Canada's Coral Auction House
 

I haven't been to this page yet, but I see it everywhere. What am I missing? Anyone got reviews?

Oh boy, where do I start
1. The lies
2. The picture theft
3. The fake WYSIWYG pics

Or the failure to confront their issues

Really? What's up with that?

Those just seem like small oversights. I'm joining. :biggrin:

New age coral pirates armed with a computer and Photoshop

Can we vote on a picture?
Post and vote?
Saturated or WYSIWYG?

The owners are Philip and Tracy Vandersluis. From experience, I was sold on the picture of the coral. The pics are super saturated to the point where one should probably be using 3D glasses. They didn't bother me so much but when the piece you get is not the same as the pic it bothered me, especially when it's a when I paid $350 for it. The same pic is still being used even after my purchase.
It would also be nice to have some consistency... When we ( yes this is was a group order) spent $2000 we would have thought free shipping was going to be a given but we had to request for it. Now they are offering free shipping on three hundred purchases.
Lastly, when constructive critisism is given you get banned and the thread gets deleted.

That was sort of what I gathered, and decided not to join up. It seems like lots of back room/PM type deals going on, never any details publicly, at least in AL the other pages they spam on.

I joined, sold a Space Invaders Pectinia frag to a guy in Vancouver that's also here on Canreef. :lol:

As soon as I posted I got a PM fron Tracy asking me if I was a commercial vendor.

I've not bought anything as the pics look "too good to be true" and the pricing is the same as the LFS so why bother? My experience selling was neutral.

I was told some prices for things from someone else. I bought a whole freakin Border Collie for less money and he loves me more than any frag ever will. That's my opinion on prices -lol

Here is the pic...

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...psb4w5oklu.jpg
And what the real frag looked like...

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...psj3kp3enu.jpg

As you can see, their original pic size and colours are no where
close to the actual frag received.

They banned me for commenting on that photo Wayne. Frag looks nothing like photo by the way

Every frag is off.. look at the jaw dropper photo they stole.

Or how about the Monti from RK.. such bs

I joined, sold a Space Invaders Pectinia frag to a guy in Vancouver that's also here on Canreef. :lol:<br />

Thanks for the space invader

It certainly didn't. Good thing I was able to look beyond and had already assumed they photoshopped it but I was hoping that it was the actual piece in terms of its actual appearance. It didn't kill me but I'm sure it could have bothered someone else.

I know I'd be reporting their page,
I was also banned for asking the question about their pics

The pics are horribly photoshopped and sometimes don't even belong to them , even though they state they are wysiwyg pics. Here is a picture of a leprechaun monti that Tracy was selling http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...64ed6f68c2.jpg
You can see that the rest of the photo has been blacked out , which I'm assuming is so that the picture can not be searched for using Google image search to see who the pic belongs to.
This picture clearly belongs to RKLion from GTAquaria, and even shows it in his photobucket account. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...2763ff4633.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...16799ad42f.jpg
When I asked Tracy about the picture because she stated it was a wysiwyg picture , she removed my comments from the post. When I questioned her about why my comments had been removed, I was then banned me from the group. She then sent me a private message on Facebook saying that the picture was hers and wasn't a stolen picture. I sent her the pic from RKLions thread which clearly shows the pic belonged to him and then she went quiet.

I know numerous people that have asked questions , (usually about pics ) and all the comments get deleted and most get banned from the group when they question why their comments were deleted.

Very suspicious activity in this group , if the pictures belong to you and are not grossly photoshopped , then you should have nothing to hide , and no reason to remove people's posts/opinions. There are a handful of people on her group that defend her , which I discovered were all moderators of the group and I would assume friends of hers.

After taking part in a group order with said company, I did receive what I had ordered. However, as everyone has mentioned it was far from what was pictured and has taken months to see enough improvement to justify my purchases. I trusted there would have been some resemblance from the images they shared and the corals I received. But to my surprise, I received several thimble sized pieces and two of which were entirely brown. I have heard of a few happy customers, but I don't feel it's worth the risk and have decided to take my business elsewhere.

I thought I was all alone, not only are they cheats but they have a circle of cronies,who if an item isn't selling they "buy" it, then you see the same frag a month later taken at a differant angle for a slightly cheaper price.
I haven't been kicked out, but anytime you ask something that reflects poorly on them your question is erased. Tracy just commented the other day about someone questioning her lighting in her for sale posts, and went on a little rant. They are quite the pair
$40 starting bid for a barnacle cluster!!!

Based on what clearly sounds like market deception (lying), feel free to post your experiences here. This hobby is tough enough without getting robbed by this type of thing.

Never dealt with this group or this pair of shysters, so I'm feeling lucky. Sorry to all who had the great misfortune of sending any money to these sellers. Thanks for the warning.

Anthony

I was just about buying from them but luckily? I had a red bugs issue, so didn't dealt with them.
Thanks for the information.
Hiro

I won't be buying from them again.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

There you are, you're welcome. :) How's it doing?

It seems like the same few people win all the auctions. They either spend a **** load of money on corals OR they are somehow working with the admins to win the auction so they don't end up selling them to a legit bidder at a lower price.

Just a quick question on coral pics:

It seems like it's an accepted norm to photoshop coral pictures as WYSIWYG. What's the best way to actually get a real picture of a coral? Picture against a white background or some other colour that will expose whether or not the coral colours have been altered?

Hi everyone...As some of you know I have a wholesale farming business that for several years has been supplying corals to many of the vendors you have come to love and is now venturing into retail. We have supplied Canada's Coral Auction House with corals. The Montipora picture in question was used with permission after they purchased the coral. Further more they are passionate hobbyists who love reefing:smile:

:pop2: The plot thickens.

Generally, background colors are a good start. However, that boils down to how skilfully the alteration was handled. For example, you could simply set the background as a separate object and only alter the coral...

But most of the time, people photoshopping corals are either unconcerned, unaware or unskilled and you'll be able to spot an alter just fine. Rule of thumb (obviously): if it looks suspect, ask questions.

... Not that I have any direct commentary on this topic. Just chiming in as someone who uses PS everyday :D

I call BS

Like RKLion already said, they buy from him wholesale and start bids at retail prices in the hopes they can still get more money in the auction(they are not a retail store) they are crooks. Unless the coral has grown exponentially or morphed into something awesome, I don't see why a coral would ever appreciate in value especially if the what you get is smaller then the WYSIWYG photo. They are corals not antique watches, And they are crooks not passionate hobbyists

Hi RK, their passion for the hobby is not being questioned but how they sell is. They have a tendancy of using the same pic over and over again. In many cases this would be considered "false advertising", no? Sure, their pictures are saturated to the extreme but the coral received by the buyer should at least have resemblance in terms of shape etc... There has been many requests for actual pictures of the corals and the admins seems to be able to successfully fail well at this by either deleting the post or simply ignoring it. They have written the rules in how everyone should be conducting themselves, perhaps they should set an example and follow these rules.

This is such BS +! Seems to me they are making fake accounts now. Seems like we need to send a message to RK on the original site haha..

If it was used with permission, why the hell would you black the background like a bunch of rookies??

It really stinks here!! BS BS

What exactly are you calling BS?...

Lol take a look at how a lot of wholesalers and vendors take pics. You shoot the coral on a black background so the focus is on the coral. Feel free to contact me on GTAA...Rookies lololol...

This account. !!!

ok ill chime in...

i have purchased 1 piece from said people, it arrived in murky water and stunk as soon as i opened it coral was barely alive and died... not happy but i figured ill give them one more try....

So far all these points are totally valid aout the photos, most of you have seen my tank and my photos, there is no reson to edit them as such, it has screwed theyre credibility. i barely edit the lighting, brightness and luminiosity but not colours, and i certanly dont need to black out edeges for a clean picture, its called cropping...

I have placed an order for some high end acros, so i will put up a solid review of how my order transpires.

I will be honest and take my own photos upon arrival, if they are close to the pictures (Heaven and Hell, Blue Matrix) and alive i will be happy.

Stay tuned for some cool coral photos or watch one ****ed off customer retaliate.

PS: Coralfarms.ca has the same stuff she does for half the price....not an auction, found out after placing an order..

Pm me your number. I'll ask you a simple question..

WILL THE REAL RK LION PLEASE STAND UP? LOL

Doubt we will get a response...

Good Luck with your order. I can tell you that their blue matrix picture is not going to resemble your piece.

Silence!!! From RK. . Waiting your pm !