SULLY

Alright CCR. Let's not make the new guy upset yet. He has to get use to people like us first. Play nice(drooler)

By the way. If you don't do any trading with Garrett. Let me know what you specifically are looking for and I would be interested in doing some trading. Thanks, Jason

Cool. I like steak and I think gun control means having a steady hand.(clap)

Hey Garrett. You should grab the pair of blue strip pipes that Lundy has. Those things are [language filter] cool!

And just so you guys know. I'm not trying to start anything. I just thought it was a little funny(clap)

Geez Ben, it's not like he is not a sponsor. Oops. That slipped out.(naughty)

[language filter]! Just when I thought I was going to get the last wordDOH! I love you guys!

I am done! I have other people to go attack(nutty)

Enough whining. I am done with your crap! Grow up. For being 29 years old, you act like a selfish baby. Nobody is "attacking you"! You would not have posted anything if he was selling some plain rock, a yellow tang, some xenia, and some damsels and I wanted to buy it all. As far as I am concerned, this has gone on long enough and should be shut down. You missed out on some cool stuff and you are mad! Bottom line! You could have just as easily said what you wanted to buy when he posted it. Who cares if he didn't put the price down. It didn't stop me from saying I would take it all. He had nice stuff for sale. I wanted some nice stuff. I said I would buy it from him. It sounds pretty simple to me. So stop crying about how everyone is attacking you. So far everyone has the same view other than you. You missed out and your mad. Get over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Randy. I didn't think you would mind. I am glad you are not pissed at me. I would hate to have you drive down here and hit one of my ferraris with your work truck(clap)

And just to be fair. I offered to buy El Salvador's WHOLE system livestock and dry goods so I am not just cherry picking all of his livestock. So maybe this will help some of you feel better about this situation. Where the heck is CCR? He never stays out of these kind of threads(whistle)

Not to be too personal. But it seems like you are the only one that has a problem with this. Were you going to buy his stuff? And if you wanted to buy all of it because you might have had enough money in the old bank account to do it that would be wrong? I don't care who buys what and in all reallity, either should you. Don't get me wrong. It is very important that everyone has an opinion of their own wether we agree with each other or not. But with this situation, maybe it would have been better to just voice your opinion and leave it at that instead of implying something should be done about sponsors buying stuff in the classifieds. Throughout this ordeal, I have wondered if it would have made any difference if El Salvador was selling just your plain jane, everyday stuff and I wanted to buy all of it. I would be willing to bet one of my Ferraris or my leer jet that no one would have noticed or even gave it a second look. Think about it!

Where do you think the LE corals come from? That's what happens. He gets in with suppliers that not all of us can and grabs cherry stuff and then puts a wacked out name to it with LE after that. Try finding the stuff he sells out there for an affordable price. I don't get any better deal on it then you would buying it from him. But I also don't complain that I do not have the resources, funds, or connections to get the super cool stuff like that either. He has the hook-ups, I don't. That's life.

Hey Frank. Just to make this fair. I will buy your WHOLE system that way I am not just robbing you for your livestock. Let me know and we can do this whenever you want. Thanks, Jason

Joel,shhsh. My other farming business is what I used to buy my leer jet!

Don't worry. I have six of them parked in my underground garage at my third home that is located in the islands. I will just give you one of them if you pay the shipping :p

What about my Ferrari? I know it's not a Mercedes. But give me some props(clap)

I would understand the first dibs thing if the Sponsor was trying to lowball the seller. I know that in most cases when a customer takes stuff into the store for sale, they are generally not happy about the price that is offered to them. And on top of that they will only receive a in-store credit. But in this case, I am just like the rest of you out there that would like some cool stuff without having to pay an arm and a leg for it. I didn't offer the guy anything other than what he wants for his product and he will get cash in hand. I am willing to pay more for it just for the fact that it is local, healthy, and I am getting money into the hands of a fellow club member that is trying to sell his stuff. You guys need to be a little careful on getting pissed off. If we don't play nice, the mods are going to shut this down. Me included. I caught myself earlier getting aggravated and starting to unleash. Keep the thoughts coming. Just exercise caution on how they show up on the screen. By the way. Where is CCR. He is always good for throwing down some rage.(wife)

I know what you mean. I have a tuff time biting my tounge!

I am not trying to start a war here guys. Everyone that personally knows me can vouch that I will not keep thoughts to myself though. I am not trying to personally attack anyones thoughts or opinions and I apologize if that is how it comes across. This is mainly directed to Ahreno. I am not trying to piss you off or anything. I went back and read some of my post and they were a little hasty and for that I apologize. It's just that when stuff like this comes up and I don't remotely see the other side, I get frustrated. For those of you that think there is not alot of people on here and other club forums that buy, sell, trade, and frag to make a profit on a regular basis, you are thoroughly mistaken! I am not going to name people, but believe me, just my list of people is long. I don't want this next part to sound negative or to make people feel inferior. The reallity is there will always be people trying to figure ways to get further ahead financially. Wether you agree with it or not, it is around us everyday and always will be and more and more people as time goes on will do the same. I don't look down on them or do I feel like they are being unethical. They are just trying to get further ahead and that is okay. Keep in mind guys (and gals), this is just aquarium stuff. There are so many more industries that people do the same. Like I said. If anyone should be mad about people doing this, it should be the businesses. We are the ones that went out on a limb to start a store and are being undercut by people doing business out of their homes. But it does not bother me the least. I understand that this is the way the world works and that's how it's going to be regardless of what I think. Hell, I am good friends with some of the guys that are on here that sell out of their homes. So I want you to know that I understand what you are saying to a point. But things will always have a gray area. You don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it.

"We all understand that. No need to whine about it (to use the term you so often use in your post). We all know that you have to jack your prices up to cover your overhead and operating expenses. Thats sort of the purpose of the classified section. Is so that people have an avenue to purchase equipment and livestock and not have to deal with the ridiculous prices in a fish store (or the annoying salesmen, pushy managers, inhumanely shipped/handled/gathered livestock)" Just keep in mind, not all stores are the same. There is not one person on this board that can say I have ever charged them a ridicolous price or gouged them. To me personally, you sound like one of the ungrateful folks that don't care about the LFS stores staying open with comments like the one posted above this. I love people like you that complain about my "ridicolous prices" yet you will still call or come by when you have a problem or questions. And it usually pertains to something that you bought off of the internet because you could save money instead of going to your LFS and paying their "ridicolous prices". I am not trying to make this personal, but you are making it difficult. And as far as LFS stores raping and piliging you guys, come on. It's a business. What do you guys think it cost to keep the door open and the lights on. It would be one thing if I bought a coral for $25.00 and sold it for $200.00. It doesn't work like that. And if you don't like their price, don't but it. But don't flame them for trying to make a living. It is a business, not a charity.

Here is my point guys. There is plenty of people on this site that buy corals from other people here on the site or from the LFS and turn around and frag them or sell them as they are and turn a profit. Does anyone complain about that? Nope. Why? Because it doesn't matter. If anything, me as a store owner should be upset about that. But I'm not. It is going to happen no matter what. So what I don't get is this. If someone on this site that was not a sponsor went ahead and bought all of El Salvador's suff, that's okay? I am going to throw out a name just because I don't think he would care anyways and if he does, I sincerely apologize. Randy S use to spend some time looking for the rare, cool, and quality corals to buy from individuals and the LFS. He would then take them and usually frag them out and resell them. I use to occasionally sell stuff to him if I had anything he was interested in. I knew what he was doing with them. That was his business what he did with them. That doesn't mean that I should not sell him stuff because he would buy it for $150.00 and by the time it was all gone he sold it all for $400.00. Don't shut out the stores for stepping up and buying stuff. I could drop my sponsorship, lie, and still buy all of his stuff. But I shouldn't have to do that. Just my .02c.

Thank you!

And just so you know. I am not a sponsor for this club for the publicity. I do it to try to help support the club. I don't hardly put anything in my little section. I don't even care if I have my own little section. You don't see a banner for my store up on top. And believe me, I don't really make anything monetary wise by even being a sponsor. I do not have many sales from people on this site. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the folks that do buy from me. But that is not my intention for being a sponsor. It is to help the cause of keeping the hobby alive and moving forward. I have always gone out of my way to help people on this site with whatever I can and alot of times it is at my cost. I am not asking for any special treatment, but I am asking that I have the same rights as everyone else who is buying stuff. Jason

Just so it's known. This absolutely pisses me off! I am so f'ing mad, I can't hardly see straight. This makes no sense to me. Why do I not have the same rights as someone else on this situation? Because I own a store? last I checked, I wasn't driving a Ferrari handing out $100 bills to everyone I see. Is it because, we, as store owners are suppose to have more mnoney than anyone else? Or is it because we might take some of the stuff and sell it for some profit to help keep our doors open so people in this club can have a facility to walk into and hand pick their livestock instead of having to order over the internet. Or even better yet, is it because I am competition for some of the people that would take this stuff and turn right around and sell it for profit on Reef Central or Ebay? I am disgusted with this situation and feel like it is a slap in the face personally to me. To me it sounds like some people are butt hurt because they missed out on the sale. Hey, we all miss out on deals all the time. I don't see why this is any different. Anyways, here is a copy of my post from the Sales section. I apologize I did not see this had been in the General section first or I would not have done the reply in the Sales section. But I do not apologize for the content!(flame) Well I can see this is going to get bad. On this purchase it will all be going into a show tank. So we will squash any whining about that. And as far as a sponsor buying stuff and reselling it, who cares! Some of you people seem to have this mentallity that us store owners have a money tree in our backyard or everytime we go sit down on the toilet the $20's just start to fall out. Wrong! I work my *** off to make things work and you guys should appreciate that a little more than you do. I am not bagging on everyone because there is alot of folks that do appreciate the hard work the stores do. But the rest of you just don't get it. So if I took that sunset monti and grew it out for awhile and made it something that was a little more available by fragging it out and made 8 pieces instead of 1, that wouldn't be ok? I guess I don't understand the problem. Even if I took all of this stuff and turned around and sold it, who cares. Some of the LFS have to find deals like this to make a living. The idea is to have product that people want. Well, I can't always or even rarely get some of this stuff at the wholesaler. So does that mean that I do not have the same rights to buy it from the seller just as you do? It would be different if my wholesalers had tons of this stuff but I am buying it from customer to save money so I could make more profit. But they don't. And even if they did, that's life. How many times have you guys missed out on buying something because you could not afford the asking price or even better yet someone on the auction out bid you? I know I lose all the time. Does it suck? You bet it does. But that's how the economy works. How many times has something been posted on the sales forum that was so cheap in price it seemed to good to be true but you missed buying it by a couple of minutes? It happens alot. Who cares who buys it. I personally know alot of customers that buy low and sell high with aquarium goods and livestock. There is nothing wrong with that. I am a store owner. I pay overhead and have to deal with all sorts of business junk that goes along with owning a business. You don't see me sitting around whining because some of you are selling stuff out of your home, garage, shed, and so on. That's life. It is going to happen no matter what. I look at it like this. At least those sales are keeping people interested in the hobby. Yeah I am not making any money off of their sales, but they are going to do it anyway and if it keeps people going in the hobby, great. Bottom line is, someone was selling something, I bought it, that's it. What I do with it after I own it is my choice, not yours. Well, I am done ranting. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. The way I see it, I am helping out El Salvador buy taking it all and not trying to lowball him with some insulting offer which also seems to be a nasty habit that has formed here. And you guys know exactly what I am talking about! Jason