High End Markets (California and Florida) Can you find Deals at Frag Swaps or No - Online your Price

[that Reef Guy]

I have seen Crazy Prices for Zoanthids and Paly's in Markets like Florida and California.

For instance I have seen 20 Polyps of Armor of Gods go for 400.00

I have bought the same 20 Polyps here in Michigan for 20.00

Heck even my LFS sells 20 Polyps for 30.00 and everything that an LFS sells is much much more than that at a Frag Swap.

I am tempted to buy Corals here and take them to Florida to Sell and make a ton of money. LOL.

Why do people pay so much?

Is it that nobody sells stuff cheap in those Two States?

I just don't get it?

I mean not everything here in Michigan is Cheap but at a Swap I can see a guy selling a Coral for 10 a Polyp and go to the very next table and get 10 Polyps of the same Coral for 10.00 (90 Percent off by just walking 5 Feet).

How do Frag Swaps work in Florida and California?

Does everyone just charge crazy prices because people are willing to pay that?

Or can good deals be had?

I feel bad for any Reefer Living in those Two States.

I mean I know Cost of Living is Higher there than here in Michigan but people are paying 20 Times what I pay for the Very Same Thing!

That is Crazy!

 

[TOPLIS]

Wanna sell some designer Zoas

Send pics and prices

 

[Isoprene]

got nothing to do with LFS vs. Online sales. Thats all ill say about it, not being a jerk, but im sure someone more experienced will chime in.

 

[Reef_a_holiks]

I totally agree the prices here are outrageous, and on a online site forget about it. It just ticks me off, when i know all these people are getting these corals dirt cheap from wholesalers. They just buy super cheap, give it a crazy name and charge a crazy amount. Ive been trying to find a way to buy from a wholesaler myself, but i cant find one that will sell to the public .

 

[doylef4i]

I think it just really depends on what corals your talking about and for me what local markets will accept. I know from the store I work at for example we sell rastas for 5 a polyp and are darn near giving away reverse superman and reef tech monti. These are just a few examples of some things at our store. As for the wholesale thing- part of the problem there is the whole sellers are driving prices up because the see profits made by SOME stores and try to break it off on anyone they can. I know there is a whole seller in south fl that is about 3-4 times what some others are for the same thing.

 

[joshporksandwich]

send them to me I can sell them lol

 

[joshporksandwich]

The reason why corals cost so much on places like cali, miami, ny, texas is because there's a lot more reefers than other states so someone with 1 polyp of x paly will have 20 people asking for it instead of 1 lonely cat or no cats

 

[NeverlosT]

the thing that bums me out is that every reefer is a salesman in Cali (well almost), so no one is getting that nice acro or that baller chalice and selling frags on the cheap, they sell for what they bought it for (lots), which I guess I can totally understand, I just wish they sold it to me for cheap! :wink:

 

[joshporksandwich]

the thing that bums me out is that every reefer is a salesman in Cali (well almost), so no one is getting that nice acro or that baller chalice and selling frags on the cheap, they sell for what they bought it for (lots), which I guess I can totally understand, I just wish they sold it to me for cheap! :wink:

90% of my collection has been bought from reefers here in FL and I have never payed more than 40pp on anything. the other 10% was from wwc, reefkoi, legendary corals, planet zoa, addicting corals, two guy corals or zoanthind.com. I drive all over south FL and visit a lot of peoples homes and it's payed off!!!

 

[BODI]

2 of the biggest and best frag swap's of Northern California are both coming up just around the corner and there will be hundreds of amazing frags to be had typically for pennies on the dollar at these two events... too bad my tank is already over full! I may still go just to get in on the raffles which are often times off the hook also!

BAR (Bay Area Reefers) and MARS (Marine Aquarists Roundtable of Sacramento)... 2 of the best swaps on the West coast... Coming real soon!

 

[cimmorine]

I also think its based on the rarity of the piece. I've connected with a few reefers here (va) to Washington state and some pieces like AOG or green mauls go for a whole lot more.....

 

[that Reef Guy]

send them to me I can sell them lol

I don't see why people do not come to Michigan buy them up and resell them in Florida and California. LOL.

They would make a Fortune.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I think it just really depends on what corals your talking about and for me what local markets will accept. I know from the store I work at for example we sell rastas for 5 a polyp and are darn near giving away reverse superman and reef tech monti. These are just a few examples of some things at our store. As for the wholesale thing- part of the problem there is the whole sellers are driving prices up because the see profits made by SOME stores and try to break it off on anyone they can. I know there is a whole seller in south fl that is about 3-4 times what some others are for the same thing.

I do not see it as the Wholesalers as the Wholesalers do not even carry the Named Stuff.

Wholesaler have Junk (Xenia, Green Star Polyp, Yellow Polyp, Leathers, Unnamed Acros, etc.). You know Noob Corals that Advanced Hobbyists want nothing to do with.

It is all Stuff Straight from the Ocean not the High End In Demand Stuff

The Named stuff is all Owned by Hobbyists who Grow it Out and Sell Frags.

So basically it is free once you buy it and grow it out.

They are not buying it and flipping it like the LFS does.

When the LFS do get Named Corals around here it is always Trade Ins from Local Hobbyists who got it from Frag Swaps.

 

[that Reef Guy]

The reason why corals cost so much on places like cali, miami, ny, texas is because there's a lot more reefers than other states so someone with 1 polyp of x paly will have 20 people asking for it instead of 1 lonely cat or no cats

True, but they also have more people with said coral selling it and probably a lot more frag swaps and opportunities to buy said Coral than here in Michigan.

 

[cimmorine]

I think we should create a universale price forum/thread were we vote how much a polyp of fruit loops, la lakers, AOG, CA, CARs, zoas and palys in general should cost or what we paid for. We can list and take a 30 day poll of how much we paid for per polyp including receipts, LFS prices including photos of sales etc, and hobbyist prices. Then we can do some simple math of mean, median, and mode.

With this, everyone can go into a buy knowing that if they pay $5 more or $5 less it's a great deal.


What do you think?

 

[that Reef Guy]

the thing that bums me out is that every reefer is a salesman in Cali (well almost), so no one is getting that nice acro or that baller chalice and selling frags on the cheap, they sell for what they bought it for (lots), which I guess I can totally understand, I just wish they sold it to me for cheap! :wink:

I feel bad for you.

It seems here in Michigan people are trying to give it away.

I often here things like people in Michigan are Cheap, etc.

And a lot of people at Swaps or in Classifieds are not doing it for a living.

It seems like they do it for a little extra money or to help pay for this expensive hobby.

It seems like a few times a year they trim up the tank and either try to blow it out cheap and as quickly as possible or throw it in the garbage.

So there are a ton (I mean a ton of good deals here) at both Swaps and the Classifieds.

I normally pay 0.10 to 0.20 on the Dollar by visiting people at home or going to a Tank Tear Down or going to a Frag Swap.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I think we should create a universale price forum/thread were we vote how much a polyp of fruit loops, la lakers, AOG, CA, CARs, and such should cost or what we paired for. We can list and take a 30 day poll of how much we paid for per polyp including receipts, LFS prices including photos of sales etc, and hobbyist prices. Then we can do simple math.....mean, median, and mode.

With this everyone can go into a buy knowing that they can give $5 more or $5 less. Knowing that it's a great deal?


What do you think?

Great Idea in my Opinion.

 

[that Reef Guy]

90% of my collection has been bought from reefers here in FL and I have never payed more than 40pp on anything. the other 10% was from wwc, reefkoi, legendary corals, planet zoa, addicting corals, two guy corals or zoanthind.com. I drive all over south FL and visit a lot of peoples homes and it's payed off!!!

That is what I mean.

You are in Florida and paying 40.00 a Polyp thinking it is a good deal.

Meanwhile I am in Michigan normally paying 10, 15, or 20 (And I am not talking about a Polyp. I mean 10.00 for a Full Plug with 10 to 20 Polyps).

So at that Rate you would be paying 400.00 to 800.00 for a Frag of 10 or 20 Polyps while I am paying 10.00 to 20.00 for the same thing.

Yes, I get people in Florida have more money than people in Michigan but 10.00 vs. 800.00 that is just insane (Unless every Reefer in Florida is a Multi-Billionaire of course).

 

[Texasnano]

U knw what's crazy is that there was a store up In Wisconsin that had online site and had chalices as well as zoas real cheap. I made two purchases from them and then they relocated and never opened online site again. This was about 3-3 1/2years ago

 

[Opus]

I totally agree the prices here are outrageous, and on a online site forget about it. It just ticks me off, when i know all these people are getting these corals dirt cheap from wholesalers. They just buy super cheap, give it a crazy name and charge a crazy amount. Ive been trying to find a way to buy from a wholesaler myself, but i cant find one that will sell to the public .

The wholesalers have caught on. I've talked to a couple of local shops and they said the wholesale prices have skyrocketed for the nice stuff. One said a rainbow chalice colony that he could have bought from a wholesaler a year or so ago for $1000 is now $3 to $4000 from the same wholesaler. They have seen what the retailers are doing price wise and they have raised their prices to get a piece of the pie. I really don't have an issue with the whole pricing thing. If I get priced out then I'm done. It won't kill me. I would love to collect cars but I can't afford it so I don't. I don't sit around and gripe about the people that do and pay what I consider way to much to add a car to their collection or gripe that the car seller is charging too much.

The only thing that bothers me (and I'm guilty of it too) is how a lot of the tanks these days don't seem to try and look like a reef. It is just to see how many frags (highend ones for some) they can stuff into their aquarium. It really struck me a few months back on a site where a guy posted a few picks of really high end polyps and everyone was going crazy and asking for a full tank shot. He posted some and it was ridiculous the amount of coral in his tank. It appeared to be around a 75gal tank and he easily had 200+ frags plus colonies of acans and master scolys stuffed in it. The frags were literally stacked on each other to make room for all the coral. The corals had no free space to grow.