How is your lfs when you sell livestock back?

[fishyfoofoo]

I have not done this before but, I am going to sell back my two sandsifting stars. I bought them for $15 each. They are saying that they will only give me $3 apiece for them. I thought I would get at least about half what I paid. Is this to be expected?

 

[Devilishturtles]

No experience selling back animals, but it sounds pretty crappy to me. Any other store in the area you can call? Least they can do is give you store credit for more than half of what you paid I would think.

 

[Agnate80700]

Yeah generally they give you 1/2 what you paid back.

But the 1st time I took an animal back, it was a lion fish. The guy told me he'd give me 1/2 the value, gave me $20, and proceeded to plop him into a tank with another identical lionfish with $75 writtin on the glass, so.... *shrug*

for the record ive gotten 1/2 or more every time since then

 

[seaham358]

Some LFS will only pay you what they can buy them for from their dealer. Why pay you $6 when he can get it for $3 at the dealer. Most LFS are all about $$$ and if there the only SW LFS in the area they know you don't have a choice.

 

[lando]

IT depends at my LFS. THey do not give cash for any livestock, but only offer store credit. I have received 1/3-1/2 of retail price for most of my stuff.

 

[evercl92]

our store does 1/3 of what we would sell it for

 

[Dr.Nate]

my store won't buy back or give store credit....period. I've tried numerous times to no avail. I have given them livestock before though, because I just couldn't keep it myself for whatever reason.

So it could be worse!

 

[Sadielynn]

Ours is down right crappy we only have 2 that sell SW stuff . the second one I will not go to
The one that we use I took in some LR and he conviently for got to pay me . I have taken fish in that I have paid 30 bucks for and got a 2 dollar store credit ... I now would rather throw excess stuff out . It in hind sight makes me research much more now than before ... I now no longer buy anything that may need returned

 

[JM]

I've returned a bunch of stuff in the past, both fish and corals that have outgrown my tank or been troublesome to other fish in the tank. For the most part u dont get anything close to what u paid for them, but in most of my cases the fish or coral was much larger than when i bought it so i get more for it because it was worth more when i gave it back. They always put it in one of their tanks and mark it up to about 3 times what they gave you for it however. I really don't mind though because i got something for it and its better than nothing and u got all that time to enjoy it while it was in your tank so in my book thats a win for me. Something about this hobby that u have to realize and accept is that there is no residual value on anything, livestock or equipment. You can't get half of what u payed for anything once you've put it in your tank.

 

[melosu58]

Mine will give you about half and only store credit. When I try to sell corals or frags he only gives me 1/2 also and that store credit also. Store credit is just as good as cash as you do have to buy stuff for your tank. Many of my corals are from store credit.

 

[Phyl]

Our LFS gives you 1/3 to 1/5 of what you would spend to buy it. They aren't going to pay more than wholesale for it. Can't really blame em, can ya?

 

[evercl92]

They aren't going to pay more than wholesale for it. Can't really blame em, can ya?

Kinda my point. It depends on the item, and whether it's fresh or saltwater. Freshwater fish are typically marked up 4-5x wholesale cost. As wholesale price increases, the markup multiplier decreases. Saltwater items are typically marked up 3x - mainly because of the higher wholesale cost. If it's something that we don't usually carry or hard to get, I may be inclined to offer more to the customer bringing it in. I'm not going to buy something from someone if it's going to cost more than I can get it wholesale - there's no point.

Plus, we are the only LFS within an hour that will even give store credit (or cash, in some circumstances, though less than the amount of store credit). I also have to weigh in the likelihood that it will sell in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not going to sit on (for example) twelve 18-20in japansese koi that this lady wanted me to buy from her for $50 each. Granted, they are worth $150 each, but my area of town doesn't have the market for these fish.

There's also the inherent risk that the fish is a carrier of a multitude of diseases. If the fish looks injured or diseased, I simply tell the person we won't take it. This obviously doesn't go over too well, when they just spent an hour trying to get their 12in oscar out of whatever tank they had that was way too small for it. If it looks good though, it goes in solitary confinement, just in case.

 

[Nikkiheartsfish]

Agreed. Sorry guys, but stores can't take back fish for more money than what the store paid. The mark up is there to keep the business there, and to keep providing people with fish and the capability to come see livestock and choose it. It's even moreso difficult for smaller stores to take back livestock, as their markup is generally higher to pay for their overhead costs. It's just how it happens.

 

[MT79]

two sandsifting stars. I bought them for $15 each. They are saying that they will only give me $3 apiece for them. I thought I would get at least about half

IMO that sounds about right for something like that, though a dollar or two more each would be nice. IME, and as a few others have noted, approx. 1/3rd the retail value is to be expected on items such as coral frags, when selling them to a LFS.

 

[quarryshark]

IMHO, they are businesses. They don't sell 5000 units a day like Wallmart. I'm sure they cannot get by with a 15% markup.
When they can get them on the market for 4-5 dollars, their offer is not out of line IMO.

 

[Burks]

It also really depends on what you are trying to sell back as well. Say you are trying to sell back a certain fish that is not on any of their wholesale lists and won't be for months. They may pay a couple bucks over wholesale because they just can't get the fish or don't want to order just that fish from a certain wholesaler (they'll probably need a minimum as well).

Stores around here are pretty good about dealing with people who want to sell or trade their fish/inverts/corals.