You want people to give you seeds so you can sell plants? Would you like to sell me some $5 bills for 50â each?

As far as when to start the seeds you have, it depends on what type of peppers they are. Most of them follow the same guideline as tomatoes - six to eight weeks before you want to sell or transplant them. I have found the superhots - Scorpions, Bhuts, 7-pods, etc., do better if started much earlier. I start them on December 26 so they are ready by early May.

YMMV,

Mike

What you need to germinate your seeds are a very warm soil. So I would use the heated starter trays. Either than or use a room that you can keep the temperature at 80F. And don't forget you will need lighting that is no more than 12 inches from the plants so they don't get leggy. And you might want to use a hydrogen peroxide solution to water with if your not sure where the seeds came from to ward off damp off disease.

There is a hot pepper forum here on Garden Web. The people there TRADE pepper seeds. So if you have seeds to trade, it is a good way to get unusual varieties.

It's not a bad place to hang out and learn about peppers. There are plenty of nice people there.

I have good luck using the baggie method to germinate pepper seeds. I set the baggie on top of my water heater and that seems to be just right as I get excellent germination rates.

Also, if you intend to sell plants there is a very good Market forum where farmer's market selling is discussed.