Sales Tax Is Coming to Thryft Ship: What It Means for You
Sales tax is coming to Thryft Ship. Starting August 10, you'll be able to have the right sales tax calculated and collected from your buyers automatically — so you stay compliant without doing the math yourself. Here's the plain-English version of what's changing and what it means for you as a seller.
- As a seller, you are responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax where you're required to — Thryft Ship gives you the tools to do it automatically.
- Sales tax is opt-in and off by default. Nothing changes until you turn it on.
- You only need to collect once you have a tax obligation (“nexus”) in a state — usually your home state first, then any other state once you sell enough into it. See When Do You Need to Collect Sales Tax?
- When you're ready, you register with your state, switch it on in your settings, and Thryft Ship calculates and adds the correct tax at checkout.
What's changing (in plain English)
The simplest way to see it: who the sale legally belongs to is changing, and that's what moves who handles sales tax. This applies to sales made on or after August 10.
Before August 10
Thryft Ship was the “merchant of record” — meaning, in the eyes of the payment system, we were the store making the sale. Because the sale technically ran through us, sales tax was on our plate, and we handled it across the board.
Example: Maria sells a vintage jacket for $40. The money flowed through Thryft Ship as the seller, so any sales tax piece was ours to manage — Maria didn't think about it.
On or after August 10
Now the payment runs on your own account, which makes you the “seller of record” — the store making the sale is you. And because the sale is truly yours, the sales tax that goes with it is yours too. The upside: it's calculated for your specific situation instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, and Thryft Ship still does the actual math for you at checkout.
Same example, now: Maria sells that $40 jacket. The money goes straight to Maria's account, so Maria is the seller. If Maria needs to collect sales tax in her buyer's state, Thryft Ship works out the exact amount and adds it at checkout — Maria just flips the feature on once and lets it run.
A familiar way to picture it
If it helps: now is like getting paid through your own Venmo or running your own Shopify store — you're clearly the one making the sale. Before was more like selling on Poshmark, where the platform is the “store” of record and handles the tax side.
Why we made this change
Back when Thryft Ship's payment volume was small, we didn't cross the thresholds that would require collecting sales tax, so we didn't have to. But we've been growing fast — and to keep running as the seller of record, we'd soon have to switch sales tax on for everyone, everywhere, including sellers who'd never individually owe it.
We didn't think that was fair to you. Going the “you're the seller” route instead means each shop only deals with tax where you actually cross a threshold — which, for most small sellers, is rarely and in only a state or two. You keep more autonomy, your costs stay lower, and it lines up with how you already sell everywhere else.
In practice, you'll see a built-in sales tax feature in your payment settings. When you turn it on, the correct amount is worked out automatically based on where your buyer lives and the states you're registered in — and it's added to their checkout.
Under the hood, all of this runs on Stripe Tax, the same trusted tax engine used by countless online businesses. Because your payments are on your own account, you get direct access to it — so the rates are accurate and always up to date, without you having to build or manage anything.
Why this matters for you
Starting August 10, payments run directly on your own connected account — which means you are the seller of record on every sale. In the US, sales tax is handled state by state, and the seller of record is the one responsible for collecting it from buyers and passing it on to the state. This is why sales tax is now something you handle going forward: it follows the sale, and the sale is yours.
Here's the part that's actually good news for a small seller: as one individual shop, your reach into any given state is far smaller than a big platform's. Most states don't expect you to collect until your sales into them cross a threshold (often $100,000 or 200 orders), so in many states you won't owe anything for a good while — if ever. We know keeping costs low matters when you're small, and sales tax is something every business has to consider but that stays pretty light-touch for most small shops. Your home state is usually the main one to think about early on.
Once your sales into a state do cross its threshold, you're expected to register there and start collecting. If you should have collected tax but didn't, that money can come out of your own pocket later, often with penalties — so it's worth getting ahead of.
The good news on the mechanics: you don't have to track rates or do the math. Thryft Ship handles the calculation. Your job is simply to know where you need to collect, register with those states, and switch it on.
What you actually need to do
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Figure out where you have to collect
You owe sales tax in a state once you have “nexus” there — usually after passing a sales or transaction threshold. You don't have to track this by hand: Thryft Ship includes threshold monitoring that shows your sales by state and how close you are to each state's threshold, so you can see where you're heading before you get there. We break down how thresholds work in When Do You Need to Collect Sales Tax?
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Register with those states
Before you collect anywhere, register with that state's tax authority. Thryft Ship doesn't register for you — but once you're registered, you add the state in your settings.
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Turn on sales tax in Thryft Ship
Switch on the setting, add your registered states, and Thryft Ship calculates and collects the right amount at checkout. Full steps: How to Turn On Sales Tax Collection.
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Keep an eye on your thresholds
Built-in monitoring shows your sales by state and how close you are to each state's threshold, so you can check in and see when it's getting close to time to register somewhere new. See How Thryft Ship Helps You Watch Your Thresholds.
Common questions
What about sales I made before August 10?
This feature is about collecting tax on your sales going forward, once you turn it on. Whether you had any obligation on past sales depends on your own situation — where you were selling and how much — and that's a question for a tax professional, not something we can answer for you. If you're at all unsure, it's worth a quick chat with an accountant.
Do I have to turn this on?
It's optional and off by default. But if you have a sales tax obligation in a state, you're expected to collect there — this feature is how you do that on Thryft Ship without the manual work.
Who pays the sales tax — me or my buyer?
By default the tax is added on top at checkout, so your buyer pays it. You'll have a setting to change that if you'd rather absorb it into your prices. Either way, you're the one who remits it to the state.
Does Thryft Ship file and pay the tax for me?
Thryft Ship calculates and collects the tax for you. Filing and remitting to each state is still your responsibility (or your accountant's) — but you'll have clean records of what was collected.
