I don’t know why but ever since the birth of my daughter, I’ve been getting sick more often than ever before in my life. This week I was sidelined with a stomach virus so I was unable to post my usual articles for the week. In any case, after not eating for 2 straight days I’m finally well enough to answer a few questions from my readers.

But before I do, I thought I’d share a few pictures from this past Halloween. After all, what is the point of quitting your job if you can’t witness moments like these and dress up your children like animals? These costumes were kind of pricey but worth every single penny.

Ok and now onto the questions.

I am looking to start an online clothing store and wanted some advice on the best way to go about obtaining a retail business license or sellars license. I live in atlanta, ga which is home to America’s Mart, one of the largest apparel marts for buyers and wholesalers. This seems like a natural place to start looking for products especially since its around the corner. The only problem is in order to have access they require you to have a retail business license or federal resale tax certificate as well as business checks, proof or merchant credit card ID #, persoalized business ID and so on. I’ve done some research on other small online apparel companies and it doesn’t that many have all of these things. My question is, are all of these things necessary for a small online start-up, or is a place like America’s Mart not a good place for newbies to start.

It really depends on your state, but most states require you to have a business license before you are allowed to sell any “tangible” goods to the public. In your case, clothing is definitely considered a tangible good. If Georgia charges sales tax, then I’m almost positive that you will need a license.

In order to purchase wholesale from another business, a business license is required as well if you want to purchase your goods tax free. Otherwise you would end up paying sales tax twice, once to purchase the goods and again when you sell your goods to the end customer. In general, most wholesalers will refuse to deal with you unless you have a business license.

I’m probably a bit biased but when it comes to clothing, the absolute cheapest place to purchase your goods is from Asia. In sufficient quantities, a tshirt from Asia will cost you probably one-tenth of what it will cost you here in the US. I would probably test out the market with goods from a place like America’s Mart but then purchase in quantity from Asia once you know what works.

So to sum everything up. You probably need a business license. The rest of the items you have mentioned fall more or less into the same category. In general though, you should get yourself a separate business checking account and a federal tax ID number as well.

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