Mark Up at LFS's

[BigH55]

I was talking with a guy that worked at a LFS store in Georgia, and he said that mark up on marine livestock was anywhere between 200-300%. Is that true? he said he could buy pieces of coral from wholesalers that were the size of softballs for dirt cheap.

 

[Melonbob]

I'd say yes and no. Markup is close to double up here, but then you have to figure out the shipping costs, which are astronomical, import permits, etc, etc. I'm not saying they don't make money, but its not as lucrative as you think, unless you are moving tons of product

 

[JAG107]

I know freshwater has an obscene markup, saltwater livestock not as much. But look at it this way: The retailer has store rent, electricity ( !!!!!!!! ), staffing, maybe a little advertisement, crazy shipping, livestock that dies before its sold, water quality and equipment, man the list must go on and on...
That and the fact that a wholesaler/distributor will NOT accomodate anyone unless they go in there and drop loads of cash on a regular basis (at least, that's supposedly how it is out here). 200-300% doesn't look so insane after all those costs are factored in. Add in a recession/depression, you're looking at one borderline-starving LFS owner.
Not to mention Internet sales of equipment killing the brick n' mortars!

 

[ndepratt]

Yeah it REALLY depends on the product in mind... I do know that I can buy a blue hippo for $16-$19 and around here it retails for $49.99.

 

[BigH55]

They are 60 here and that is for the medium size. How do you go about hooking up with a wholesaler. could I get a biz license as a fish dealer and get wholesale?

 

[lightcs4]

I wouldn't be surprised at all about the mark-up. As already mentioned, there are a lot of expenses in running a store. I can get a $10 frag of a birds nest from a local reefing club member but they don't have the overhead costs that a LFS has to deal cover.

 

[yote]

I dont know the exact mark-up at my LFS.But I know by the time all the bills are paid,they're barely breaking even.The avarage light bill is close to $2000 a month.Then theres the water bill,the price of salt.And its not unusal to go through 3 or 4 buckets a week,the test kits thats used in the store,stuff like calcium and buffer.Medications for the fish,feeding the fish.
I used to think the mark up was insane,untill I started helpping them out.Not theres times I question why we dont mark it up more.

 

[hotimportknight]

The markups can be a little bit crazy at some smaller stores. Around here we only have 1 store that sells saltwater that isn't a chain store (ie. Petco) and their stuff is so much more expensive! I know they have crazy expenses that most people can hardly imagine... But for a bucket of instant ocean salt, the 160 or 200 gallon bucket is like... $74.99! When you can drive to fosters and smith and get a bucket of that, or reef crystals for $34 on sale most of the time... I would really like to support the small businesses and help out a local business owner, but his prices are CRAZY. In this case I know his insane markup is lowering his potential profits for sure... If he at least tried to have at least somewhat competitive pricing at all I would shop there, but he makes no attemp, and actually bad mouths me and my friends (the only people in this town with saltwater tanks) because we don't "Buy enough stuff" and he tells other people we are cheap and blah blah blah... So I really have no pity for him, I've spent probably 1-2k at his store before I found out fosters and smith was less than 2 hours away with more variety, better quality, and about 1/3 the price on most things...