Death of the middleman?

[dizzy]

Some time ago I predicted that collectors would eventually be selling directly to the end consumers as the natural progression/consequences of wholesalers selling direct to hobbyists via etail sites. Are my predictions coming true? http://www.liverocks-r-us.com/index.html Are we seeing coffin nails being driven into the wholesale distribution chain in our industry?

I will further leak the rumor about ReeferMadness. The rumor I heard from a reliable source is that Walt Smith sold ReeferMadness to an exporter. I don't have any more details. Does anyone have any further information on this interesting development? Walt feel free to jump in and deny this rumor if it is false.

Mitch

 

[jhemdal1]

Hi Mitch,

I don't mean to sound obtuse, but what is so unusual about this operation? Robert Straughan was doing this in 1967. I was touting the same benefit back in 1982 with my mailorder company, and to this day consumer electronic dealers often say this...."cut out the middleman", "buy wholesale", etc. It is just a marketing ploy.
I don't see anything revolutionary about this operation. At the most they are acting as their own middleman, at the least it is some garage operation trying some puffery to make their operation seem bigger than it is.
How can you be buying direct from the collectors by dialing 310? I've watched with some amusement message threads where "collective buys" try to order from Hawaii, perhaps the easiest "direct" to do. Some of them are amazing - buyers all upset because of shorts, misized fish, substitutions and DOA's. Could you see these people actually bring an order in from Indonesia? They would be eaten alive.....IMO things will stabilize at the "exporter > importer > etailer > consumer" level with the larger etailers obviously acting as their own importer.

So bottom line: If you don't fill out a 3-177 you did NOT buy direct from the collector in another country<grin>.


Jay

 

[ERI]

Wait, a Los Angeles phone number selling the rock for much more than the competitive wholesale market price for LEGIT, AIR-FREIGHTED rock that most major wholesalers already offer? This is not a collector selling direct. This is just another rock wholesale attempt bad mouthing the major wholesale companies in an attempt to peddle their wares. Talk about price gouging - we sell the same 100% legal, air-freighted product as they advertise for significantly less money!!! That having been said, I am sure that these people will succeed in selling their rock - the grass is always perceived as being greener.............Reminds me of the operation Walt/Jer ran out of LA a number of years ago. Same concept, short shelf life.

 

[dizzy]

Hi Mitch,

Could you see these people actually bring an order in from Indonesia? They would be eaten alive.....IMO things will stabilize at the "exporter > importer > etailer > consumer" level with the larger etailers obviously acting as their own importer.
So bottom line: If you don't fill out a 3-177 you did NOT buy direct from the collector in another country<grin>.


Jay

Hi Jay,
It's interesting that you left retailers out of the stablized chain of custody.
All the collectors have to do is arrange for a transhipper to handle the import paperwork and route the rock on to the consumer. It will also be interesting to learn which exporter Walt sold RM to.
Mitch

 

[jhemdal1]

Mitch,

Sorry - I did not mean to imply that bricks and mortar retailers would not be in the equation - I was only trying to give my opinion on how things would CHANGE. I still feel that retailers will be selling the majority of livestock for some time yet. Use bookstores as a model - there will always be a market that serves the need of being able to see a product prior to purchase - I buy from Amazon, but I don't do that for books I haven't seen. And yes, I see the logic flaw there as one copy of Harry Potter is the same no matter where it is purchased, and fish are not - but there are still similarities.

But that was my point - you wrote, "All the collectors have to do is arrange for a transhipper to handle the import paperwork and route the rock on to the consumer". And that isn't "direct from the collector" the transhipper IS the middleman. I've had transhippers try to jack the prices higher than I could have gotten from 104st...so the only person being cut out here is the retailer, and that is happening with every etailer anyway, so nothing new.


Jay

 

[HELLYEAH]

everyone does it just like exoticfish.com . one of their workers and the owner at the time opened their own collection station in the south pacific. cut out the middleman = more profits for the etailer and lower prices for the customer causing lower prices in the industry causin profits for everyone else to suck unless like them you open your own collections stations. anyone need any goldenback triggerfish? heheh j/k