Delaware has no sales tax, but its Gross Receipts Tax is a real, separate question.

The Bottom Line for Delaware eBay Sellers

Delaware is one of the lighter states in this cluster for an out-of-state eBay seller with no physical footprint here: no sales tax, no resale-certificate question, and a secondhand-dealer statute that carves out purely online resale by name. What an LLC changes is exposure, same as everywhere else, but Delaware's own Gross Receipts Tax is worth understanding on its own terms before assuming no sales tax means nothing else applies.

Delaware never adopted a sales tax, so none of the collection or registration machinery other states built around Wayfair exists here to begin with. What Delaware has instead is a Gross Receipts Tax on sellers doing business in the state, a genuinely different tax, triggered by having a Delaware presence rather than by remote sales volume, which is exactly why an out-of-state eBay seller shipping into Delaware isn't automatically swept into it the way marketplace facilitators are swept into other states' sales-tax regimes. Delaware's approach also reflects its broader identity as a state that taxes businesses through franchise and licensing mechanisms tied to legal presence rather than through consumption taxes tied to where a buyer happens to live, which is the same structural logic behind its well-known corporate franchise tax.

Delaware has no statewide sales tax, so there is no state-level registration to hold. Local rules can still reach you. Delaware has no statewide sales tax and so no remote-seller threshold to cross. Delaware uses the federal reporting threshold, so eBay issues a 1099-K once you pass $20,000 and 200 transactions.

eBay Collects Delaware Sales Tax. What Is Still Yours?

Delaware has no statewide sales tax, so there is no state-level registration to hold. Local rules can still reach you.

There's no sales-tax permit to hold in Delaware because there's no sales tax, full stop, no marketplace exception needed. What does exist is a business license tied to the Gross Receipts Tax, but it only reaches you if you're engaging in business in Delaware in the statute's sense: holding a Delaware location, branch, or physically conducting sales activity here, even briefly, the way a vendor at a Delaware fair or show would. An out-of-state seller with no Delaware office, warehouse, or in-state selling activity, who simply ships to Delaware buyers, isn't required to hold that license or pay that tax on those sales. Keep basic records showing you've no Delaware office, warehouse or selling activity here, since presence is a factual question a state could revisit, and a seller with nothing to point to is in a weaker position than one who kept simple documentation from the start.

Do Your eBay Sales Count Toward Delaware's Nexus Test?

Delaware has no statewide sales tax and so no remote-seller threshold to cross.

Delaware has no economic-nexus statute for sales tax purposes, because it has no sales tax for one to attach to. That doesn't mean Delaware ignores remote sellers entirely; its Gross Receipts Tax framework predates Wayfair and was never extended to reach remote or marketplace-only sellers the way sales-tax states extended their economic-nexus rules after that decision. The tax stays presence-based rather than volume-based, a meaningfully different design than the threshold tests running through most of this cluster.

Delaware's 1099-K Threshold

Delaware uses the federal reporting threshold, so eBay issues a 1099-K once you pass $20,000 and 200 transactions.

Delaware's 1099-K rule tracks the federal one closely on paper: the state's statute requires a duplicate filing whenever a federal information return is required, with no independent Delaware figure. What's worth knowing is that the state's own guidance says the Director of Revenue has currently waived enforcement of this expanded filing requirement; the law is on the books, but Delaware isn't presently requiring the state copy in practice. That's the kind of administrative position that can change without much notice, so it's worth checking current status rather than treating this page as the last word on it. If the waiver is ever lifted, expect Delaware to publish that change through the same Division of Revenue channels rather than through a broad public announcement, so a periodic check of the FAQ page is a reasonable way to stay ahead of it.

Buying Inventory to Resell in Delaware

Delaware has no statewide sales tax, so there is no resale certificate to present.

Delaware has no statewide general sales/use tax (it instead imposes a gross receipts tax on sellers, not a retail sales tax on buyers), so the resale-certificate question does not arise.

With no state sales tax, there's no resale-certificate framework in Delaware for a wholesale supplier to check; that question simply doesn't come up here the way it does in sales-tax states. On the secondhand side, Delaware runs a genuinely statewide license administered by the state police, unlike most states that leave this to cities, but its own definition carves out exactly the eBay-reseller fact pattern: the statute is written around a storefront business and explicitly excludes the sale of goods conducted purely over the internet. A reseller operating entirely online, with no physical storefront, is outside this license requirement by the statute's own terms. If you ever do open a Delaware location, even a small one, revisit both the Gross Receipts Tax and secondhand-dealer questions together, since presence is the trigger for one and the internet-sales exclusion for the other could stop applying the same way once there's a physical storefront in the picture.

Delaware has no statewide second-hand dealer licence reaching general resale. Delaware does have a genuinely statewide secondhand-dealer license (24 Del. C. Ch. 23), issued by the Delaware State Police (Professional Licensing Section) rather than by cities/counties, but its own statutory definition excludes exactly the eBay-reseller fact pattern. 24 Del. C. § 2301(13) defines 'secondhand dealer' as a person or entity 'whose storefront business includes any volume of selling or receiving previously owned, used, rented or leased tangible personal property' and expressly states the chapter, as it relates to secondhand dealers, 'does not apply to ... (f) The sale of goods exclusively via the Internet that meet the definition of "exempted Internet acquisition."' A storefront requirement plus an explicit internet-sales carve-out means a reseller who operates only online with no physical storefront is definitionally outside Delaware's secondhand dealer license requirement.

The Delaware Tax eBay Does Not Handle

Delaware levies Gross Receipts Tax, which can still reach you even though eBay handles the sales tax: Reaches a seller only if the seller is 'engaging in business in this State' as a retailer (or wholesaler/transient retailer) under 30 Del. C. §§ 2101 and 2905 -- i.e., holds or is required to hold a Delaware business license, which historically and by the statute's own terms means having some Delaware place of business or business presence (a location, branch, or -- for the 'transient retailer' category -- physically conducting sales activity in Delaware, e.g. at a fair or show). A marketplace-only eBay seller located out of state, with no Delaware office, warehouse, inventory, or selling location, and who merely ships to Delaware buyers, is not 'engaging in business' in Delaware in this sense and is not required to hold a Delaware business license or file/pay Gross Receipts Tax on those sales. If and when the seller does have Delaware presence and is licensed, the tax is 0.7468% of aggregate gross receipts from goods sold/services rendered in Delaware, with a $100,000 monthly (or $300,000 quarterly, for filers under the $1,500,000 lookback threshold) exclusion.

Setting Up to Sell on eBay from Delaware

1. Confirm you've no Delaware physical presence before assuming Gross Receipts Tax applies

   The tax attaches to a Delaware location, branch or in-state selling activity, not simply to shipping goods to Delaware buyers.

2. Check current enforcement status of Delaware's 1099-K filing requirement

   The rule exists on the books but is currently waived by the Director of Revenue, a position that can change, so verify before assuming it stays that way.

3. Form the LLC even though Delaware's paperwork is lighter here

   Lighter state paperwork doesn't change the underlying case for separating personal and business liability.

4. Keep records showing your operation is online-only if the secondhand question ever comes up

   Delaware's statute excludes purely internet sales by name, so documentation of that status is useful if it's ever questioned.

5. Revisit your Delaware footprint if you ever add a warehouse, office or in-state selling activity

   Any of those would flip your Gross Receipts Tax analysis from not applicable to a real registration and filing duty.

Who to Ask in Delaware

The Delaware Division of Revenue is the right contact for Gross Receipts Tax and business-license questions, and its own FAQ page is where the current 1099-K enforcement-waiver status is published. The Delaware State Police's Professional Licensing Section, not a city office, administers the secondhand-dealer license for the businesses it actually reaches. The Delaware Division of Revenue's online portal also handles Gross Receipts Tax registration and filing once a business license is actually required, which is the practical next step if your footprint here ever changes.

Sources

• https://revenue.delaware.gov/doing-business-in-delaware/step-4-gross-receipts-taxes
• https://legis.delaware.gov/SessionLaws/Chapter/GetPdfDocument?fileAttachmentId=412599
• https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail/68653
• https://revenue.delaware.gov/frequently-asked-questions/w-2-and-1099-form-faqs/
• https://revenue.delaware.gov/business-tax/1099-reporting/
• https://delcode.delaware.gov/title24/c023/sc01/index.html
• https://delcode.delaware.gov/title30/c021/index.html
• https://delcode.delaware.gov/title30/c029/index.html
• https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099k

Federal 1099-K threshold: IRC § 6050W(e), as amended by § 70432(a) of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21, July 4, 2025). A third-party settlement organization such as eBay must file Form 1099-K only if BOTH tests are met for the calendar year: gross payments exceed $20,000 AND the number of transactions exceeds 200. These are the figures for tax year 2026. There is no forward phase-in: § 70432(a) takes effect "as if included in section 9674 of the American Rescue Plan Act," so the same $20,000 / 200 figures apply retroactively to calendar years after 2021 (tax years 2022 through 2026 alike). The $600 threshold enacted by ARPA § 9674 (P.L. 117-2) was repealed before it operated, and the IRS transition-relief thresholds previously announced for 2024 and 2025 are superseded. A platform may issue a 1099-K below these figures, and a state may set a lower TPSO threshold, in which case a seller can receive a 1099-K without meeting the federal test.. Verified 2026-08-08.