If you are serious about your upcoming venture, you need to make sure the fact that you have resolved all the legal formalities that can plague your business after being launched. Get in touch with the county clerk and if possible try to consult with an attorney. And of course good luck ahead. regards Shimul e-commerce solutions ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.

Great idea:))

I do not want to be discouraging but I thought that I would share my experience in this business.  I launched my internet gift basket business last October but it has been tough going (I started at the worst economic time too I realized).  I listed gift baskets from wholesalers but I see these everywhere too.  One of the big problem is being found.  There are so many out there.  If you Google gift baskets, you would get a million listings.  Even Walmart is into gift baskets probably assembled in China for dirt cheap.  I tried advertising with Google Ads and that gets traffic but it can be expensive and the number of conversions do not pay for the cost of the ads.  The other reason is that people do not trust new websites.  To get those Site Trust seals cost like $900 with a discount.  To get a Better Business Bureau seal--you need to be in business at least a year.  So--it is tough for a new comer. I had better success selling on Amazon and eBay and this tends to be seasonal.  Big drawback is that they charge commissions and eat into your profits. Now Amazon requires barcodes and most gift basket wholesalers do not provide these so I am out of Amazon for now.   My advice is to find a discriminating gift basket product that no one has, and try selling that on Amazon, list it for free on Google, and try eBay.  Make sure that you take into account all the cost because you could end up losing money or making pennies.  You can use the wholesalers but they charge a monthly fee if you do not order the minimum. They are set up to guarantee success for themselves but have us all take the risk.  

The greatest leave to start is by contact your region clerk.  They must be competent to give you all the info you have to.  although its haunt based you could get away with just apply for a fictitious name and tax id for now.  At some point you would possibly need to attain a selling allow for your district.   Thanks Florida web design

Decide on the name for your company and verify with your local governement if you'll need City and State licensing.  Once you'll have your licensing you can then purchase products wholesale saving you money.  Buying in bulk can also help your supply costs.   Check your local listings for craft supply stores, and  for places where you can purchase containers, baskets, cellophane ects.  Once you get your supplies, you can start creating baskets.  Real important things to consider: how you will generate business and in doing so look at your local options as well as generating business online.  Don't forget that you will need business cards, flyers and website to get you started off on the right foot.     Alicia Hunter

Thank you everyone for chiming in with such great input! Has the infomation been helpful, TNcrafter? How is your gift basket / cookie business going so far?

To add my two cents, you can check with the Tennessee Secretary of State's office to see what you need to do to register your business or create a corporation, LLC or other entity in Tennessee. Just go to the business services page and check out the How Do I? section on that page ... best of luck.

Hi TNcrafter: If you are not preparing food in your home, then you likely do not need any special licenses or permits. I did a search and found this Tennessee website that I think may help you: http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/business/. You should probably look specifically at the Licenses, Permits, & Certifications for Professionals section and then, within that section, look at the One Stop Business Resource. Glancing through the licenses listed, though, it does not appear that you need a special license to sell gift baskets. Keep in mind though that if you are handling cookies - that is, you are taking them out of the packaging and arranging them, then you must have those food licenses. In this case, you want to check with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as it regulates food processing. As everyone else said, though, you need check with your county. You're specifically looking for local zoning ordinances that deal with home based businesses because these zoning ordinances will limit what you can and can't do at home. You do need a tax id because you are selling products and thus will need to collect sales tax. For tax information, you can look here: http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/business/businesstaxes.html Finally, we have an article here that you may find helpful: http://pagebuzz.com/businessregistration.html Best of luck!

At your county clerks office you can register your business name (DBA form) and get a number for your taxes.   Also ask them about Zoning issues as you may or may not be permitted to run a home-based business in your street

The best place to start is by contacting your county clerk. They should be able to give you all the info you need. Since it's home based you could get away with just applying for a fictitious name and tax id for now. At some point you would probably need to acquire a business license for your county.