Vendors can access the Vendor menu items above for additional information and to reserve booth space. We realize the greater the number of coral farmers who choose to sell their corals at our Coral Farmers MarketSM events, the greater will be the number of aquarists who choose to attend our events. That is why we have made the booth price very inexpensive when compared to large conference booth space. Our booth prices are comparable to those charged by other medium scale coral exchange events that have been run in various locations throughout the United States the past couple of years. We are hoping that the best exotic coral farmers within the Florida region attend our Coral Farmers MarketsSM event. Our second South Eastern Coral Farmers MarketSM event had to be scheduled on late notice due to a variety of factors. A late spring and early summer date allows us to take advantage of the Florida weather before the hurricane season begins. Hopefully, participation in our May SE-CFM event will develop into a great way for regional coral farmers to end the spring coral growing season and prepare for the slower summer period.

This event has been sanctioned by the Coral Farmers MarketSM company. These sanctioned events are intended to legitimize, expand and develop the exchange of captive grown corals into a main stream form of commerce for the exotic coral market. The Coral Farmers MarketSM company firmly believes that the future of the captive coral market can only be guaranteed with the promotion of captive coral farming. There have been many increasing pressures that have signifcantly affected the world's natural coral reefs, not to mention the increasing difficulties that exporting nations are encountering when they attempt to import something into the post 9/11 United States. All of these factors point to a future where the importing of live wild coral colonies into the United States will be severly limited. For these reasons, the Coral Farmers MarketSM company sanctions and supports events that promote the exchange of farmed coral.

Vendors selling corals and retail products to the public during the 2011 South Eastern Coral Farmers Market must register with the Florida Department of Revenue before conducting business in the state of Florida. If you are a Florida based business then you probably have already registered. After you register you will be given a Florida Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax (DR-13). This certificate must be renewed annually. Please note that in Florida business owners may NOT advertise or indicate that all or any part of the sales tax will be absorbed or paid by the business owner. Florida Law prohibits this practice. The state of Florida charges 6 % sales tax while the county of Orange charges an additional 0.5 % (Discretionary Sales Tax for Florida Counties). Total sales tax that must be collected is 6.5 %. You can register online on the following web site link. Choose Start a new registration. If you are just doing business in the state of Florida during the South Eastern CFM coral show, select the following. Applying for tax registration for a new business entity. Enter the date of the show as the date you will become liable for Florida taxes (May 29th 2011). Selling corals at the SE-CFM if you are out of state will be a seasonal business. This Coral Show will always occur each year during the second quarter. Choose April to June as the season. It will take the State of Florida 7 to 10 business days to mail the certificate of registration via the USPS. You can also retrieve the information online 3 days after the application has been submitted online. Instructions for doing this will appear after the online application has been completed.

Coral Farmers MarketSM events are promoting coral farming and we prefer coral farming vendors who setup displays to sell captive raised coral. Such a preference may have seemed ridiculous just 10 years ago, but captive coral farming has achieved remarkable success in the past few years. Presently, just about everyone maintaining corals in captivity has achieved at least some form of coral farming success. For the purposes of this Coral Farmers MarketSM sanctioned event, coral farming refers to the farming of corals anywhere it occurs on the planet. Cultured corals imported on artificial disks or constructs, are considered farmed coral. Whole wild caught colonies are not permitted to be sold within any Coral Farmers MarketSM event. Any infraction will be noted and the violation will be registered in private to the offender. They will be allowed to disprove the charges. If satisfactory innocence is established, the matter will be completely dropped. Guilty infractions will be assessed a 2 year Coral Farmers MarketSM event ban probationary period. No public notification will be given. One of the gray areas of this particular restriction concerns selling fragments of imported colonies. The selling of sections of imported wild whole coral colonies may be permitted in certain circumstances. It would be best to ask the Coral Farmers MarketSM staff to clarify ahead of time if your specific situation may constitute a possible infraction.