Does your LFS get mad about returned livestock?

mine takes things back but u only get 50% of what they sell it for...

 

My LFS doesn't take returns on livestock dead or alive because it's such a small shop (literally small, like the 10 feet wide and maybe 60 feet long) they don't want to risk anything becoming ill since I think all the tanks are all connected to two or three massive sumps.

They do however take trades on occasions depending on how much they trust you aren't trying to get rid of a deadly diseased fish and then you get half of the cost of your trade as store credit.

They let me trade my bullying Cleaner Shrimp for an Acan colony of the same quality and price since I've bought from them so much. Great way to get a one-for-one trade. $25 shrimp for a $25 acan colony :

 

My LFS has a 7 day return policy on its livestock. If your live stock dies within that time you can return it for full refund. And if you dont like what you bought within 7 days you can return for a store credit (assuming it is still in good shape).

 

I'm curious as to what the prices are of their livestock that their margin is so low that they cannot issue a refund/ credit due to that "reason"? are they located in an area that's hard to get livestock for some reason? Do they sell their livestock at ridiculously low prices?

I'm not saying that they're lying or anything, and I don't know their situation, But live stock is one of if not THE highest marked up Item in a fish store. So, it just seems odd that they would give that as their reason, but for people who don't know, I guess it makes sense since no one is gonna argue with " I cannot do it due to the fact that my margin is too low on this item."


anyways, Just wondering....

 

I dont think you see the full picture of pricing. For every 2 chromis he brings in, one dies. Theres the loss ratio built into the price of any fish you find. Plus, Ive seen the prices, and theyre not "super marked up" by any means on their own merit, let alone accounting for loss of every sort. Compare it to jewelry, a true ultra high margin industry.

Sent from a phone.

 

I have multiple wholesale price lists in front of me, three different major west coast distributors. The prices between them are mostly within cents of each other. I'm not gonna give out actual prices, but A chromis costs next to nothing compared to what they sell for in a fish store. I fully understand the loss associated, But even with a 50% loss rate, the cost of having the livestock shipped in, and housing the fish, the markup is still high.

Pet solutions sells a chromis for $13.99 !!!! that is outrageous!
Live aquaria sells the same chromis for $6.99!!!, huge price difference!

That probably has you thinking that Live aquaria probably only makes a few cents rather than dollars off the chromis, but sells a lot more than pet solutions, so they make their money back by selling more volume. nope. Live aquaria still makes Dollars, not cents off every chromis and still more than you are probably thinking. not only that, but I believe that most of their live stock is trans-shipped, therefore eliminating the middle man ( distributor) so, The prices they get live stock for is even lower than wholesale live stock prices from distributors that the LFS's would use and the prices that I'm referencing ...

Fish stores are very expensive to run. If there wasn't a huge markup on livestock, there would be even less around than there are already. Dry goods is another story. The markup on dry goods is a lot less. Fish stores make most of their profits from Fish and coral. Coral Wholesale is Cheap as well, but fish is the real money maker. Coral wholesalers even have somewhat of an "MSRP" You are not allowed to buy coral from them if you are going to sell it at too low of a price. This is because the markup is so high, you could buy some and sell it for cheap and put every one out of business. They need to keep the margins high to account for loss and to make the money required to sustain a LFS, Which in turn, sustains the wholesalers, all while making a profit.

The only thing I'm saying, is if he is using the "low margin" as an excuse, it's a poor one. He has every right to not accept returns or exchanges, But it sounds like he's trying to justify why he doesn't by making an excuse. But like I said, I don't know his situation, he may have a super expensive lease, pay an outrageously high price for electricity, so, therefore that makes the margin on the fish low for HIM, but saying the margin on the fish is too low is just not true. Unless he's being ripped off by his supplier.

You mind me asking what he charges for his chromis? Because like I said, maybe he sales them at very low price. If so, that could be why his margin is low, as he claims. Or maybe he doesn't have alot of business lately? But if that were so, and his margin were as low as he's claiming, then he wouldn't be in business any more..


Like I said... not saying he's lying and I'm not looking for a debate, I'm already tired of typing.. I'm just curious as to why his margin is so low. That's all.

 

I can tell you he walks away with far less than dollars for a chromis. I may not have been clear in that I meant profit margin rather than gross margin (as you assumed), but I know that 1/3rd of chromis die (due to shoddy collection practices), and he pays a very substantial amount (relative to the price of a chromis) to get them shipped to him. I'm not going to go into the exact numbers, as I have no idea who you are TBH, and they're kinda a trade secret, but rest assured that his margin is not nearly as large as the margin you attribute to BlueZoo or LA.

He keeps his prices at or lower than LA, without having the advantages of trans shipments (he refuses to deal with those wholesalers altogether), scale, or direct connections to every island in the Pacific. He's a 10' by 60' store in NJ.

 

yes, profit margin is a whole other story.. tons of factors to consider for that.

and yes, I agree, there is no reason for exact numbers. I already have access to all that info anyways. That is why I was wondering,with the prices I'm looking at, there shouldn't be a problem as far as returns or exchanges IF he chose to do that. that is why I was curious what he was doing different? If he was saying it was becasue of his margin, I was curious as to why that was...

If his prices are at or lower than live aquaria and he has to pay for a storefront with nowhere near the customers and traffic of LA then it all makes sense.

Actually, I give the guy some credit if that's what he's doing. It's not often you see a LFS with prices that can compete with big online stores.

anyways, that's all I was wondering. Thanks for the explanation.