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•  Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship.

  Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. yes   50% (5) no   20% (2) not sure   30% (3) Total Votes: 10 Change Page: < 123456 > | Showing page 3 of 6, messages 41 to 60 of 110 - powered by ASPPlayground.NET Forum Trial Version Author Message reeflover Total Posts : 183 Scores: 0 Reward points : 258 Joined: 11/18/2010 Location: Lakeville, MN, US Status: offline MBI: 175 Pnts MBI Site: Twin Cities Marine Aquarium Society Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Tuesday, September 3, 2013 6:43 PM (permalink) 0 I think you might not be able to see why a simple website won't work because you are viewing the process as a hobby breeder and not as a pet shop.  Ask yourself, if I am the owner of a pet shop, what do I want/need when I buy marine fish, and how does that translate into who I buy from and why.  They want SELECTION, QUALITY, AFFORDABLE SHIPPING and to DEAL with ONE ENTITY if there is a problem.  If all you are interested in is selling some occasional fish to a pet shop, you are better off selling locally.  There are some breeders who have their own website and sell only direct to pet shops, and they still can't attract enough sales that way.  So why would it work any better to have a larger website doing more of the same thing?  If all you want to do is move an occasional large batch of something you raised, I would think it would be easier to sell them to a local wholesaler.  If there were an easier way, wholesalers would just have their fish drop shipped to their pet shop customers and not bother with the expense and overhead of a holding facility.  What you are talking about would work to sell direct to the hobby (acting like it's own Divers Den), and then members could post WYSIWYG fish.   #41 nrbelk Total Posts : 230 Scores: -2 Reward points : 216 Joined: 7/25/2012 Location: Ammon, ID, US Status: offline MBI: 5 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Tuesday, September 3, 2013 7:29 PM (permalink) 0 Originally Posted by reeflover   There are some breeders who have their own website and sell only direct to pet shops, and they still can't attract enough sales that way.    This is the part that I think the coop idea would help the most with.  You would no longer be stuck with your local area any more.  As for the rest of what you said, I think that was the first post that talked about the LFS or stores.  The rest of the posts have been talking about the feasibility of a warehouse or how to cover shipping expenses.   What constitutes bad quality bred fish?  Coloration?  Health?  Affordable shipping has been talked about with the flat rates or other ways to offset the shipping prices.   I do like how you bring up the issue about who would and LFS deal with if there were questions/problems with an order.  But that is something I'm sure could be figured out as well.   #42 xroads Total Posts : 61 Scores: 0 Reward points : 684 Joined: 9/30/2010 Location: La Porte City, IA, US Status: offline MBI: 0 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 4, 2013 1:18 PM (permalink) 0 Not to be a negative Nancy here ( or donny downer).   If you are planning on selling to retail stores, you are going to have a very tough time.   ORA & Sustainable are having major price wars right now.  They are driving the price down on all clownfish, even the designers.  Although the quality of ORA fish has dipped slightly, the quality of SA has never been better.   #43 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 12:39 AM (permalink) 0 True and that and the season account for slow sales.     I am thinking of trying a coop for myself, St. Louis, and more local states.  We can get reasonable shipping, and a well designed website would function something like Etsy for jewelry. I have some other projects I need to finish first, though.   check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #44 Fishtal Total Posts : 5467 Scores: 37 Reward points : 2908 Joined: 8/31/2006 Location: Waterford, MI, US Status: offline MBI: 585 Pnts MBI Site: MarineLife Aquarium Society of Michigan Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 12:53 AM (permalink) 0 Originally Posted by xroads Not to be a negative Nancy here ( or donny downer). If you are planning on selling to retail stores, you are going to have a very tough time. ORA & Sustainable are having major price wars right now.  They are driving the price down on all clownfish, even the designers.  Although the quality of ORA fish has dipped slightly, the quality of SA has never been better. I meant to comment on this sooner... It's unfortunate to see a "race to the bottom" mentality from the big guys. This is one of the reasons I strive to produce the highest quality and keep a close relationship with my stores.   While it may not make sense to sell my fish to a broader area I can keep my local stores supplied with high quality fish that they can get within a few hours.   http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage "Making captive breeding easier."   #45 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:09 AM (permalink) 0 I should think that kind of service and high quality product would be quite valuable, however, in my market, it seems that price is a thing that trumps all others. It's a shame, really, since driving the price down will make captive breeding less profitable, and less likely to be worthwhile doing.  I suppose that is what the big boys are trying to accomplish. Eliminate the competition…  I think that they are less bothered by the little breeders than they are by each other.  If one of the big boys can put the other one out of business, they will create greater market share for themselves.  If they put one of us out of business, they don't gain so much and it doesn't seem worth the effort to lose so much in profit.   check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #46 mhowe9 Total Posts : 924 Scores: 2 Reward points : 2479 Joined: 12/15/2008 Location: Auburn Hills, MI, US Status: offline MBI: 120 Pnts MBI Site: MarineLife Aquarium Society of Michigan Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 1:52 PM (permalink) 0 I have been wanted to post on this for a while and haven't had a chance.  What I really think this should be is an online marketplace concept.  Where any breeder can post what he has for sale and then select the customer type that he would like to sell to (Wholesaler, retailer, hobbyist).  The Marketplace can then advertise to vendors and hobbyist who can select fish from the martketplace site and purchase.  It can even be expanded to have pairs as well.  I would do it myself but do not have the programming expertise to do it.   #47 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 9:14 PM (permalink) 0 I like how you are thinking, Mike. check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #48 mhowe9 Total Posts : 924 Scores: 2 Reward points : 2479 Joined: 12/15/2008 Location: Auburn Hills, MI, US Status: offline MBI: 120 Pnts MBI Site: MarineLife Aquarium Society of Michigan Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 10:09 PM (permalink) 0 What I needs to be is a mechanism to bring buyers and sellers together, with the database having no responsibility for the transaction.   #49 Fishtal Total Posts : 5467 Scores: 37 Reward points : 2908 Joined: 8/31/2006 Location: Waterford, MI, US Status: offline MBI: 585 Pnts MBI Site: MarineLife Aquarium Society of Michigan Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Wednesday, September 11, 2013 10:21 PM (permalink) 0 We had a "Marketplace" and no one used it. http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage "Making captive breeding easier."   #50 Fishtal Total Posts : 5467 Scores: 37 Reward points : 2908 Joined: 8/31/2006 Location: Waterford, MI, US Status: offline MBI: 585 Pnts MBI Site: MarineLife Aquarium Society of Michigan Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Thursday, September 12, 2013 1:24 AM (permalink) 0 FWIW, I wasn't poo pooing the idea, just saying we tried it before. The Marketplace is still around but Chad removed it from public view since it wasn't being used. http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage "Making captive breeding easier."   #51 Arc Katana Total Posts : 929 Scores: 19 Reward points : 1293 Joined: 10/20/2009 Status: offline MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Thursday, September 12, 2013 8:26 AM (permalink) 0 Finding a place to sell isn't hard.  Any of the big reef forums always have a buy/sell threads.  Those same big forums also have sponsors.  A simple email/pm to those vendors asking if they are interested in purchasing livestock starts the ball rolling.   You might have to send 15 emails before you get a yes.   With everyone and their brother selling tank raised clownfish now it is harder than even two years ago.  But still doable with some effort.   #52 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Thursday, September 12, 2013 8:37 AM (permalink) 0 Reef Central banned me for life because I tried to help someone by giving him my email address, and it happens to include the name of my company, Kathy's Clowns.  I was too commercial for them.  So posting in THEIR marketplace would not be desirable.  They literally hate fish breeders while promoting coral fraggers all the time. End of soapbox. check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #53 reeflover Total Posts : 183 Scores: 0 Reward points : 258 Joined: 11/18/2010 Location: Lakeville, MN, US Status: offline MBI: 175 Pnts MBI Site: Twin Cities Marine Aquarium Society Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Thursday, September 12, 2013 10:48 AM (permalink) 0 Well Kathy, let us know how it goes in your local St. Louis area.  If you have enough breeders in your local area with enough variety of stock with consistent supply, it could work.  I would also count on having to do airport to airport shipping.  Most pet shops will want a variety of fish and not more than 1/2 to 1 doz of any one species at a time.   #54 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Thursday, September 12, 2013 11:36 PM (permalink) 0 I think for a marketplace to work, we will have to do some marketting of it.  Just having a centralized place is not enough.  The problem with MBI marketplace was that no one used it, so no one used it. It's the chicken and egg dilemma.  We will have to get some breeders on board who have enough fish and some variety to make the marketting part worthwhile. The more buyers we attract, the more sellers we'll attract. And on like that. check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #55 JustinGr Total Posts : 54 Scores: 0 Reward points : 115 Joined: 6/13/2012 Location: Bloomington, IN, US Status: offline MBI: 15 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Monday, January 6, 2014 7:58 PM (permalink) 0 I know this topic is a bit old, but thought I'd toss in my info.   I have a web programmer on staff, he does the art and page layout and merchant account setup. He could do it so you could post your fist with an inventory number, when that fish is sold online, your account (paypal, bank, etc) would be utilized for the funds transfer and the customer would not know the difference. If a customer had a question about a fish, it (page) could be programmed to send the specific breeder the question, meaning no middle man/woman to answer questions for another breeder. He could set it up where the individual breeders could upload there own fish in a private interface but the master "customer" interface is seamless.   He has constructed several pages like this for me and they work well (not fish related, Nitro Drag Racing Parts) and we shuffle about $1,000,000 worth of parts through it per year and it is managed by the individual seller.   It would take an initial buy-in from the breeders and a few sessions of design to get the page right. The domain name is the cheep part, just needs to be catchy. As for marketing, that too can be done with direct email and paper mail marketing, attending conventions, and such. It takes time, but it could open up some markets for several breeders.   Food for thought.   Justin Bloomington Fish Gallery     #56 jazzybio13 Total Posts : 492 Scores: 5 Reward points : 274 Joined: 4/23/2013 Location: Ames, IA, US Status: offline MBI: 140 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Monday, January 6, 2014 8:22 PM (permalink) 0 justin- how would the shipping be handled with that though?   #57 JustinGr Total Posts : 54 Scores: 0 Reward points : 115 Joined: 6/13/2012 Location: Bloomington, IN, US Status: offline MBI: 15 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Monday, January 6, 2014 8:38 PM (permalink) 0 The individual seller would need to box and ship, the merchant account would calculate the shipping costs and include in the total the buyer gets, now the complicated part is when he/she buys one from breeder a, one from breeder b, etc.   It would be best to arrange the site where they are geographically situated in terms of coverage, then you can allow cross ordering to cover for exotic special orders.       #58 KathyL Total Posts : 2639 Scores: 13 Reward points : 1504 Joined: 6/6/2010 Location: St. Louis, MO, US Status: offline MBI: 1605 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Aquarium Societies of North America Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Tuesday, January 7, 2014 1:13 AM (permalink) 0 JustinGr, that is exactly how I envisioned this.  In my case, I am located in the zone of an inexpensive shipping company that can ship overnight to nearby states for $7-15, so each seller could conceivably absorb the cost of shipping if it turns out to be a discouraging factor for the buyer. This might be limited to the parts of the country covered by the shipper, but if the idea catches on, the possibility of a website company negotiating with the nationwide carriers to get similar pricing is would mean that that kind of growth would be feasible. check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)   #59 JustinGr Total Posts : 54 Scores: 0 Reward points : 115 Joined: 6/13/2012 Location: Bloomington, IN, US Status: offline MBI: 15 Pnts MBI Site: Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Re:Interested in joining a marine ornamental co-op? Designed to market your fish, you must be able to ship. Tuesday, January 7, 2014 8:54 AM (permalink) 0 Absolutely, anyone can create a FedEx or UPS account and then you get discounts on the shipping vs going into a retail location. USPS can be used, but I've never had much luck with them. My FedEx account is 30% cheaper than the retail outlet for FedEx.   UPS and FedEx will even come to the house for Pickup and you can print labels at home and affix to the box. Another option is to create the page to be something like a "flea market" and have a master page, then they could visit the individual breeders and see what they have. They could be grouped by region so a customer can look by location, then searched by species across all breeders , etc.  Then they know they are buying from multiple breeders so the coordination of shipping would not be a surprise.   There are options.   Justin     #60 Online Bookmarks Sharing: Facebook Digg Google del.icio.us StumbleUpon Change Page: < 123456 > | Showing page 3 of 6, messages 41 to 60 of 110 - powered by ASPPlayground.NET Forum Trial Version

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