Doing Business with Wholesalers

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The Importance of a Tax ID Number

In order to do business with real wholesalers you will need to have a 'Sales Tax ID Number’, ‘Resale Certificate’, or a 'Sales and Use Tax ID' all of which are the same thing, just called different names.

Wholesalers do not charge sales tax, so as an online retailer you’re responsible for collecting the sales tax from you customers who purchase products from you and paying the sales tax to the government.

In order to collect taxes from your customers, you will need a 'Sales and Use Tax ID Number'

Although the mere thought of acquiring a ‘Sales Use Tax ID Number’, can be somewhat intimidating for some people, it shouldn’t be. If selling physical goods on the internet is something you’d like to do to supplement or even replace your existing income, than you can hardy afford to let a little paperwork stop you from experiencing the benefits of being a legally recognized business.

If you wish to purchase your inventory from real wholesale suppliers and get the best rock bottom prices on the products you want to sell, you must be an official, legal business.

Therefore registering for your ‘Sales and Use Tax ID Number’ should not be a daunting task. All you have to do is contact your State IRS office - not Federal - and apply for a 'Sales and Use Tax ID' or 'Resale Certificate'. This is what 'real wholesalers' will need from you in order to do business with you. They will use this to show that they don't have to charge you sales tax on the products you purchase and resell to your customers.

The cost of a 'Sales and Use Tax ID' or 'Resale Certificate' is different in each state.

Once you've applied and paid the fee, most states will email you a number right away and then mail you a hard copy of the document containing your number.

Although some wholesalers will simply have you print your number in their 'wholesaler application', others will require you to fax or mail them a copy of the document your state mails to you. So be sure to keep your 'Sales and Use Tax ID' document in a safe place where you can get to it when needed.

The collecting sales tax rule goes like this for online businesses: you only collect tax on the products shipped to addresses that are in the same state where your business resides. If you live in Atlanta and someone purchases an item from you and has it shipped to an Atlanta address, you would charge that person tax on that item. The tax amount is different in each state so check with your state to find out how much you are suppose to charge.

Some wholesalers may require you to also collect tax from any of your customers who purchase products from you and live in the same state that the wholesalers company resides. You should always be sure to check the laws of your state and any rules the wholesaler you're doing business with has about collecting taxes.

If your wholesaler is charging you tax on items because your customer lives where your wholesalers company is, you will want to be sure and charge that tax to any of your customers that live in that area. Other wish you will be responsible for paying these taxes because your wholesaler is going to add them in the cost of the product.

Each state has its own web site with information explaining their tax rules and how you can apply for a 'Sales and Use Tax ID Number’.

Below you will find links to the state tax information page of your state. When last checked these links were working and were correct. If they are no longer working just 'Google' your states name with the words 'Business Sales and Use Tax ID Number', such as 'Florida business sales and use tax ID number' or 'California Sales and Use Tax ID Number'.

If you have any questions about a 'Business Sales and Use Tax ID', contact information should be on the website that you wish to file for a business tax ID.

Becoming a legal business is not hard to do and the benefits far out weigh the paper work involve tremendously.

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Tax ID Informational Website for each State

Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas
California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware
D.C. | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois Indiana | Iowa |Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana
Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan
Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana
Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey
New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio |Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania
Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota
Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia
Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming

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5 Step List Building System

By JaMina M. EnGram

Have you been trying to build an email list with very little or no luck? Maybe you have no idea how to go about starting to build an email list. For those of you wondering what an email list is and what it’s for, it’s simply a list of individuals that have giving you their email address requesting some sort of valuable information from you.

Any good internet marketer can tell you the value and importance of highly targeted email list. With a list of highly targeted subscribers, you are now building a strong foundation for a very successful online information business. You now have a highly targeted list of subscribers who are requesting that you send them information about a particular subject. This list can be used to drive traffic to your website or your affiliate’s website where you can sell products or services to them. This can earn you a very substantial income if done properly.

I hope that now you see the importance and value of building a subscribers list. There are however, some very important things you should know about your list of subscriber. You must always give them very valuable information.

For example if you have a website on ‘How to Train you Rottweiler’ you must be sure you are giving them information on training their Rottweiler and not just sending them to your affiliate sites to purchase things so you can get a commission. The people on your email list are not stupid, they will quickly realized that the emails you send them have very little or no valuable information and you’re only trying to make money off of them. These emails will just be deleted and never opened.

People get tons of emails everyday so you must always give your list tons of information so they will enjoy opening your emails every time they see them in their mailbox. They will come to trust you for very valuable information on the subject and will trust the products and services you recommend to them.

Here is a 5 Step List Building System


1. Offer them something of value

People don’t want to just give you their email list and with all the spam that goes on, they have a very good reason not too. Most people go online to communicate, learn, or find out about information on a subject and this is what you have to address. You must offer them high quality very valuable information, which will give them a reason to opt in to your email list. You can offer them a short eBook, or an online course, which can both be a series of very informative articles you’ve written.

2. Place your opt in box so they can see it

Don’t hide your opt in box somewhere on the bottom of your website. Make it easy for your website visitors to find it. It’s what’s ‘above the fold’, which is what you see when you first come onto a website without scrolling down, that’s the most important part of the website. Most people don’t like to scroll unless there is something of value ‘above the fold’ that entices them to do so. The most ideal place for an opt in newsletter is the top left side of a website. You can also have a pop-up just as they are about to leave your website asking if they would like to receive your newsletter or valuable ezine.

3. Assure them that their information is private.

It’s very important that you assure them that their information will only be used for what they are signing up for. Remember if this is the first time they are visiting your website, they don’t know you therefore they don’t trust you and they will be very hesitant to just give their information to a complete stranger. Place a small privacy notice next to your email sign up box stating, “Your privacy is important to us. We will never sell or disclose the information that you provide us with.”

4. Don’t ask for too much information

People don’t like giving out personal information, especially if they don’t know you. Your opt in box should only ask for their email address and that’s all. People are very hesitant to give out more information about themselves when you don’t have their trust yet.

5. Offer them different choices

Everyone doesn’t want the same type of information so offer them different reasons to sign up. You can offer a free informative eBook or a special article or even a very important must have product list which you can use to promote your affiliates. Give your potential subscribers choices by creating a sign up box with a check list so they can subscribe to the information they wish to receive.

This type of marketing is called ‘market segmentation’ meaning you’re meeting the needs of many different sectors of your market, which is a good, sound sales practice that will cause your email list to grow. People like being given a choice, and will remember you positively for it.

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Work From Home Forever

By JaMina M. EnGram

Many people share the dream of working from home. No getting up early to travel to a job you dislike, no working late at a place where you really don’t want to be. No more commuting through a billiard or heavy down pours though tons or early morning traffic or traveling home in bad weather in the evening's bumper to bumper rush hour. No more sitting in a cubical or standing on an assembly line. No more fancy attire or makeup or fancy hair styles. No more rushing down your lunch because you have to rush back to work. No more pain in the 'bee-hind' boss. The idea of never punching a clock again sounds like the perfect job to almost everyone.

The concept of working from home is not new there are companies that have allowed their employees to work from home for years. Some people work from home one or more days a week and computers have helped make working from home even easier.

Working from home appeals to stay at home moms, retirees, anyone between jobs, people who are tired of the job they have, disabled or physically challenged workers, college students or anyone caring for an elderly parent or ill family member.

There are many types of stay at home jobs available and we will talk about a few of them here. One such work at home job is telephone services that’s provided by such companies as:

• Alpine Access
• Live Ops
  
• Working Solutions.

These companies provide services to airlines, financial institutions, catalog retailers and even the IRS. Chances are when you call an 800 number, you’re talking to someone sitting in the comforts of their home - or India.

As an agent you can set your own hours working about 20 – 25 hours a week. You can add hours during the holidays if you wish to make some extra cash. You can also or work late nights, midday or a combination. Qualifications for an agent are:

• High-speed Internet access
• A land line so you can handle calls
• A quiet working area – ringing doorbells, the television, crying babies and barking dogs in the background are strictly forbidden.
  

All companies provide training however some require you to pay for it.

IDC a research group predicts that by 2010 the number of home based phone representatives could reach more than 300,000 as more companies recognize the financial savings of using home-based agents instead of operating expensive call centers to handle customer service inquiries.

Other places to look for work that can be done from home are freelance marketplaces. These websites are where thousands of people go each week looking for people to do work for them. There are many different types of jobs, such as writer, web designer, secretary, book keeper and so much more. Don’t think you have the skills? Don’t let that stop you from checking it out. There are many companies and individuals looking for people to do jobs for them and many will teach you how to do the jobs they need done.

Here are just a few companies offering work at home jobs:

• Elance
• Mediabistro
• Guru
• Project 4 Hire
  

Ever thought of opening an online store? You can open one for as little as $16 dollars a month. Here are some of the top online places to open your store:

• Ebay - is one of the best online stores you can own for it’s price, a mere $16 dollars a month. What they give you for that $16 is more then enough to build a very successful online business.
• Yahoo! makes it easy - 35% off for a limited time!
• Sell on Amazon - another great place to open a store and start an at home business.
  

Don’t know what to sell in your online store? Pull out some of the stuff in your house that’s been lying around for years. This is a great way to get your feet wet, especially if you’re selling on Ebay

You can also get items from tag sales or ‘take it or leave it’ areas at your town or surrounding towns transfer stations – which is just a fancy name for city dump. Don’t be turned off by this, you’re not going to go dig through those high sea gull infested piles of garbage. Not only would you look pretty silly, you'd smell really bad also. You’re going to an area where people bring things that are too good to toss out (at least they think so) and they don’t want to bother selling it. And you won’t believe some of the things you’ll find there. There are people that hang out at these stations on the heavy dump days and they pick up some really great stuff – for free.

Don’t want to do tag sales or ‘take it or leave it’ areas? Ran out of things around the house to sell? Well you can always do ‘Drop Shipping’. This is when you purchase items from a wholesaler and the wholesaler ships the item to your customer. First you advertise the item on your website, Ebay or blog. When someone purchases the item from you, you pay the wholesaler the wholesale price for the item and pocket the difference and the wholesaler ships the item to your customer. Sweet.

Drop shipping is an article and a half all by itself and way out of the scope of this article so I won’t get into that much here. Just be aware that you can have a very profitable business using this method. I will explore this topic in further detail in another article.

These are just a few ways to work from home online and make really good money. Although there may be others, I believe these to be the quickest and simplest for anyone that’s not really computer savvy. Don’t misunderstand me when I say ‘quickest and simplest’, if you want to have fun then they can be just that. However if you wish to build a real business that either supplements an income or earns you a living, there is no ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme, you have to work at it. So don’t waste your time and money looking for one.

I’d also warn you to stay away from any website that offers a ‘Complete Internet Store’ which is the website and all the products to sell. These typically don’t work because they’ve sold them to thousands of others and you’re all selling the same thing - which is usually cheap crappy stuff no one wants anyway. Most importantly the site can’t be optimized for the search engines so it’ll never ever be found by anyone. It’s just going to sit there never getting any customers. Although this very easy way of opening a web store may be tempting – don’t do it, it’ll be a total waste of your money and time.

With some research, hard work and persistent dedication you can create a business that will allow you to 'Work from Home Forever'.