[marxsman]

Has anybody tried the PETCO brand salt. I saw it today at 49.99 for a 5 gal bucket at PETCO. The price is right but wondered the quality? I don't want to use if you folks have negative feedback on the product.

[bguile]

I'm not sure what a bucket of salt goes for in your area, but I get Instant Ocean 5gal bucket for under $30 usually and I usually pick the one with the free t-shirt inside! Free water changing and project shirts and rags!

[marxsman]

AT PETCO, I usually buy the instant Ocean Salt too, but it goes for $69.00. That is cheep ofr Colorado. (the one with the T-shirt) At the LFS the same bucket goes for $80.00. That is why I ask. I am trying to save money.

[bguile]

Wow ...I didn't know the price could change so much here in the States. I'm not sure what type of tank you have but I'd say that if you could get a smaller quantity of it and test for all the things you need (ex. calc, alk, mag) and all the things you don't want (ex. copper, phosphates,nitrates) and it tests good it should be ok. If you have the means, you may try the product in another tank first (QT or Hospital) with some coral frags to see how it does.

I'm not sure about shipping, but at the cost their asking it might be cheaper to order IO online and have it shipped ground.

[FireEater]

Here at the Petco in Texas, Instant Ocean goes for $62.00 a bucket. The Petco brand goes for $39.00 a bucket.

I've asked a few MARSH people about the Petco brand. Only a few use it and they like it. I was thinking of using it, though my buddy told me to print off THIS page from Petsmart and take it to them as he gets the online price all the time.

Now I see they have free shipping on orders over $50.00 and it would be easier for me to just order two buckets to have it delivered to my house.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by FireEater

Now I see they have free shipping on orders over $50.00 and it would be easier for me to just order two buckets to have it delivered to my house.

They don't offer free shipping on buckets of salt in spite of the red-ink message telling to to check out their free shipping. Click on the More Details link and you will find their disclaimer that eliminates "heavy items."

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Free Economy Ground shipping for orders subtotaling $50 or more (excluding sales tax and shipping fees).* Offer excludes purchases of dog food, cat food, cat litter, heavy items, or materials requiring special handling. Maximum $150 value (U.S. dollars) based on standard shipping rates. Additional exclusions may apply and will be noted on the product detail page. Offer valid only for orders shipped within the contiguous 48 U.S. states and to military APO/FPO addresses. May not be valid with any other discount or offer. Terms and conditions of this offer are subject to change at PetSmart’s sole discretion.

This comes up a lot. If you can get them to give you the free shipping by accident, then good for you. However, it's not likely to happen. That red-ink message telling you about their free shipping for orders totaling $50 or more appears for every item in the store. It's up to you to click on "More Details" to read the fine print.



P.S. -- It has happened on more than one occasion in the past that a major national chain has offered free shipping, or flat-rate shipping, and forgot to exclude salt but they usually wise up after the first day or two. What usually happens is that one of us will find out about it and then post about it on one of the boards. Then, within a few hours, they will be swamped with hundreds of orders for buckets of salt with FREE or cheapy shipping.

About eight years ago, Petopia.com was about to go out of business, so they posted a ridiculous online sale. Virtually everything was at least 25% to 40% off but all items by Two Little Fishies and a few other brands that were not carried by Petco were 75% off. Petco had already agreed to buy all of Petopia.com's assets but they weren't interested in brands that they themselves did not already carry. I had already received a coupon from them in a previous order offering me 25% off my first order of the year. The coupon had no restrictions, only that it had to be my first order of that year.

Here is the way that worked out (for those of you who are math-challenged): A $100 item would sell for $20. (75% off = $25 price, less another 25% = $20 final price.) Shipping was $7.95 flat-rate per order regardless of the size of the order. Unfortunately for me, I was about six hours late in placing my order, so most of the stuff that I would have bought had already been sold. I did manage to get two or three buckets of salt (which I later gave away) for $17/bucket and I got some Two Little Fishies Kalkwasser for 80% off. I ordered a lot of Two Little Fishies seaweed but it was all very, very stale and dried out. The best deal I got was three Red Sea fluorescent light fixtures at 80% off. What happened was that they forgot to include the lamps on two of the fixtures. When I called, I was told that the lamps had all been broken so they would be happy to give me a credit against my credit card for the cost of replacement lamps locally. The credit they gave me exceeded the purchase price that I paid for the three fixtures. In effect, I got the three fixtures for FREE but without lamps (except for one PC fixture). The Red Sea 48" PC fixture did have the lamps included but the two T8 fluorescent fixtures arrived without lamps.

I gave away the 48" Red Sea PC fixture when I sold my tank. The two Red Sea T8 fixtures now have GroLux T8's and they're over some orchids indoors.

[PortWash]

I order my salt online. DrsFosterandSmith have reasonable shipping costs and with what you are paying it still would be a savings even with the inclusion of S&H costs.

[FireEater]

I read that also so I went through the check out process all the way up to actually paying and they did deduct the shipping.



Now if you want to go one more step and save 15% on your order of $100.00 or more, then order three total. That way you only pay $19.70 for the third one after deducting 15% ($16.20) from the order.

[PortWash]

O wow I just ordered some salt but if this is true as it appears to be I may order more. Can never have too much salt.

[Ninong]

Obviously what has happened is that somebody has forgotten to program buckets of salt as "heavy items" in their computer. (Check all the stuff I added as postscript to my above post.)

This has happened on occasion but the vendors usually correct it after they start getting lots of orders for heavy salt.

[FireEater]

HAHA! I got my order in for three buckets just now. That way when they do get around to changing it I will have already ordered.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by FireEater

HAHA! I got my order in for three buckets just now. That way when they do get around to changing it I will have already ordered.

Yes, you're probably safe. You won't know for sure until you receive your confirmation email telling you the order has been shipped. What I have seen some of national chain vendors do in the past when they screwed up on salt like this is to send out an email the following day telling you the item is on "backorder." That has been the 'out' that some of them have taken in the past to avoid honoring orders already placed for several buckets of salt with free shipping.

You might want to refrain from posting anything about this on that other board (the one with 178,000 members) if you want to improve your chances of receiving your salt with free shipping. If they suddenly receive orders for hundreds of buckets of salt, they might wise up. They have in the past.

[FireEater]

I stopped going to that site years ago and only see it when someone posts a link from there.

I did post it on Marsh though so others can try and jump on the bandwagon before a wheel breaks.

I have the payment form in my email already, so if they try to pull a sneaky one, I will raise all kinds of hell to them. They usually honor the sell after that, but tell you that they cannot on future orders.

I'll keep everyone updated on it though.

[bguile]

Marxman: I just did a calculation of shipping to Pueblo (81007) from Aquarium Supplies, Pet Supplies and Pond Supplies by That Fish Place - That Pet Place, which is one of this boards sponsors and where I get my IO salt from locally. Shipping was only $20. If you can get the above deal, that's even better but at least you can get IO for the same price as the Petco brand.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by bguile

...but at least you can get IO for the same price as the Petco brand.

Which raises the inevitable question: who makes the Petco brand?

[PortWash]

Also that is Petsmart not PetCo.?.

[FireEater]

I'll stop in at Petco this week when my T5 retro kits come in at my LFS. I'll get all the info I can off of the bucket and see if it gives a clue to who makes the Petco brand.

[Ninong]

FireEater,

The online order form you posted is from PetSmart, not Petco.

[Ratpack]

Glad I saw this thread, just ordered three buckets from Petsmart. The $98 for three shipped is better than the $50 in store for one I just paid two weeks ago.

[PortWash]

I also placed an order earlier today and recieved this email:
Thank you for shopping at PetSmart - Smart pet products, services, & supplies for healthier, happier pets., your business is important
to us. We received your order 8258555273-000, which included advanced sale
items that are unavailable for immediate shipment. Once the product
is available for processing, you will receive a new order
confirmation email. The following item(s) will be shipped when it is
in stock.

I wonder if in the new order confirmation they will try and change it to reflect shipping costs? There has to be some law against that as I have a bill of sale for sed product delivered for sed price.