Do You Need a Reseller Permit to Sell Online?

Here's the short answer: if you sell only through marketplaces like Poshmark, Mercari, Whatnot, or eBay, you often don't need your own reseller permit in other states, because marketplace facilitator laws generally make the platform responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on those sales. Your home state may be an exception: Texas and New York, for example, require a permit or registration from sellers based there even if every sale goes through a marketplace. If you sell through your own channel, like a Shopify store, you generally do need a permit in any state where you have nexus. The details below cover the exceptions, the costs, and exactly how to apply.

Key Takeaways

• "Reseller permit," "seller's permit," and "sales tax permit" are different names for the same idea: your state registration to collect sales tax. Texas calls it a "sales and use tax permit" and California a "seller's permit."
• All states that impose sales tax have enacted marketplace facilitator laws, which generally put the collection job on the marketplace for the sales it facilitates (Multistate Tax Commission).
• Texas doesn't require a permit from out-of-state sellers who sell only through a certifying marketplace, but it does from sellers based in Texas. California generally doesn't require registration when all of your sales are facilitated by registered marketplaces, even above its $500,000 threshold (Texas Comptroller, CDTFA).
• Permits are free in Texas and California, though Texas may require a security bond and California a security deposit.
• Selling without a required permit is a misdemeanor in both Texas and California, and in Texas each day of operation counts as a separate offense.

What Is a Reseller Permit (and Is It Different From a Seller's Permit)?

A reseller permit and a seller's permit are the same document with different names. States each pick their own label for the registration that lets you legally collect sales tax from customers.

Texas calls it a "sales and use tax permit." Anyone engaged in business in Texas who sells or leases tangible personal property, or sells taxable services there, must hold one (Texas Comptroller). California calls it a "seller's permit" and requires it for anyone "doing business in California" who intends to sell or lease tangible personal property subject to sales tax at retail (CDTFA). Florida issues a Certificate of Registration, Form DR-11 (Florida DOR).

Different names, same job. What trips up new sellers is a second document that sounds almost identical: the resale certificate.

Definition: permit vs. resale certificate. A reseller permit (also called a seller's permit or sales tax permit) is your state registration to collect sales tax from customers. A resale certificate is the exemption document you give suppliers so you can buy inventory tax-free. In some states the certificate builds on your registration: Texas resale certificates "require the purchaser's Texas taxpayer number," and Florida issues its Annual Resale Certificate to registered dealers. California is more flexible: a buyer who isn't required to hold a permit can explain why on the certificate instead.

Here's the side-by-side:

One common mistake: showing a supplier your permit instead of a certificate. Texas is explicit that "the customer's sales tax permit number or a copy of the customer's permit is not a substitute for a resale certificate" (Texas Comptroller). If you want the full walkthrough of how certificates work, see our resale certificates explained guide.

Do Marketplace Sellers (Poshmark, Mercari, Whatnot, eBay) Need One?

Often not in states where you only ship to buyers, though rules vary by state, and check your home state. The Multistate Tax Commission reports that "all states that impose sales tax have now enacted marketplace facilitator/provider tax collection requirements," and its list includes Washington, D.C. In Alaska, which has no state sales tax, local governments that adopt the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission's uniform code apply these rules to marketplaces too (MTC). Under most of these laws, when someone buys your item on a facilitator platform, the marketplace is the party responsible for charging the buyer sales tax and sending it to the state, and you never touch that money. The MTC's list notes two exceptions, Alabama and Oklahoma, where its 2021 paper says the law gave marketplaces the "option to collect or notice/report" instead.

Texas spells out the rule for out-of-state sellers: "A remote seller who only sells through a marketplace provider that certifies they are collecting and reporting sales and use tax on the remote seller's behalf is not required to hold a Texas tax permit" (Texas Comptroller). One catch: you still have to keep records of your marketplace sales for at least four years. If you live in Texas, the answer is different: "As a Texas seller, you have physical presence in Texas and must have an active sales and use tax permit" (Texas Comptroller).

New York takes the same view of sellers based there. It tells a New York home-based business that sells solely through a marketplace: "You still need to apply for a Certificate of Authority to be a sales tax vendor and file periodic returns even if the tax was collected for you" (NY DTF).

California works the other way for marketplace sellers. A registered marketplace facilitator "is the retailer selling or making the sale" of what it facilitates, and you're not required to register "if all of your retail sales of merchandise will be facilitated by a marketplace facilitator that is registered as a retailer with CDTFA" (CDTFA). That holds above California's $500,000 economic nexus threshold too: CDTFA requires registration above it "unless all of your sales for delivery in California are facilitated by marketplace facilitators that are retailers for purposes of those sales."

So an out-of-state Poshmark-only or Whatnot-only seller typically doesn't need a Texas or California permit for those sales, but a seller based in Texas, or a home-based seller in New York, does need to register at home. For platform-specific details on what Poshmark handles for you, see our Poshmark sales tax guide.

When Do You Need Your Own Permit?

You need your own permit when you sell outside a marketplace in a state where you have nexus, or when your home state requires one. The most common triggers:

1. You sell through your own store. Shopify, WooCommerce, your own website, in-person markets: none of these are marketplace facilitators. You are the retailer, so you collect the tax, and that requires a permit. California's guidance says being actively engaged in selling in the state "includes direct sales to California customers that are not facilitated through a marketplace" (CDTFA).
2. You're based in the state. In Texas, being engaged in business there while selling taxable goods requires a permit, and that includes sellers who live in Texas and sell only through marketplaces (Texas Comptroller). New York requires the same of home-based businesses there that sell only through marketplaces. California generally doesn't require registration if all of your sales are facilitated by registered marketplaces (CDTFA).
3. You cross an economic nexus threshold. Remote sellers with "total Texas revenue of less than $500,000 in the preceding twelve calendar months are not required to obtain a tax permit" (Texas Comptroller), and Texas doesn't require one above that either if all of your sales go through certifying marketplaces, unless you're above $500,000 and a marketplace stores your inventory in Texas (Texas Comptroller). California's threshold is "total combined sales of tangible personal property for delivery in California" over $500,000 "in the preceding or current calendar year," with the same all-facilitated exception (CDTFA). Other states set their own thresholds. Our guide to economic nexus explains how these thresholds work.
4. You want to buy inventory tax-free. Suppliers ask for a resale certificate, and in states like Texas and Florida that certificate ties to your registration. That can be a reason to register in your home state even when a marketplace collects on all of your sales.

Mixed sellers are the group that gets surprised. If you sell on eBay and run a Shopify store, the marketplace rules cover your eBay sales, but your Shopify sales are on you. If you're still deciding whether your reselling counts as a business at all, see when sales tax applies to a reselling side hustle.

Not sure which states you've actually triggered? Run Taxero's free nexus check to find out which states you actually owe before you register anywhere.

What Does a Permit Cost?

In the big seller states, the permit itself is free. Here's what the state agencies say:

The real cost of a permit isn't the application fee. It's the ongoing obligation. Texas requires a return "even if there are no taxable sales or purchases to report during that filing period" (Texas Comptroller), and California says that even if you have no sales for the period, "you must still file a return" (CDTFA Pub. 73).

What Happens If You Sell Without One?

Selling without a required permit is a criminal offense in the two biggest seller states, not just a paperwork problem.

Texas. Under Tax Code § 151.708, retailing without a permit is a Class C misdemeanor for a first offense. Penalties escalate with repeat offenses: a Class B misdemeanor with a fine of up to $2,000, then a Class A misdemeanor with a fine of up to $4,000, then a Class A misdemeanor with a fine of up to $4,000, up to a year in jail, or both. The part that should get your attention: "each day a person or an officer of a corporation operates a business without a permit or with a suspended permit is a separate offense." A month of unpermitted selling isn't one violation; each day counts.

California. Under Revenue and Taxation Code § 6071, selling without a permit is a misdemeanor, and § 7153 sets the punishment: a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, up to one year in county jail, or both. That's on top of the back tax, interest, and penalties you'd owe anyway (CDTFA Pub. 166).

Misusing a resale certificate carries its own ladder of penalties. In Texas, it ranges from a Class C misdemeanor when the tax evaded is under $20 all the way up to a second-degree felony at $20,000 or more (Texas Comptroller). Don't hand a supplier a resale certificate for personal purchases.

To be clear: if you're a marketplace-only seller in a state that doesn't require you to register, such as an out-of-state seller who sells into Texas only through certifying marketplaces, you're not "selling without a permit." These penalties apply when you're required to hold one and don't.

How Do You Get a Reseller Permit?

The process is broadly similar in Texas, California and Florida:

1. Figure out where you need to register. Start with your home state, then any state where you've crossed an economic nexus threshold with direct (non-marketplace) sales. Our state guides for Texas nexus and California nexus cover the two biggest ones.
2. Gather your details. Expect to provide your legal name or entity name, a Social Security number or federal employer identification number, your business address, and a description of what you sell. Texas also asks for a NAICS industry code (Texas Comptroller).
3. Apply on the state tax agency's website. Texas uses the Comptroller's eSystems portal (Comptroller); California registers you through CDTFA's free online system (CDTFA); Florida uses the online Florida Business Tax Application or paper Form DR-1 (Florida DOR). For a step-by-step Texas walkthrough, see how to register for a Texas sales tax permit.
4. Allow time for the permit. Texas says to "allow 2-3 weeks to receive your permit" (Comptroller).
5. Set up your filing calendar. The state assigns a filing frequency; California, for example, may assign a monthly, quarterly, quarterly prepay, fiscal annual, or annual basis (CDTFA Pub. 73). Missing returns, even zero-dollar ones, creates problems fast.

Once your permit is active, you can issue resale certificates to suppliers and start collecting tax on your direct sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a reseller permit to sell on Poshmark or Mercari?

Often not in states where you only ship to buyers, because every state that imposes sales tax has a marketplace facilitator law, and in nearly all of them the platform collects and remits the tax on those sales, though rules vary by state. Your home state may differ: Texas requires a permit from sellers based in Texas even if they sell only through marketplaces, and New York requires home-based marketplace sellers to register. California generally doesn't require registration if all of your sales are facilitated by registered marketplaces.

Is a resale certificate the same as a seller's permit?

No. The permit is your registration to collect sales tax; the resale certificate is the form you give suppliers to buy inventory tax-free. In Texas, the resale certificate (Form 01-339) asks for your taxpayer number from the permit, and the permit itself can't substitute for the certificate.

How much does a reseller permit cost?

Texas and California charge no fee for the permit, though Texas may require a security bond and California a security deposit. Florida publishes no registration fee and registers sellers through its online Business Tax Application or paper Form DR-1.

I sell on eBay and on my own Shopify store. What do I need?

In most states, eBay collects tax on your eBay sales under marketplace facilitator laws. Your Shopify sales are direct sales, so you need a permit in your home state, if it has a sales tax, and in any state where you have economic nexus. In California, total sales for delivery there over $500,000, marketplace sales included, mean you must register unless every sale is facilitated by a marketplace, so your direct Shopify sales put you on the hook.

The Bottom Line

Marketplace-only sellers often have less to do: facilitator laws in every state that imposes sales tax generally put the collection job on platforms like Poshmark, Mercari, Whatnot, and eBay. But your home state may still want a permit from you, as Texas and New York do. The moment you sell direct, through Shopify or anywhere else, the job shifts to you, and that means a permit in each state where you have nexus. The permits themselves are free in Texas and California. Skipping a required one is not: it's a misdemeanor in Texas and California, and Texas counts every day as a separate offense.

The hard part isn't getting a permit. It's knowing which states require one. Run Taxero's free nexus check to find out which states you actually owe, then register only where you need to.

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This article is for general information only and is not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Rules change and your situation is specific, so consult a tax professional or the state's own guidance.