Michigan asks nothing extra of a marketplace-only eBay seller.

The Bottom Line for Michigan eBay Sellers

An LLC doesn't change what Michigan asks of an eBay-only seller. There's very little to change. The state's own guidance clears a marketplace-only seller of any registration or filing duty, its resale exemption accepts a wide range of documentation, and its secondhand-dealer statute specifically carves out an individual selling their own property. What an LLC does is protect you once any of that stops being true, a second channel, wholesale buying at volume, or growth that turns a hobby into something worth shielding.

Michigan Treasury's FAQ states directly that a marketplace seller will have no sales tax filing obligation as long as every sale runs through a facilitator with Michigan nexus, unconditional, not phased in above some volume. That's a cleaner promise than most states in this cluster make. It sits alongside two other favorable details: the state's exemption-certificate rule accepts several documentation formats without requiring a Michigan-issued number, and its secondhand-dealer licensing law exempts an individual selling personal property for themselves, which plausibly reaches a casual reseller even though the underlying scheme targets dealers running a resale business.

If every one of your sales into Michigan runs through eBay, you do not need your own Michigan sales-tax registration — eBay is the one collecting and remitting. Your eBay sales count toward Michigan's $100,000 or 200 transactions threshold, so marketplace volume alone can push you over it. Michigan uses the federal reporting threshold, so eBay issues a 1099-K once you pass $20,000 and 200 transactions.

eBay Collects Michigan Sales Tax. What Is Still Yours?

If every one of your sales into Michigan runs through eBay, you do not need your own Michigan sales-tax registration — eBay is the one collecting and remitting.

Michigan's exemption is complete, not conditional on revenue: sell exclusively through a facilitator that already has nexus here, which eBay does, and Treasury's own guidance says there's nothing to register for and nothing to file, regardless of how large that store grows. That protection is tied to channel, not dollar amount, so it holds even for a seller doing significant volume, right up until a second channel enters the picture. Add a personal website, a wholesale account you sell out of directly, or any avenue Michigan doesn't treat as facilitator-covered, and the exemption stops covering that slice of your business. Treat each new channel as its own registration question rather than assuming the marketplace exemption travels with it.

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

Your eBay sales count toward Michigan's $100,000 or 200 transactions threshold, so marketplace volume alone can push you over it.

Michigan does something a little different from a pure channel test: its threshold calculation for a marketplace seller counts sales made through the facilitator alongside direct sales, so your eBay volume is part of the number Michigan uses to decide whether you've crossed the line at all. In practice that rarely matters for an eBay-only seller, because the same facilitator relationship that gets your sales counted is also the one Treasury says relieves you of filing, crossing the line doesn't create a new duty while eBay remains your only channel. It becomes relevant once you add direct sales into Michigan, since those are measured against the same combined total your marketplace activity already contributed to.

Michigan's 1099-K Threshold

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

Michigan requires a state copy of whatever 1099 the IRS's own test already produces, its published filing guide ties the state duty explicitly to the federal determination and sets no lower dollar or transaction figure of its own for a payment platform to worry about. Whenever that federal form does arrive, it's reporting your gross payment volume to the tax authorities, not calculating what you owe; the gap between that number and your real profit is fees, refunds, and cost of goods, and closing it's easier inside a business's own books than inside a personal account that also covers everything else you spend money on.

Buying Inventory to Resell in Michigan

Michigan accepts a resale certificate issued by another state, so you can buy inventory for resale without registering here first.

Michigan accepts a broad range of exemption-certificate formats, not limited to its own Form 3372 or the MTC certificate.

Michigan's own guidance on exemption documentation is unusually flexible. Treasury states plainly that it doesn't issue tax-exemption numbers and that a purchaser doesn't need a state-issued number to claim a resale exemption at all, accepting several certificate formats including a multistate uniform form and even a qualifying purchase order. A Michigan wholesaler is unlikely to turn you away for lacking Michigan-specific paperwork the way suppliers in stricter states do. On secondhand goods, Michigan's licensing statute reaches general resale of used property but is administered locally, by a city's mayor or a county or village's chief executive, and it separately exempts an individual engaged in selling personal property for themselves, language that plausibly covers a casual eBay reseller even though the underlying law targets people running a secondhand-goods business.

Michigan leaves second-hand dealer licensing to cities and counties, so check your own. MCL 445.401 (Act 350 of 1917, 'Secondhand Dealers and Junk Dealers') requires a license 'from the mayor of the city or the chief executive officer of the county or village where the business is to be carried on' - a statewide statute but purely local issuance, not a state-issued license. Note MCL 445.401(2) separately exempts 'an individual who is engaged in the sale, purchase, consignment, or trade of personal property or other valuable thing for himself or herself' from licensure, which may cover a purely individual/casual eBay reseller even though the underlying licensing scheme reaches general secondhand-goods dealers as a business.

Setting Up to Sell on eBay from Michigan

1. Confirm eBay is your only Michigan sales channel

   Treasury's filing exemption is unconditional as long as every sale runs through a facilitator with Michigan nexus. Write down every channel you sell through before assuming it covers your whole business.

2. Form the LLC while the exemption keeps things simple

   Michigan's clean marketplace exemption means little friction stands in the way of filing now. The entity protects you from liability that has nothing to do with sales-tax registration.

3. Use Michigan's flexible exemption documentation when buying locally

   A Michigan-issued number generally isn't required to buy for resale. Fill out the accepted certificate format correctly rather than assuming a supplier needs paperwork it doesn't.

4. Confirm whether the individual-seller carve-out covers your resale

   Michigan's secondhand-dealer law exempts an individual selling personal property for themselves. Check whether your operation still fits that description as it grows into a real business.

5. Re-check registration the moment you add a second channel

   Michigan's exemption is channel-specific. Adding a website, a market table, or a wholesale account changes the registration question even if your eBay sales stay exactly the same.

Who to Ask in Michigan

The Michigan Department of Treasury handles registration questions, the marketplace-seller filing exemption, and exemption-certificate rules. Its FAQ pages are detailed enough to answer most of what this page can't resolve for your specific situation. Your LLC itself is formed through the Corporations, Securities & Commercial Licensing Bureau. Secondhand-dealer licensing is local, not run by either state office. That question goes to the mayor's office or county executive covering wherever your business is based.

Sources

• https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/business-taxes/sales-use-tax/information/marketplace-facilitator-seller-faqs
• https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/business-taxes/incomestatement/income-record-form-remittance-guide
• https://www.michigan.gov/treasury/news/2025/01/22/business-taxpayers-reminded-about-state-filing-of-w-2s-and-1099s
• https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/rep-legal/rab/2024-revenue-administrative-bulletins/revenue-administrative-bulletin-2024-11
• https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/-/media/Project/Websites/taxes/Forms/SUW/3372.pdf
• https://legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-445-401
• https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/business-taxes/mbt
• 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.