Note: For all the following examples, unless otherwise specified, marketplace sellers are identified to purchasers on the marketplace.
EXAMPLE 1: Carabibi, a social media network, provides a forum in which persons using the network can buy and sell used tangible personal property. Carabibi functions solely as an advertising platform bringing buyers and sellers together. Once the buyer and seller have contacted each other over the network, they must negotiate the sale and make payment arrangements themselves. While the forum provided by Carabibi constitutes a marketplace as defined in Section 131.101, Carabibi is not considered a marketplace facilitator because it does not engage in the activities described in subsection (a)(1)(B).
EXAMPLE 2: Paymate is a payment processing business appointed by merchants to handle payment transactions from various channels, such as credit cards and debit cards. Its sole activity with respect to marketplace sales is to handle financial transactions between two parties on the marketplace. Paymate is not a marketplace facilitator because it does not engage in the activities described in subsection (a)(1)(A).
EXAMPLE 3: CouponCrowd operates an online platform that sells coupons that can be redeemed by purchasers at various retail stores that have contracted with CouponCrowd to promote their businesses. CouponCrowd lists the coupons for sale, sells the coupons to purchasers, and processes payment for the purchase of the coupons. CouponCrowd is not a marketplace facilitator. The sale of a coupon is the sale of an intangible, not the sale of tangible personal property. Marketplace facilitators must engage in facilitating sales of tangible personal property.
EXAMPLE 4: Visualeyes This operates a specialized online marketplace that sells various brands of contact lenses to purchasers. Visualeyes This makes purchases for resale from various suppliers of the contact lenses offered for sale on its marketplace. Its marketplace does not indicate to purchasers using the marketplace that the sales are made on behalf of any identified marketplace sellers. In this example, Visualeyes This is not a marketplace facilitator. It is simply an online retailer making its own sales of contact lenses. Its tax liability will depend on its activities. (See Illustration A.)
EXAMPLE 5: Mandameal.com is an online and mobile food-ordering and delivery service that enters into over 200 transactions with Illinois purchasers. It contracts with a variety of restaurants by advertising meals available for purchase from restaurants; it also offers delivery service for the food orders. Customers place food orders using the Mandameal application or through its online website. Mandameal.com accepts payments from customers, completes the orders with the restaurants, and transmits payment on a regular basis to the restaurants. Mandameal.com engages in activities that make it a marketplace facilitator. Mandameal.com is required to register with the Department and remit retailers' occupation tax, including applicable local retailers' occupation taxes administered by the Department, on sales made on its marketplace on behalf of restaurants. State and local retailers' occupation taxes are incurred at the rate in effect at the delivery location of the purchaser. For example, if the food order is delivered to a customer address, Mandameal.com incurs State and local retailers' occupation taxes in effect at the location where the order is delivered. If the order is picked up at the restaurant, however, Mandameal.com incurs State and local retailers' occupation taxes in effect at the restaurant location. For information on the imposition and applicability of the MPEA ROT and the Chicago Soft Drink Tax, see Section 131.107(c) of this Part.
EXAMPLE 6: CanineCorner.com is a marketplace that sells dog gear. Its gross receipts from sales to Illinois purchasers are over $100,000. Ponchos for Pooches.com decides to sell its rain gear over this marketplace. Some of the inventory Ponchos for Pooches.com sells over the marketplace is fulfilled from its manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon, while other sales are fulfilled from its warehouse in Kankakee, Illinois. CanineCorner.com incurs Retailers' Occupation Tax, including all applicable local retailers' occupation taxes, for all sales of rain gear made over the marketplace on behalf of Ponchos for Pooches.com. Tax on all sales, both those fulfilled from Portland, Oregon and from the Kankakee, Illinois warehouse, is incurred at the rate in effect at the Illinois location to which the tangible personal property is shipped or delivered or at which possession is taken by the purchaser.
EXAMPLE 7: Seconds for Less is an upscale resale shop in Evanston, Illinois. It buys and sells gently used clothing for children and adults. After inspecting the clothing offered by an individual for sale, it pays the individual, either in cash or with store credit, for the clothing it wishes to purchase. The clothing is then cleaned, pressed, and displayed for sale. In this example, Seconds for Less is not operating a marketplace and is not a marketplace facilitator because it owns the clothing it offers for sale.
Ill. Admin. Code tit. 86, § 131.130