Do I Need A Business License To Sell Items Online?

better call your state departments and ask, grab a phonebook and start dialing

get a great accountant to put together the right biz for you!

Wow I would never hire an accountant to put together a biz for me. No offense to accountants but they are by far business experts.

You can find all of this information online by searching Google. Search for your local laws and regulations. You should be able to find the official government sites with all the information right there from a trusted source.

In most cases you only need a license if you are selling items inside your local state or city.

But there are other great benefits to forming a corporation. You will get some great tax advantages as well.

depends on what country you are in ,also you do not require any business license for participating in google adsense and cpa program . Although you can have a business account and do it the way you want but you can do your adsense as an Individual too .without any license .

Generally speaking, this will depend on the laws in the legal jurisdiction where you live.

You don't mention where YOU live, so most of the replies you get are going to be relative to wherever THEY live.

If you live in India, what good is it to find out answers for people in Melbourne, Australia or New York City?

That said, you can usually find out the requirements for any given program by going to THEIR web site and reading the application.

Thanks for all ideas, much appreciated!
I've found many websites and squeeze pages that selling products online through Clickbank, Amazone, eBay and the like. They seem have no care much about the law. Do you think they've got the license, what about you?
Cuze I need to start my brand new online blog that sells some ebooks!
Thanks if I could get more ideas!

I think it is about $60 to register a business online where I live. Don't really need a corporation until you are pullin in big bucks or you have high liability (it just introduces more recurring paperwork). Depending on how much you make, you may do good to hire an accountant for a couple hundred bucks at the end of the year, which he/she will likely save you come tax season anyway.

I doubt ANYONE cares where the income comes from. So the answer to all is probably the same. That VARIES though. I think MOST places in the US would say YES!(In the US, the states, cities, and sometimes counties, get involved. The federal government only charges for some profit and income, which could be on your personal return.) The state USUALLY gets involved only if you are not a sole proprietor or general partnership, or have to collect tax. The county usually gets involved with some other permits or DBAs. The CITIES issue business licenses. Elsewhere, it is ANYONE'S guess!

Steve

If you live in the United States, you generally need a sales tax permit, also known as a resale certificate, and sometimes as a sales tax exemption (and sometimes under other names, as well) if you want to do the following:

(1) purchase physical products from true wholesale supplier, and
(2) sell physical products to residents of your own state of residence.

The actual condition of selling products online whether, for example, on eBay, your own ecommerce site, through a newsletter, and so forth does not in itself require a business license. The requirement for permits and licenses issues from Federal and state laws. So, for example, there is no such thing as an eBay business license, but if you do business on eBay and sell to residents of your own state, then you would probably need a sales tax permit (unless you live in New Hampshire) so that you could charge them sales tax, which you would then remit to your state treasury department. Let's say you do business on eBay and hire employees to handle bookkeeping and shipping and handling. The you would probably also need the Federally granted Employer Identification Number (EIN) as well as a sales tax permit. (For more information on the EIN, see irs.gov.)

This applies whether you are selling online or off. If your scope of business includes your local city and county and you also do business under some other name then your own legal name, you may need a DBA permit (doing business as . . . ). If you are working from home and have employees, are engaged in business that may require construction or extra parking, or lots of people on the premises, then additional zoning and other permits may apply. A rule of thumb is always check with your local authorities and local office of the Small Business Administration to be sure you are compliant with city, county, and state regulations. A valuable source of advice is your own state department of revenue, which you can find by Googling, "name of state + department of revenue."

Generally speaking, you would not need a business license or other specific permits to engage in CPA marketing or affiliate marketing unless any of the above apply. However, always follow the rule of thumb above.

I have noticed some nonsense on the web that you need to copyright your business name. This is actually impossible because copyright law does not allow the copyrighting of business names, though you can trademark your business name. Please see copyright.gov and www.uspto.gov/smallbusiness/trademarks/ for more information.

Evan

Well, in the US the sales permit is often called a "Sales tax and use permit". You need it, in the US, if you buy taxable products in your state with NO tax, or if you sell some taxable product or service where the tax collected from the customer exceeds the amount you paid as tax for the components.

The idea is that if you run a stationery store, and buy pens wholesale, suppose you bought them for $8, and sold them for $9, and the sales tax were 10%. If you use one, you are subject to a use tax of $.80. If you SELL them, you have to collect and remit $.90. If the SAME pens were taxed when you bought them, using would cost no more, and you can STILL collect the $.90, but you only have to remit $.10, because the other $.80 was already paid by your supplier. Some things might vary if your supplier doesn't have a presence in your state.

I used the stationery store as an example merely because they ARE likely to use stuff from their stock. I could have used a computer store, etc...

Steve

I personally thanks to all replies. Much appreciated!!!

Kim, you are right, I'm at Siem Reap-Angkor! I've just start my new site and need more improvments with that kind of stuff like business License. Due to selling products online within small business and internet marketing is rarely happended in Cambodia. I've searched in the local area and no such people has involved in the internet marketing schemes today. I would so proud that I am the one who starts on this in Cambodia!

Maybe, I'll try to search a little more about this for the local requirements.
Anyway, thanks for your great ideas and helps as always!

Kind regards,
UTOBC