharrie]

I wish we had local clubs or swap meets. Heck even ones in the state would be great. Right now I buy from local stores ( none are actually "local" to me)

[lkoechle]

 

That's pretty interesting...I've noticed zoas seem to be the currency of marine aquariums. People will trade anything for some high end zoas.

 

It seems like the San Diego area is pretty good for reef keeping...lots of people here with a "pay it forward" type of attitude...most guys cut really good deals on corals/fish, unless it's a really rare or expensive piece.

 

As much as I'd like to keep supporting my local fish stores, my last several experiences have been fairly poor. We were sold a duncan with 3 heads that looked iffy, but the employee more or less forced it on us because he didn't want to pull a different one out of the tank. All three heads either popped off the skeleton or succumbed to brown jelly disease. Which really sucked because then it spread to my dad's other HUGE duncan and wiped it out. Nearly every fish we bought from that store died soon after bringing it home.

 

The coral and fish I've gotten from local people have been easy and happy.

 

Yeah, my last club called them DBTCs (don't break the chain). At a swap, you get a ticket for each coral and the ticket color corresponds with rarity. When your number was called, you could take anything at your level or below. and its expected you grow it out and bring it back to another DBTC. My first one, I only had one sad little polyp because my tank was new and I didn't know any LFSs (I was new to the area). One of the guys there gave me about 15 tickets because he didn't need anything for his tank. A couple years later, I was able to continue the chain and give a few of my tickets away to a new reefer because I felt I didn't need anything. (I had already picked up what I wanted and didn't want anything else and the board was still good).

 

It was really nice being able to not only stock my tank for almost free, but later keep the generous tradition going. I also cut really good deals to those guys when I had to break down my 85.

 

I did get some really good deals on several high end zoas from one of the guys in the club, and yes, those seem to trade very very well.

[Tmr8188]

When I buy local I will only buy from my Lfs that is about 10 minutes up the road. The owner is a friend of mine and I will usually hang out for a few hours on an off day and shoot the shit and help out when needed. I get some amazing deals on livestock and dry goods this way. These days my tank is pretty full so I have to be pretty discerning with what makes the cut. When I buy online it has to be a very special piece. I usually spend enough to get free shipping. I don't buy from other hobbyists though. Mainly because I can get it from the lfs for a steal.

[fishfreak0114]

I sometimes buy from "local" stores, but the prices are so high I rarely do. I've bought from two different hobbyists, both gave me some great deals. For instance, I found blue kiss Zoas online for $35pp. The guy gave me a 15+ polyp frag for $20. I find the more you buy, the lower they take the prices. I've only made two online orders because shipping for the amount I get is usually $35. When I do order online, I try to wait for a sale (like Boxing Day) and then order a bunch (at least $100).

[erinmegan85]

The closest stores to where I live that sell anything saltwater related are kind of sketchy. I have bought a few things and consider myself lucky that nothing bad happened to either one of my tanks. Any other store that's worth looking at is anywhere from an hour to two and half hours away. I'll drive that far because I like what they have and their prices aren't terrible. I would much rather buy from someone local as prices tend to be much better. I did have someone who I was getting some amazing stuff from, but it seems as if he's not selling anything anymore because my messages have gone unanswered