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WHY IS IT THAT TANKS

UNCLERUCKUS

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
go for pennies on the dollar in california and other west coast states but on the east coast it is a ridiculously high price to get a tank of any size? for example 220 g was like 200.00 on CL with stand and extras. maybe the manufacturer is out there. glasscages is in tenn is closer for us but still no way near as cheap as what they get out west. any ideas or logical answers on this ?
 
F8LBITE

F8LBITE

Members
I know what you mean man. Ive gotten some good deals on CL but it seems like anything over 125G fetches 80% of full price. Something is only worth what people are willing to pay.
 
cmcpart0422

cmcpart0422

Members
More densely populated areas have more of a selection thus lowering prices on tanks. I have a friend that lives in Alabama and he wanted to get a 75 gallon but he couldn't even find one. That best he could find was a 55 gallon with stand for 300.

If you type fish tank into CL for Maryland you can get sometimes over one hundred tanks. But if you do it for Alabama you might only get ten. California is a big state and probably have many people in the hobby.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
cmcpart0422 said:
More densely populated areas have more of a selection thus lowering prices on tanks.
Click to expand...

We're pretty dense here - umm i mean densely populated.

I get ticked at CL - I used to go look every day, I have Fish tanks bookmarked :) Either people want what they paid for it, or only slightly less and I've seen them asking for even more! And, if I find a deal - it is usally not worth the drive :-( For the cost of time and gas I can get almost as good a deal at Petco.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
Actually gave some thought to this, kinda bored today lol.

I think CA prices are lower because thier economy sucks much worse than ours.
 
UNCLERUCKUS

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
cmcpart0422 said:
Yeah some deals are really good. I think that some are fake too. I have sent many emails that never get responses.
Click to expand...
yep ive sold tanks on cl and the amount of folks that say they want the tank and those that actually show up to look at it are grossly different. like w/ everything you gotta weed out the bs. ;)
 
Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
Years ago, (before CL or internet) I bought a bunch of tanks from different people out of the paper. I kept having problems with leaks and such. Not right away but a year or so later.

When I built the current fish room in 92. Yes 1992. lol I swore I would not buy used stuff.
I think all of the tanks in the room except for 3, were new from local stores and paid for by store credit from trading in fish.
So I have never bought a tank from CL
 
M

mab

Members
There are a few folks on CL that are actually running businesses selling used tanks - generally the larger tanks. If you watch long enough you'll figure out who they are - one of them lists their location as various NOVA locations to make it look like less like a business - another has been closing down his fish room for years (interestingly the fishroom is constantly restocked). These folks are asking closer to 80/90 cents on the dollar for tanks, etc. and posting retail prices for comparison purposes - one even always states how much he "bought" the tank for at the LFS.

I've seen them grab free and really cheap stuff off "CL" postings and turn around to sell the same within days. Just recently I say this with a free CL posted 180g that was advertised within days on CL for nearly 1K. They also grab stuff on freecycle and other free sites.

When folks see these higher--and more frequent postings--they assume that they too can get those higher prices. As a former President of PVAS I received numerous pleas of help to sell these overpriced tanks. After explaining the reality of pricing used tanks I was often successful in using that frustration to turn these pleas into donations to club auctions.

The actual prices we see in local fish club auctions are closer to a dollar a gallon for large tanks and many of those come fully equipped. Other equipment often fetches only 10 cents on the dollar except for some high-end filters which fetch a premium. These are more realistic prices and l suspect closer to your CA prices.

PVAS has an auction in April that may have some of these bigger tanks.
 
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Lively

Lively

Members
mab said:
There are a few folks on CL that are actually running businesses selling used tanks - generally the larger tanks. If you watch long enough you'll figure out who they are - one of them lists their location as various NOVA locations to make it look like less like a business - another has been closing down his fish room for years (interestingly the fishroom is constantly restocked). These folks are asking closer to 80/90 cents on the dollar for tanks, etc. and posting retail prices for comparison purposes - one even always states how much he "bought" the tank for at the LFS.

I've seen them grab free and really cheap stuff off "CL" postings and turn around to sell the same within days. Just recently I say this with a free CL posted 180g that was advertised within days on CL for nearly 1K. They also grab stuff on freecycle and other free sites.

PVAS has an auction in April that may have some of these bigger tanks.
Click to expand...

I suspected that was the case with a few postings. I've basically given up on CL for tanks - not worth the time until the prices go down.

Found out I'm free the weekend of the auction... didn't think I'd be able to do it.
 
Andrew

Andrew

Members
Actually prices on new tanks are higher on the West Coast, at least on the wholesale level. That's probably why they get higher prices on used tanks too. Plus, the foreclosure rate is dropping so there are fewer people who need to dump tanks quickly now.

Perfecto and Aqueon (AGA) raised their prices three times in the last 18 months or so. The days of cheap tanks are gone... Large Perfecto and Aqueon tanks actually cost almost as much as Oceanic now.

For example, 10-gallon tanks used to cost $8-10 new at a store. They now cost the stores $12 and never go on promotion on the wholesale level. That's before any retail markup.
 
UNCLERUCKUS

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
Andrew said:
Actually prices on new tanks are higher on the West Coast, at least on the wholesale level. That's probably why they get higher prices on used tanks too. Plus, the foreclosure rate is dropping so there are fewer people who need to dump tanks quickly now.

Perfecto and Aqueon (AGA) raised their prices three times in the last 18 months or so. The days of cheap tanks are gone... Large Perfecto and Aqueon tanks actually cost almost as much as Oceanic now.

For example, 10-gallon tanks used to cost $8-10 new at a store. They now cost the stores $12 and never go on promotion on the wholesale level. That's before any retail markup.
Click to expand...

all the used tanks we see are very cheap. for example you get a listing for 300 her for a 55g setup. out west it would be a 180 or bigger all day.
 
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