I'm reviving this thread to ask about buying wholesale jewelry-making materials. My daughter and I are interested in learning more about making jewelry with stone beads (along the lines of turquoise, quartz, carnelian, jade) and findings. Caroline has been making chain mail necklaces with jump rings and small garnet chips--she first saw some of these down at Scarborough Fair. It takes a lot of jump rings and patience to make those. The most promising sellers of the beads we want to use sell only to established businesses, no individuals. The kicker is that until we try this out we won't know if we want to keep this up. I'm willing to go apply for the tax ID number, but (at least in Texas) they mentioned the need for reports (sales and taxes collected, I presume) and a possible bond (she wasn't allowed to give details on the phone, but there are various types).

I have the web address for the State office that handles some of this so will read fruther about the bond issue and legalities. But here's the question I need answered: of those of you who are beaders in the US, do you buy wholesale, do you buy materials from U.S. sources, and do they generally all require the same sorts of forms in order to sell wholesale?

Thanks!

SRS