Auctions Anyone?

Mixed Reefer

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How many of you are bidding actively in these online auctions? It seems to be a growing trend. They’re popping up often on reefing sites. I’ve been finding some luck when bidding on some nice pieces (see pics). I’ve been happy so far with two vendors bidding on multiple occasions. I would recommend Liberty Reef and TCK coral. The downside is some auctions run late and if you want to have the winning bid you need to be up to the end:). Let me know your experience
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I’ve been curious about giving them a shot. Do you get an idea of what said coral should go for and then stop bidding after it’s exceeded that price range? Have you managed to get any corals for great bargains?

I’ve heard of online auctions where the auctioneer has fake profiles bidding/ artificially inflating the price. Until it’s at a ridiculous price. That way there’s no losing out for the auctioneer. It’s either sell it for sky high or keep the coral.
 
I've been thinking about this too. Do you win something and then pay the shipping for the 1 coral? Or, do you try to buy a few at a time?
 
I’ve had good luck with aqua sd auctions on eBay. I wait till the near end and normally pickup some corals for less than 10$
 
I’m guilty! I’ve done a lot of them lol and to be honest I’ve never really got burnt there’s one exception but I’ll get to that.

eBay I’ve had fantastic luck with kastons corals, fb I’ve done coral garage, clean cut corals, corals r us, Long Island corals, our own sponsor @CrazyCorals does typically two a year, and lastly apex aquatics (avoid). All except the last had great looking corals packed well and shipped on time and as expected. Some but not all are willing to hold orders for a week or multiple so you can hop in their next auction and fill your box some more so the shipping charge doesn’t hurt so much and you get more bang for your buck. I have got some fantastic deals for corals through auctions but as stated most of them you need to be up when they end to bid last minute and get the steal.

Now the exception apex aquatics I won some items and it was middle of summer she’s in Texas and said she didn’t cover doa when temps are over 100 ok fair enough hold it till it cools off. That was 2-3 months until it was cool enough the corals that did arrive that I won in the auction looked in poor shape and I was missing a few items on top of that and got a green hammer instead of a gold. She has since gone under is my understanding and burned quite a few people I still got majority of my order but still to this day am out $80 I think. Clearly didn’t stop me from trying again and buying online/fb and that was my only negative experience.

Happy bidding don’t steal my corals!!
 
I’ve been curious about giving them a shot. Do you get an idea of what said coral should go for and then stop bidding after it’s exceeded that price range? Have you managed to get any corals for great bargains?

I’ve heard of online auctions where the auctioneer has fake profiles bidding/ artificially inflating the price. Until it’s at a ridiculous price. That way there’s no losing out for the auctioneer. It’s either sell it for sky high or keep the coral.
Yeah you need to do your research on value but on the other hand I got these two pieces at a bargain. TCK has a great video on site how it works. I would bid again.
 
I’m guilty! I’ve done a lot of them lol and to be honest I’ve never really got burnt there’s one exception but I’ll get to that.

eBay I’ve had fantastic luck with kastons corals, fb I’ve done coral garage, clean cut corals, corals r us, Long Island corals, our own sponsor @CrazyCorals does typically two a year, and lastly apex aquatics (avoid). All except the last had great looking corals packed well and shipped on time and as expected. Some but not all are willing to hold orders for a week or multiple so you can hop in their next auction and fill your box some more so the shipping charge doesn’t hurt so much and you get more bang for your buck. I have got some fantastic deals for corals through auctions but as stated most of them you need to be up when they end to bid last minute and get the steal.

Now the exception apex aquatics I won some items and it was middle of summer she’s in Texas and said she didn’t cover doa when temps are over 100 ok fair enough hold it till it cools off. That was 2-3 months until it was cool enough the corals that did arrive that I won in the auction looked in poor shape and I was missing a few items on top of that and got a green hammer instead of a gold. She has since gone under is my understanding and burned quite a few people I still got majority of my order but still to this day am out $80 I think. Clearly didn’t stop me from trying again and buying online/fb and that was my only negative experience.

Happy bidding don’t steal my corals!!
Yeah I forgot about @CrazyCorals ive bid on them also. Facebook auction. He needs to have more of these. Last minute bidding should extend the auction by two minutes like they do on TCK. It works welll
 
I've wanted to give it a try, but I get hung up on the shipping. I don't want to pay a crazy shipping price if I only win one bid, and I don't want to keep bidding just to make the shipping worth it. Many times, I can't even figure out what the shipping is because they don't post any details.

I've bought things on live sales where there is more than one, and the price is fixed. It's less stressful for me.
 
I've participated in TCK, ARC and mainly POTO (Pieces of the Ocean) I like theirs the best. Haven't bought anything in quite some time though.
 
I've wanted to give it a try, but I get hung up on the shipping. I don't want to pay a crazy shipping price if I only win one bid, and I don't want to keep bidding just to make the shipping worth it. Many times, I can't even figure out what the shipping is because they don't post any details.
Lots of them have second chances that you can add to you order, like ones that people actually don't pay for or corals that are left over.
 
I've wanted to give it a try, but I get hung up on the shipping. I don't want to pay a crazy shipping price if I only win one bid, and I don't want to keep bidding just to make the shipping worth it. Many times, I can't even figure out what the shipping is because they don't post any details.

I've bought things on live sales where there is more than one, and the price is fixed. It's less stressful for me.
That’s what I like about TCK and liberty very transparent. Shipping is CB on site FedEx $29. So bid wisely
 
I don’t see auctions as much anymore. I do see on fb there’s a couple groups that I’m in where the member will sell a coral by selling 10 “spots”(each spot is usually 1/10 of the value of the coral), when all spots or numbers are sold the seller will pick a number using some app that randomly picks a number 1-10. If your number is picked you win the coral for a tenth of the cost, the seller obviously gets his asking price. There’s usually an option to buy it straight out if you really want the coral too. Quite a few people are always buying spots, I’d probably do it more if I had Venmo or some other cash paying app that they accept.
 
I don’t see auctions as much anymore. I do see on fb there’s a couple groups that I’m in where the member will sell a coral by selling 10 “spots”(each spot is usually 1/10 of the value of the coral), when all spots or numbers are sold the seller will pick a number using some app that randomly picks a number 1-10. If your number is picked you win the coral for a tenth of the cost, the seller obviously gets his asking price. There’s usually an option to buy it straight out if you really want the coral too. Quite a few people are always buying spots, I’d probably do it more if I had Venmo or some other cash paying app that they accept.
10x the buy In in usually well over what you might pay
At least the ones I've seen on the local FB group
 
I've wanted to give it a try, but I get hung up on the shipping. I don't want to pay a crazy shipping price if I only win one bid, and I don't want to keep bidding just to make the shipping worth it. Many times, I can't even figure out what the shipping is because they don't post any details.

I've bought things on live sales where there is more than one, and the price is fixed. It's less stressful for me.
Seems like with the bidding this greatly favors the seller
 
I'm with Chris and Paul, POTO has some great stuff you can get cheap. Recently I got a bahama mama millie, dragon slayer and a pearlberry for under $200
 
good question
@Mike Lemming

When your the winning bidder usually you need to buy a shipping module within set time, usually 24 hours and you pay for botth coral and shipping at checkout. Some vendors will exclude you from future auctions if you don’t pay for you bid.

When I’m bidding it’s for a specific piece but there are usually cheaper pieces you could bid on or buy straight out from vendor. I have had the vendor send free frags with bid piece. Thats always a nice surprise. Definitely want to know what you’re bidding on before you just bid. Have a limit$ and good luck. Follow along some auctions to check it out till you feel comfortable on bidding
Good luck
 
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