How Do You Buy Corals At Wholesale Prices

iamdickie · 10-28-2004, 03:04 PM

HOW DO YOU BUY CORALS AT WHOLESALE PRICES? does anyone know how to do this, any help links anything would help. yes i have a tax id

mjsandbe · 10-28-2004, 03:31 PM

Interesting question. I am looking forwared to somebody responding who may actually be able to answer it

reefBoyDc · 10-28-2004, 05:14 PM

My guess is, you buy wholesale... meaning you buy a large quantity at once. You would need a business relationship/agreement with someone who is able to get their hands on lots of corals such as a coral farm.

Junkzoo · 10-28-2004, 05:44 PM

Yup, pretty much need a business to buy wholesale,,
Most places, IF they find out you have no business,and did sell to you , will make it very tough on you,,,

JennM · 10-28-2004, 06:00 PM

You open a LFS

Seriously though, while a few wholesalers will sell to the general public, many retailers won't purchase from them after they find out about it. I'm one of them.

I don't support wholesalers who sell to the general public.

Most wholesalers require a copy of your business licence and resale number (sales tax number). Some require other information too such as a Yellow Pages ad or newspaper ad to prove you have a retail storefront.

Jenn

Phishnoob · 10-28-2004, 06:55 PM

We have a store that is darn near wholesale Jenn up near LA. They sell to the trade but have the massive warehouse open to the public, though it is as no frills at it gets. The big differences seem to be service and atmosphere which is nil, and we get charged tax and a higher price buying small volumes. If you are willing to buy a lot of stuff though such as rock they have pricing on charts.

yousuredo · 10-28-2004, 07:46 PM

so where is a place that a 'TAX ID and a BUISNESS LICENCE' is enough to buy wholesale ?

JennM · 10-28-2004, 08:26 PM

Tax ID and PET INDUSTRY business licence... for most anyway.

Anybody can buy a business licence and obtain a tax ID... but here in GA you also have to have an animal protection license which means your facility must be inspected by a state inspector.

Now wholesalers don't require the animal protection licence, but the state requires it.

Is it worth paying $100 or more for a licence (depending on what your city/county charges), filing business income tax returns and all that bureaucracy to save a few bucks on a few corals?

Unless you're planning on actually starting a bona fide business, IMO it's more trouble than it is worth...

Jenn

yousuredo · 10-28-2004, 08:48 PM

well yes if things work out the way i hope they will.....
i have a buisness licence and for things like inverts and corals the state doesnt require an animal protection license.....so the next step would be to locate a wholesaler and start aquiring the gear i need to set everything up

my set uo is going to take a while as i plan on aquiring the gear for the next year to let my system establish well, before i take it to the next step of invert and coral propagation........

rwdandald · 10-28-2004, 08:58 PM

I think many people interested in buying wholesale would be somewhat disappointed anyway. It is difficult for a business to absorb the inevitable losses incurred in the shipping of livestock with a relatively large turnover. As an individual all of your potential savings would be lost the first time a newly arrived item died 12 hours after it was in your tank - and the wholesaler is not likely to "make good on it" like your LFS (that already took that loss before it was offered to the public for sale) or the Etailer that will figure in the losses in pricing. Look for a reputable store - if you want to save money get a group togeather from a local reef club and place an order for 6 whatever and ask for consideration in the pricing - or grow out your own frags and either sell them to other reefers to offset costs or get an established relationship with a LFS and trade for store credit. If you buy it wholesale and do not pay taxes on it and then do not resell the item you are breaking the law and the penalties for that alone are for more than any savings you will realize.

Phishnoob · 10-28-2004, 09:14 PM

This is most likely just like anything else in business. It is all about people and volume. As an Ops guy in the world outside these threads I have an old business card holder with the vendors and contacts that are really treasured. These are the folks that will let you go net 60, give you pricing based on a handshake based on your character or go the extra mile.

Some of these guys have gone through thick and thin with me for ten years or longer.

For someone to qualify you as a customer they will be as interested in your setup, finances, interest and longevity as you will in their inventory, pricing and corporate structure.

Starting out in this business seems like a tough road and Jenn has probably half the water in her store system made up of sweat equity.

There are a lot of people that will sell "wholesale" if you provide a tax exemption certificate in any business but it will take some work. Wholesale does not mean favorable pricing as that is set by volume and what you negotiate.

JennM · 10-28-2004, 10:12 PM

Oh forgot to mention - wholesalers have a minimum order... dollar-wise... usually $250 or more, plus packing, box charges, air freight etc. Adds up to probably $400 total for a minimal order. DOA credits vary per vendor, some make you absorb a percentage, some replace dollar for dollar on the next order, some have time limits to use credits. DAA, you're on your own. No wholesaler will credit for dead after arrival. Each vendor has its rules. Excessive DOA claims will usually result in your account being closed, because lots of folks try to scam, OR someone's taking too long to pick up and tank the orders. Then it's either pick it up at cargo at the airport or pay a courier to bring it to you. Even the local wholesaler in Atlanta has a minimum for walk-ins (I hand pick my freshwater stuff there, their saltwater is inferior quality, IMO, and way pricey - they sell some stuff "wholesale" more than my regular retail), and if you don't meet the minimum they stick you for a $25 packing charge

They do not sell to the pubilic either.

It's an art to forging relationships with quality wholesalers - I'm afraid you probably won't see names of wholesalers named here - there is a finite and limited supply of quality organisms, and we LFS types are pretty sensitive and protective of our sources. Besides, nobody I deal with would sell to anything other than a brick and mortar LFS.

Jenn

wanareef · 10-29-2004, 02:53 AM

I would suggest that you setup a frag tank, if you have not done that already and frag and grow some corals - you gotta start somewhere and this is a good place to start

just my .02

MiddletonMark · 10-29-2004, 06:26 AM

I too would follow wanareef's thoughts. Frags or colonies for growout aren't the issue IMO ... easy enough to get if you take 6 months to collect them up like we have a guy around here doing.

But unless you're going `chop-shop' ... you have that whole growout period in the first place. I'd suggest developing interactions with good LFS in your area to sell your frags to, and your local reef clubs, etc etc etc.
IMO getting your name `out there', getting the frags growing and spreading ... those take a long time and are the trick. I wouldn't want to be holding livestock [esp SPS] for a long period before sale as often they don't perform that well in such a situation [you get the brown period ... not something I buy].

Just my take, but as someone who brought in frags for $120 LFS credit this weekend ... I'm not going to make money at this hobby anytime soon - but even such a monthly or so sale to the LFS keeps me up on most of my supplies and a new fish from time to time.

Just my take, but after entertaining your thought for a while, then having a long evening talking with a guy 8 hours away who is running such a business [now a smaller LFS too along with online/statewide frag grower/vendor]. Lots of sweat equity, huge risk, expect to have shipments where you lose money due to poor quality/condition livestock coming in. If your box of 20 Acropora has 5 RTN/dead, and 8 brownouts ... those are an expensive 7 colonies that make it. Might not happen often, but even one out of 5 will hurt the bottom line.

And I hate to say it, but there are a handful of guys on the west coast whose access to wholesales [who often will rescue RTN's/etc from wholesalers] ... but compared to much of what we see, I tend to think that they get a lot more `cherry' and unusual pieces that come in. I guess I'm thinking you're going mainly towards SPS ... but if that's the case it's going to be tricky building the sort of genetic stock that can compete online selling against west-coast guys who pick their own pieces while you are hoping that your wholesaler decides to give you more than one cherry piece - these guys just walk out when brown crap is in, you have no way of finding out other than ordering a box of brown sps.

Even if they're not cherry-picking or chop-shopping ... IMO they just have a better shot at the unusual ... which for SPS is what sells for real $$.

Anyway, I don't want to discourage ... just lay out the picture I formed. It can be done, there are a number of people who are running such business in every state ... but focus on your state's market, don't expect it to be easy, and expect a few years to make a dime off it. But if you love to propagate corals .... do it any way how. I might not be setting up tubs in my basement anymore ... but I'm fragging just the same

Just my take. I'm just rambling ... time for coffee. Hope it helps [god knows about that] or at worst it didn't annoy

yousuredo · 10-29-2004, 07:39 AM

i am sorry if it came out that i wanted anyone to name there wholesaler.....just wanted to know HOW TO FIND reputable ones over thoose that are not....... i am want to get some supplies that are needed, inverts, corals, tanks and all that, and hopefully get to a point in the next year or so to propagate and sell to LFS only....maybe a dot com if the need from LFS isn't there....

but more so to the point is what direction iamdickie was wondering ....sorry didn't mean to highjack it, just curious as well