Quoting prices in AQ forums

[fisherw]

I know its sensitive to ask about pricing here. But I just need to budget for my moss wall. Can anyone advise me how much is a stainless steel mesh of 1m x 1m? maybe don't type out just say how many red notes or blue notes

also where exactly can I get the mesh from? I always hear kelantan lane but I am not sure which exact shop as i am not familiar with that area.

Please assist thanks

I am slightly puzzled by what is allowed or not allowed and why? And about this red note blue note alternative. This reminds me of when my children were younger and my wife and I would spell (e.g. Are we going to the b-e-a-c-h, just in case we are not). Which we can't any more because they can spell as well now. Everyone (at least in Singapore) knows that 2 red notes is $20, so why bother.

I can understand that we don't want postings to say "don't go to lfs A because it sells this item at $34 whereas lfs B sells it at $30". But if a certain brand of chiller is $80 and another (either better, made somewhere else or has a better reputation) is $100, this should be alright (in my opinion). It is a fact of the marketplace and if the manufacturer of the $100 chiller takes offence, something is wrong. And to say it costs 2 blue notes fools no one.

So to have zoombee (many apologies for bringing you into this), posting it like the above and sort of apologising does not make sense.

No offence meant (apologies to mods, if there is) but I was wondering how others feel about the issue. I deliberated a while whether to post this but felt this does not offend. I hope it does not anyway.

[vinz]

No offence taken, as long as it's posted in the right spirit and in an appropriate tone.

[fisherw]

Definitely posted in the right spirit. Tone is a bit of a problem. Depends on the reader and his/her frame of mind. But definitely meant to be in a non-offensive tone. Thanks for taking it as such.

Just thought it was a bit funny and wanted to clarify matters. Have not been told off so not trying to be defensive or such.

[samhon]

I guess people are afraid that through open posting of prices, we may indirectly affect someone's livelihood, correct me if I am wrong, I do know of some forums which do not encourage price discussion for the above reason.

I think that price discussions are important to some hobbyists as some of us maybe studying or on a tight budget with many mouths to feed at home. Such discussions allow hobbyists to pursue fish rearing to their max potential with their limited budget.

Of course there are others who do not place price as one of the major factors in this hobby. I am not a rich man, but I always spend 3 red notes to travel to one of my favourite LFS just to catch up with the owner, look at the plants, touch the moss, listen to the flowing water, look out for rare critters and lose some blue notes.

Sometimes price discussions also prompt some important revelation, like the same fish being sold at very different prices at 2 different LFS, is actually due to the fact that one is wild caught and one is farm bred etc and why the differnce in price.

Market failure arises due to imperfect information which always lead to a fall in consumer/producer surplus. ranting off some economics which is a big part of my life

God bless all!

[benny]

In the days long gone, there was really no restriction on discussion on prices in AQ. Members could openly share and compare prices as they like. Personally I like it this way. I see no harm as long as it's discussion about publicly known/displayed prices or recommended retail prices.

However, problems start to come into the community as the membership grew.

Some members are regulars and can get great discounts or even items at practically cost price of certain LFS. Then they started to post these prices online without a very detailed explanation of the rationale of the prefrential pricing they received. Other members who read it online goes to same shop and expected to get the same rate. Or worst, they started going to other LFS and demand to get a particular price that they read LFS X was offering. This caused a disturbance to the retail pricing policy in the shops and to an extend across the industry.

The effect of the above is that members will ALL flock to where they read was offering the cheapest prices (although they are not always comparing apples to apples, just absolute dollar value). Price wars can be triggered when members posted up prices that may be part of a package or a 'confidential' discount. Margins drop, service suffer, variety of stocks starts to decline, the rest is history.

Another problematic aspect of price details in the forums is that the information is easily searchable. As such, any price mentioned in the forum can be dug out. This also led to a "price setting" as members will search and then use the lowest price as a benchmark. If it's for buy/sell of used items in the forum, it's not so much of an issue. It's a case of willing seller, willing buyer. However, sometimes, this phenomenen extends also to new products. If there is an offer anywhere, it automatically becomes the 'default' price of an item, causing shops much grief in explanation/rationalizing and often not making the sale. As such, some shops actually do not welcome forum members and consider them unwanted 'pest' as they can be consider as retail price spies.

With the above being said, AQ then decided to tighten the policy on price discussion. Obviously, members tried to be smart and go around the policy with 'blue' notes, 'red' notes, 'purple' notes and even 'gold' coins. It's not that the team is stupid and can't pick these out, but we chose to be a bit more lenient. Obviously, over time, and with membership churn, the policy may need to be re-communicated and the rationale re-explained.

In any case, thanks for bringing this up, I will re look at the policy again to see if we can come up with some more managable but giving a bit more leeway. BUT, take note, this is not a priority. Here, we focus on keeping a better aquarium through better knowledge, not "where to buy the cheapest ah?" type of interaction.

Cheers,

[benny]

Hi mike,

I believe if we are going to have an exempt list, it will only be for DIY equipment and components. We are still looking for a better way to relax the policy instead of a blanket ban.

Cheers,