In a retail environment where people come to you to buy it's hard to see or understand how people could say they got "ripped off". I would say more of an uneducated consumer. There are alternative buisnesses to buy from and if you don't like the price walk out the door... I sell in a wholesale environment with maybe 5 retail customers coming through he door a week, even then I have no power over them to make them buy from me. It's simple, they ask a price, I answer, they decide. So to "oversell or rip off" in the LFS arena seems pretty tough if you educate yourself before you even walk through the doors.

I am into a couple "high end" (ie: expensive) hobbies and I find it downright bizarre and annoying that vendors often don't show pricing either on the forum or in the store itself.
I don't like having to ask for the price because:

-I like to be independent in making purchase decisions when shopping
-I may be weighing several different items and don't want to be a pain in the butt asking for numerous prices
-There is something (that I perceive) as inherently underhanded in NO posted prices

I get that if I were a returning customer I may get better pricing at some point.. anyone who's been in this hobby for a while kinda gets that. I've spent thousands of dollars in the last year getting into this and I can say that most of that money has gone to vendors that DO post prices. I like honesty... and I'm sorry to say that I am left with an overall impression of less than that by the lack of transparency with local retailers that specialize in saltwater.

I don't mind paying more for quality, or good service..just wish I could walk into a store and not have to feel like I am begging for clarity!

Uhm, that's my 2 cents.. been ticking me off for the year I've been into salt!

Thank you to the vendors help to make this hobby more enjoyable by being upfront and helpful!

just my two cents.. it may be just to stop other vendors undercutting startng a price war more so to keep the playing field even.. now 10 buck frag is a 10 buck frag but led light fixtures skimmers pumps a whole different story. its hard enough for some of these stores to stay alive with normal business. than to have someone pm teh intrested buyer saying ill give you 10 bucks off what he says plus shipping.

yet i do agree that having to ask for a price can be annoying.. grates on my nerves like someone who starts telling you a great story then walks away with out telling you how it ends.. worse than all this is a vendors website that is never updated.. or unfinished... i like to creap on these sites to see what i may want n the future.. but the page is empty.

Completely understandable from a livestock point of view, however I promise you a very large percentage of dry goods from salt, electronics, pumps, skimmers, food ect.... have something called MAP (minimum advertised price) this is done so the market is protected so everyone can make a little scratch and the large stores cannot snuff out the smaller ones.

I also agree asking for pricing can make or break my purchasing decision with a vendor.

i think there should be pricing for livestock

It would be convenient eh....

I appreciate online pricing for everything :mrgreen: