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Do you need a license or a permit to sell fish online in MD

Marz

Marz

Administrator
Staff member
I think it's more flexible when you sell on eBay but what if you start your own website to sell the fish you raised in your residence? Not necessarily as an official business, but more like a new channel to reach out to other hobbyists in other states.

If you start your own website:
  1. How do you do the taxes for selling online?
  2. Do you need a permit for selling online?
  3. If it requires a permit, how to obtain it in MD?
  4. Is it worth it? or too complicated?
  5. Does the same apply when you sell on eBay?
Cheers
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
Having someone walk you through starting a business is asking a lot on the forum, and I would be hesitant to take advice here anyhow, as there are legalities involved. For that reason alone, I won't give you any, either: I'm not a business attorney, and advising you on a legal matter could likely land us in trouble.

If you're interested in starting a business selling fish, I would recommend you consult with a business start-up attorney. Its not that expensive (though its also not cheap), or look at the numerous resources put out by your state -- Maryland SDAT is a great place to start.

If you're selling very small numbers of fish for negligible profit -- I believe, though I'm not 100% sure, the cap is about $6000 a year -- then its likely you don't need to do any of this, but its also likely you're not going to pay for the investment in time and money of a website.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
For clarity sake, the cap is not $6000 profit, but $6000 total sales (and I'm not 100% sure on the amount, it gets revised from time to time).
 
Marz

Marz

Administrator
Staff member
Thank you JLW JLW Josh and chriscoli chriscoli Christine. This was helpful. The 6K is wayyyyy above what I was thinking. All I want is figuring out a way to get rid of the offspring to buy more fish food to support the hobby :)
 
Becca

Becca

Members
Marzo said:
Thank you JLW JLW Josh and chriscoli chriscoli Christine. This was helpful. The 6K is wayyyyy above what I was thinking. All I want is figuring out a way to get rid of the offspring to buy more fish food to support the hobby :)
Click to expand...

Trade them to stores for store credit?
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
Becca said:
Trade them to stores for store credit?
Click to expand...
LOL! That's a great joke, Becca.

Honestly, if you're looking to move small groups of young fish regularly, I think your best bet is AquaBid. Lots of people sell on there, and they sell well above the volumes you're talking about. If you set up your own website, you have to deal with all the fees and costs of having it and maintaining it, all the trouble of marketing your site (great website, but no one knows it exists -- that doesn't work) and the expenses thereof, you'd have to set up a payment portal, etc etc etc etc. AquaBid has done all this for you, and yea, they take a commission, but ... they deserve it.
 
Marz

Marz

Administrator
Staff member
My LFS is very finicky when it comes to Cichlids and they offer next to nothing for store credits.

Aquabid is great tip too, I’ll have a look.

I can set up and host the website myself so my cost for that is almost zero. PayPal as a payment gateway works okay but yeah they have a fee for transactions too.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
If you end up driving fish out to Lisa, let me know, I have a group of Stomatepia pindu I've been saving for her.
 
Wet Sleeves

Wet Sleeves

CCA Members
Staff member
Download the BAND app on your mobile and you can check the site out on your desktop as well. FB is cracking down on people selling fish, so this is where lots of folks sell, trade, buy aquarium related things and fish. You can make some decent $cratch but you need to learn how to ship the fish safely
 
Marz

Marz

Administrator
Staff member
Wet Sleeves said:
Download the BAND app on your mobile and you can check the site out on your desktop as well. FB is cracking down on people selling fish, so this is where lots of folks sell, trade, buy aquarium related things and fish. You can make some decent $cratch but you need to learn how to ship the fish safely
Click to expand...

Never heard of the app, but I'll check it out, thanks!
 
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