Certificate of Resale and online sales

I am going to be officially starting up my business online sales (amazon and ebay) in Jan. I will be using a certificate of resale when purchasing my products from the wholesaler. I will be charging VA resident sales tax, but what happens to the products that are sold to out of state buyers? Do those items never have any sales tax paid ?

Answer : 

It depends; in general, a business must collect sales tax from its customers when it has a direct or indirect physical presence in a state, known as “nexus.” The standard for the nexus is not difficult to articulate, but can be nearly impossible to apply. In most states, a business (whether a sole proprietor, or organized as a partnership, limited liability company, or corporation) has a physical presence in a state if any employees or agents have had a physical presence in the state or if the business owns or leases property there. This is a direct physical presence. So you can assume that UNLESS you have have a direct physical presence in a ou of state, you have no sales tax collection obligations there. This is a common misconception, and it can prove costly in the case of a sales tax audit. Certain types of indirect presence in a out of state, alone, will not trigger a sales tax collection obligation. A business owner can be comfortable that the mere selling of products over a website or by a catalog and shipping them to a state (by the U.S. Postal Service or common carrier) will generally not trigger a sales tax collection obligation because such activity does not constitute a physical presence.

As you can see, resale certificates are used by the purchasers, when acquiring property for resale in its present form or as components of other property. They are also used to purchase taxable services that become a part of property for resale in some states. States that allow for resale exemptions either accept a state issued resale certificate or, in some cases, a multi-state certificate. A business which is registered for sales and use tax can use a resale certificate only when the merchandise being purchased is to be resold by the business. A business cannot use a resale certificate to purchase merchandise that they will use and consume in the conduct of business. Any merchandise obtained upon resale certificate is subject to sales and use tax if it is used or consumed by the purchaser in any manner, and must be reported and the tax paid thereon direct to the appropriate jurisdiction.

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