open challenge to livestock vendors

[michealprater]

Everyone would love a vendor who could meet the following criteria. So this is a open challenge to all vendors out there to meet. Whoever does so will be guarenteed to get the most business and will be plastered all over all the boards. Members: if I left a example out go ahead and post it. Let the vendors know what we, the customers want.

www.wctropicalmarine.com 's price match guarentee and customer service.

www.exoticfish.com 's 9 corals for $99

www.fishsupply.com 's low fish prices

www.saltwaterfish.com 's free shipping after $75

www.liveaquaria.com 's 10 day guarentee

[Geoffrey3029]

Forwarning ... You get what you pay for. By going cheap sometimes quality is sacraficed but you "got the good deal" just my 2 cents. Good luck.

Geoffrey

[winnona15]

with competition on the internet soo tight and product prices high as well as shipping costing an arm and a leg i doubt it if any vendor could compose all of those selections into one piece. it would be nice very nice if they could but hearing comments from vendors here on CF i doubt if it will happen. but who knows it may.

[mdmaquatic]

WOW...what an unfair amount of ideals to live up too. Why should we online vendors take on such a challenge?? To do so would require you to make nothing, almost give it away. Why can't hobbyists see we are in this to make a profit? Do you guys think we buy eevrything dirt cheap and artificially raise the prices and are getting rich off of this?? Absolutely not. I sell great stuff and i have spent the money on good systems to provide great critters. That costs money, shipping and loses cost money. And now the hobbyists want us to make nothing so they can have a good deal....Without us you would not have anything to buy...right?? So why keep pushing everyone to the point that we can no longer survive?? Just my 2 cents on this ridiculous idea.

[FishinInTheDark]

First of all: Welcome michealprater! Glad to have you on the forum!

Just for arguments sake: If you think about it: each vendor has their "hook" just as listed above. They are giving you a deal here but making up for it there. Low shipping for inflated livestock prices. Low livestock prices but you pay actual shipping or more. How could you have both? If they are charging rock bottom prices on livestock AND paying shipping, how will they ever stay in business?

I do agree that we should demand good customer service of every single vendor. I can tell you that one of the major suppliers out there wronged me, and I will forever pay more for supplies instead of giving them my money. I can also tell you that there are suppliers that are not necessarily the cheapest who have taken care of me who will always get my money.

Just my $.02 which is worth even less!

[mdmaquatic]

Conni i could not have said it better myself. The idea is to make a profit and stay in business. Hopefully to make enough money to make a living and reinvest into the business also, so we may carry the best and most diverse amount of livestock available. I also don't think that people realize how much shipping and losses add up for retailers. Right now i'd be happy if i could break even from all my costs. someday it'd be nice to make enough profit to actually do it full time. That is why so many of us do this only as a part time business, basically working two jobs. Also Customer service to me would be worth the extra money, i may not be the cheapest, but i think you can vouch conni, that i will go out of my way, within reason, to make the customer happy.

[FishinInTheDark]

I will vouch for MDM. He is actually one of the vendors to which I was referring. HelloLights impressed me today too. I would so much rather send my money to good people who treat me like a person instead of a credit card.

[cich1]

I agree i like a bargin as much as anyone but to me quality and service is much more important than price

[jman785]

[quote]www.wctropicalmarine.com 's price match guarentee and customer service.

www.exoticfish.com 's 9 corals for $99

www.fishsupply.com 's low fish prices

www.saltwaterfish.com 's free shipping after $75

www.liveaquaria.com 's 10 day guarentee[/quote

The only way you could offer the ones you quoted above, is if you had basically no overhead to pay...employee's, taxes, bills (power, water, phone, etc). You must take all this into account. If I want to sell 5 Yellow Tangs, just think, I bought them before I sold them to you...so if one dies before I sell it, I've lost money, unless the other 4 have such a good price hike, I can recover off of the lost fish and come out equal making nothing, and still having overhead to pay.
:whistle:

Here is a good offer from exoticfish.com

5 for the price of 4
Select any five products within Soft Corals and the lowest priced item out of the five is free!

That is off of Jeff's Exotic Fish website.

This would be easy to satisfy normally...it also depends if your selling frags or whole colonies....keep all of this in mind as well, as far as your 'deals' go.

[gman0526]

I'm with you guys on this we as costumers seem to forget completely that vendors are workers just like most of us, they opened a business to MAKE $$$ not to have you stock a tank with cheap corals/fish, etc.

Thankfully there's a lot of vendors out there that actually care and enjoy our hobby and were hobbyist at a certain point so they understand where we are coming from, but let's not forget they have to make a living too.

And remember if you're not happy with certain vendor/business take your $$$ elsewhere that's the best way to deal with this, not by player-hating a business because you had a bad experience with them there might be 1000's of other customers that actually had a great experience with them, not 2 situations are the same.

JMHO

[raynoldsk]

The OP was a drive-by from back in April.