whats the general markup for livestock at lfs?

Just went to mine.....rcs for 6 per and amano for 3.50. I bought nothing.

sounds about right. Their equipments are marked up pretty high too. I buy some things from the lfs though. If I need a big purchase, I go online.

here in ks i can find RCS for about $4 bones. i thought that was expensive!!!

Amanos are $4.99 at my LFS i think... cherries are around there too.

General rule on mark-ups in retail is called "keystoning", basically sell your product for 200% of wholesale.

Locally, I sell RCS for $1 each or 10 for $8 while the LFS sells them for $2.99 each. The sad thing is that mine are bright red (I carefully mix different strains to avoid inbreeding that diminish their color) whereas the ones at the LFS are so muted that it's hard to tell them apart from the Amanos (also $2.99 each) kept in the same tank.

Never buy shrimps from LFS. They're not mainstream enough so most LFS tend to have huge markups on them.

Going slightly off tangent here, but this might be my one and only opportunity to talk about markup & margin on this forum. I can't pass that up...

Please remember markup does not equal margin. The LFS isn't pocketing the difference between the cost it paid for the good sold and the price you paid (excluding applicable taxes). The markup imposed by the LFS has to cover direct cost plus SG&A (sales general & administrative) costs, plus a profit. By its very nature, the LFS is a big consumer of electricity and water (on a per square foot basis), two cost components it has hardly any control over. Liability insurance probably isn't cheap, either (water on the floor for a slip & fall in a LFS? what are the odds...). The amount of retail/storage space needed is quite substantial and not all facilities will support the weight of the numerous fully loaded aquariums, which often translates to higher than average rent/square foot. These items have to be accounted for in SG&A costs. And unlike that bottle of dish detergent sitting on a shelf at Target, much of the inventory in the LFS could perish (and sometimes does) if not sold within a reasonable period of time, potentially further eroding margins.

The bottom line is the LFS has additional costs aside from Cost of Goods Sold which have to be accounted for by the marked up price it charges customers.

This has been a public service annoucement to help eliminate misconceptions of profitability brought about by "sales math".

My LFS had Ghost Shrimp for 6 for $1 and a large grean filter feeder for $14.99. Fancy Guppies were about $4 each so I went for the assorted which were $6 a pair. I know I could get them cheaper online but by the time I pay shipping it wouldn't be worth it since I don't buy that many.

I dunno how they can even sell those stuff. I mean sure maybe if they had stuff hard to find... but yea RCS here tend to be over $5 and CRS are like $13, CBS $9 and they are very low grade cuz they are some of the ugliest Crystal Shrimp I have ever seen in my life. o.O

2.20 - 4.99 for a rcs normal stock/color bout same for amano i wouldnt get them at that price when u can come on here and get 20 for 20 shipped to u that probably are better than what they have. markup is allso going to be supply/demand on anything it is a buisness. i talk to most of the owners and if something is right or wrong say so they do appreciate feedback good and bad.

At the LFS i manage, our mark up is about 200%, most fish you can do that with but some are just way too expensive if we did it that high. also the price of the animals themselves can be different depending on the vendor. we sell our amanos for $2.29

I paid $15 a piece for my rcs today at privately owned lfs.

My lfs sells rcs for 8$ each and crs for 15$

cherry shrimp?
I could have given you some of mine for free.

Yes, of course the markup is for shipping, employees, electricity, heat, and a little profit etc...

Red Cherry Shrimp are $2.75 each here in los angeles and I thought that was high until I read this thread. But ghost shrimp are $.50 here so maybe it balances out if you buy 10 ghost shrimp for every RCS.