Supplier Mark Up Of Fish

[DarrenUnwin]

I went to a local marine shop as part of a well know garden centre chain near Chesterfield a few weeks ago and decided to purchase a nice looking strawberry fish. Unfortunately the assistant didnt have a ID tag showing the price of the fish so he had to look it up in the centres price guide.

As I looked over his shoulder I was gob smacked, I have always suspected the price we pay is highly inflated but here tthe centre was actually making 110% profit from what they purchased the fish for.

Now I dont mind pay a bit extra but this was simple day light robbery and whats even more worrying I actually thought the price for the fish wasnt that bad until I saw how much they paid for it originally. I dont think this is an isolated instance as another LFS quoted me £23 for a pepermint shrimp because they were out of season only to find them on the net for £7.5 plus P&P (gues which I purchased)

Now I know our shops have to make a living and wholesale websites have an edge (its the same with scuba diving shops) but come on enough is enough, its hard enough investing the money to set these thing up let lone stock them and get ripped off in the process.

I would be interested to see if anyone else has experienced simular or know of a best value shop list for the country.

Feel better for getting that off my chest

 

[shibby]

most shops have 2-3 mark up mainly because of fish may die that are brought in, food needed to feed them, electricity etc etc.

 

[tattoo]

most shops have 2-3 mark up mainly because of fish may die that are brought in, food needed to feed them, electricity etc etc.

dont forget the airport taxes (this applies both ends) but i know they are still having our eyes out

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, my LFS typically marks up 4 times the cost of the fish to cover shipping, overhead, and attrition. And still their prices are cheaper than if I try and buy these things online. Dunno about how it is in the UK but here in the States, shipping is EXPENSIVE. Heck, the guys at my LFS show me their invoices a lot. They spend more on shipping charges than they do on the actual livestock order. Like a $200 box of fish costs $300 to ship!. Its no wonder they have to mark up the meager cost of the fish/coral itself.

Scubadaz, how much was P&P on that cleaner shrimp?

 

[DarrenUnwin]

Hi

Postage in this instance was about £7.50 but a lot depends on whether that was the sole item purchased. Delivery in the UK on most goods tends to have a a min value and after a given amount you enter the free delivery situation.

Thinking about it I agree about the shipping costs but I believe there are limited importers int he UK that would cover the cost of shipping, DOA stuff as part of their cost to the LFS.

Think I might start F1 motor racing as it may prove to be a cheaper hobby

 

[The-Wolf]

as an ex-lfs employee I can say that seeing the trade price in comparrison to the retail was quite an eye-opener.
however once you factor in shipping, mortality rates, treatments (if required), staffing cost, running costs etc
the actual profit made on a fish sale is minimal. some profit in a LFS is made from dry goods (tanks, filters etc)
but most is made on consumables, like food, filter media etc.
and don't forget the final sale price has 17.5% taken away by the taxman (at least here in the UK it is 17.5%)

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Heh, my LFS typically marks up 4 times the cost of the fish to cover shipping, overhead, and attrition. And still their prices are cheaper than if I try and buy these things online. Dunno about how it is in the UK but here in the States, shipping is EXPENSIVE. Heck, the guys at my LFS show me their invoices a lot. They spend more on shipping charges than they do on the actual livestock order. Like a $200 box of fish costs $300 to ship!. Its no wonder they have to mark up the meager cost of the fish/coral itself.

Scubadaz, how much was P&P on that cleaner shrimp?

Yup, shipping around here is crazy expensive. I think its like 40-50 bucks a box that is about 2.5x2.5 ft

 

[SkiFletch]

Thinking about it I agree about the shipping costs but I believe there are limited importers int he UK that would cover the cost of shipping, DOA stuff as part of their cost to the LFS.

Heh, shipping these things internationally is EXPENSIVE. Gotta pack them with pure oxygen, load in heavy duty styrofoam containers. Then you have to worry about CITES permits, restrictions and permits to transport livestock internationally, customs costs, etc etc etc.

 

[shibby]

getting imports from Hawaii is expensive as anything over here! the prices are too, royal gramma, flame and others from hawaii start at £100!!!! the yhave to be flown to miami, then flown over here to an importer then importer delivers to shop.


from a wholsaler typical add on is 2.5x

from an importer typical is 4x

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah the Hawaiian stuff is controlled BIGTIME. They're real conservationists there, as well they should be

 

[Musho3210]

sounds like australia.....

 

[chrissaysyes]

I dunno what the deal is but my LFS only charges me around $5 max over what they're being charged.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

as an ex-lfs employee I can say that seeing the trade price in comparrison to the retail was quite an eye-opener.
however once you factor in shipping, mortality rates, treatments (if required), staffing cost, running costs etc
the actual profit made on a fish sale is minimal. some profit in a LFS is made from dry goods (tanks, filters etc)
but most is made on consumables, like food, filter media etc.
and don't forget the final sale price has 17.5% taken away by the taxman (at least here in the UK it is 17.5%)

My lfs only makes 30c off of 10 gallon tanks. i think more money is made on fish than equipment.

 

[Tolak]

Markup on angels I sell to shops is 3 to 4 times the price they pay me for them. This is standard for all the shops near me.

Markup on fish that are shipped in is a higher percentage, but they generally get these fish cheaper. The flip side is that they have to buy a larger quantity, and survival is very hit or miss. I'm totally anal on keeping tabs on fish I sell to shops, if I drop off 50 or 100 I want to, and have to know if even one dies.

 

[DarrenUnwin]

Some very interesting replies and I can appreciate some of the add on costs the lfs put of livestock.

I think that having tropicals for many many years I have gradually seen my local lfs move to marines and just wondered if it was due to the profit margin (and who can blame them really). Certainly the amount of people in the marine tank section is 2 - 1 on the freshwater. I suspect that this is more due to the advances in the hobby, making more easier to keep marines in smaller everyday tanks.

In the end we do it for the love of keeping these beautiful creatures and if they are not in their natural habitat I will do the best to keep them in the next best....even though I've had to take out a second morgage.

Thanks for the replies, always like to start an interesting topic instead of "how do I setup a marine tank".