Pet dealers licence

[pkaugusta]

So a friend of mine introduced me to this wholesale coral dealer ( big name ) . I can get some killer corals for wholesale price(and sell some locally) . All what he requires me to do is to have a pet dealers licence. I checked with the GA dept of agriculture. and they confirmed to me that even if I am selling few corals, I still need to have a licence. Does anyone have experience in this ?

 

[jbdreefs]

This looks like a pretty good resource:

http://www.agr.georgia.gov/pet-dealer.aspx">http://www.agr.georgia.gov/pet-dealer.aspx</a>

[B]Fees:[/B]

Pet Dealer's license fee _ fee based upon gross volume of pet sales or set fee. 40-13-13-.02 c
$50-$400
Pet Dealers not having a fixed facility in Georgia $400.

[IMG]http://agr.georgia.gov/pd-application.aspx">http://agr.georgia.gov/pd-application.aspx</a>

 

[pkaugusta]

yeah. thanks I saw it. I wonder how the actual experience of getting these paperwork done.

 

[jennm]

You will also need a business license from your city or county, and a sales tax number from the state (which usually requires an EIN from the IRS), which means you might want to check into forming an LLC (or S-Corp) unless you want the liability of operating as a Sole Proprietorship.

You're essentially opening a business, and the wholesaler requires that you have a legitimate business entity in order to sell to you.

You will also need to charge, collect and remit sales tax to the state every month.

For the Dept of Ag license, it will be $200. (or is it $400 now? I don't recall since I packed it in 2 years ago.) They'll do an initial inspection on your business to issue the license and you will be subject to annual inspections at the very least, in addition to random inspections if a complaint is received.

To get the business license you may need a fire inspection (or not, depending on your city/county).

Still think it's worth it? You'll have to sell a lot of corals to offset that license fee alone.

Jenn

 

[ff337]

Anyone can contact a wholesaler to obtain things cheaper. But All Jenn mentioned is part of the package.

 

[rdnelson]

And I would add, that if you do so, you would be selling commercially and therefore not able to sell on this forum.

 

[jennm]

"Cheaper" is a relative term. When you add up all the expenses of creating a business, is it worth saving a few bucks on a few corals?

Probably not.

 

[urbanknight]

+1 on all the aforementioned comments. Please understand that nobody is trying to talk you out of the idea that you have. They are only pointing out that opening a business is more than just paperwork. It's a labor of love and commitment of time and resources. After the preliminary work mentioned above, then you have to invest in top of the line equipment to keep your corals safe and thriving. The other reality is that just coral sales won't put a profit in your pocket! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[pkaugusta]

so Yeah . thanks for the input everyone. Honestly those prices are really worth even getting a licence (less than 50$ for a mini colony of very high end corals which are not available for purchase now.(online price over 300$ after released). yeah I understand its a lot of work. And my home is not in a business zone. One of my friends who has a licence will help us to order them. so basically he will keep some of the frags and some of us hobbyists will still get wholesale prices. so yeah I don't have any intention to sell commercially.
So just curious, for home base business there is still a low volume sales licence. (not the 200$ one). All of us hobbyist still have high end equipment. (otherwise we cannot keep SPSes). So what does the inspector look for ? are they knowledgeable on aquariums a lot ?

 

[jennm]

PKAugusta;1054212 wrote: So what does the inspector look for ? are they knowledgeable on aquariums a lot ?

BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH!!! You made a funny.

The inspectors know almost nothing about aquarium stuff. The former area director did... when he inspected my store before I could open in 2002, he wrote up 4 pages and we spoke for a couple of hours. (He and his family became customers later...he has since retired.) Then he told me that most of the inspectors know very little about aquatic stuff.

The inspector for this area (Cherokee county) is a horse person. She's really nice but knows next to nothing about aquatics. If the tanks are clean, and the stuff looks healthy, no floaters, rotters, you're fine. They'll look (maybe) for heat, light, food, that's about it. The inspectors are geared toward inspecting mammal facilities - kennels, dog breeders, farms... fish are just kind of incidental.

Bird sellers/breeders have a special kind of h-e-double-hockeysticks set of hoops to jump through, bird dealers really have to have a huge paper trail.

Fish people, not so much. They don't really even look much at coral - I think they look at it like 'plants', rather than the animals that they are.

That's the easy part.

Jenn

 

[brandonmason]

PKAugusta;1054212 wrote: so Yeah . thanks for the input everyone. Honestly those prices are really worth even getting a licence (less than 50$ for a mini colony of very high end corals which are not available for purchase now.(online price over 300$ after released). yeah I understand its a lot of work. And my home is not in a business zone. One of my friends who has a licence will help us to order them. so basically he will keep some of the frags and some of us hobbyists will still get wholesale prices. so yeah I don't have any intention to sell commercially.
So just curious, for home base business there is still a low volume sales licence. (not the 200$ one). All of us hobbyist still have high end equipment. (otherwise we cannot keep SPSes). So what does the inspector look for ? are they knowledgeable on aquariums a lot ?

You still wouldn't be allowed to sell here as you would be obtaining corals at wholesale. If you think you could move the corals and make profit then by all means go for it. But just know you have to have some money to make more money. Yea a coral might sell for 300 for high end sellers, but until you establish a name for your self things might move slow at first or even have to sell cheaper to get the ball rolling. Then in the event that something dies in transit you would need to prepare yourself for a reimbursement to the consumer. IMO the Atlanta market is over saturated with "fish" guys that it would almost be impossible to do with out putting in 60-80hrs a week to even turn enough profit to justify the time. Remember there is real big names in the game and they still have a full time job doing something completely different.

 

[demifelix]

I wonder if any LFS is willing to work with you so your corals can be shipped there (like consignment) and you in turn pay the LFS a fee for using their name for the transaction. The fee may be somewhere in the middle so that both parties benefit from the transaction.

BTW, I already have plans to own my own reef store when I retire in 30 more years And if you are still reefing by then we can do business together then