Is ipu's trade policy different than when you were big al's or is it subjective ? the reason i ask is because I wanted to trade in a large gold severum and your guy told me it wouldnt sell for any more than $20 . so I ended up giving it away! How ever I was in your store a few weeks later a saw a similar sized green Severum no price on the tank, I asked and the manager on duty told me a big beuitiful severum of that size would be $100 . this is when I stopped shopping at your store . (big als)
So does this still happen at I P U ? I havent been back since the name change.
Acipenser,
Thank you for your question. Trading in fish are a service we offer to provide customers with an option for fish they no longer want to care for, for whatever reason, outgrowing aquarium etc.
Your example from before is showing the difference between two staff opinions on what your particular fish is worth. The Severum in question that you were told would be worth $100.00 did not sell at that price nor would it have been labeled at that price. If a fish is not priced, technically it is not yet for sale but many end up selling before the price is posted. Clearly you were given a guessed price as there was no price posted. Large Severums are not very popular. What many hobbyists don't realize, the most common reason for trade ins are fish outgrowing their space. This is the same reason why they are not popular or must sell at a lower price.
This is a service we offer and each fish is evaluated by the manager on at that time. Although we have standard pricing for certain trade in's there is no master trade in price list. Each fish is evaluated at the time, some fish receive no credit due to the amount we have at the time, others receive a better credit if we have low stock of XL fish. It also depends on the quality of the fish. Of course all trade ins come in under the perception of high quality but often is not the case.
My post on stunted fish is a good example, those fish came in from hobbyists expecting big credits where the fish are clearly not worth anything.
I do understand where you are coming from, but we are dealing with two different employees conversations and two separate situations. I price many of the traded in fish myself. The majority of these fish I truthfully don't want but take them in as a service. Our business is not based on trade ins, we are an importer. When you import you have a firm cost, trade ins have many variables. Our customers are generally happy we offer this service and this is why I continue to do so. It costs our company money to house and feed these fish and often, many are with us for longer periods.
I am sorry to hear of your instance, typically I would not give credit for larger Severums or very little. I believe there are 6 XL Green severums in the Burnaby location now. They will probably go out on an in store special or move very slowly. There are always two sides to any situation.
Hopefully this explanation has answered your question.