I just wanted to add a comment to this discussion. After reading the first page and realizing this is a state by state deal, I was curious what North Carolinas rule is. The rule for a business on whether they have to collect sales tax for North Carolina residents is if they sell $100,000 in goods or 200 items.
So couldn't each distributor let everyone know on the phone or in a newsletter how much remaining 'cap room' they have to each state? That way the distributor could tell me if they will have to collect sales tax and I could base my decision off of that. Of course, this would tie their hands and once they got their quota, they would be done selling to that state as they couldnt easily get tax from those who already bought.
If you're a distributor, would you go with my plan to help customers out by not charging tax and potentially hurting your sales by limiting how many you could sell to each state?