Etsy is rolling out a new checkout process, which I can’t wait to see.  They claim it will be easier for the avid Etsy shopper to be able to separate and pay for items by shop, and will allow you to keep items in your cart without purchasing at the same time purchasing others.  Along with these new checkout features, Etsy is adding some sales tax settings.  Sellers will now be able to add sales tax settings by state or region to collect from buyers.  This is make the whole process easier for buyers as well as sellers.

Being as I haven’t had that many sales, I haven’t really worried about sales tax.  In California I believe you only need to collect sales tax for sales within the state of California (I need to get my facts right!), but it’s up to you if you want to pass that on to your customers or take the hit yourself.  I haven’t decided on that piece yet.  What are you doing regarding your sales tax?

Here is the info from The Storque related to the new sales tax settings:

Starting today, you can go to http://www.etsy.com/your/taxsettings and set tax rates for U.S. states, Canadian provinces, and countries where you would like to collect sales tax. You can also indicate whether the tax rate for each region should apply to shipping charges.

The sales tax settings only apply to the new Checkout, so they won’t affect orders until we ramp up the new Checkout late this week. We’re launching the tax settings today so you have time to set your tax rates before we start to roll out the new Checkout.

When a buyer selects a shipping address that matches a region where you set a tax rate, we’ll automatically apply sales tax to the order based on the rate you set for that region. Sales tax will apply to PayPal and non-PayPal orders in the new Checkout.

If you don’t want us to apply sales tax to any orders, you don’t need to do anything.

While we ramp up the new Checkout, many shoppers will continue to use the old Checkout. We won’t apply sales tax to orders that use the old Checkout. However, if you have sales tax settings at PayPal, PayPal will continue to apply those settings to orders processed through the old Checkout.

If you have sales tax settings at PayPal, the new Checkout will ignore these settings, so make sure you set sales tax rates on Etsy.

We plan to start slowly ramping up the new Checkout late this week, so if you would like to collect sales tax from buyers who use the new Checkout, please set your rates by 12 a.m. EST, Thursday, August 26.

We’ll keep you updated when we start to roll out the new Checkout.

It’s important to note that as a venue, Etsy cannot provide specific tax advice. It’s up to each seller to research their local laws regarding collecting and reporting applicable taxes for Etsy sales. In the United States, tax regulations can vary greatly by location. If you are unsure about the tax laws in your region, we encourage you to consult an accountant or other expert in your area.

To set sales tax rates:

1. Go to http://www.etsy.com/your/taxsettings.
2. Select the U.S. state, Canadian province, or other country from the drop-down lists and click the Add Tax Rate button.
3. Enter the tax rate in the Tax Rate box.
4. Repeat for each additional U.S. state, Canadian province, or other country where you want to collect sales tax. If you want the rate to apply to shipping charges, check the box “Apply rate to shipping.”
5. Click the Save button.