I've found an awesome spot for Sand Dollars out in the ocean. There's literally hundreds! Lots of big ones and medium sized ones. And most Surf Shops/Beach Shops sell their sand dollars for easily $5 - $15 a piece. Would it be worth farming them and selling them? Is it possible to become a drop shipper or w/e those guys are called that sell them in bulk to businesses? How would one get started in that and get their business out there? I've got money put back and I don't think it would take much start up cash anyway to get this going? Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
The market for them isn't big, but there is still a market for them. I checked out ebay's completed listing and it seems they do sell. A lot of the times sand dollars are used for weddings or parties. It would be difficult to find people who would order in bulk, this would be a contact you would have to personally find. I'd recommend you do two things. One, start a few auctions on Ebay. You should try to make each listing unique; for example, different numbers/styles of sand dollars. Two, start a website and do some SEO. See what kind of traffic is coming in and if people are even trying buy them. You can always just gather a few boxes of sand dollars and sit on them. They may become handy in the future, you never know. EDIT: You should try to contact a few jewelry makes.
Nice feedback. Keep it comin I also hear that sand dollars are great for aquariums (if you keep them alive) It helps clean the tank. So maybe there's a more market for them alive and or both?
Have you considered the legality of what you're proposing? I don't know for sure and it would depend on your area, but harvesting might not be legal without a permit.
Hmm I'm not sure.. It's in the state of Florida (out in the ocean) But I wouldn't have a big rig boat or anything. Just a small residential boat and just dive down (not deep) and get a good 100 or so per day. I've been on a few snorkeling adventures from different companies down here and a few of them said if we find sand dollars we can keep them or do whatever we want with them so I'm guessing it's fine?
Assuming it's fine is the best way to get in trouble. There is probably some sort of license required as there is one for everything nowadays. It's better to be safe than get slapped with a huge fine later on.
