Some years ago I tried to understand the WI regs on this. Never did feel
as tho I had a good grasp of it, and regs change w/ time. BUT, I doubt
there is any rule anywhere that says you must have a nursery license just to
buy wholesale, but rather for turning over the product in a business or
possibly hobbie venture. (Here in WI the logic was to license & keep track
of the people/places who were turning over the larger volumes, for keeping
track of disease & insect spread.)
The wholesalers I bought from were concerned only that a buyer order enough
volumes of plants to make the exchanges worthwhile. That's like the
"wholesaler discount" advertised by those nurseries which try to do both
wholesale and retail.
I never did completely understand the tax issues, sorry. Wholesalers and
retailers in WI were (are?) issued a "tax number", for which current info
can probably be got from the WI Dept of Revenue-- that is, your state's
Dept.
tc
----Original Message Follows----
From: markl >
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] wholesale nurseries
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 11:29:00 -0500 (EST)
I have a bunch of landscaping to do of my own yard ($2000 or more in plants
to purchase). I have been advised that I can get a nuresery business
license from the state for $45 and buy my plants from a wholesale nursery at
a lower price that at a retail place. I may resell a small quantity of
plants to friends if I have the energy to organize this, but that is not my
main purpose in getting the license. As long as my sales a below a certain
level, I won't have taxes to pay to the state. What is the catch here? It
sounds like I'm getting something for the nothing (buying plants at
wholesale prices). Could someone please explain the wholesale nursery
business to me? Can I by a few plants here, a few plants there, or do
wholesale places only deal in big orders? Is the wholesale/retail
distinction all about tracking who pays what taxes?
-Mark Lee