SPS frag selling guidelines v1.2

[fencer]

Would you pay 50.00 for a 1" frag? if you are I have plenty to sell to you

I think hobbyist should get a price break amongst their peers. We know what we've sunk into this hobby/addiction. Sharing the wealth is not a bad thing. The difference is that a store has to make a profit to survive. A hobbyist makes money to cover supplies or utilities if they are lucky. The commercial guys sell good product and I support them when I can

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

You could have just summed this up in one phrase..."common sense".

Why do private sellers get the short end of the stick so to speak when it comes to selling frags? Especially (unless I am reading this wrong) how you mention frags cannot be over a certain price. Ridiculous. IMO frags from a private seller should be worth more than a stores in most cases. I have never understood how livestock depreciates so much in our aquariums.

Just let people sell and make deals among themselves. If these things are important to you then ask them of the seller. If they are important to the seller then he can implement them.

+1 There is no way to circumvent the supply demand aspect of the market, if you are making these as a guideline for people to follow I see this failing very fast (As Tony stated due to lack of enforcement). Besides, If I spend $250.00 on a chalice frag that has a single eye I'm not going to charge $30.00 for a frag just to be "Nice". If no one buys the frag I'm selling for $250.00 then the price will be lowered until someone will take it, this is basic supply and demand or as Green stated "Common sence".

It would be like posting on a luxury car forum that you think all cars sold from individual seller to individual seller should be 35-50% off market price. No one would ever even contemplate that so why would it work here? Supply and demand dictates price because that's what works, if you would like to try and change Capitalism while your at it be my guest .

[fencer]

These just guidelines not rules...something to think about

Your absolutely right...price is based on what the market will bare

[kien]

A year ago I bought a little 1" frag of something and thought it was the greatest thing. Cheap little piece of SPS to start my collection. My wife took one look at it and said, "WTF?? You bought that little twig for $15? What a rip off!!"

I like buying skin flaps..

[Jeff_]

I think the main point about pricing frags is to be reasonable about it. A 1 eye chalice frag may be worth $250 but keep in mind that it is mostly non limited sps (ie not ORA, Tyrees, GARF Purple Bonsai etc) we are talking about, just colourful pieces without a "special" name. The rare LPS supply is still quite small and theres a substantial demand for pieces and that would justify some of the prices. IMO I don't think its fair to give someone a single polyp and hope it survives for some ridiculous price even if it was well established and personally I wouldn't blow $250 on a single polyp, eye, etc "rare" frag no matter how pretty it is. Livestock doesn't depreciate in our tanks but the point is supporting others in the hobby and keeping the private trade alive by offering pieces at non retail prices.

[fencer]

v1.2 is up

[muck]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

You could have just summed this up in one phrase..."common sense".

Why do private sellers get the short end of the stick so to speak when it comes to selling frags? Especially (unless I am reading this wrong) how you mention frags cannot be over a certain price. Ridiculous. IMO frags from a private seller should be worth more than a stores in most cases. I have never understood how livestock depreciates so much in our aquariums.

Just let people sell and make deals among themselves. If these things are important to you then ask them of the seller. If they are important to the seller then he can implement them.

I have to agree with you Justin. Common sense goes a long way.
Personally I think the whole idea of a guideline is "Bunk".

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by lockrookie

i would rate dez a five star seller he was great and helpful. i didnt know him from a hole in the ground and took a chance. now i would gladly piurchace from him any time.

I second this. His order was good and all of the frags I got off of him are doing great. He even sent bonus frags.

[RedCoralEdmonton]

I think people are getting a little too personal with this. We never ment to offend anyone with our discussion, we were basically just throwing around the idea of an "industry standard" for frags, the most important to me being size, i hate the idea of ordering a frag from a business/private seller online and getting a 1/4" or less piece of coral, whereas on most sites, the seller doesnt tell the size or exagerates it. It doesnt happen often but it does happen, and it leaves a bad taste to the buyer in most cases....

This was never meant to be a "rule book" but was mainly put up on here to start a discussion and include more then just the few people that were at the reef meet. All ideas are welcome, more constructive the better!

Steve

[Atomikk]

My rules:

1. honesty is #1
2. frag prices depend on demand x size/growth/species/color... it is a tricky pony and
3. keep your corals pest free and quarantine if you can