-Event- TCMAS Spring Expo - 3/21/26 - Minneapolis Airport DoubleTree (3 Viewers)

[KJoFan]

Is anyone else put off by seeing folks who are known vendors or buy for vendors swooping in and buying up multiple, if not all, of a given coral offered up by hobbyists in the Pre-sale thread?

Maybe this has always happened and I've just never noticed, but seems particularly obvious this time around. I'd much rather see hobbyist to hobbyist transactions happening, which I thought was the intent of forum pre-sales.

 

[spsick]

Is anyone else put off by seeing folks who are known vendors or buy for vendors swooping in and buying up multiple, if not all, of a given coral offered up by hobbyists in the Pre-sale thread?

Maybe this has always happened and I've just never noticed, but seems particularly obvious this time around. I'd much rather see hobbyist to hobbyist transactions happening, which I thought was the intent of forum pre-sales.

Oh fascinating. I’m guessing the clubs stance will be its sellers discretion but yeah that’s pretty cringe.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Is anyone else put off by seeing folks who are known vendors or buy for vendors swooping in and buying up multiple, if not all, of a given coral offered up by hobbyists in the Pre-sale thread?

Maybe this has always happened and I've just never noticed, but seems particularly obvious this time around. I'd much rather see hobbyist to hobbyist transactions happening, which I thought was the intent of forum pre-sales.

I haven't noticed it, but it could be that I still have trouble figuring out who's who. Is there a way to maybe let modmins/BOD know about it so a process can be thought out for it?

 

[Jposch]

Is anyone else put off by seeing folks who are known vendors or buy for vendors swooping in and buying up multiple, if not all, of a given coral offered up by hobbyists in the Pre-sale thread?

Maybe this has always happened and I've just never noticed, but seems particularly obvious this time around. I'd much rather see hobbyist to hobbyist transactions happening, which I thought was the intent of forum pre-sales.

I think it's an unwritten rule/moral standing to NOT do that, but TBH, the hobby/industry has become a big (try) to get rich scheme, and scrupulous behavior has taken a back seat or even gone out the window. Alot of my coral is from hobbyist frags. The dealer/"farmer" stuff is just not as hardy. That said, I don't go around scooping up all the killer deals on large colonies here or elsewhere.
Also, aquaculture is frowned upon by wholesalers. If you don't buy enough, often enough, turns out, they won't sell to you anymore. Lmao Hobbyist are the best place for me to get new coral.

 

[KJoFan]

I think it's an unwritten rule/moral standing to NOT do that, but TBH, the hobby/industry has become a big (try) to get rich scheme, and scrupulous behavior has taken a back seat or even gone out the window. Alot of my coral is from hobbyist frags. The dealer/"farmer" stuff is just not as hardy. That said, I don't go around scooping up all the killer deals on large colonies here or elsewhere.
Also, aquaculture is frowned upon by wholesalers. If you don't buy enough, often enough, turns out, they won't sell to you anymore. Lmao Hobbyist are the best place for me to get new coral.

I don't have any problem with vendors buying coral from hobbyists to grow and resell. We all do that, right?

It's the snapping up of multiple, or in some cases all of a given coral that is icky to me.

I'm sure sellers probably don't care because they just want to sell their livestock. I guess it's really just a moral/ethical issue for me.

 

[Jposch]

I don't have any problem with vendors buying coral from hobbyists to grow and resell. We all do that, right?

It's the snapping up of multiple, or in some cases all of a given coral that is icky to me.

I'm sure sellers probably don't care because they just want to sell their livestock. I guess it's really just a moral/ethical issue for me.

I agree with you. if it was buying the last frags the day before the show, that's a bit different. Especially if they are upfront about intentions. I mean, that's still aquaculture, and better than fresh cut, half dried glue chop chop stuff, but yeah. jumping in day 1...ugh
while I "whined" about sponsorship not including classifieds access, that was almost exclusively so I can buy everyone's used equipment. lol
like half of the equipment I use came from TCMAS members selling stuff. my personal rule is to not take anything Frag It Forward unless its super broken, and it's a bit of a question if someone should be paying to get rid of it. lol

 

[Reefer Oz]

The intent of the Pre-Sales Forum is to provide an additional platform of commerce at our show to our saltwater community at large. This greater community includes our club members, nonmembers, LFSs, suppliers and independent vendors. In any system of free enterprise, someone will catch a deal and someone else misses out on that opportunity. This will obviously bring about certain ethical and moral issues about who should participate and in what way.

The "fairness" of a free marketplace will always be up for discussion and debate. I reckon there are entire college course that do just that! But as a social club, just doing the best we can with our limited resources to build and maintain an active community of hobbyists, it doesn't seem we will solve any of these issues of economic fairness. So we all have to act along our own moral and ethical guidelines. If one believes a particular buyer is a vendor who plans to prices gouge the public at our show, don't buy from them. If one is vendor at our show and wants to try and buy up hobbyist stocks to price gouge at the show, that is their prerogative.

In theory, a free market has self regulating potential. TCMAS has done a good job of providing a platform of commerce for us to participate in. If anyone has suggestions on ways to better regulate it, please reach out to your @BOD.

Pre-Sales aside, we will have a bang up show in a couple weeks. So come on out and show your support of TCMAS and to the vendors you appreciate! Hope to see many of you there!

 

[zoolan70]

I don't have any problem with vendors buying coral from hobbyists to grow and resell. We all do that, right?

It's the snapping up of multiple, or in some cases all of a given coral that is icky to me.

I'm sure sellers probably don't care because they just want to sell their livestock. I guess it's really just a moral/ethical issue for me.

I think the best way to respond if you are put off by their pre-expo purchases is to not buy from them as a customer. It isn't something that the club can monitor or enforce, even if we wanted to.