Licenses needed and steps to opening an online store

alichic

Can someone please give me advice on how to and what I need in order to open an online retail store.

I have been doing a lot of research and salehoo staffs have been kind enough to help me and give links to numerous articles to read regarding sales tax ID, reseller license, etc...

But the more I read into it and the more articles I find online, I am now even more confused then when I first started.

There are so many different names for all the licenses, and sometimes even the same license is given different name in different states.

I don't know if all of the licenses and registering my business name is necessary when I am just starting my business. I have not made any income yet .

If someone could please answer my list of questions:

1. Do I need to register my fictitious business name if I open an online retail store either through Godaddy, Yahoo business, or ebay store?

2. Should I open a business bank account if I am just starting to sell on ebay or an online store? This will be my first time selling online so I am just kind of testing the waters to see where things go from here.

Will a personal bank account work for now?

3. What licenses do I need? Reseller, sales tax id, EIN, business license, business tax, sales and use tax license, etc. What's the differences between all of these licenses. Please don't link me to any articles. If you could explain it briefly that would be great.

4. If anyone ever imported from Asia, do I need a certificate of origins?

And any additional advices anyone may have would greatly be appreciated

Thank you.

richelle_salehoo1

Hi ALiChic,

I'll try to help a bit with some of your questions -

3. What licenses do I need? Reseller, sales tax id, EIN, business license, business tax, sales and use tax license, etc. What's the differences between all of these licenses. Please don't link me to any articles. If you could explain it briefly that would be great.

Sales Tax ID - the piece of paper that goes by many aliases! The sales tax Id is also called a Retail or Reseller's License, State Sales Tax Id, Tax Id, Resale Number, Resale Certificate, or Vendor's License. All of these names are referring to one thing: A certificate issued for a small fee by your state (if you live in Canada or the US) that says you are registered to collect sales tax. You can usually get one from your Stateâ€™s website â€“ just Google â€˜Your State + sales taxâ€™.

EIN - is an Employer Identification Number or EIN (also known as Federal Employer Identification Number or (FEIN)) is the corporate equivalent to a Social Security Number, although it is issued to anyone, including individuals, who has to pay withholding taxes on employees.

Business License - are permits issued by government agencies that allow individuals or companies to conduct business within the government's geographical jurisdiction. It is the authorization to start a business issued by the local government. Getting a business license is fairly straight forward. You need to contact your local court house or country clerk's office and they will direct you to the person you need to speak with. Some states will charge a fee for a business license application.

Personally, if you are just testing the waters I would suggest you test them first before you go through all the legalities. Unless of course you are 100% sure that you will pursue this business no matter what. Just try selling first and get a feel of what online selling is.

Hope this helps a bit :)

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