# Flourish Excel gone from Ebay?



## skeletonw00t (23 Jun 2012)

Hi,

Wierd thing - has anyone noticed that there are no Flourish Excel's on ebay anymore? The only ones I can see are in the USA...


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## sr20det (23 Jun 2012)

Wonder if its related to the Purigen? Apparently Seachem have banned it from sale on eBay?


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## Iain Sutherland (23 Jun 2012)

maybe, prime gone too 

Aquaessential's - aqua carbon is good and well priced, prefer it to easy carbo.


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## Alastair (23 Jun 2012)

Primes literally gone too. Why is it being taken off eBay along with purigen?? 


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## skeletonw00t (23 Jun 2012)

I'm annoyed


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## rebus (23 Jun 2012)

Interesting 

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/to ... amazon-uk/


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## Antipofish (23 Jun 2012)

The UK distributors for Seachem products have banned Ebay sales of their products because of the constant undercutting of prices making sales difficult for retail outlets.  I personally think its a bit of overkill.  After next week I will be able to get Purigen again from my normal outlet though


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## adamhawk (23 Jun 2012)

I can understand why they feel the need to ban it, but by doing that people will take another route, so no win.


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## skeletonw00t (23 Jun 2012)

Yeah I'll just buy easy carbo instead.


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## Iain Sutherland (24 Jun 2012)

yep, just wont buy seachem anymore.  Thats just a price fixing racket, no doubt the price will go up soon now too.
http://www.pinsentmasons.com/mediafiles/1642361014.pdf

So can anyone recommend a good alternative to seachem prime??


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## Antipofish (24 Jun 2012)

easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> yep, just wont buy seachem anymore.  Thats just a price fixing racket, no doubt the price will go up soon now too.
> http://www.pinsentmasons.com/mediafiles/1642361014.pdf
> 
> So can anyone recommend a good alternative to seachem prime??



Hi Iain, I don't think its price fixing so much as trying to retain proper retail customers who own and run business premises.  Its the same with filters, Eheim and a few of the other companies are working towards not allowing the huge undercutting that goes on by "warehouse sellers" who have few overheads compared to a LFS.  

Ultimately its us as hobbyists who will potentially benefit because if everything ends up "online" because of these price wars, where will we go to buy our fish ?  There wont BE LFS's any more ultimately.  Some may not worry too much; after all you can get pretty much anything online nowadays, but I think most of us still appreciate the opportunity to have a trip out looking at the LFS's in our area or even further afield, and sadly they are on the decline because they just can't compete with some of the silly Ebay prices.

Having said that I think they could have done things somewhat more wisely.  As has been pointed out, many people will look at alternative options, and the online sellers lose out from sales this way too, which is also somewhat unfair since Seachem were happy enough to sell them the product in the first place.  IMO, a better approach might have been to limit the minimum pricing for online sales, or offer a higher purchase price to online sellers than to LFS retail outlets to allow fairer comparative margins.

I don't believe there is a good alternative to Seachem prime to be honest though It is still by far the most economical and probably best option.


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## Ian Holdich (24 Jun 2012)

Pond dechlor is the next best thing.

The new Aquavitro range is going to be purely LFS sales only, they are really strict about it apparently. 

In essence it's a good idea, that way we can carry on supporting local businesses.


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## Gill (24 Jun 2012)

Basically ALF have bought them out, was an interesting chat with them today. Won't make much difference to the Price in the long run, as can still get a decent price on it.


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## ghostsword (24 Jun 2012)

Price fixing, no more no less.

I buy a lot of kit online, but still visit a pet shop. 

What will happen is that without online competition the shops can be complacent and degrade customer care. Now they need to understand that if they give bad service people can get the same stuff online. 

Anytime a shop or company try to force the customers to buy from a single source or group you can safely call it price fixing. 

What they are afraid off? People will find another way to get cheaper stuff.


___________________________
Luis 
@ghostsword


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## Gill (24 Jun 2012)

Most don't know the whole story behind the changes that are being put in place. ALF are not the only ones who will be bringing these policies into place. Alot of Ebay sellers have had no licence to resell products on etc.


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## Aqua sobriquet (24 Jun 2012)

I wouldn't mind if the UK price was a bit more reasonable but as usual it can be bought a lot cheaper in other countries. I've not tried it myself yet but if I do I'll get it from Germany as part of a bigger order as it's £4 a (500ml) bottle cheaper.


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## sr20det (24 Jun 2012)

I buy Easy Carbo as is, happy and think its better option imo. Only thing that did interest me is Purigen.  But can live without it.  

I think this is a bad move personally. eBay is an easy solution for many, and many retailers use eBay as an outlet. If Seachem block that they are shooting themselves personally. And the likes of Easy Carbo win. 

Needed Prime 2 weeks back and ended up with Amquel plus, which was not only cheaper but does all that Prime does.


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## Aqua sobriquet (24 Jun 2012)

Interesting link of possible alternatives:

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm


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## ghostsword (24 Jun 2012)

Just buy from abroad, with the euro going down it must be even better. 


___________________________
Luis 
@ghostsword


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## ghostsword (24 Jun 2012)

I bought 1kg of purigen for about £40 delivered I think. Now that is very cheap.. 


___________________________
Luis 
@ghostsword


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