Best/Worst Purchases Off Amazon?

[Robert Vacchiano]

At those prices I think you would be better to order on line

 

[Amado]

I order everything from amazon.
They have the best customer service.
I am a prime member and on some stuff I get it thesame day.
I have filter socks and chemipure pure on auto refill every month.

 

[AquaART]

Yikes! Y'all have some pricey salt mixes. All of our local fish stores have the 200 Gallon Reef Crystals at 47.99 - $49.99 and Coral Pro 175Gal Buckets at $59.99

 

[Delbert90]

Bought some Kent marine reef nutrient liquids from Amazon.....came on time, but with about half of the product leaked out. They gave me a refund but it was pretty disappointing.

 

[TL Reefs]

We actually sell some of our dry goods on Amazon. It even allows us to get products to customers faster (if they have prime). GFO and DI resin are our best sellers. It's hard to keep it in stock, but we have a full pallet of GFO getting delivered to the Amazon warehouse tonight!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0773RFPJ6

 

[Reefcreators]

Nice to see some fellow pa reefers

 

[pharazon]

You can find great deals at local stores. I get instant ocean for 32.99 for the 200 gallon box here in Pa. Hidden Reef

Levittown represent!

 

[Forsaken77]

Like someone else said, Amazon is best for media, supplements and food type items. Because Amazon themselves usually don't carry real aquarium gear, so it's from third party sellers that charge more because they're selling the product and trying to also offset the Amazon fee & shipping. Which is more than you would pay at many other locations locally or online.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

I got those dry rocks as well, worked fine for the time, but I wanted something nicer when I upgraded tanks. One story I like to tell about a amazon purchase was, after I had my 50 setup for about a year, I got a horrible green algae bloom that clouded the entire tank. After several 30% water changes nothing helped. But a $30 UV system with a little carbon filter built in cleaned up the water in under 12 hours. It was amazing, used it until I tore that tank down, and have a new 40W model for my 220 now.

 

[grassy_noel]

I've found good deals on Amazon for Cobalt Neo-Therm heaters (75 watt is $38.96 on Amazon Prime vs $63.19 from a major online reef retailer - 38% less) and on Sicce Syncra Silent pumps (3.0 is $88.99 on Amazon Prime vs $110.99 from a major online reef retailer - 20% less).

Only trouble is I'm concerned that if my heater or pump dies, I'll be out of luck. I've had terrible experiences dealing with Amazon when something goes wrong with a product. They typically send me some vague response saying they're not responsible and to take it up with the "seller". I always thought Amazon was the "seller" but I now understand that's not always the case, and often the "seller" is not nearly as easy to deal with as one of the major online reef retailers. For that reason, I've decided to make all of my future equipment purchases with either my LFS or a reef-specific online retailer like BRS or MD based primarily on my experience with their excellent customer service. Not to mention the value they provide to our hobby with their educational videos, research, product reviews, etc.