Does WWC truly randomize their coral frag packs?

[TheOneWhoIsThere]

I am tempted to buy the zoa frag pack because it is on sale at $60. Do they just give me the cheapest ones or do they actually randomize it?

 

[Brad Miller]

I've bought 2 of their Zoa frag packs and an Aussie lord one too, not too long ago.
All of the frags I received were some pretty nice ones, but the lords were not the colorful ones with names, just what they wanted to ship of the lower grades...Don't get me wrong, I was completely satisfied with all of the ones from WWC and still am.

Except...while in my quarantine tank;
one frag had bubble algae
another had hair algae
and one had Bryopsis

They gave me a credit and said that should have been caught before being shipped.

Take a look at my build thread below and see what Zoas are listed, they are the ones I got from them.

 

[stacksoner]

I am tempted to buy the zoa frag pack because it is on sale at $60. Do they just give me the cheapest ones or do they actually randomize it?

IMO, if a merchant is so precise with inventory that they sell single polyps on frag plugs for $100+....there is no chance that they're also careless enough to give it away in a blindly selected discounted bundle promo.

This is a sucker's bet. Look at how they detail everything about their products. They can easily sell bundles for a discount. And they can take two minutes to show you exactly what you're getting. But when they create an aura of mystery, we start believing that there's a possibility of getting lucky, like finding an elusive rookie card in a pack of baseball cards. There's nobody over there walking around with a blindfold on picking out selections for a frag pack. They don't tell you what you're getting in the frag pack because they know that nobody would buy it if they did.

To clarify from their site:

"You will receive one 2-3+ polyp live coral frag of 5 different Zoanthid corals from our facility."

This is a poorly worded offer. They are offering just one frag plug with 2-3 different polyps on it. There are 5 different types of zoas that they specifically use to make this 2-3 polyp assortment from.

 

[ccurnick]

I’m a member of their gold coral club.. and I got a king Fiji Acro which they retail at almost $200 on their site...

 

[stacksoner]

I’m a member of their gold coral club.. and I got a king Fiji Acro which they retail at almost $200 on their site...

Isn't that the deal they offer? $200/mo subscription fee gets you $450/mo worth of coral from their site?

 

[ccurnick]

Essentially yes, but even with that I was shocked at the quality pieces I received.

 

[stacksoner]

Essentially yes, but even with that I was shocked at the quality pieces I received.

I love this concept and think it's a step right direction. Good things happen when vendor and consumer interests are closely aligned for long term success.

 

[ccurnick]

They even look at your past orders to make decisions about what to send you. I was very impressed. Can’t wait for the next two shipments!

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

I bought a 5 pack for $99. I received my clementines, vivid rainbow, funny ds, bob marleys, and yellow brick road however i bought yellow brick road and bob marley singles with the same order so endes up with doubles. They said they would send me a "really nice free frag with my next order" I agreed, however my next order didnt come with a free frag. They gave me a $50 gift card. I used it at the next live sale and bought some ebay items to be shipped at same time. Got my order and one of the frags was a totally different zoa and the ebay items were not in the box. They refunded the zoa and shipped the ebay items. I also received bubble algae on a frag. I am 0 for 3 with wwc, not sure I will order from them again. I guess I just expected more for the prices they charge.

 

[408Dartfish]

I got a 99$ Zoa pack 4 months back came with blue eyed blonde, bob Marley, blue watermelon, gatorades, darth mauls.

 

[Waters]

I agree with @slewrock1 ...they aren't going to include anything that is going to lose them money. On the other hand, they aren't being deceitful....they are randomly shipping frags...but they are being pulled from the lower end stuff normally.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I would guess they are always going to be shipping out whatever grows best for them so they still have as much stock as possible. They aren't going to send you the last of any of their nice corals thats for sure. I don't really see the point in it, its really just catering to how things are evolving in the hobby. There aren't enough corals coming in from the wild so they are having to make up new ways to get rid of their cheaper stock thats always available that no one buys much of.
Personally I always want to choose every single coral that goes into my tank unless I am getting a box of acropora straight from the country it was collected in. She stuff is that cheap for colonies I don't mind. Its really cool they hand out credits for algae on frag plugs though, but thats how they keep the customers they need.