Why such a big difference in coral prices between vendors?

[ninjamyst]

I get pissed off when I visit a coral vendor website and they are charging ridiculous amount of money for corals.  I can only imagine all the beginners getting taken advantage of when they visit these more popular vendors.  $100 for a orange plate?  $50 for a ricordea?  For designer acros with those fancy names, I can understand.  But for these fairly standard corals, why are there still such a huge difference in price?  Why are we as a community letting it happen??  I thought at the end of the day, most corals come from a few distributors anyways.  

[Daniel91]

4 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

I get pissed off when I visit a coral vendor website and they are charging ridiculous amount of money for corals.  I can only imagine all the beginners getting taken advantage of when they visit these more popular vendors.  $100 for a orange plate?  $50 for a ricordea?  For designer acros with those fancy names, I can understand.  But for these fairly standard corals, why are there still such a huge difference in price?  Why are we as a community letting it happen??  I thought at the end of the day, most corals come from a few distributors anyways.  

Well you would assume that us newbies tend/know to shop around. There’s so many sales going on all the time, so I would be surprised if people gave it to some of the crazy pricing.

 

But then again, supply and demand, there’s a reason why your LFS/online shop price it at what they do.

[MrObscura]

Don't go to the trendy designer sites or you'll be really pissed. Lol

[FISHnChix]

Yea its funny I am back in the hobby for a year now and when I used to reef in 2000ish you wouldnt by this little frag crap you went to the store and bought a coral (aka colony now) and it was the same price. Oh and they didn't have these fancy names . Shoot it feels like buying weed or vaping stuff buying a cotton candy dinosaur poop acro or what ever name they call them this week

[mitten_reef]

@ninjamyst, I love how you’ve been posting these “meaning of life” type question, for a reefer. Hahaha. 

 

The two LFS I visit regularly have fairly similar offering with very different pricing schemes. One overcharges for corals and frags, and most of their stuff just sit and wither away ( I can’t even bring myself to buying it even when I trade in often for store credits). The other seem to be more approachable in price. 

 

Definitely agree that boutique/brand-name vendors tend to overcharge for frags that are fairly common or easier to propagate. But even our local fb group doesn’t seem to get much trading traffic, just mostly garage fragger ads. So there are ppl out there buying these stuff. 

[A Little Blue]

It got to the point of ridiculous. But as long as people pay that kind of $ for cooked up frags, they will keep giving corals even more phony names and make fortun selling inch long buggers. 

I have no respect for those vendors. 

[ninjamyst]

11 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

@ninjamyst, I love how you’ve been posting these “meaning of life” type question, for a reefer. Hahaha. 

 

The two LFS I visit regularly have fairly similar offering with very different pricing schemes. One overcharges for corals and frags, and most of their stuff just sit and wither away ( I can’t even bring myself to buying it even when I trade in often for store credits). The other seem to be more approachable in price. 

 

Definitely agree that boutique/brand-name vendors tend to overcharge for frags that are fairly common or easier to propagate. But even our local fb group doesn’t seem to get much trading traffic, just mostly garage fragger ads. So there are pp

Hahahah it's because my tank is poop so I have nothing better to do.  

 

I just don't understand how some of these vendor are so popular when their prices are so high.  So some suckers are definitely buying their overpriced crap.  And I guess I can't name them cuz they are sponsors here...

[Jono]

How long has it been like this? I've only been in this hobby a few months so I've never seen any different. However, I never bought into the expensive stuff. The most expensive frag in my tank so far is $30, and I think I have some nice colors. I've learned to shop the sales, and get a bundle of stuff at once to help with shipping. Makes me laugh that something that is natural and a tiny little piece of snot can cost more than it would cost me and my wife to go on a week vacation at the beach 😂

[MrObscura]

33 minutes ago, Weikel said:

cotton candy dinosaur poop acro 

Where can I get a frag that? 

[patback]

Some places are just greedy.  Some places aren't big enough. 

Usually when someone buys whole sale, from what I've been told, you MUST purchase x-amount of run of the mill crap to get that 1 nice piece. As your order more and more,and in more frequency, they start to send out more of the nice stuff.  

It does piss me off when they try to rename something basic like greenbaypacker zoas, which people usually throw away after they take over a tank and ask for 50 bucks for a 5 polyp frag.  I have no problem spending a few hundred on coral at a time if it is something that I WANT...but dont try to insult my intelligence, and dont try to rip off new reefers that are just excited for their first coral and dont realize that they are extremely common and not even worth the shipping.  

[MrObscura]

My corals range from 20 bucks to 50. I'm probably about to spend 60 on a bubblegum digi because I can't find it anywhere else and I only buy corals in person. 

 

That's really the highest I care to pay. 

[Clown79]

It can depend on the size of the vendors stores. Often the more you buy the better the price.

 

Also depends on where the corals are coming from.

 

Indonesia has a ban on corals right now so things from there is up in price.

 

Right now here euphyllia is hard to come by and the prices are jacked. A frogspawn that was $25-$40 last year is now $85+.

 

Torches are $100-$450. 

 

1 hour ago, Weikel said:

Yea its funny I am back in the hobby for a year now and when I used to reef in 2000ish you wouldnt by this little frag crap you went to the store and bought a coral (aka colony now) and it was the same price. Oh and they didn't have these fancy names . Shoot it feels like buying weed or vaping stuff buying a cotton candy dinosaur poop acro or what ever name they call them this week

I know. I started in mid 2000's and frags didn't exist. You got a colony and for amazing prices! 

 

The names really annoy me cause it's just a ploy to increase price.

34 minutes ago, Jono said:

How long has it been like this? I've only been in this hobby a few months so I've never seen any different. However, I never bought into the expensive stuff. The most expensive frag in my tank so far is $30, and I think I have some nice colors. I've learned to shop the sales, and get a bundle of stuff at once to help with shipping. Makes me laugh that something that is natural and a tiny little piece of snot can cost more than it would cost me and my wife to go on a week vacation at the beach 😂

Not sure. I got back into the hobby 3.5yrs ago. 3 yrs ago the prices were tolerable now most are getting to the point of ridiculous.

Particularly euphyllia, clams, bounce.

 

I know someone who owns a store and the price they pay for items isn't that bad, it's the taxes that jack the price up and importing fees etc.

[A Little Blue]

41 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

My corals range from 20 bucks to 50. I'm probably about to spend 60 on a bubblegum digi because I can't find it anywhere else and I only buy corals in person. 

 

That's really the highest I care to pay. 

$60 is still too much, unless it’s a large frag. 

[Jono]

I've also noticed that while other hobbyists hate that frags cost so dang much, they aren't going to frag out stuff and sell it for a better price. I don't blame them at all, but it's a cycle that will never be broken. 

[A Little Blue]

13 minutes ago, Jono said:

I've also noticed that while other hobbyists hate that frags cost so dang much, they aren't going to frag out stuff and sell it for a better price. I don't blame them at all, but it's a cycle that will never be broken. 

I can find just about anything locally. Prices from local reefers aren’t too bad. You can find some really good deals if you’re patient. However, you have to be super careful to not introduce some awful pests, algae, aiptasia or bacteria into your tank. So, good deals come with intensive pest control and quarantine period b4 getting wet in display tank. 

As a side note, some reefers get stupid with their prices too. 

Optimaly, I would rather trade with few ppl I know/trust. But those old school guys  are hard to find. 

[mitten_reef]

9 minutes ago, Jono said:

I've also noticed that while other hobbyists hate that frags cost so dang much, they aren't going to frag out stuff and sell it for a better price. I don't blame them at all, but it's a cycle that will never be broken. 

I think it depends on diff hobbyists’ perspectives. I just sold a pack of stuff locally that easily worth more than $200 in-store for $80. And I think that’s my way of giving back. If the LFS is only gonna give me the same $, I rather pass the savings on to other local hobbyists when I can. 

[MrObscura]

18 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

$60 is still too much, unless it’s a large frag. 

It's small, they want 80 for larger frags. But bubblegum is a must have for me and it's the only place I can find it. 

[A Little Blue]

3 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

It's small, they want 80 for larger frags. But bubblegum is a must have for me and it's the only place I can find it. 

Wish my frag was big enough to share. I got mine at reefpalooza for $25. 

[ninjamyst]

8 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

It's small, they want 80 for larger frags. But bubblegum is a must have for me and it's the only place I can find it. 

http://myreeftoyours.com/product_info.php?cPath=7&products_id=7914

 

$25 for bubblegum digi.  Free shipping at $155 or so.  I ordered from them multiple times.  Decent prices and low free shipping minimum.  They also tend to throw in a free frag for first timers.  And if that frag is too small, just contact them and see if they have bigger frags.  I believe all their stuff is grown in house.

[A Little Blue]

1 minute ago, ninjamyst said:

http://myreeftoyours.com/product_info.php?cPath=7&products_id=7914

 

$25 for bubblegum digi.  Free shipping at $135 or so.  I ordered from them multiple times.  Decent prices and low free shipping minimum.  

That’s reasonable. 

[MrObscura]

I only buy frags in person. Not that there's not reputable online retailers, it's just personal preference. This way I know what the frag actually looks like in person. 

[ninjamyst]

Just now, MrObscura said:

I only buy frags in person. Not that there's not reputable online retailers, it's just personal preference. This way I know what the frag actually looks like in person. 

i am usually the same unless there's a great sale like $10 for orange ricordea at Saltcritters.  i just noticed you in Chicago.  where you getting that bubblegum digi from?  there are like 10 LFS in Chicago so we are pretty lucky.  

[Reeferadicto]

Now that there’s a ban on Indonesia prices have really gone up !!!

just last week My lfs sold a 2 head frogspawn for $200

[ninjamyst]

4 minutes ago, Reeferadicto said:

Now that there’s a ban on Indonesia prices have really gone up !!!

just last week My lfs sold a 2 head frogspawn for $200

holy shit, i have a 10 head frogspawn that i tried to sell for $80 and no one wanted it.  keeping that sucker for the long haul now.

[MrObscura]

Yea, the indo bann doesn't help. 

 

I'm north side of Chicago. I've been to pretty much every lfs is the Chicago area and unfortunately most leave a lot to be desired. Including the place(sea escapes in south elgin) with the bubble gum digi. They just happen to be the only place with some, so I'll bite the bullet. 

 

The only place that really impresses me is wojteks reef. He runs it out of his basement but it's awesome and better than pretty much every lfs. His prices are decent, most between 20-50. But he's limited with sps.