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Has anyone tried WWC Coral Club???


madub03

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I am ready to start packing my new tank full with coral and I came across the WWC Coral Club. 

 

My question to the group was to see if anyone has tried this service and what they thought of it. 

 

At first thought, it seemed like it was maybe not the best idea due to how expensive it was combined with the fact that you don't have any idea on what you will be getting. But then after thinking about it more and more, and doing more research, I now think that maybe it isn't a bad idea after all...

 

For those of you who haven't heard of it, the idea of it is like all of these monthly subscription clubs they have now (bark box, birch box, FabFitFun, HelloFrech, etc) but instead of a box filled with random junk, it's filled with coral!!! It sounds like a dream come true until you see the price tags for these boxes for coral you can't hand select.

 

Their starter package is the Silver "Enthusiast" and comes with 5 frags, WWC swag (pens, stickers, a t-shrit, etc), Vendor Samples, and 10% off web corals (I am assuming while you keep your monthly subscription going). This one is $99/month but it seems that you have have to pay for shipping each month too. The website says "Pay up front for FREE shipping" - I am assuming that means if you pay for enough months in advance you get free shipping?

 

Their second package is the Gold "Collector" and comes also with 5 frags, WWC swag, Vendor Samples, and 10% off web corals but shipping is included. This one is $199/month

 

Their top package is the Platinum "High Roller" and come also with 5 frags, WWC swag, Vendor Samples, and 10% off web corals - shipping also included

 

So all packages, you basically get the same things... so what's the price difference for???

 

Well, here's where I went from, "this isn't worth it" to... "wait a second, maybe this could be worth it"

 

 - The silver package, priced at $99 comes with coral valued over $200 (I should note that the valued price is based off of what they sell their own coral for on their website)

 

 - The Gold package, priced at $199 comes with coral valued over $450

 

 - The Platinum package, priced at $299 comes with coral valued over $700 

 

Still, skeptical me, started doing research for people who have tried this service to see if they thought it was worth it and it seems that if you can be flexible enough in not picking out the exact pieces for your tank, you really do get good value on the coral you receive. It seemed in each case, there was one coral that retailed for the price of the monthly package and then the other four were maybe not as expensive but still nice pieces and you really did get at least the advertised value if not over. One guy in particular bought the Platinum package and compared the prices to what was on their website and if he would have bought the same exact coral, not that he would have I will add again, but if he did, it was valued at over $800. 

 

To make it a little better, even tho you can't pick which coral specifically you are getting, you can select a few types of coral that you'd like (not that they will only give you those) but you can choose from: Acropora, Chalices, LPS frags, Montipora, Mushrooms, Other SPS, Soft coral, and Zoanthids. It did seem that most people that got the subscription boxes received only the coral that they selected. 

 

Long story short, has anyone tried this? I didn't see any threads on this already. Is it worth trying? If so, which one would you choose if you were to try it out.

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$200/month for 5 frags? Reoccurring charge?

 

That sounds crazy. There are enough guys in the club that have really really nice stuff that you can spend $200 at their house and get some really nice stuff. Probably more than 5 frags too.

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So that was my initial thought... But some of these frags people got were really nice... 

 

Also, I should have mentioned, you can cancel at anytime but you do get a small discount if you buy 3 months in a row... BUT you have to remember to cancel it, otherwise, they will keep charging you... but you will keep getting coral.

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I'm doing the gold. Seems to be pretty good value. The samples they provide are not terrible. They are generally the smallest retail size, not just a single shot of whatever.

 

They don't send you duplicates and you can select the species of coral you want.

 

Think of it more of a box of the month club. Yes local people have some great corals as well and I'm sure my $200 could go further, but to each their own.

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I think you will regret it in the long run. There are so many frags out there to choose from, why would you get some unseen frags? Where is the fun in it? And personally I would rather do a Battle Box instead of WWC.

 

Value is subjective and changes almost every couple of months as supply and demand fluctuates.

Edited by marinap
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I'll post up tomorrow what I have received so far.

 

I requested basically all, as I have a fairly empty tank at the moment and really would like to watch them grow out. As they grown and if I decide to frag them out to help recover the costs that would be a good thing, but more than likely I'll just end up giving frags away or trade them for others.

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In my opinion for a vendor would go Battle Corals battlebox. Adam personalizes every shipment and has a fantastic collection. If you ever find yourself in FL the WWC shop has a $60 frag selection of nice corals and you can purchase frags from their display $$$, but get to see the mother colonies. With that said can’t beat vendors selling at WAMAS events or others. You’ll have a mix from low to high end and save a bunch of cash. The other route I’ve gone was bidding on EBay. Picked up high end Cornbread frags for a relatively decent price. Frags are tiny though.

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WWC has earned a pretty good reputation for quality corals and service, I don't think you'd have any issues with "duds" and I'm sure there will be a nice Easter egg in many boxes. Locals do have some amazing corals and all of my acroporas have come from them but I may get a subscription for the 150g. 

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Here is my received list: 07 was the $99/m plan, after that, the $199/m

 

07/18
WWC Hailsorm Acro
WWC Bob Marley Zoa
WWC Blizzard Acro
WWW Limelight Hydno

08/18
WWC Superman Rhodactis
Rainbow Aussie Lord
WWC AOI Zoa
WWC Purple Up Acro
ORA Hawkins Blue Acro

09/18
ORA Pearlberry Acro
Tyree Pink Lemonade Acro
WWC Dayglo Acro
JFOX BiPolar Favites
WWW Gold Interstellar

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just wanted to give an update...

 

I tried the Gold Level Plan ($199/month). I said I wanted Acros, Montipora, and Zoas and I received:

 

 - WWC Dragon Slayer Acro  (https://worldwidecorals.com/products/wwc-dragon-slayer-acropora)

 - WWC Purple Candle Acro (https://worldwidecorals.com/products/wwc-purple-candle-acropora)

 - WWC Grafted Sunfire Monti (https://worldwidecorals.com/products/wwc-grafted-sunfire-montipora)

 - WWC Laffy Taffy Zoa ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWC-Laffy-Taffy-Zoas-WYSIWYG-Live-Coral-Frag-World-Wide-Corals-102/273516284630?hash=item3faed74ad6:g:ErAAAOSwtBZbyl5j)

 - WWC AOI Zoa (https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWC-AOI-Zoanthids-WYSIWYG-Live-Coral-Frag-World-Wide-Corals-104/273516284579?hash=item3faed74aa3:g:18YAAOSwDJNbyl5h)

 

Also, for whatever it's worth... they also included a WWC T-Shirt, AccuraSea 1 Salt (enough to make 5 gallons), Brightwell Aquatics Coral Amino (enough for 4 feedings) and swag such as pins, stickers, a pen, a towel, etc.

 

On a personal note, if they would have let me 'handpick' one of the 5, I would have requested the WWC Grafted Sunfire Monti so I guess I really lucked out with getting that one. It was actually one of the only reasons I put montis on the list in the first place, although, even not considering that specific one, I felt that I got very good value for what I paid for, personally.

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Pretty cool... single polyp on the zoas?

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

 

No...

 

Two polyps on the Laffy Taffys, 6 polyps on the AOIs

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