Missouri asks nothing of a marketplace-only eBay seller, with one number quietly underneath it.

The Bottom Line for Missouri eBay Sellers

Missouri is one of the more permissive states in this cluster for a marketplace-only eBay seller: the Department of Revenue's own guidance says plainly you don't have to register, collect, or remit anything as long as every sale runs through a facilitator like eBay, and that answer doesn't hinge on how much you sell. An LLC doesn't change that baseline. It changes what's protected once you add a channel, buy at volume, or grow into something Missouri's marketplace exemption was never written to cover.

The Department's FAQ states the marketplace-only exemption directly and without qualification, distinguishing Missouri from states that carve out a physical-presence exception. Missouri also has a general information-return statute requiring businesses to report Missouri-source payments above a figure of its own, separate from the federal 1099 test, but that state figure sits well beneath the federal floor a payment platform must already clear before any 1099-K exists in the first place, so for TPSO reporting specifically it never ends up being the operative number. It's a real rule, just one that federal law always reaches first.

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

eBay Collects Missouri Sales Tax. What Is Still Yours?

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

Missouri draws its exemption around channel, not dollar amount, and states it unconditionally: sell only through a marketplace facilitator and there's nothing to register for, no threshold to watch, and no annual return tied to that activity. That holds regardless of how large your eBay store grows, for as long as eBay stays your only Missouri channel. The moment you add independent sales, your own site, a local table, a wholesale account you sell out of directly, Missouri's guidance switches the calculation: your combined total, marketplace and independent sales together, is what then determines whether you need to register, and the resulting duty applies only to the independent slice.

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

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

Missouri counts eBay-facilitated sales toward your combined threshold alongside anything you sell independently, so the number the state is watching includes your marketplace revenue even while a marketplace-only seller has no separate registration duty. That distinction matters the moment you add a second channel: once your combined total clears the line, Missouri requires you to register and collect on the independent sales specifically, not on anything eBay already reported and remitted for. Keep a running total of both figures (combined and independent-only) so you know exactly when that switch flips.

Missouri's 1099-K Threshold

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

Missouri layers a state-specific information-return rule on top of the federal one, but the two rarely interact the way a seller might expect: the state's own dollar figure for Missouri-source payments is set low enough that any payment already meeting the federal 1099-K test has cleared Missouri's bar many times over first. In practice, the federal threshold is the one doing the actual work for a TPSO like eBay, and Missouri's own figure exists mostly on paper for this particular kind of reporting. Whenever a 1099-K does arrive, remember it reports gross payment volume, not your real profit, fees, refunds, and cost of goods separate the two, and reconciling them is easier inside dedicated business books than a personal account.

Buying Inventory to Resell in Missouri

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

Missouri's own exemption certificate form has a dedicated 'Home State' field for the retailer's out-of-state tax ID on resale purchases of tangible personal property; a Missouri Tax I.D. is required only if the retailer is itself a Missouri retailer.

Missouri's own resale-exemption form is built with an out-of-state seller in mind, its tangible-goods resale line asks for a retailer's state tax ID and home state specifically, requiring a Missouri number only from retailers who are themselves based in Missouri. A Missouri wholesaler working from that form has no reason to turn away a buyer presenting a valid home-state permit. On secondhand goods, Missouri imposes a recordkeeping duty on dealers in junk, scrap metal, or secondhand property (a register of transactions kept for a set period) but that requirement doesn't amount to a license, and no separate statewide secondhand-dealer licensing law could be found requiring you to hold a permit before reselling used merchandise.

Missouri has no statewide second-hand dealer licence reaching general resale. RSMo § 407.300 reaches 'every purchaser or collector of, or dealer in, junk, scrap metal, or any secondhand property who obtains items for resale or profit,' but only imposes a recordkeeping duty (maintaining a written/electronic transaction register for 36 months, with penalties for noncompliance) - it does not create or require a license to operate. No separate Missouri statute establishing a general secondhand-goods dealer license was found; Missouri's actual licensing regimes in this space are narrower carve-outs (pawnbrokers under a separate chapter; precious-metals dealers under § 407.292; scrap/catalytic-converter dealer registration tied to § 301.218 for motor-vehicle-adjacent dealers) rather than a general resale-of-used-goods license. A 2024/2025 bill (HB 1830) proposed to define 'secondhand dealer' and impose new statewide receipt/recordkeeping and database obligations, which corroborates that no such general regime is currently in force (the bill would be creating it).

Setting Up to Sell on eBay from Missouri

1. Confirm eBay is genuinely your only Missouri channel

   Missouri's registration exemption is unconditional as long as marketplace sales are all you've. Write down every way you sell before assuming the exemption covers your whole business.

2. Form the LLC while the exemption keeps registration off the table

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

3. Use your home-state resale number when buying from Missouri suppliers

   Missouri's own exemption form is built for out-of-state retailers. Fill it out with your home-state tax ID rather than assuming you need a Missouri number first.

4. Keep a recordkeeping register if you resell secondhand goods at volume

   Missouri requires dealers in secondhand property to maintain transaction records, even though no license is required. Set that habit up before volume makes it a scramble.

5. Re-check registration the moment you add independent sales

   Missouri's combined threshold counts eBay sales alongside anything you sell directly. Adding a website or a market table changes the registration math even if your eBay volume stays the same.

Who to Ask in Missouri

The Missouri Department of Revenue handles the marketplace-seller exemption, the combined-threshold question, and resale-certificate mechanics, and its FAQ page addresses the marketplace-only scenario directly. The Missouri Secretary of State's office is where your LLC itself is filed and maintained. Neither office administers a secondhand-dealer license, since Missouri's version of that rule is a recordkeeping requirement rather than a licensing scheme, so there's no separate permit application to track down.

Sources

• https://dor.mo.gov/faq/taxation/business/remote-seller-and-marketplace-facilitator.html
• https://dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/tax-types/withholding/documents/Missouri1099FilingGuidelines.pdf
• https://dor.mo.gov/forms/149.pdf
• https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=407.300
• https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=147.010
• 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.