Swap Feedback

[DEL]

since this is my first swap..i really cant compare it and make any suggestions..however..i must say that i had a lot of fun..i met a lot of new people..made new friends..learned a lot..got a lot of advice from real reefers..and didnt go broke!! i was really surprised when the food arrived..i had my wallet out and was asking people how much for the food..i was shocked when they said it was FREE!! and it was a variety!! i had pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and soda!! if you ask me..that was worth my admission charge..though it was hot..it was cooler inside than outside..i thought the size of the room was just right..ive been to events where you dont really focus anymore because your feet are hurting..and all you can think of is where can you sit..there were more than enough chairs..the vendors had beautiful setups..and it wasnt so crazy that you had to stand in a line for half an hour just to see some frags..i want to say thank you to all the vendors..thank you to all the reefers..and most especially..thank you to everyone who put it together..you can bet the i will be at the next swap..if its closer to me..ill try to volunteer..before i forget..i think the fragging demo should be done in a small room where the demonstrator stands on some sort of higher platform so everyone can see..but that was the least of my concerns..i give this swap 2 thumbs wayyyyy up!!!!!!!!!


DEL
:tub:


p.s.
the best part about MR is the members..everyone was so friendly in that place!!

 

[tosiek]

First thing i would like to say was the swap was great, nice to see everyones faces again, met new ones, oogled over really nice coral and equipment, listened to great speakers. It was a great event with great people that all had smiles on their faces from nice finds in the vendor tanks =0)

anyways, here are some problems/good things from what i noticed:

Help - I've always stayed for the after clean up and tried to make it the night before for a few to do something. This year very little showed up the day before for setup, and as daisy's post explained, not many stayed behind, including me but i had previous engagements otherwise i would have been. The day help was amazing. More help it seemed, and i didn;t hear kathy complain about not seeing the vendor tanks yet at noon =)

Auctions - There has to be a better way to do it. Get even a handful with pictures sent in beforehand is better than none at all. Maybe if we had a tank set up for the sole purpose of putting the donated auction coral in to take a quick pic the morning of or before the auction? Only problem i have with the auction is that it is a fund raising event during the swap for the website, and right now its a really good way to get cheap nice coral if you know what your bidding on, which leaves out alot of people who might not have seen or know the name, ect. I don't know if MR made money or is in the red for the swap, but having a slightly larger income base for the swap makes it alot easier to host larger events which looks like MR is ready for member wise.

As far as space and size of the places, i don't think we can get rid of the pratt swap. Randy's tanks are nothign to laugh about and give a nice depth to the swap with the tours. More swaps, smaller scale, less selling and more trading i can see more as the next step over larger bigger events though.

Vendor/non vendors - I think there should be a higher price of admission for people selling things at the swap. 1-2 frags are fine but some people had as much as some of the vendors =0) This is the best place to unload overgrowth and trimming, which is why non vendor sales are so high. Also, the majority of people selling im sure won't find new things they don't have from other members that don't have what they are selling anyways so the majority of non vendors can only trade for cash. I don't know if the non vendors made nice donations to MR or not but it would be nice if they gave back somehow. Also, i agree with wingo with a separate area like the vendors have for them to set up. Make it easier to find people that way instead of crowd searching and give more seats to people looking to rest up from the heat or eat and watch the auction/raffle.

Other than that i think the only thing missing from the large swaps is equipment demo's like the ecotech vortek tank and some more demo's like what someone mentioned about the photography from our members.

 

[Chongpark27]

i had a great time

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

First thing i would like to say was the swap was great, nice to see everyones faces again, met new ones, oogled over really nice coral and equipment, listened to great speakers. It was a great event with great people that all had smiles on their faces from nice finds in the vendor tanks =0)

anyways, here are some problems/good things from what i noticed:

Help - I've always stayed for the after clean up and tried to make it the night before for a few to do something. This year very little showed up the day before for setup, and as daisy's post explained, not many stayed behind, including me but i had previous engagements otherwise i would have been. The day help was amazing. More help it seemed, and i didn;t hear kathy complain about not seeing the vendor tanks yet at noon =)

Auctions - There has to be a better way to do it. Get even a handful with pictures sent in beforehand is better than none at all. Maybe if we had a tank set up for the sole purpose of putting the donated auction coral in to take a quick pic the morning of or before the auction? Only problem i have with the auction is that it is a fund raising event during the swap for the website, and right now its a really good way to get cheap nice coral if you know what your bidding on, which leaves out alot of people who might not have seen or know the name, ect. I don't know if MR made money or is in the red for the swap, but having a slightly larger income base for the swap makes it alot easier to host larger events which looks like MR is ready for member wise.

As far as space and size of the places, i don't think we can get rid of the pratt swap. Randy's tanks are nothign to laugh about and give a nice depth to the swap with the tours. More swaps, smaller scale, less selling and more trading i can see more as the next step over larger bigger events though.

Vendor/non vendors - I think there should be a higher price of admission for people selling things at the swap. 1-2 frags are fine but some people had as much as some of the vendors =0) This is the best place to unload overgrowth and trimming, which is why non vendor sales are so high. Also, the majority of people selling im sure won't find new things they don't have from other members that don't have what they are selling anyways so the majority of non vendors can only trade for cash. I don't know if the non vendors made nice donations to MR or not but it would be nice if they gave back somehow. Also, i agree with wingo with a separate area like the vendors have for them to set up. Make it easier to find people that way instead of crowd searching and give more seats to people looking to rest up from the heat or eat and watch the auction/raffle.

Other than that i think the only thing missing from the large swaps is equipment demo's like the ecotech vortek tank and some more demo's like what someone mentioned about the photography from our members.

I had a great time... however, i do agree with tony 100%. For the vendors it isnt really fair.
I was surprised to see how many frags non vendors brought and the cash exchange that was going on...

 

[DevIouS]

I had a great time... however, i do agree with tony 100%. For the vendors it isnt really fair.
I was surprised to see how many frags non vendors brought and the cash exchange that was going on...

Coming from a vendor I can understand where this comment is coming from...


It should no longer be called a "Swap" then...?

 

[pnoyreefer]

I agree with tony that people selling from their own tank should donate more or pay more.. I know I did .. and its only fair that everyone should be treated fair and not only selected one's....

 

[inkblue]

i tHink peeps (non-vendors) seLLing DAILY should be required to pay a fee to MR PERIOD !

:sigh:

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

Well i think maybe like someone mentioned before. There should be a frag swap for members only 1 time out of the year but it should be limited to swapping or presale? Maybe we could call the frag swap(with vendors) a coral conference?

 

[michaelp]

It is called MANHATTAN reefs, so Pace had one advantage over Pratt. It was in manhattan!

 

[Galantra]

Well this was my first swamp I personally liked it, yes the heat is unbearable for me since i was sweating. Unsure if it was better earlier on the day since i walked in at 1 and was told there was more people. Maybe the mood changed? i kind of felt it wasn't really friendly specially being my first time and i been asked bout 5 times if i am a football player(I PLAY NO SPORTS:biggrin
Having the food in another area would of been nice to see there were alot of chairs why?. I was really looking forward in seeing equipment and more information on running equipment properly or some setup demos.
The non-members selling frags I was kind of confused about this. Some people were very aggresive to move there frags maybe there should be an area set for them to sell them. I was looking at some vendors corals to be asked by a non member that he is selling the same frag thats kind of rude to the vendor that is there

 

[finksmart]

I see many advantages for non-vendor selling. It is the non-vendor sellers that drive MR and make it what it is. Why would you charge someone for selling stuff for a great deal that's been a proven piece from their tank that they baby and take care of? Do you not want great deals? For those vendors that complain about fairness don't forget selling here and at the Swap is a privilege, otherwise why would you pay money to be able to sell here? So I for one disagree with charging non-vendor sellers. And do you really think anyone can make money selling frags? At most they make back some money they spent on the corals, let alone equipment and husbandry expenses.

 

[JHOV2324]

Geez it was hot in there and a little messy but to call it a swamp...thats too much :lol2:

 

[JHOV2324]

Finksmart you wud be surprised at how much money one can make selling corals from your tank :shhh:

 

[inkblue]

Finksmart you wud be surprised at how much money one can make selling corals from your tank :shhh:

Amen. PeopLe wHo argue that they don't maKe monEy off from coraLs usuaLLy the one seLLing most.

if you don't belive mE, search the person's statS... you'll see they be seLLing a LOT. now teLL me they not maKing money of that ?

 

[finksmart]

Go ahead search me. But I also buy a lot.

Of course I'm so filthy rich off of dealing corals.

 

[Deanos]

:backtotop

 

[finksmart]

My only complain is that I had to leave early and missed out on the Pratt reef tank.

 

[JHOV2324]

I told one lady to go check out the tour with her kids..when she got back she gave me a big "THank you" "that was amazing"

Kudos Randy

 

[tosiek]

I see many advantages for non-vendor selling. It is the non-vendor sellers that drive MR and make it what it is. Why would you charge someone for selling stuff for a great deal that's been a proven piece from their tank that they baby and take care of? Do you not want great deals? For those vendors that complain about fairness don't forget selling here and at the Swap is a privilege, otherwise why would you pay money to be able to sell here? So I for one disagree with charging non-vendor sellers. And do you really think anyone can make money selling frags? At most they make back some money they spent on the corals, let alone equipment and husbandry expenses.

Not trying to cause trouble, and not saying every non vendor is at fault or abusing a little. Im not attacking anyone, its just something i noticed that seemed off about it all. And thank links to future swaps, with more non vendors selling more frags, ect, that might or might not happen.

Something you want to ask yourself Finksmart....why not have the vendors just not buy tables at the event and do what all the other people are doing by bringing everything bagged, presell everything on the boards, and just give stuff out to people from the seating that was set up for members attending to enjoy? Is there really a difference?

People selling 5 or 6 or even as much as 20 frags that is extra growth and want to pass along a rare and nice coral to members thats cheaper than online or store prices is one thing, but members at this swap and the past might have easily had Dr. Macs number of frags at the swap and sold them at retail prices for the frags. 6 months growth and fragging with 1" pieces on a coral can add up to around 200-500$ and thats per coral. And im sure some wholesalers snuck in a swap or two without paying table prices.

I sold alot of frags one year, and that money went straight to vendors, the auction, other non vendors for frags i wanted that i wouldn't have gotten if i straight swapped that same coral for another coral from another member. So, in a way non vendor sales are sort of needed and should be acceptable. But that turns into another conversation about a "swap" beeing a "swap" and is hard to make a descision on because it further alienates certain people due to tank limitations, collection, ect. Its really hard to swap for a nice coral when you only have button polyps and brown zoa's.

Its really hard to say "if your selling something at the swap u need to donate or pay a higher price". Its also hard to set a standard on how much is allowable, or how much should be allowable. Or if it should be just forgotten and allowed during the swaps. There are a few non vendors that donated alot, will donate, help with events and things on the site which complicates it even more.

I dont know. its a really hard topic to make a descision on. My concern was that there should be some sort of unrequired "Thank You" involved bu people and people should be realizing it if they are going to be largely using MR as a marketplace over a social knowledge base of reefing information for the north east coast. I think the site did a good thing not having the marketplace on the front page.

 

[finksmart]

why not have the vendors just not buy tables at the event and do what all the other people are doing by bringing everything bagged, presell everything on the boards, and just give stuff out to people from the seating that was set up for members attending to enjoy? Is there really a difference?

There's a difference. They acquired their stock in bulk at wholesale prices. We are selling frags grown from frags we acquired at retail prices unless bought from other members. And that's the key

but members at this swap and the past might have easily had Dr. Macs number of frags at the swap and sold them at retail prices for the frags. 6 months growth and fragging with 1" pieces on a coral can add up to around 200-500$ and thats per coral. And im sure some wholesalers snuck in a swap or two without paying table prices.

If that's the case you shouldn't be buying from them. But I haven't seen any cases where members sell frags at retail prices. I have nothing against vendors I actually bought frags from vendors such as OGII and Manhattan Aquarium to name a few at both Swap. Aside from Swap, I often frequent them on a regular basis.

But you did hit a good point. If you're selling then someone is buying. If you're buying you're probably also selling, unless you're just starting out like I did at the last Swap. No one is losing or making money here. You sell to offset the cost from buying. But you don't make money unless you buy bulk at wholesale prices and sell at crazy mark up (think ORA). That's where vendors come in. They need to do that in order to stay in business. We, the members, do this as a hobby and have a full-time job that pays our bill and the hobby. If we could make money selling corals we would have quit our job and become a vendor.