making a living...[store owners comments are appriciated]

I just sold a pack of about 8 pieces for 125 dollars ten minutes ago lol i have a 55 prop tank with about 400 pieces, 29 with about 100 and 20 with about 60. i also have people (friends) who supply me and they get a cut as well, its a great way to help maintain my hobby and help out the locals as well

 

I assume with the amount you are raising either SPS or zoos?
Any pics of the prop tanks?

 

right on bro!!! actually BOTH haha no pics untill next weekend when the new camera comes in then i will post a build thread(kinda) about my frag systems and how i do everything

 

that is another thing about this business, (and it doesn't really effect me that much, and I dont mean to offend), but there are few businesses out their that have to compete with their customers who run a shop out of their homes without proper licensing etc... I will bet my left arm that 99% of the people selling frags on craigslist, or on a hobbyist forum or even Ebay dont charge sales tax, dont claim their hobbyist income, or have proper licensing or carry insurance for their enterprises and they run the business in violation of local zoning. I mean, how many paint stores worry about their customers growing out the paint they sold them and competing in the same market? Again, not to offend, but this is another part of this business that makes it hard. If you do it for a living you must be legitimate, run your operation in commercially zoned property outside of your house and keep up with the proper paperwork. Hobbyist competitors don't have to, and can cut you on prices. Oh well, what can you do? (again I don't mean to offend and I am not even in competition in the frag market etc...)

 

Well with this being said that makes selling any thing on CL ilegal. If you sold a tv on cl do you charge sales tax? Do u have the licensing to do this and everything? didnt think so, its the same theory with frags, im not a business so i dont have to charge taxs and seeing as its my tank that i use for enjoyment and frags i grow i dont need to claim anything thats the difference betweeing going big and doing it on the side just like anything else, no ov er head,people selling frags are the smart ones, people opening stores...yea not so much....IMO

 

legally you are bound to charge sales tax for that TV. Sure no one does it, but most people dont sell a tv every week as a part time job. You would be surprised how much work the licenses are. I just got back from a short dive and I am filling out my trip tickets now in between posts. (The aquauculture facility mentioned by the OP wouldn't have this problem). You do have to use sales tax, you do have to claim the income, (even a special hobbyist income section in the IRS codes for this type of activity), and if you are engaged in an activity that brings in regular income, you have to be in the correct zoning. Maybe the people who keep this hobby alive are stupid, but we cant all get started from nothing. Those frags in your tank didn't come from the tooth fairy Call up you local zoning board and let them know what you do, then call up the state sales tax people and let them know how you feel, and then double check with the IRS. You would be surprised.

Yep, I got my licenses, properly zoned etc.. I run a legitimate business from a commercially zoned (I have mixed industrial and retail "flex" zoning) warehouse etc..

Again, and I can't stress this enough, I love the hobby and I love the community of hobbyists that come together because of things like frag swaps etc... I am just saying, there are very few industries that have so much of this type of competition.

 

I dont know at what price you sell your custom tanks, but here in Miami, this is one of the "big" bread winners. To give you an example, my custom sump/refug cost me $250.00. The front and back panel might have cost him $10-$25 each, the two side panels $5-$10 each and the panels that make up the insides(5) another $5-$10 each. Lets go on the mid-high end of this equation. 25+25+10+10+50=$120. Plus, lets say he use 2 bottles of silicon($10 ea), thats a total of $140. He made $110. I know theres a difference in pricing of glass when it comes to the size and width, but he also buys in bulk so he must get a good price. The day I went to their other shop(apart from the LFS) he had all kinds of tanks that he was building and trust me when I tell you that my small 55g was a nothing compared to what he was building.


Luna

 

+1 my acrylic sump of 65 gallons cost 425 dollars

 

I pay for my tuition by installing and maintaining large tanks. Really depends on where you are.

 

hey man i know personally that some of my fish stores are buying from people a lot more because they can see the frags before they buy them. personal message me about some of the corals you got i might be interested depending on what they are and how much money i have at the time. GOOD LUCK start out easy like zoas and ricordea (is my favorite) and some mushroom polyps these are mainly photosynthetic and very easy but very pretty and bright. in the words of Kingfish "Go slow and let it grow"