My full time job is owning our family's wholesale company, but in my spare time I am a massive fish enthusiast.

I love fish so much that I have two 55 gallon tanks, a 180 gallon pond with a second pond that is 50 gallons and lastly a 5 gallon tank… yeah, I basically own a fish store! Crazy, eh?

If you’re a semi-experienced fishkeeper (is “fishkeeper” an actual word? I don’t know, but it sounds right) you likely know that you essentially have to create an ecosystem including plants to help provide a natural environment and a “Cleaning Crew”...and the cleaning crew is usually stuff that breeds like crazy…. I’m looking at you, Snails! Additionally you’re probably going to end up with a gazillion-trillion-kabillion guppies as well as aquarium plants that you find yourself trimming and throwing away on a weekly basis. BUT, what if you could sell all that extra stuff in a SUPER EASY way? Did you know that most local-owned pet stores will gladly buy your extra stock (or trade for in-store credit)? I’m not talking about the big companies, like Petco, I’m talking about your local family owned fish store. I bring a big load of extra stock every other week and walk out with a bag full of supplies I need; WIN-WIN!! I can not only dump off my extra stock but I can walk out with $40 in pet food! Woo hoo!

HOW TO SELL TO A PET STORE:

First, go to the pet store and look at what they sell. If they sell snails, plants, guppies, etc, then most likely they will be thrilled to buy / trade for yours. But you should still ask, “Do you guys buy _____?” I have had a much better trade-in-value by selling to stores that specialize in fish as opposed to generic pet stores that have cats, dogs and birds. If you're selling saltwater or brackish water beings, make sure the store sells that too.

Next, build up a nice quantity. It’s stupid to bring a single plant or 4 minnows. I usually bring 50+ guppies, 100+ Nerite Snails, 100+ Trumpet Snails and a dozen plants…. But that’s just me. If you have a smaller tank you might have 20 snails, a couple plants and a dozen fish. This will probably get you $3 - $10 depending on the type of plants you have. Large or fancy plants are going to drive the pay up. Fancy / Specialty fish are going to make the pay rate higher. If you successfully bred cool stuff like catfish, loaches, koi, or cichlids you’re going to make more than if you are dumping a dozen feeders. Big koi are always a higher payout than small koi. 

Now it’s time to pack your “extras”. What I do is double-bag a freezer size Ziplock. It’s much easier to put one bag inside the other BEFORE you add the water. Keep the snails in one bag, the plants in another bag and the fish in their own bag. This allows the pet store to clearly see exactly what you are offloading and how much of each. Plus it just makes their life easier because they don’t have to net-out snails from fish and plants. Write the quantity on the bag, i.e, “25 Nerite Snails, 10 Trumpet Snails”

If the plants or snails you are selling are something special, it doesn’t hurt to label the bag with what it is.

Double check to make sure the ziplocks are “locked”. You def don’t need them busting open in your car!

Put all of your bags into a double-bagged grocery store (plastic) shopping bag. Stand the bags upright, with the ziplock part at the top. If you have a ton of stuff, put the bags inside a box so it is easier to carry. Don’t knot the top of the grocery store bags.

All that’s left to do is bring them to the store! When you get there, patiently wait until there are no customers in line. Trust me, you’ll make more money if you don’t rush them!

Personally, I prefer to trade for supplies instead of getting cash because you’ll get a better deal on a trade. So what I do is go in the store and pick out what I want to trade for, I bring that up to the register and wait until there are no customers. 99.999% of the time the store just makes it an even trade so I walk out with a helluva less fish and snails and a nice quantity of things I really need (filters, food, calcium, Excel, etc). I would much rather have $50 MSRP in supplies than $10 in cash :)   

NOTE:  You don't have to limit yourself to only these types of items!  May local stores will also buy gently used pet supplies (aquariums, lighting fixtures, plastic plants, decor, driftwood, etc).  So, if you accidentally bought the wrong size filter inserts off Amazon and didn't want to eat return shipping; sell them! 

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