Selling to a local fish store. Fair pricing?

[Gator2019]

I made a post last week about selling to my local fish store. I traded 6-8 1” Kenyan tree frags that had fallen off of my mine tree and I got $6 store credit. While I was there I saw they had a 3”-4” blue throat trigger and that has been a fish I have wanted for a while. It was going for around $60.

I have two large Kenyan trees in my tank right now and they are growing unbelievable fast. I thought about selling one of them to get more store credit for the trigger. I just measured the Kenyan tree and it is 6”x5” and about the size of a quarter thick. I wanted to know how much do you guys think is fair. I also have a 2” circular disk of green star polyp that I used to start my population, but now I have more than I need. What would that be worth? Basically my goal is from here moving forward to only spend wha I make on my tank, on new things. Kinda limit my spending in a way. Hope this would be enough to get the trigger.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Fair is pretty much whatever they offer. It's hard to haggle on fast growing softies. The LFS near me won't give you anything for Kenya, Xenia, GSP, Anthellia...

 

[Gator2019]

Fair is pretty much whatever they offer. It's hard to haggle on fast growing softies. The LFS near me won't give you anything for Kenya, Xenia, GSP, Anthellia...

The first time I went in they gave me $1 per Kenyan tree when they were 1”-2”. I went in there today to see how much they would give me for the colony of the 8” Kenyan tree and they said $6. That seemed like a joke or not really efficient on my part, so I will use the colony to keep making the frags and sell small ones instead to the store or to local hobbyists.

 

[GK3]

The first time I went in they gave me $1 per Kenyan tree when they were 1”-2”. I went in there today to see how much they would give me for the colony of the 8” Kenyan tree and they said $6. That seemed like a joke or not really efficient on my part, so I will use the colony to keep making the frags and sell small ones instead to the store or to local hobbyists.

I agree with Bob. Unfortunately you are talking about fast growing softies. A lot of people won’t put Xenia, GSP, or Kenya tree in their tank because they grow so fast and take over entire tanks. They aren’t rare at all and are sometimes considered the weed of the aquarium world. So from an LFS’s perspective, they don’t really want to buy a ton of this stuff. Honestly a 1 inch frag of Kenyan tree for $1, doesn’t sound too ridiculous.

If you really want to do the “grow out corals, use this to get more, new corals” thing. You’ll want to grab different corals that are more desirable. My suggestion would to use the Kenyan frags to get another coral - grow that coral out and then get your fish. My two cents.

 

[GK3]

The first time I went in they gave me $1 per Kenyan tree when they were 1”-2”. I went in there today to see how much they would give me for the colony of the 8” Kenyan tree and they said $6. That seemed like a joke or not really efficient on my part, so I will use the colony to keep making the frags and sell small ones instead to the store or to local hobbyists.

I assume you are in Gainesville, are you talking about Aquatropics?

 

[AcroCrush]

lol, I have the same problem with store credit and the SPS that I propagate, they just don't what to give credit for what it is worth. Additionally, it seems like the LFS would rather buy from distributors with poor quality frags than to buy from locally sourced aquaculture stock. Were is the reward? I have a friend that is starting his own coral aquaculture farm and the local shops are not interested in making him a supplier. Even though he is an official business entity now and in the past they took his coral for store credit. Now that he would be doing cash business with them they don't want it.

 

[XBoxxyX]

A place of business will make more money off of a individual with store credit.

-only giving store credit
Forces the individual to "buy" items from store leading to more profit from the items sold for store credit

Store owners know hobbiest will use their credit and not let "money go out window"

If frags don't have prices and just a number tag store owner will mark up prices knowing you are wanting to use that Credit. $20 dollar frags is now $30 store purchased from Jim Bob for $5 store credit

Paying cash or check

More paperwork 1099 over $500

LFS losses all that mark up on the mark up for store credit frags

Individual can take the cash and go to the rival LFS and support them

Better for us.


Ime: I take my frags in to my LFS knowing what the pieces are worth, take 50-60% less get cash say $250 or $300 in store credit. Always request more if offered store credit. A place of business would not be open long if there's no profit margin


I give my LFS frags of my sinularia and Kenya trees,. It's either give to and support my small-town LFS or pay my trashman every 3 months to take to the landfill

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I agree that unfortunately you are trading in fast growing corals that can actually become a nuisance for some people so you're not going to get offered a lot for them. So most LFS won't offer a lot for them, so I don't believe you would get $60 to buy the blue throat.

From my experience, an LFS will not offer more than 50% of what they think they can get for a coral/fish. So the nicer the coral the more you will get.

 

[VSVP bet]

I have really good relations with an LFS. I sell SPS frags to them (usually 20-30 evey couple months) but I always take store credit. I really dont care about making money off the corals. I collect credit to buy expensive frags/colonies. Helps offset my addiction to reefing. Usually they offer me 1/3 of what they would see the frag for, and since my colonies grow out of control and I need to frag them to keep my tank in order, it always seems like a good deal to get decent money for excess.

I also give them softies, but some are neon green nepthea, weeping willow toad stool frags, and neon green toad stool frags. I usually get good money for those. Perhaps try to grow different softies. Any of the more 'colorful' ones are just as easy to grow as kenya tree, and you will get more in return.

 

[alton]

My LFS I get
$10 for a small frag of Neon GSP ($300 so far this year)
$5 per mushroom
$12.5 for a 2 head Frogspawn ($500 this year)
Kenyan Trees I give for free, no color in a tank only good for nutrient export
Typical they sell my frags for twice the price they paid just like anything else in the store.

 

[cracker]

Usually the LFs will be happy to take softies . They can sell them easily to beginners. Don't expect much for them though . The owner is a business man trying to keep his doors open .

 

[acro-ed]

I assume you are in Gainesville, are you talking about Aquatropics?

Not sure if he's indeed talking about that store, but many years ago I did very well selling them Xenia about once a month.

It boils down to what they can sell and for how much (same for any LFS). If they know they can sell a few Kenya Trees they are probably putting them in a $5 bin and they know they won't all sell right away. So they are paying you a little low because the margin is so tiny and they are wasting space sitting on more than a couple at a time. It is what it is.

Something that has a better margin and sells quickly would command a better trade-in rate. For example, it seems like many LPS corals and pretty zoas/shrooms always do well because they will sell easily and for more money than Kenya Tree and star polyp. Both of those will have very low trade value at most any fish store. Don't take it personally; they are running a business and know where the value makes sense for them.

Hope that helps,
Ed