Anything dealing with cigarettes or tobacco will be sure to put you into a high risk category.  Large companies like Phillips Morris have huge hurdles to jump through to produce and manufacture cigarettes.  The retailers selling their product in a typical store front have just as many rules and regulations.  Combine the two into online sales, and you have two things, huge profits and a lot of responsibility.  Every state in the United States, as well as various countries through out the world have their own set of rules and regulations when it comes to purchasing cigarettes, or purchasing online cigarettes or other tobacco products. 

The first question tobacco merchants need to ask themselves is whether or not they sell products with paying extreme attention to the business.  If you are looking for a quick start business to make some money and doesn’t require too much preplanning or governing, this type of product is NOT for you.  To sell any sort of tobacco there are many thing that need to be monitored, including constantly changing rules and regulations.

Some credit card companies in cooperation with cigarette vendors have decided to try to stop cigarettes from being sold online.  By joining together they have almost crippled the online sales of cigarettes.  In combination with the Attorney General’s office, these parties consider the ease of acquirement to be detrimental to the public health.  This includes illegal sales to minors.   This being yet another hurdle.  You may be trying to figure out why someone would want to be bothered by selling a product with this many complications.  The revenue and profits are exponential.  As with any high risk product, you could directly translate it into, “a lot of work, and a lot of money”.  For the cigarette buyer, why would you pay $3.00 sales tax per pack in your state, when you could go online from the comfort of your home and order cartons for sometimes a fraction of the cost?  By avoiding this state tax, this now gets the authorities attention, yet another hurdle. 

So, if choosing to sell tobacco or cigarettes, make sure you do your homework.  Prepare a detailed business plan, and find out all the laws and regulations regarding purchase of tobacco related products.  Did you know there are countries that forbid the purchase of cigarettes online?  Or states that still require a sales tax even if purchased online?  This way they are not missing out on their piece of the profit. 

There are many resources to get you started including:

• Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing
• Collection of State Cigarette Tax (http://uscode.house.gov)
• Internet Tobacco Sales Enforcement Act
• The Online Tobacco Retailers Association (www.oltra.org)

In a very monitored field of sales, there is room for exponential growth.  Take your time, do it the right way.  Any short cuts taken here are only going to result in your demise, and possibly a very expensive one at that.  There are many successful cigarette/tobacco retailers, if you need guidance, ask for it.  If you are unsure, find out.  The monetary rewards can be inconceivable.