Hey everyone,
I have been entertaining an idea to start selling, maybe not the quantity that some people here handle but just as hobby more or less. Ive been looking into the requirements for a resale license, or whatever it’s called where you’re from. I live in California and Michigan. I noticed from what I gathered that some of the bigger sellers just buy from the secondary distributers and it intrigued me to question why. Now obviously I don’t know how true my observations are but that’s just the way it seems. Now, there’s not really a lot of info stipulating using one for selling trading cards and it seems to be somewhat gray for use on a completely online store like eBay at least from what I could find.
Does anyone know much about this?
So the resale license itself does not seem to be difficult to obtain, just some application and maybe a fee and proof of business. Obviously you have to collect taxes and report everything to the irs which could be a hassle. You also can’t legitimately keep the product yourself or give it to your buddies. Is it worth the privilege to buy products off places like the GTS? They don’t really list prices so it is hard to determine the amount you would have to push to make it worth it. Also, it is not really clear if under these rules you are permitted to, say, make sets from purchased boosters and sell individual cards and whatnot. Is it even possible to just have an eBay store and sustain the requirements needed? Is it just not doable for a small business? Like do you have to meet some kind of minimum purchases?
I just don’t really know a lot and all of you here seem to be well informed and somewhat friendly so I figured I’d make a post. Thanks for any response.
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For something like this you should contact the state in which you wish to apply for a license for their requirements. Then, contact the distributors you hope to deal with and ask if they will sell to you and with what minimums.
Looking for advice from other people in different countries and states is not the advisable way to start your business.
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I was really just questioning to see what other people have experienced to draw out a perspective. I know in the u.s. most states have different technicalities but the main concepts are the same. I would imagine that it is probably similar in other countries. I don’t really have real life people to ask as there is not exactly the largest market for this kind of thing. Do they not have distributer s in other countries or something?
Are you originally from the us? I ask as you mentioned it and was curious if you are a citizen and what not, as it might be relevant.’
Ultimately I think what Gary said is true, each state is different. I am not sure what the recquirements are for online sales, and if you would even be selling enough to bother with this sort of thing.
A lot of people sell these days and almost none of them have any liscensing. With that said, majority of them also don’t pay taxes, but that is a different story. If you do end up buying and selling, I would max taxes a priority.
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I am originally from the u.s. haha yea I bet a lot of people skip out on taxes. That’s why I was curious about the resale license because in the u.s. when you have one you’re actually the one who charges people tax rather than having to pay it at least in regards to the sale and then you submit that i guess during tax season while also getting taxed on the earned income. That’s at least my interpretation. Then maybe people dont do it because it is a better deal to buy the product from a secondary distributor rather than a plave like GTS so the amount of items purchased is not exactly legally required to be recorded and they can skip out on paying as much tax as they should. I am just curious on the angles people take to turn a profit.