tinman
Well-known member
i thought i wouldn’t post but here i am and my take on it.
Different ppl like hobby for different reasons, be it for money, for colors, for show off for the challenge etc etc .. But there is love for the hobby nonetheless without which **** won’t live thru and all anyone can sell is dead corals. With the amount of research and effort we put into this hobby there are other ways that gives us much more return than selling corals if the same effort and knowledge is applied.
Now another point of view.
when corals are ok pricey like say $50 for a couple of eyes of chalice, its ok and not bank breaking but then comes a cool kid posting pics of his ultra le chalice (chalice is only an example) at $1000 an eye and some if not many would be awed by the colors and its looks (and i bet that $1000 an eye piece does look better than $50 piece and hence the price) and start searching for ways to get it but if he buys it and breaks bank chances are his wife would kill him and how many corals can anyone afford at that price anyways ? So one way is to get that chalice in hopes of selling half of it for $500 when it grows so he will be out only $500 but then comes another piece with different colors and this $500 plus some more goes into that new piece so now he waits for them both to grow so he won’t be risking too much. This vicious cycle of selling and buying never ends and hence you see that guy selling his ultra le rainbow chalices and all we think is what a d-bag for that prices .. But the thing we are forgetting is he spent a grand (risked it) when others didn’t and its paying him.
Is it bad for the hobby? HELL NO, it’s actually good for the hobby
Cause if there is no buyer for the initial $1000 piece from a vendor we would never have seen all the ultra-colors we are seeing today cause there is no drive for the search for that kind of corals by vendors, there is no drive for the equipment makers cause no one buys their high end radions if not for displaying all these colorful corals and advantage to fellow reefers cause that same coral is available for them from a fellow reefer who lives in the city so they can go look at it and decide and save the coral from shipping stress and get it at a much cheaper price.
Jaw breakers for example are $500 when they came in initially, now they are at an ok price of $100 apiece. Now if the initial fellow didn’t buy it for $500 would we have seen that same coral for $100 today? I bet not.
And finally about ppl who are setting up home shops. i seriously doubt even if 5% of that kind really make a living out of it. We are only seeing the coral they are selling. i bet for every couple of pieces they sell they have coral deaths (loss in their terms) that no one talks about and then comes the maintainance costs and the time and effort again.
LFS have connections and suppliers from across the world which makes them get coral and fish way cheaper than ANY home seller, their overhead is higher but but their margins are also higher. i seriously doubt any home vendor does that.
Phew !!! sorry for the long post but to answer ops question, there is no Straight cash without the love for hobby atleast in case of reefing. They may love money more than hobby but love for hobby is still there and I personally am ok with ppl setting up home shops.
Different ppl like hobby for different reasons, be it for money, for colors, for show off for the challenge etc etc .. But there is love for the hobby nonetheless without which **** won’t live thru and all anyone can sell is dead corals. With the amount of research and effort we put into this hobby there are other ways that gives us much more return than selling corals if the same effort and knowledge is applied.
Now another point of view.
when corals are ok pricey like say $50 for a couple of eyes of chalice, its ok and not bank breaking but then comes a cool kid posting pics of his ultra le chalice (chalice is only an example) at $1000 an eye and some if not many would be awed by the colors and its looks (and i bet that $1000 an eye piece does look better than $50 piece and hence the price) and start searching for ways to get it but if he buys it and breaks bank chances are his wife would kill him and how many corals can anyone afford at that price anyways ? So one way is to get that chalice in hopes of selling half of it for $500 when it grows so he will be out only $500 but then comes another piece with different colors and this $500 plus some more goes into that new piece so now he waits for them both to grow so he won’t be risking too much. This vicious cycle of selling and buying never ends and hence you see that guy selling his ultra le rainbow chalices and all we think is what a d-bag for that prices .. But the thing we are forgetting is he spent a grand (risked it) when others didn’t and its paying him.
Is it bad for the hobby? HELL NO, it’s actually good for the hobby
Cause if there is no buyer for the initial $1000 piece from a vendor we would never have seen all the ultra-colors we are seeing today cause there is no drive for the search for that kind of corals by vendors, there is no drive for the equipment makers cause no one buys their high end radions if not for displaying all these colorful corals and advantage to fellow reefers cause that same coral is available for them from a fellow reefer who lives in the city so they can go look at it and decide and save the coral from shipping stress and get it at a much cheaper price.
Jaw breakers for example are $500 when they came in initially, now they are at an ok price of $100 apiece. Now if the initial fellow didn’t buy it for $500 would we have seen that same coral for $100 today? I bet not.
And finally about ppl who are setting up home shops. i seriously doubt even if 5% of that kind really make a living out of it. We are only seeing the coral they are selling. i bet for every couple of pieces they sell they have coral deaths (loss in their terms) that no one talks about and then comes the maintainance costs and the time and effort again.
LFS have connections and suppliers from across the world which makes them get coral and fish way cheaper than ANY home seller, their overhead is higher but but their margins are also higher. i seriously doubt any home vendor does that.
Phew !!! sorry for the long post but to answer ops question, there is no Straight cash without the love for hobby atleast in case of reefing. They may love money more than hobby but love for hobby is still there and I personally am ok with ppl setting up home shops.
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