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Can I and have a DBA for one owned business and a separate Etsy shop with different name than DBA name in Massachusetts?
by kt510kt, Window Shopper
- Created: October 2, 2012, 9:30 am
- Updated: October 2, 2012, 9:58 am
If you own a website that is a DBA name in Massachusetts and have that DBA
set up with an EIN & MA sales tax account but want to do the following:
-Can I open up a separate shop on a site that sells crafts such as Etsy under
either a different "Etsy Shop Name" that will sell other products not on the
1st website and use either personal name as the owner or the DBA name as the
owner even though the ETSY Shop name is different.
After checking with MA Dept of Revenue, it seems you can't set up multiple
DBA's at the same address for sales tax reporting/paying.
So if you want a different name on ETSY or even Ebay or other sites but MA
DOR only allows one, what is the correct way to set up ETSY / Ebay Shop
names?
Does it mean that the ETSY or EBAY shop names would have to be the same name
as the original DBA name in MA? (but they sell different products, which
would confuse shoppers, ex: a bike shop that sells couches) My DBA has a name
that is very specific and would make it difficult to run both under the same
name. Unfortunatley my DBA was also registered with the .com as part of the
name, making it difficult to make my store name on the other website with the
.com in the store name.
I've asked the MA DOR if the Etsy sites could be set up under personal names
using a social security number but they said only one business with sales tax
per address.
At this point the website with the DBA has an income of zero because it was
just launched and the Etsy site would only be selling some $20 items. We're
not talking big bucks here, just want to make sure we do it right. Should we
just walk away from the 2nd site?
What is the correct and legal way to set something like this up in
Massachussetts?
SBA Community

BizResearcher | Window Shopper | 10/2/2012 - 12:01 pm
you suggest is to register one business as an LLC. Then, the LLC is the
"owner" of the DBAs. To obtain free information that may be of help, you may
want to contact a small business development center, womens business center
or a SCORE office in your area. They can tell you how best to proceed. If you
decide to establish an LLC, you will need an attorney to create an Operating
Agreement that details how the business will be operated.
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