How much is everyone paying for Rocks? OHKO, Seiryu STONE

9899 Views 24 Replies 18 Participants Last post by yungtoolie, Jan 18, 2018

MikeP_123

Discussion Starter · Mar 28, 2017 (Edited)

Wondering how much people are paying and the demand for these.
****How much people ARE paying for these today, not how much they want me to charge****

I want to beat out the market price and supply cheap stone, but will only attempt it if there is enough profit to commit the time.
A friend found a storage full of these and we are thinking about buying and selling out to the community

There's over 900 lb of this stuff

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BettaBettas

· #2 · Mar 28, 2017

they uh... totally go for 1 dollar each...

Seriously though about 7 bucks a batch for seiryu. But ya know you could always just send them to me for 8 bucks shipping LOL

Reactions: 1

MikeP_123

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 28, 2017

BettaBettas said:
they uh... totally go for 1 dollar each...

Seriously though about 7 bucks a batch for seiryu. But ya know you could always just send them to me for 8 bucks shipping LOL

Lol. I thought I might get that answer

If only I lived on top of whatever query these things come from!
Trying to figure out if it is profitable enough to even put in the effort to sell. AND I obviously want to price cut all the outrageous sellers! I like you guys :nerd:

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BettaBettas

· #4 · Mar 28, 2017

I would say go a bit lower, maybe five or six bucks then people would buy more likely.

PlantedRich

· #5 · Mar 28, 2017

Pricing is the hard part of many deals. It depnds on who has it and who wants it. I find my rocks and rarely buy any. When hard pressed for a quick setup where I want rocks and quick, I go to the landscape places where they sell by the ton and often give out a handful of what I want.
But then that is part of any sale/buy situation. We all have to find our comfort level. I recently made a 2500 mile road trip and there is a vast supply on rock out there along the roadsides if we each feel the need to stop!

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BettaBettas

· #6 · Mar 28, 2017

I meant to vote 3$/lb I didn't see that

sorry!

mindnova

· #7 · Mar 28, 2017

3 bucks a pounds with free shipping, you say you found them in storage? they look worn out and old, so must have been well used.

seriously would love to get a shot at a few pieces but I have small tanks and those photos are stunning. good luck with them.

KayakJimW

· #8 · Mar 28, 2017

Shipping may be an issue. I once got a quote of $50 to ship 30 pounds of rocks and instantly said "I'm out". The rocks would have to be under $2 a pound for me to do that, unless you could ship cheaper. Selling local seems like the way to go with heavy stuff, although I'm sure there's a market for folks who can't find it locally. Good looking out though, and I hope it's profitable should you decide to do it.

MikeP_123

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 28, 2017

KayakJimW said:
I would say go a bit lower, maybe five or six bucks then people would buy more likely.

I meant to vote 3$/lb I didn't see that sorry!

This isn't voting on how much I should sell them for, this is is how much are people actually buying them for today.
I want to see if there is a market that is even worth it to sell to for cheap. If people are already getting them at $3... well then it doesn't make sense for me to try.

KayakJimW said:
Shipping may be an issue. I once got a quote of $50 to ship 30 pounds of rocks and instantly said "I'm out". The rocks would have to be under $2 a pound for me to do that, unless you could ship cheaper. Selling local seems like the way to go with heavy stuff, although I'm sure there's a market for folks who can't find it locally. Good looking out though, and I hope it's profitable should you decide to do it.

Exactly. Shipping a rock isn't the cheapest thing

but will explore my options there if I find this maybe worth my time.

PlantedRich

· #10 · Mar 28, 2017

Shipping rocks sounds really easy---until you think about it a bit. One of the things that is easy to overlook is the way freight is handled. the rocks we really like are often due to the shape and that shape is often made up of some sharp angles or points. When they are put in a box, we need to assume that the box will be thrown and that really gets into a mess. `Do you wrap the rock enough to keep the rock from going out the end of the box if it thrown across the room? Or do we ship it and it gets there with all those pretty details knocked off and a bad report from the customer? Keep in mind that lots of packing means lot of trouble as well as lots of wasted weight.
When the price of shipping begins to exceed the price of the rocks, I don't go there. If you happen to be a big time shipper and have the equipment on hand to add sprayfoam to fill the box, then you are not likely to be a simple hobby sort but a full time dealer.
Nice thought but it is full of "catch-22" that may not make it work.

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MikeP_123

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 28, 2017

PlantedRich said:
Shipping rocks sounds really easy---until you think about it a bit. One of the things that is easy to overlook is the way freight is handled. the rocks we really like are often due to the shape and that shape is often made up of some sharp angles or points. When they are put in a box, we need to assume that the box will be thrown and that really gets into a mess. `Do you wrap the rock enough to keep the rock from going out the end of the box if it thrown across the room? Or do we ship it and it gets there with all those pretty details knocked off and a bad report from the customer? Keep in mind that lots of packing means lot of trouble as well as lots of wasted weight.
When the price of shipping begins to exceed the price of the rocks, I don't go there. If you happen to be a big time shipper and have the equipment on hand to add sprayfoam to fill the box, then you are not likely to be a simple hobby sort but a full time dealer.
Nice thought but it is full of "catch-22" that may not make it work.

Yup, hence my analysis. And very much agreed. Appreciate the highlighted risks here. The shipping issues are exactly why most aquarium store "box of rocks" of small shards of the one or two larger pieces they still have. Ship from supplier, to pet warehouse (pet store supplier), ships to local distribution center, ships to store. That is a lot of shipping. I figure the less hands it touches before it gets to the consumer the better.

But you are right, that does come at a cost. Sadly I don't think doing this locally has a large enough market. Feel I might be sitting on a ton of rocks for a long time. Storage has it's cost as well.

Jamieson22

· #12 · Mar 28, 2017

My LFS sold Seiryu and Ohko for $2.50/lb.

sohankpatel

· #13 · Mar 29, 2017

My LFS sells most "nice" rocks for $4.00 a pound.

BettaBettas

· #14 · Apr 11, 2017 (Edited)

are you still selling? im interested in buying a lot if you are @MikeP_123

Bloomer

· #15 · Apr 11, 2017

I think you need to determine your costs first (maybe you have) then do a lot of web research to see what you could buy something similar for as a retail buyer, then see if there's any margin left.

If you have a storage shed full of them, maybe wholesaling them to LFS's would be the best bet. You can move 900 lbs locally to different stores fairly easily. I know USPS has flat rate for their boxes regardless of weight. I got 35 lbs of lead weights for a weight vest once in a medium box that cost about $12 to ship. Bama Plants once sent a huge bag of cool gravel full of fossils in one. It arrived OK, the lead weights didn't, our carrier was p*ssd!

The ones shown are very pretty, I'm just afraid you may be in the same boat as those who ship bags of cement; it pays off only if very heavy loads are shipped. Good luck.

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Sean W.

· #16 · Apr 11, 2017

I have an importer within driving range, I pay $0.12/lb for Seiryu stone

Tnalp

· #17 · Apr 15, 2017

Sean W. said:
I have an importer within driving range, I pay $0.12/lb for Seiryu stone

Share the plug

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MadamX

· #18 · Apr 26, 2017

Did you end up deciding to sell any?

I would be interested in a piece or two nothing major heh

powderwt

· #19 · May 13, 2017

Jamieson22 said:
My LFS sold Seiryu and Ohko for $2.50/lb.

Just paid 2.99/lb locally about an hour ago.

dealend

· #20 · May 13, 2017

LFS nearby averagely, $2.50/lbs

Other store(not a fish store), could be a lot less. $1.00/lbs

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