Is it just me

[Blue World Aquariums]

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

Something told me to look at this thread, since we are the company offering the containers on sale I would love to jump in here!

We too think the cost of dry goods on some occasions can be high too, especially in the case of the containers among others; however, every other dealer in the country is obligated to sell them for $75 for the 5L and $60 for the 2.5L. I would think we are doing our best here to make things hurt a little less......

I run the containers at home and they are actually really handy and work better than a plastic container with a loose airline sitting in the bottom. Are they worth $75 and $60 respectfully? No. But would I still buy them at regular price if I were a regular hobbiest? Yes. The reason being because they are exactly what I was looking for.

Some things to remember when questioning the cost of goods in our industry when gross margin and profits are concerned;

1. Niche Market lower production volumes
2. Cost of production
3. Cost of Marketing
4. Cost of R&D
5. Distributors of the items have to stay in business with "acceptable" margins.
6. Cost of shipping in minimum quantities
7. Cost of Duty and custom brokerage
8. Cost of utilities
9. Cost to run systems (Salt, Water, Food, misc supplies)
10. Paying employees
11. Paying for insurance
12. Covering costs of business systems including 2-3% for credit card processing and Paypal
13. Paying for websites and hosting
14. Absorbing livestock losses
15. Absorbing returns and defective goods
16. Advertising
17. The list goes on and on.....

Roger that! Stores like Oceanic and my own are in existence because of a passion for the hobby...not a passion for money. There are plenty of better careers that I could come up with that would make me more money. I can't think of anything I would enjoy more than this, however.

I have friends in other retail industries with average margins who commonly and jokingly refer to this industry as a non-profit society!

If somebody is making a lot of money on this stuff, it's not the competitive retailer.

[zum14]

This is interesting. Im also curious of the end cost of a t5 bulb. Saying that, I feel like big buisness's, manufacturers, and those market analysts have made the value of a dollar about 10 cents. So a litre of gas thats going for 6 cents in some parts of the world(what its actually worth) is 107 cents here. The sad part is that, like the guys here are saying, there not offered the actual prices either so they do there best to offer us a fair price to be able to keep the hobby going. Unless your talking to your boss about wages. Then that dollar has more value then gold. Just my 2 cents.