Buying at LFS question?

[Clown guru]

Hi I'm new here, and I was wondering how I can contribute or what sort of thread to start. So I was thinking about something I heard from a hobbyist who stop purchasing at a LFS. I ask why, and he said that one day he needed the cash sold all of his livestock, preferably his corals, majority were highend corals he had over the years, that grew into colony's. One day he went to this LFS and saw the majority of this corals in this large frag tank all fragged up, marked up for retail 4 times the amount of what the owner pay for these corals from this person. It brought tears to his eyes telling me this story. Because I know how much we have invested in buying and trading, takes years to get a tank to look full and beautiful. To my surprise I heard that the owner gets on theses forums and look to see if a hobbyist is getting out, and buys all of there livestock and sell them at his store.

Just would like to know what do you think, and should a LFS buy from a wholesaler to retail, or is it ethical business to buy from a hobbyist and resale?

 

[b-ridge]

Unfortunately it's not just lfs that do this. A bunch of people prowl on here for deals. Find one and you turn around and it's the same time selling for double. It's nothing no one can do about this. A person does what they want after buying whatever they buy.

 

[edd]

the lfs is in this to make money, if he bought it he can do what he likes with it.
imo if you give it to a hobbyist it should be passed on not sold.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

I would have to agree. Once you sell, the buyer can make his own choices. You have to be aware of who your selling to. Price markups suck but no one has to buy.

If I purchase a huge colony, there is thought to frag a piece or two to recoup some money.

That's the point of buying colony vs frags.

 

[jackson6745]

IMO once you buy something, you're free to do as you wish.

 

[Waleedwale1]

I would have to agree. Once you sell, the buyer can make his own choices. You have to be aware of who your selling to. Price markups suck but no one has to buy.

If I purchase a huge colony, there is thought to frag a piece or two to recoup some money.

That's the point of buying colony vs frags.

+1 on here if you frag a piece of a colony your called out (happened to me before, bought a emeralds on fire colony from a store at least 150 polyps and had a piece break off so I fragged it, maybe 10-15 polyps and was called out later), which honestly doesn't make much sense to me if the frag is fairly priced. But yea if you sold to a store... Well their job is to sell and make money, can't really be angry at them for doing that. If a hobbyist did that, frag up a whole colony and charge 4x as much, then he is in it for the money and that isn't right.

 

[oh207]

I'm okay with a store (or Vendor) marking up prices to make a profit. It doesn't really matter where or how they obtain the item. Their business is to make a profit. I'm not okay when a hobbyist does this and re-sell at the same or similar markup as the LFS.

 

[Clown guru]

Great input here...

 

[BAD FISH]

it is what it is, honestly I like to buy frags and grow them out because i feel its one more coral that wasn't taken from the wild. Not that it will change the amount of coral or fish taken out of the ocean every day but we have to start somewhere.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

+1 on here if you frag a piece of a colony your called out (happened to me before, bought a emeralds on fire colony from a store at least 150 polyps and had a piece break off so I fragged it, maybe 10-15 polyps and was called out later), which honestly doesn't make much sense to me if the frag is fairly priced. But yea if you sold to a store... Well their job is to sell and make money, can't really be angry at them for doing that. If a hobbyist did that, frag up a whole colony and charge 4x as much, then he is in it for the money and that isn't right.

someone will whine about everything. If that was the case, I don't see a problem with it. If it was mentioned because it's a steady case then maybe a red flag. Just remember it is frowned upon because this forum has some pretty good vendors. I just wish we had a little more options in the nnj area.