Regulations/laws for selling fish in USA across states

[Jaden257]

I sell fancy guppies on eBay, and I live in North Carolina. I was wondering if anyone could give me any insight on whether I need any permits/licenses to be shipping fish to various states?

[Jovius]

No, not really. Just double check that the fish you are sending are legal there.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On top of ensuring that the fish you’re sending aren’t illegal and/or considered an invasive species, I think it all comes down to revenue, and if you have to remit taxes. 
 

Where I live, I believe it’s once you cross the $600 mark in sales, you need to have a sales license and remit taxes. 
 

Considering you're selling on eBay, I would assume that any type of sales confirmation or email confirmation of sales would count as an invoice. I don’t know that for a 100% fact, but that’s my best guess. 
 

Resident experts like @tolstoy21 might have further insight. I believe they sell (or at least, have sold) on eBay and other platforms. 

[tolstoy21]

On 8/11/2024 at 11:12 PM, Jaden257 said:

I sell fancy guppies on eBay, and I live in North Carolina. I was wondering if anyone could give me any insight on whether I need any permits/licenses to be shipping fish to various states?

Nope. Not for guppies.

On 8/12/2024 at 12:03 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

On top of ensuring that the fish you’re sending aren’t illegal and/or considered an invasive species, I think it all comes down to revenue, and if you have to remit taxes. 
 

Where I live, I believe it’s once you cross the $600 mark in sales, you need to have a sales license and remit taxes. 
 

Considering you're selling on eBay, I would assume that any type of sales confirmation or email confirmation of sales would count as an invoice. I don’t know that for a 100% fact, but that’s my best guess. 
 

Resident experts like @tolstoy21 might have further insight. I believe they sell (or at least, have sold) on eBay and other platforms. 

Ha, I'd not consider myself an expert by any means! So please don't interpret anything below as legal or financial advice in terms of taxation.

But, the below is my experience . . .

Ebay collects and remits sales tax on the seller's behalf.

The $600 reporting threshold is for reporting business income and is reported on a federal-level, and does not concern collecting and reporting sales tax to states.

In general, each state that one sells to has its own rules for when an out-of-state online seller must collect and remit sales tax to that state, but trust me, none of us will ever hit those minimum thresholds. For instance, most states have adopted a $100,000 annual minimum in sales (or 200 transactions that year in that state) before needing to remit taxes to that state. States rules do vary, but they more or less fall into that range. For more information, do a google search for the term 'Tax Nexus'. All the info one would need exists inside that rabbit hole!

If you only sell on Ebay, this is all moot, because Ebay does this for you. My guess is that Ebay, as a large platform/marketplace, probably has requirements to collect and remit sales tax for sales made from its platform.  But this is complete speculation on my part. Either way, Ebay does this automatically so there is nothing one needs to think about. However, at the end of they year, Ebay will furnish each seller with a 1099 for filing federal business income. If that total amount surpasses $600 (or a minimum transaction level), then you need to include that in your year-end tax filings.

The one caveat to the above is that for sales within your own state, you do have to report sales tax.  But . . . . in my own experience, this is nothing to really worry about for us mere mortals. When I registered in my own state and told the woman on the phone the amount of annual in-state sales I conduct, she laughed and said -- Ok, we'll put you down as 'non-reporting'. 

In the end, I'd advocate that anyone selling online more than occasionally should probably register as running a ''Sole Proprietorship' with both the federal government and their local state. Additionally, well check with the state to see if your 'business' is required to collect and report sales tax for in-state sales.

All of this may sound daunting, but once you understand exactly what your responsibilities as a seller are, it doesn't take much to set up. 

Edited August 13 by tolstoy21