Taxes / Seller's permits by state / Pennsylvania
Do I need a seller's permit to sell on eBay or Poshmark in Pennsylvania?
No: Pennsylvania's business portal says that if you only sell through a third-party website that collects sales tax for you (it names eBay, Etsy and Amazon as examples), you are not required to obtain a sales tax license, and the license statute excepts a marketplace seller that makes no sales outside such a marketplace. If you also sell direct, including at trade shows, fairs, festivals or other in-person events, you need a Pennsylvania Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License from myPATH before you start, and there is no fee to apply.
Pennsylvania calls it a Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License, issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Check with a tax professional about your own situation.
Checked against the official pages listed below on .
Pennsylvania in short
- Sell only on marketplaces that collect the tax:
- No: the state says registration is not required
- Also sell direct (own site, Facebook, flea market):
- Yes: the state says to register; no fee
- Resale certificate:
- Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220)
- Garage and occasional sales:
- Exempt
- Where to register:
- myPATH, Pennsylvania Online Business Tax Registration
If you sell only on eBay, Poshmark and other marketplaces
The license requirement in 72 P.S. § 7208(a) applies to every person maintaining a place of business in Pennsylvania, with the exception of a marketplace seller who makes no sales outside a forum for which a marketplace facilitator is required to collect the tax on the seller's behalf. If the facilitator does not collect, a business that sells through it must register and collect.
The rule: 72 P.S. § 7208(a), as quoted in Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2026-01.
"If you ONLY sell through a third-party website that collects sales tax on your behalf (e.g., eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Marketplace, etc.), you are NOT required to obtain a sales tax license."
Pennsylvania imposes a 6% sales tax on each separate sale at retail of tangible personal property or taxable services, collected by the vendor, plus a 1% local tax in Allegheny County and 2% in Philadelphia; most clothing, food that isn't ready to eat and sales for resale are among the major exemptions. Marketplace facilitators with more than $100,000 of annual Pennsylvania gross sales register and collect.
Sources: Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2026-01 (issued September 28, 2026); Help Guides And Videos: eCommerce or Online Retail; Tax Obligations for Online Retailers; Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax; Online Retailers Selling Goods and Services to Pennsylvania Customers.
If you also sell direct: your own site, Facebook, flea markets, consignment
Anyone maintaining a place of business in Pennsylvania who sells taxable items outside a collecting marketplace applies for a license before beginning business, and the business portal says in-person events where you sell directly to consumers require one. A seller outside Pennsylvania needs one when it has economic presence, measured each calendar year by more than $100,000 of Pennsylvania gross sales from its direct sales and any marketplace that doesn't collect for it, or when it keeps inventory in Pennsylvania and sells direct.
- Fee:
- No fee to apply, according to Pennsylvania's business portal.
"If you attend any tradeshows, fairs, festivals, or other in-person events where you will be selling items directly to consumers you will need to obtain a PA sales tax license."
Sources: Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2026-01 (issued September 28, 2026); Help Guides And Videos: eCommerce or Online Retail; Help Guides And Videos: Do I need a sales tax license?; Online Retailers Selling Goods and Services to Pennsylvania Customers; Tax Obligations for Online Retailers; Register My Business for Taxes.
Resale certificate: buying inventory without paying sales tax
- Do you need your own permit to give one?
- Not in every case: see the state's rule below
To claim a resale exemption you complete REV-1220, as a unit certificate for one transaction or a blanket certificate for multiple transactions, and give it to the seller, marking box 3 (property will be resold) and entering your 8-digit Sales Tax License ID. The form says a purchaser without a Pennsylvania Sales Tax License ID includes a statement under Number 8 explaining why a number is not required, that the certificate must be in the seller's possession within 60 days of the sale, and that the seller keeps it at least four years.
Thrift stores, estate sales and yard sales
The state pages we checked don't say anything specific about using a resale certificate at a thrift store, estate sale or yard sale. A certificate is given to a seller who would otherwise charge you tax, so whether a particular store takes one is between you and that seller; ask before you buy.
Misusing a certificate
REV-1220 states that misuse of the certificate by the seller, buyer or their representative is punishable by fine and imprisonment.
"Misuse of this certificate by seller, lessor, buyer, lessee or their representative is punishable by fine and imprisonment."
Sources: REV-1220, Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (07-23); Help Guides And Videos: eCommerce or Online Retail; Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax; Help Guides - Complete the PA Tax Exemption Certificate.
Garage sales, yard sales and other occasional sales
Exempt. Isolated sales, meaning infrequent sales of a nonrecurring nature by a person not engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property, are nontaxable. They don't include property held primarily for sale in a trade or business, stock in trade even if sold infrequently, registered or titled items like motor vehicles, or a sale on the same premises in competition with vendors required to collect tax.
The rule: 61 Pa. Code § 32.4.
"Infrequent sales of a nonrecurring nature made by a person not engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property"
Sources: 61 Pa. Code § 32.4. Isolated sales; Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2026-01 (issued September 28, 2026).
Worked examples
Tax on a $40 craft fair sale
At Pennsylvania's 6% rate, a licensed seller collects $2.40 on a $40 taxable item sold at a weekend craft fair ($40 x 0.06); in Allegheny County, with its 1% local tax, it is $2.80, and in Philadelphia, with 2%, $3.20. Most clothing is exempt, so a $40 used coat sold the same day may carry no tax at all.
An out-of-state seller measuring economic presence
A seller outside Pennsylvania has $220,000 of Pennsylvania sales: $150,000 through marketplaces that collect for it and $70,000 from its own website. The Department says such a marketplace seller counts only its direct sales and sales through facilitators that don't collect, so $70,000 counts and it is under the $100,000 threshold.
Marketplace-only reseller buying inventory
A Pennsylvania reseller who sells only through collecting marketplaces holds no license. When buying a $300 lot from a Pennsylvania wholesaler, REV-1220 lets a purchaser without a License ID include a statement under Number 8 explaining why no number is required; ask the wholesaler whether it will accept that, and check with a tax professional.
Edge cases and details
- Storing inventory in a Pennsylvania fulfillment center subjects an online retailer to Pennsylvania taxes, the Department says, and a business with inventory there that makes direct sales must register.
- Economic presence is measured by sales only; Pennsylvania has no transaction count test, and collection runs April 1 through March 31 based on the prior calendar year's sales.
- Show promoters need a Promoter License and must register at least 30 days before the first show; a non-Pennsylvania sole proprietor or partnership with no permanent Pennsylvania location that sells at events in the state uses a Transient Vendor Certificate and notifies the Department in writing, or through myPATH, of the dates and locations 30 days before entering the state.
- An isolated sale on the same premises in competition with vendors required to collect tax is not treated as an isolated sale.
- The business portal says a wholesaler certificate only lets a business claim resale exemptions and can't be held together with a sales tax license; a business that makes any retail sales is a retailer and should apply for the sales tax license, which both collects tax and claims resale exemptions.
What to do
- Marketplace-only: confirm each platform collects Pennsylvania tax for you; if it does and you sell nowhere else, the portal says no license is needed.
- Adding direct sales or in-person events: register for a Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax License through myPATH before your first sale (no fee).
- Buying inventory: give suppliers a completed REV-1220, with your License ID or the Number 8 statement the form asks for if you don't have one.
- Once licensed: the Department says returns are filed whether or not taxable transactions occur in a period.
Common questions
Do I need a Pennsylvania sales tax license to sell on eBay?
Not if eBay or another marketplace collects the tax for you and you sell nowhere else, according to Pennsylvania's business portal.
How much does a Pennsylvania sales tax license cost?
Nothing; the business portal says there is no fee to apply through myPATH.
Is a yard sale taxable in Pennsylvania?
Infrequent, nonrecurring sales by a person not in the business of selling are isolated sales under 61 Pa. Code § 32.4, which Bulletin 2026-01 lists among nontaxable sales.
Can a Pennsylvania reseller use a wholesaler certificate instead of a sales tax license?
Not if it makes retail sales: the business portal says anyone who conducts any retail sales is a retailer and should apply for the sales tax license, and a business can't hold both.
Related
- Seller's permits by state: marketplace-only sellers, resale certificates and garage sales on one table
- Pennsylvania: marketplace sales tax and 1099-K rules
- Oregon: do you need a seller's permit?
- Rhode Island: do you need a seller's permit?
- Form 1099-K for resellers: the federal test
- Do eBay's fees apply to the sales tax a buyer pays?
- Where each selling app keeps its sales report
General information, not tax or legal advice
This page summarizes Pennsylvania's own published pages, rules and statutes as read on . It doesn't say whether you must register, what you should file or whether you owe tax: that turns on your own sales, where you sell and what you buy. Rules change. Check with a tax professional, or ask the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue directly.
Sources
Official pages this page is built from, with the day each was read.
- Pennsylvania Business One-Stop Hub: Help Guides And Videos: eCommerce or Online Retail; read . No license if only selling through a collecting marketplace; in-person events need one; REV-1220 for resale.
- Pennsylvania Business One-Stop Hub: Help Guides And Videos: Do I need a sales tax license?; read . No fee to apply.
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2026-01 (issued September 28, 2026), dated ; read . 6% tax; 72 P.S. § 7208(a) license rule and marketplace seller exception; isolated sales nontaxable.
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: Online Retailers Selling Goods and Services to Pennsylvania Customers; read . $100,000 economic presence; no transaction count; how marketplace sellers measure it; collection period.
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: Tax Obligations for Online Retailers; read . Inventory in Pennsylvania; registering when a facilitator doesn't collect.
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax; read . 6% rate; 1% Allegheny County and 2% Philadelphia local tax; major exemptions; license types; Promoter License 30 days ahead; Transient Vendor Certificate notice.
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Register My Business for Taxes; read . myPATH Pennsylvania Online Business Tax Registration.
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: REV-1220, Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (07-23); read . Unit and blanket certificates; resale under License ID; Number 8 statement if no License ID; 60 days; four-year retention; misuse punishable by fine and imprisonment.
- Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin: 61 Pa. Code § 32.4. Isolated sales; read . Definition of isolated sales and exclusions.
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PA Business One-Stop Hub): Help Guides - Complete the PA Tax Exemption Certificate, dated ; read . REV-1220 steps; resale claimed in box 3 with the 8-digit license or wholesaler certificate ID; not sent to the state.
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PA Business One-Stop Hub): Business Licensing Reference Guides - Manufacturers/Processors/Wholesalers; read . Sales tax license versus wholesaler certificate; any retail sales make a business a retailer.
Free 1-page Reseller Cheat Sheet: fees on 8 platforms, Media Mail and stamp prices
What each platform takes from a $10, $25 and $50 sale, Media Mail 1-10 lb, Ground Advantage to Zones 1, 5 and 8, and the Forever stamp, on one printable page. The link appears as soon as you sign up.