WHAT IS WholeSalE PURCHASING?
Wholesale, Defined:
Vendors offer wholesale (bulk, tax-free products generally at a lower price) to businesses who then use the products/resell them to their own customers.
Wholesale purchases can drastically lower your expenses as a flower farmer or florist. Retail prices can be as much as 2-3 times higher than wholesale prices. When you make a wholesale purchase you are able to earn more profit on your sales.
You can purchase wholesale if you have a registered business in your state and have a sales tax authority certificate/number (if your state collects sales tax).
Step 3
Once you have your Sales Tax Authority Certificate you will be able to fill out Resale Forms to share with wholesale vendors. These forms protect the seller (me!) from the tax collector in their state.
Your intended purpose for the products you are buying is irrelevant to your wholesale vendor. If you want to give the things you buy away— that’s fine. You’ll just have no sales tax to report to your own state. I still need a resale form.
STEP 2:
Apply for a sales tax authority certificate or equivalent in your state. This certificate will be displayed publicly in your place of business. It tells your customer that you are legitimately required to collect sales tax. Do NOT send this form to the vendors you want to buy from. It is only for public display.
This certificate is generally very easy to attain. In most states you can apply online and receive approval in next day or quickly thereafter. States WANT people to apply for this— it means a new business will soon send them sales taxes.
Step 1.
Register your business. In most cases you can do this with a trip to town hall. If you are just getting started, you may decide to open a DBA (Doing Business As) company. This was Linda’s first step! Later, if you want to continue and grow your business and seek more protections for it, you may want transition to an LLC. An LLC is not necessary to start selling products.