Here are my experiences with online vendors within the past year:
Doc Mac/Pacific East Corals-Maryland: Ordered several boxes of SPS corals on two separate occassions. Corals arrived browned out or bleached. Refunded money but will not do business with them again;
FloridaPets.com: Mangroves arrived without stems or decaying pods and cheato never grew. Shipping was very expensive and everything was packed ebay style, not commercial. Will not do busniess with them again;
IndoPacific Reef Farms-Hawaii: Great company to do online business with. Awesome macro algae (Tang Heaven), inverts, worms and crabs. Highly Recommend;
Phishy Business-Columbus, OH: Hands down, the best coral selection in Ohio, period. Sedar is great to work with. Hundreds of SPS to select from. Highly Recommend;
That Fish Place-Lancaster, PA- During my freshwater fish days, this was the place to go to. However, they do not carry a great selection of higher end stuff for saltwater and I have had several problems with customer service. Will only do business if I can't get the stuff elsewhere;
Doctors Foster & Smith-WI Great customer service. This company will accept returns without a problem; Good selection and great prices. Highly Recommend;
Champion Lighting & Supply-PA Another good source for Saltwater. They replaced a defective metal Halide bulb without a problem. Great selection. Recommend;
Marine Depot-CA They always get me coming back for more with the free shipping on anything over $175. Spent at least $5k here within the past 6 months. I heard some bad things from this vendor on ReefCentral, but I have never had a problem with them....Just follow the return policy closely and do not place items in the water without checking for defects first. Marine Depot sent me a brown Tunze Stream pump on back order once and they exchanged it without a problem for a black version. Best selection for high end saltwater equipment and products in my opinion. Highly Recommend;
AquaC (Proteinskimmers.com)-SanDeigo-Best customer service in the industry. If you have a problem with the skimmer, the President of the Company, Jason Kim, will contact you directly with a solution. I am currently using AquaC EV 180 & EV 240 skimmers on my systems. Highly Recommend the skimmers and the company;
Tampa Bay Saltwater Richard, the owner, is great. The best live rock offered for sale in my opinion. But Richard is only one person and customer service is not what they are known for. TBS sent me to the Northern Cincinnati /KY airport to pick up my first shipment of live rock and live sand with tracking #s etc and called me to confirm, but when I arrived at the airport, I later learned my 225 pounds of live rock was never placed on the plane in Tampa. Richard made things right, but no matter how disappointed I was, the live rock was UNREAL!!!!! I would do business with TBS again.
Live Aquaria.com You pay a nice price for shipping but SPS corals came with certificates and mangroves arrived healthy w/stems and roots; Recommend;
Note: I consider Just Coral a LFS but would Highly Recommend as well.