Wow. LFS has HUGE markup on seachem stuff.

[Somethingfishyinc.net]

okay my turn, I own a LFS (2). That kinda of price is extreme & wonder if they priced it wrong from the start not really knowing the product? Maybe it was Purigren which cost much more then matrix. I stock matric & have about 12-20 4l in stock.
Some LFS do not pay attention on whats going on around them & on the net to better understand price points & selection of product. They will most likely fail down the road?
A problem in the industry with the internet is its like a double edge blade. Its good & bad for all of us in one way or another?
Its not just the LFS that is failing but the middle guy who sells to the lfs. The less stores to supply the less they survive. Everyone would mark up to pay cost & make a profit in thee end. That has changed. Cut throat or middle suppliers selling direct (internet) cut us LFS out basically & sell at discounted prices. They do not have to have a retail store front, the overhead & labor that is involved to run a lfs. So in turn they can usually do what they do. But as for service or making a return etc.. that is usually not happening.
I stay on top as much as I can. When I buy I buy a lot as in pallets. Last year I shipped in 5 pallets (15,000lbs) of gravel. Best deal but upfront cost & storing it takes a chunk but down the road it will be worth it.
Sometimes you gotta roll with the punches & reivent the wheel?

my 1cent.

me

 

[Carefree_Dude]

I expect a markup from a pet store. I understand internet is cheaper. But, the issue is how big the markup is. even double the internet price would be understandable.

The town I live in has a similar problem. Groceries where I live are outragous. For example, i buy those healthy choice meals. In dillions or walmart, i can get those for about 2.50 each. The local grocery sells them for $5 each. Shoot, one store even has a sign up, "Sure, the other stores are cheaper, but when you factor in the gas, its really not!" I'm serious! they have that sign. the sad truth is, that even with the gas it takes to go 60 miles, you still save money.

 

[pharmaecopia]

I don't have much to add to this conversation, many point I have have already been brought up. Higher amount purchased by online retailers. The online retailers essentially selling at wholesale costs. Very little overhead cost.

One thing that has not been brought up is the distribution chain. In some cases there may be more than one middle man in the equation, which further marks up costs. Also noone has mentioned shipping for some reason. Sure some companies will offer free shipping if you purchase so much but this is a cost that a lfs would have had to pay in some form or another before they markup the product.

In this case it's a little extreme though.

 

[College fishman]

No, that is not my point. The point is that everyone knows that LFS sell stuff for more than the internet does. So what is the big deal. You want to tell everyone that? Go right ahead like the OP is doing.

Like I said, I like to see small businesses survive and I know they have a lot of competition.

but in this situation, it somewhat has to do with that. He's just stating that the store had a MASSIVE jump in price. and thats about it. not really bashing the store cause im sure he goes there for other things too

 

[vfc]

I see the increase in Internet sales and the success of discount stores (e.g., Walmart) as the end result of the lowering of the standard of living, particularly in the US.

In the 50s & 60s, one salary was enough to support a middle class life style.

Marketing steps in and convinces the masses that we need more "stuff" in our possession for true happiness.

In the 70s and 80s, spouses went to work; so it then took two wage earners to support the same or better (defined by marketing as: more stuff) life style.

In the 90s through to today, middle class wages are stagnant. The only way to maintain the same life style is to purchase products cheaper and pay less in taxes. Putting aside the issue of lower taxes (don't want to start that discussion in this thread); and focus on the thing we have most control over (buying stuff cheaper) is to buy from the Internet. My Internet purchases exceed my local store purchases by quite a bit (excluding groceries).

While I feel bad that the LFS's are going out of business, I have to keep in mind first that the large tanks I have fall into the category of "more stuff" that I don't need and if I want to maintain my current "stuff" lifestyle, I need to pay less for it each year as my salary has not changed in years. In fact, most all of my peers have lost their jobs to India, when it's my turn, one of the first casualties will be the fish tanks.

 

[nfored]

So I try to always have 5 or 10 in cash on me at all times, in case I am at a gas station and someone want to sell me their album. 90% of the time I never even listen to the cd But they are trying to do something positive so I try to support local artist.

3 LFS have closed in my area. I liked these LFS the staff helped me with honest and truthful advice. I paid more for the fish but they where healthier, and had better selection, the food was close enough to the same price as the big box, not like it was on the internet but on par with the big boys.

So these two things have something in common they are both trying to better themselves and are part of my community and I am happy to support them. However paying 5 or 10 for a cd, or paying 10 or 15 more for a fish is one thing.

But here is the problem I have is this.

If you have to buy something often such as food and the price is so high that you could take the saved money and pay the insane shipping fee on a fish from the internet. You can get a wide selection on the net and there are several reputable dealers you get healthy stock from.

So as people have mentioned, you have to be fair with you markup, and this goes for all aspects of life. I worked for a small computer shop and they sold network cards to old ladies and businss for 60.00 + installation. You where talking 100.00 for a network card. They got away with this because there was no walmart around or best buy.

This was shameful and when no one was looking I would tell the customers about the markup. Something strange came out of this, they lost business on those over priced products, but we got more people calling to have us install things they bought

Now on the other side of that I now work at a hosting company we charge 100 for A server that cost 400 at Rackspace. But rackspace is not over priced because of the additional benefits you get from them.

So the point is that If your going to have a high markup you need to be adding value that justifies it.

 

[Carefree_Dude]

trust me... this store lacks value... fish are kept in poor, dirty conditions, exotic birds kept in a "puppy mill" setup...

Its just the only store in 100 miles that sells seachem products.