Quote:
Originally posted by Big E
I'm not sure I buy this........the fish that come from there aren't priced out of control like this & they live in captivity, not like their miserable indo counterparts. This is somthing I'm willing to pay a premium for.
I'm not complaining about Acan prices.......I just happen to pull them up on the web after I saw Spstoner's collection. It was comical to me to see what's being charged & all this rare one of a kind talk.......people are so gullable.
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Just so we are clear, I got almost all of my colonies from an eBay vendor for NOWHERE near these prices being discussed. There are good deals out there from vendors who are just looking to make an honest markup. (are you calling me gullable, Ed?
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Seriously, the Aussie exporters are jacking the prices up for sure. The freight costs from Australia are insane no doubt, just go to FedEx website and get a quote to ship a box there) but the corals themselves are way higher to start with.
Andrewkw- One of the big differences here in the States is there is an extra markup between import and end consumer. In Canada, you as the hobbyist deal directly with the importer for your corals ( NAFB, RR, etc) In the States, it is much more difficult, if not impossible for retailers to import directly. They buy their Aussies from a wholesaler/ importer who adds his own markup, and may in fact be cutting up some of the large colonies (don't know if this is true, just guessing). I have seen the wholesale price list and the only sub-$100 on the list were the small size Lords, and this is without freight / handling charges from Australia, which the wholesaler passes along to the LFS.