Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
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yes
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no
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not sure
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10
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Change Page: 123456 > | Showing page 1 of 6, messages 1 to 20 of 110 - powered by ASPPlayground.NET Forum Trial Version
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Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Saturday, August 24, 2013 9:04 PM
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I was just PMing with another member here about the desirability of establishing a cooperative to sell our fish. We would need someone with connections and marketing skills to promote the idea, and another person who could coordinate who has which fish and how much of each kind, and who would keep track of what was sold by whom to whom, prices, compensation for the breeders, etc., a bookkeeper of sorts. And we would need your fish, preferably something in addition to ocellaris. Shipping could be coordinated by geographic area, and overnight shipping would be desirable. Recently I've learned of a very reasonably priced shipping company in the midwest, that could handle a restricted midwest area, but I'll bet there are other ways to ship as well for the areas outside the midwest. We will have to restrict it to USA only, I am afraid. What do you all think? Would you be interested in joining such a co-op, if it could be put together?
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Saturday, August 24, 2013 9:56 PM
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While I think this is a great idea overall, I answered "not sure" from a personal perspective. Personally, I produce enough fish to distribute locally and I enjoy being able to deliver them to local stores that I am confident selling to. If I was producing a lot more I would definitely need another outlet. The Co-Op idea has been tossed around for a while and it would take a lot of logistical work to make it efficient. If someone could do that it would be great. 
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Saturday, August 24, 2013 11:28 PM
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same here, I am only at a local level, and would need a lot more space to work with before I could manage something on a shipment based level. But love the idea!
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Sunday, August 25, 2013 2:50 PM
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You know my feelings on this issue. I think it's a great idea. But logistics are going to be hard, especially because of distances between breeders.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Sunday, August 25, 2013 7:47 PM
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I wonder if we could arrange a website that would accept orders and contact the breeders needed to fill the orders. Seems like something that technology should be able to do.
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Sunday, August 25, 2013 11:17 PM
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This is a great idea! Obviously I would not be able to participate though.
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 1:48 PM
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Ooh, I always wanted to be part of a Guild (probably cause of all the video games I've played Anything that works with other people that have the same interests as me always interests me, but I don't know if I understand what this would do or how it would work. Can you describe more the process as you see it? Is it just a way to get breeders' fish out to more distant markets or is there something more? From the idea I got from reading the description, I think the easiest way to do it would be to do a website/database that is constantly updated and used to direct shipments/purchases, etc. Or am I thinking of a different idea?
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 7:50 PM
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I think you have the gist of it. I am wondering if we can develop software that inputs from the breeders the kind and numbers of fish they have for sale, and their location, email, preferred shipping company, etc. It would post information of what is available from which the buyers may select according to their needs. Then it would match up the nearest breeder or breeders to the buyer in question, and send information to each, including the shipping cost. Buyers can decide if they like the deal, and if so, the fish are shipped, and the breeders paid. Advantages for the buyer are that he can select from a larger more diverse pool of captive bred fish. A potential disadvantage to the buyer is that he might have to pay multiple shipping costs, which can nix the deal. However, if, as an organization, we bargain with FEDEX, and other shippers, we can negotiate better rates, if the co-op has one account from each vendor for shipping rather than each breeder having a different shipping account. Advantages for the breeder is that he sells more fish than he could without the co-op.
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 7:53 PM
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Another advantage for the breeders is that everyone doesn't have to grow ocellaris. We might be able to make money specializing in something else, rather than having to raise ocellaris to get ones foot in the door, and then something else in addition. It would also allow some of us to try something new and different, and increase the number of marine species in captive production.
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 7:55 PM
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It would require something of a sea change in how buyers get their fish, though. Most store owners/buyers call or fax orders, they don't shop online. We would need someone who knows how to market stuff online.
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 8:02 PM
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I see the multiple shipping costs are going to being a big stopping point for many buyers.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Monday, August 26, 2013 11:35 PM
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I like the idea, as do several others, but I feel something like this would have to be better organized. LiveAquaria and Diver's Den come to mind, their products are under one company name but when you look at it different items ship from different areas (Marine fish from LA are shipped from CA, Diver's Den items shipped from WI, etc.). I have a feeling it could be easier to work out if there were a centralized shipping point for each region, or if it was really big enough one large point. I feel like there could be something there if we could truly organize it, maybe something should be set up for a specific area and see how it works out? I'm just thinking aloud right now... If something like this did start I'd be more than happy to do bookkeeping if I have time between work, school, and fish.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:17 AM
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I'm just thinking (bouncing off of what kt said)... what if there was a couple different regional warehouses that had a 'fleet of breeders' as their suppliers who were simply compensated per fish and housed at one of the central warehouses once they reach resale size. Then major corporations could simply order from one of those warehouses. problems: -breeders fish would have to bought at a low enough cost that the actual warehouse could be not only operational but profitable. this may not actually be enough in the long run to support both breeder and business when you start adding up costs like shipping, feed, housing and QT systems. -Are breeders being compensated for their shipping to one of these facilities? Minimum quantity the warehouse needs to received? -QT systems... with so many different systems these fish are coming from, you would have to have extensive QT systems. Although most of us breeders tend to have pretty nice water quality your bound to run into trouble without. A lot of logistics either way you do this... just bouncing ideas out there too.....
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:43 AM
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I was contacted by a local wholesale company and they only wanted to pay a fraction of what I sell fish for at my LFS's and they wanted them larger and delivered to them at my expense. I've also talked with Kevin at DD and there is quite an extensive process to go through to sell fish through them.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:48 AM
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I like where this is heading, logistics could still be an issue... Problems (addressed, at least in my head lol): 1. My thinking is that the fish not be purchased from the warehouse, that would put the breeders as more of a "fish farm" type of thing. Something that I don't see being extremely beneficial unless the fish are sold in high numbers and breeders can keep up. I was thinking more of it being that each breeder that provides fish is paying a "fair" share of the expenses... Or that a certain percentage made off of each sale would be taken and used to pay expenses. Either way that would add to some already serious bookkeeping I think, and something that would have to be thought about more thoroughly with real-life numbers. 2. Something I will have to sit down and think about while everyone is partying at MACNA.  3. The easiest way, from the POV of the warehouse, would be that each breeder meet and follow through with certain QT procedures/standards. Otherwise it wouldn't be "extensive" per say, but a normal hobbyist QT with many more fish, tanks, and much more water and meds (if needed) involved. I do see some problems from where I sit outside of what has been mentioned. Whether we do it in a way as I brought up, or had a catalog of fish for sale through various parties, there would have to be a way to ensure the highest possible quality fish make it to the buyers. I haven't seen what every hobbyist level breeder has, but I've seen some scary things as far as quality goes coming from ORA. I feel that making sure the quality is high would be extremely difficult to do with a group of breeders (would all depend on how many breeders are involved, as well as how many fish are being moved). This aspect, IMO, is extremely vital, even more so in the beginning. Another problem I see is production. You don't make money when you over produce because you have to keep the excess fish in the tanks and keep them fed. Money isn't made when the demand isn't met either (again, I've heard ORA has "batches" of species outside of their clowns). Don't produce enough and if the demand isn't met soon enough people are likely to move to another source of captive bred specimens or just go with wild caught. Thought I might have had another issue or two, but they wondered off for right now.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:08 AM
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There are 2 types of agricultural co-0ps, or in this case aquacultural co-ops: 1) Purchasing co-op: this is where we/they band together to increase their purchase power. This type of co-op is much easier to accomplish, but would really help the individual members to reduced costs and become more competitive based upon cutting costs of producing fish. 2) Marketing co-op: with this type of co-op we/they have an opportunity to offer more consistent supply and greater variety to the market. The marketing part is not difficult, so long as you (the members) produce a superior product that sells itself. The difficult part is having a regional collection facility that is owned by the members that would send out availability sheets, and fill orders, and ship. It would be like a member owned and operated wholesale facility. Because it is owned by the members and operated by them, we would essentially become our own wholesalers, thereby increasing profit for the member producers.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:08 AM
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 Originally Posted by Fishtal
... they only wanted to pay a fraction of what I sell fish for at my LFS's and they wanted them larger and delivered to them at my expense.
Exactly what I would fear....
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:12 AM
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Don't get me wrong. I think the concept is great for CB fish but the logistics involved are beyond my scope at this time.
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:19 AM
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What if you didn't do warehouses but did a standard ship rate and made like a "shipping pool" resource? Charge a flat rate that covers the median but sometimes is more than what it actuall cost to ship, and sometimes less. The idea would be that only the exact ammount is used for shipping and any extra would be added to the pool while if a package cost more than the flat rate, it could be taken from the pool?
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Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:25 AM
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Most retail shops prefer to have fish shipped to the nearest airport for pick up. For this you need to be a known shipper. I already have known shipper status with the airlines, and that's something that only works easily with a central facility. The cost to ship 1 box is the same as it is to ship 4 boxes. That's why you need a central shipping facility.
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