Go To Great Panes

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2009

Visit our Etsy shop: GoTo

I’ve gotten a few requests for help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) lately, and really the best advice I can give is for you to read up on it so you’ll know how to apply it to your shop yourself both now and in the future. A good place to start is Google’s SEO Starter Guide:http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/11/googles-seo-starter-guide.html

This isn’t the only SEO resource out there–if you search the web for info on SEO I am sure you’ll find tons of material. As with anything on the internet, some of the info will be accurate and some will just be someone’s opinion, so always consider the source of what you are reading.

Visit our Etsy shop: GoToSupplies

Visit our Etsy shop: GoTo

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2008

Don’t know what Google Checkout is? See here: Accepting Credit Cards

To send an email invoice
through Google Checkout1. Log In

2. Click the Tools tab.

3. On the left, click the Send an invoice link.

4. Fill out all the fields–I recommend checking the Send me a copy of this email box, otherwise you’ll have no record of the bill sent. Google Checkout doesn’t keep a copy in your account.

5. Click the Send invoice email button.

A yellow message will flash telling you the invoice has been sent.

I have found that I cannot use the Opera browser to send the invoices, but it works fine with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

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Visit our 2nd Etsy shop: GoToSupplies

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2008

To send a Paypal Invoice:

1. Log in to Paypal.
2. Click the Request Money tab.
3. Click the Create an Invoice link.
4. Follow the directions to send an invoice to your buyer by email.

The buyer will receive an email invoice and be able to click a link in the email to pay you.

If they prefer not to click that link, they can sign in to Paypal directly and the invoice will be waiting there for them to pay it.

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During the course of business many sales tax issues can come up. Below I’ve compiled a list of questions that will get you the general information you need to know about your state’s sales tax laws.

Look for answers to the questions below on your state’s website, the paperwork they sent you when you registered or give them a call and ask one of your state’s employees. That’s how to best get facts about your state’s laws, not someone else’s interpretation or opinion.

There are links to official state websites in this post that should help you find the answers to the questions below:

US Sales Tax & Business Registration:
Links to Official Government Websites

Sales tax laws are different from state to state and the answers to the questions below vary widely.

There is only one law that applies to all states when it comes to collecting sales tax:

You don’t charge sales tax to buyers outside your business nexus. That is:

1. outside of the state you sell from,
2. outside of states you are registered in (if you are registered in more than just your home state) or
3. from states you don’t have a business representative in.

What does that mean?

1. Most sellers need to collect sales tax from buyers in their own state. Most states require you to register before you can collect sales tax, then collect only from in-state buyers unless 2 or 3 below applies to you.
2. If you are registered in a state other than the one you live in, you need to collect sales tax for that state too (like for doing an out of state craft show).
3. If you have a business nexus (see below) in another state you may need to register and/or collect sales tax there too, depending on that state’s sales tax laws.

What’s a nexus? The description varies a bit, but generally if you don’t have a physical presence in a state (be it a place you ship from, a public storefront of your own, a representative who presents your items for sale in a state, do a craft show in a state), you generally don’t have a business nexus there.

The questions…:

• Must I register to collect sales tax in my state?

You may think your business is too small or that you are just a hobby seller therefore you don’t need to register to collect sales tax for your state. From what I’ve seen, that’s probably not true. Many states require you register before you start selling, regardless as to whether or not you ever make a sale to someone in your state, make a sale at all or turn a profit, or whether or not you are a business or just an individual.

• Is there an amount of sales I can make before I am required to register?

Most states with sales tax require you to register straight away–rarely there’s a “You can sell $XXX worth of goods before registering to collect sales tax” rule so you need to find out what your state’s rules are for when registration is required.

Usually it’s “Intend to make a sale? Register before you start selling whether you are a business or just an individual planning on selling to the public”.

• Can I just include sales tax in my price?

Some states allow it, some don’t, and some allow it so long as you mention tax is included. There may be other stipulations, but none I have heard of off-hand.

• Can I just pay the sales tax for my customers?

Some states allow it, some don’t. Some allow it so long as you don’t advertise it.

• Can I advertise that I pay sales tax for my customers?

Some states have specific laws about publicizing that you will pay sales tax for your customers.

• What rate do I charge?

There’s two main types of sales tax for those of us in the mail-order/internet-sales business, you need to find out which of these applies in your state:

1. Origin-based sales tax: You charge the rate of where you sell from *to buyers your state*, just like when you purchase something in-person. When the package is shipped outside areas where you are obligated to collect sales tax (usually just your home state), you don’t charge sales tax.
2. Destination-based sales tax: You charge the rate of tax at the address to which you mail the package. That’s a bit of a hassle, but if that’s what the state requires that’s what you need to do. Here in NY, I must find out what county a buyer is in before I know what rate to apply.

There’s also a hybrid–some states have both state & local taxes and they require sellers to only collect the local taxes when items are being shipped within their home region (which makes it a bit like destination based sales tax–but only for those in their own area). So if the buyer is in the seller’s city or county, they collect state+city or state+county tax from that buyer, and only state sales tax from buyers in all other parts of their state.

• Are there different rates depending on the items or services I provide?

Some states have different rates for food, clothing, shoes, services… be sure to understand how they apply to your business.

• Do I collect sales tax on shipping?

In some states all shipping is taxed, in some only shipping of taxable goods (and the shipping might be partially taxable if only part of the order is taxable), in states the cost shipping isn’t taxable but any amount over the actual cost of shipping is taxable (so if you have a handling fee it would be taxed, or if you just round up the amount that would be taxable (for example from $1.72 actual shipping rounded up to $2.00, 28 cents would be taxable).

• Must my receipts to customers specify the amount of sales tax the customer paid and/or state that sales tax is included in the purchase price?

Some states require that you show how much tax the customer has paid/you paid for the customer. If the customer doesn’t know how much tax they paid, they won’t know if “use tax” is due on their purchase. (Use tax is due on purchases that should have had tax collected by the seller but didn’t. Many (most/all?) states with sales tax also have use tax which applies to internet and mail order purchases where the seller didn’t collect sales tax, though many people think that purchases from the internet are sales tax-free.)

Need help getting your business registered & finding answers to these questions for sellers in your state? Start here: US: Sales Tax & Business Registration –links to official state websites– gotogreatpanes.com/blog/sales-tax-business-registration

Many artists and crafters want to accept credit cards at craft shows but don’t know how to start, so I’m sharing what I learned when setting up our account.

I’m sure this isn’t the be-all end-all of important questions for merchant service providers, so if you think I’ve left out anything important I’d love to hear from you!

A merchant account is used by businesses to process credit card transactions. As I called individual providers I found out more and more about what the important questions to ask were, which got me off the phone in minutes with companies whose services didn’t meet our needs. To find merchant service companies you can search the web or check with other small businesses/crafters/artists to find out who they use.

Most merchant accounts will charge you a transaction fee plus percentage fee for each transaction your customer charges, all the other fees below change with each company.

By the time I had gotten through a half dozen or so calls, I created this list of important topics to ask about upfront:

1. Sign Up/Start Up Fees–Fees to start up your account with their service.
2. Annual/Monthly Fees–Fees for maintaining your account on an annual or monthly basis regardless of whether you process any transactions or not.
3. Contract–Is there one? How long is it?
4. Cancellation Fee–Fees to close your account, or for canceling a contract early.
5. Monthly Statement Fees–Fees for receiving paper or electronic monthly statements of your transactions.
6. Monthly Minimums–If you don’t have enough transactions to generate a certain amount in fees, they charge you that amount. (For example: some places will charge you $25 a month regardless of having no transactions that month, or if your fees to them from transactions with your customers only reach $10.00 or any other amount below their monthly minimum.)
7. Credit Cards that You Will be Able To Accept–Discover, Master Card, Visa, Am Ex, debit cards with credit card logos, etc.
8. Fees to Accept Other Cards–Often they quote MC/Visa rates, Am Ex, Discover or other cards are extra–like $50 to start accepting each other type of card.
9. Per transaction Fee–Every transaction starts with a basic fee, like 35 cents per transaction.
10. Percentage Fee–In addition to the transaction fee, they also charge you a percentage of the total the customer is charging to their credit card.
11. Receiving Your Money Fee–Is there a fee?
12. How You Get Your Money–Is it automatically sent to your bank account? If so, after how long? Do you need to ask to have your money sent to your bank account? Is there a limit as to how often you can request your funds be transferred?
13. Chargeback/Disputed Charges Fee–If a customer disputes a charge, there are usually fees involved on the seller’s end.
14. Charge to Call in Credit Cards for Approval–If you are at a show and call in the card for approval, will there be a charge?
15. Credit Card Terminal Leases/Fees–Often the fees are more than $50.00 a month and there are fees for canceling the terminal lease in addition to canceling your merchant account.

I hope these topics will help you get on the right track to finding a merchant account provider that suits your business. Good luck!

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2008

We’ve been accepting credit card payments for sales through Paypal for years, but last year we decided to try Google Checkout:

Google Checkout
(affiliate link)

We’ve been very happy with their service, and really like how our money is automatically transferred to our bank account.

We don’t have to log in and tell them to send us our money, and instead of taking three to four days for it to show up in our account, it takes only two days.

The fees are lower than Paypal: 2% + $0.20 per transaction.
Update as of May 2009–the fees are now the same as Paypal:
2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Currently it’s only available to sellers in the US and UK, they are working on expanding, but it’s available to buyers in over 140 countries.

As of January 2008, these countries are able to pay using Google Checkout:

Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua & Barbuda Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Chile Colombia Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Gabon Georgia

Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Guatemala Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Laos Latvia Lebanon Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway

Oman Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto RicoQatar Romania Russia Rwanda San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Trinidad & Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Need to send an email invoice
through Google Checkout?

See this post: Send a Google Checkout invoice

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website is great–I ordered all sorts of goodies for new businesses when I started up. (That was before there were so many things available immediately on their website–like pdf versions of booklets and video lessons I had to order on CD.)

Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html Publications from the IRS Now viewable online or through the mail with CDs or DVDs http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=101169,00.html Online Classroom I had ordered CD versions of these lessons, and though they are as boring as dust, I learned a lot. Now you can click on the name to watch them on-line, click the “d” to download it to your computer or “t” to read the text transcripts. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=97726,00.html Taxpayer Identification Number also referred to as TIN, EIN, or FTIN*, instead some folks just use their SSN You may not need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) if you won’t have employees, incorporate or be a partnership–you might be able to just use your Social Security Number (SSN) when paying income tax for your sole proprietorship. Check this page to see if you are required to get one: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=97872,00.html We got a federal EIN to use during registration for our state sales tax ID. While we didn’t need to get an EIN by the IRS’ standards, we signed up for one with the IRS right away because many wholesale companies won’t let you purchase materials at wholesale without a sales tax ID number. That means you won’t pay sales tax on the supplies you buy and that you’ll have the opportunity to (or requirement of) purchasing supplies in bulk for a discount. When you get your state sales tax id, often you can give them your SSN as an ID number instead of the EIN, and some states will then use your SSN as your sales tax ID number (some states make you get an EIN before they let you get a state sales tax ID). I prefer to protect my personal information, so I got the EIN give to the state during registration for our Authority to Collect Sales Tax to be sure my SSN didn’t end up on the license that we must display publicly at craft shows and need to give to wholesalers for a discount/not pay sales tax. In NY, if you register to collect sales tax your EIN will also be the number for your registration with the state’s sales tax department, giving you the authority to collect sales tax on the state’s behalf. (You must register with the state before you are permitted to collect sales tax even if you already have an EIN.) Getting an EIN is free, it doesn’t require any special paperwork once you’ve registered, and registering online is easy as pie: Apply for an Employer Identification Number Online State Links from the IRS A collection of links to official US state government web sites with useful information for businesses including information on sales tax laws. Sales tax laws vary from state to state, so it’s important to find your own state’s regulations from official sources. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99021,00.html

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2009

The first thing about taxes and your small business is that sales tax is completely unrelated to your annual state and federal income tax.

Sales tax:

Collected and regulated on a state level, so every state has its own laws that govern the collection and payment of sales tax by sellers to the state. The laws vary widely, please always contact your state directly if you have any questions or get the info directly from your state’s official website.

If your state has sales tax, you need to register with the state to be authorized to collect it from your customers, then you pay the state the money you collected according to the schedule the state provides you, on special forms that are only for sales tax remittance.

Some states require sales tax be remitted monthly, some quarterly, some once a year. In some states the schedule changes depending on your sales. Your state will tell you how often you should remit it.

Income tax:

Paid by US citizens/residents and those employed in/selling from the USA at the federal level and at the state level (if the state has income tax). Due April 15.

I’ll be adding posts about sales tax in different states as we come across it, primarily I’ll be covering New York since that’s where we are located/most knowledgable, but please still double check the information–even if I’m posting it.

I’ll be adding information about small businesses and income tax soon too.