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Originally published on December 17, 2021 Last updated on March 6, 2026

Selling CBD Online: A Quick Guide

The hemp compound CBD receives a lot of attention in today’s market. CBD oil and other wellness products containing CBD have rising popularity in consumers looking for natural health remedies. If you want to tap into this emerging market, you need to do your research. This guide will give you an overview of the online […]
A bottle of CBD with marijuana leaves.

The hemp compound CBD receives a lot of attention in today’s market. CBD oil and other wellness products containing CBD have rising popularity in consumers looking for natural health remedies. If you want to tap into this emerging market, you need to do your research. This guide will give you an overview of the online CBD industry and how you can make a profit as a CBD online business.

An Overview of the CBD Industry

According to the Hemp Business Journal, the CBD market will reach a value of $2.5 billion by 2022. Online CBD businesses sell a variety of products, including infused food, edibles, concentrates and oils. Since legal CBD products come from hemp and have insignificant amounts of THC, customers across the country appreciate its health benefits. Joining the CBD industry means becoming part of a new wave in the American market.

The overall market prospects for CBD cover a wide range of industries, including wellness, beauty, food and beverage. If you’re planning to start an online CBD business, you could try to capitalize on various product types — tinctures, topicals and infused edibles are just a few notable ways CBD oil has emerged into the marketplace.

How to Sell CBD Online

So, you want to sell CBD oil online — or some other CBD product — but you aren’t sure how to sell CBD on the internet. Do you need a license to sell CBD? What are the challenges of getting involved in the CBD industry? What are the benefits? The CBD sector has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the hemp industry. As its popularity continues to rise, you want to be fully informed before starting your online CBD business.

As with any online business, a shop selling hemp online must follow particular procedures like generating a business plan and getting a regular business license. If you’re looking to purchase CBD from wholesalers, you may also need a resale certificate from your state. However, before you write your CBD business plan, you must understand the additional regulations and laws surrounding CBD. It’s crucial to remain informed of the shifting regulatory conditions, as the hemp industry still faces some challenges in banking, insurance, payment processing and advertising.

What Are the Laws Surrounding Online CBD Sales?

Near the end of 2018, hemp-derived CBD became a federally legal product under the 2018 Farm Bill. Businesses may sell CBD from hemp plants that contain 0.3% or less THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana. Since hemp-derived CBD has legal status under federal law, you may sell it online across states. However, we recommend keeping informed of Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and reading any applicable laws in detail before finalizing any sales.

While no federal laws require a license to sell CBD, it’s vital to note that particular state and local jurisdictions do have this requirement. Some states may also have established licensing requirements for hemp growers, processors and manufacturers. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with all legal obligations, including state and local laws. Stay informed of new developments in FDA regulations and state requirements, so your CBD online business remains compliant.

At present, the FDA has approved one CBD-based prescription drug. Epidiolex is the only CBD-based product that can make health claims, meaning your marketing strategy can’t involve the health benefits of your CBD products. As long as your products are high-quality, obtained from a reputable source and marketed according to regulations, you should be able to sell CBD online.

The Benefits of Selling CBD Products Online

You may consider selling CBD online instead of in retail for advantages such as:

  • More affordable set-up: Setting up an online store involves building and paying for an online presence, which both cost less than getting a physical storefront.
  • Lower operational costs: Website fees and the other expenses associated with eCommerce tend to have a lower price than those required for a storefront.
  • Larger audience: An online store empowers you to sell products to customers across the United States, giving you a vast and diverse marketing audience.
  • Digital marketing: Finding new customers is easier and more effective with organic search strategies that help draw in consumers looking for your product.
  • Sell product 24/7: An eCommerce store allows consumers to shop for your products 24 hours a day, which can open the door for even more potential sales.
  • Increased scalability: Many online businesses are capable of rapid growth due to having a smaller overhead, larger customer base and improved inventory optimization.

Thanks to eCommerce technology, you have an accessible option for selling CBD.

How to Start a CBD Online Business

Beginning your online CBD business involves the following steps:

1. Register Your Business and Web Presence

Complete the necessary forms to become a business under federal and state law. First, you’ll need a regular business license to sell CBD online and may require a more specific license depending on your state laws. A resale certificate could be vital if you need to buy products wholesale to avoid paying sales tax. Once your documents are in order, you can establish a website or selling platform account.

2. Choose a Reputable Supplier

Look for a reputable CBD supplier to become your partner. Remember to research their pricing, sourcing and extraction processes — you want to validate the product’s quality to your customers. Reputable wholesalers typically provide lab testing results detailing the product content. Ask to see any additional pesticide testing, residual solvents testing and microbiological testing results.

3. Set up Your Inventory Management Software

Install a CBD inventory management solution like Finale Inventory to automate your operations. As a cloud-based inventory management system, Finale Inventory will scale with you to accommodate the growth of your business. For fast-growing industries like hemp, the ability to expand your storage space as needed is essential. Finale Inventory offers better control of your inventory without spending time and money to upgrade your devices.

4. Market Your CBD Business

Marketing CBD products is challenging, especially since typical avenues like Amazon or paid ads can’t be applied as they usually would. To successfully market your CBD online business, you must build lasting relationships with your customers. Leverage SEO by publishing well-researched content and using organic search strategies to attract and convert customers who are already interested in your CBD products. Meanwhile, customer loyalty programs can help you retain new shoppers.

With proper research and due diligence, you can start a profitable, reputable and legal CBD business online.

CBD Inventory Management Software From Finale Inventory

When dealing with the cannabis, CBD and dispensary industry, it is important to closely monitor your inventory to avoid major fines, revocation of your license or arrest.  Finale offers one of the best solutions for CBD & Dispensary inventory management. Our cloud-based integrated WMS system gives your business the necessary tools needed to meet your regularly enforced inventory audits.

  • Preventing Stock Outs: Prevent costly stock-outs by setting reordering thresholds. Or, save time with Finale’s dynamic reordering features to handle the numbers for you. Finale can calculate reordering points based on the product’s sales velocity to make smarter purchasing decisions for restock forecasting, allowing you to keep your carrying costs low.
  • Lot Traceability: Track your CBD inventory by unique lot ID or serial numbers, location, created date or strains. Finale ensures clear traceability of your products and makes it easy to track lots from the time when you receive products into your inventory to the time you actually sell the particular product. Leverage the mobile barcode scanner to scan the lot ID quicker.
  • Robust Compliance Reporting: Finale allows you to perform daily, monthly and yearly inventory audits. Compare physical counts with inventory records. Consistently reconcile your cannabis inventory and run sales, accounting, stock and variance reports to ensure there are no discrepancies.
  • Integrations: We understand inventory tracking is useful for many aspects of your business. Finale offers numerous integrations with industry-leading marketplaces, shopping carts, POS and shipping software to reduce the need for file transfers and manual processes.
  • Barcode Scanning: Finale offers wireless barcode scanning capabilities to automate shipping, receiving, picking and packing. The application is available on Windows Mobile and Android OS handheld barcode scanners. You can also install the Finale Inventory barcode scanning application on an Android phone by downloading it from the Google Play store.
  • Pick, Pack & Ship Solution: Our product’s pick, pack and ship functionality ensures that warehouse workers pick the correct items, leading to improved overall accuracy, efficiency and accountability which increases customer satisfaction.
  • Data Security: Rest assured, your cannabis inventory records and data are encrypted both to and from the web browser. We have provisioned capacity across tiers significantly beyond what is required for regular operation. Our secure cloud-based system can save you time and money while storing necessary records required by local governments.

Finale Inventory makes managing your store’s CBD inventory management simple. Coordinate customer orders, selling platforms, reordering points and more through our easy-to-use solution. When you count on Finale Inventory, you can organize your products in one space that updates across your online stores. With a customer representative helping you set up your software to suit your needs, you can lead your online CBD business to success.

Discover a Personalized CBD Selling Inventory Software

To find out what Finale Inventory can do for your business, try our free 14-day trial today. Our personalized approach to customer service helps you craft a solution that meets your specific business needs.

“The core of maturity, that I see, is starting with a unified view of inventory. I’ve got to be able to accurately represent what do I have, make sure that I know where it’s located so I can get it to my customers quickly.”

— Troy Graham, Descartes

What is the first thing I should fix if I want to scale operations?

Start with a unified view of inventory. The core of maturity starts with being able to accurately represent what you do have and make sure that you know where it’s located to get it to customers quickly. Without a unified view across your warehouses, 3PLs, and vendors, you cannot make the best decisions because you don’t have the best information at hand.

With Inventory Visibility, Businesses Can Make Smarter Allocation Decisions

Once inventory is centralized, businesses can move from reactive updates to intentional allocation. They can decide how much inventory to expose to each channel, when to use buffers, which marketplaces need extra protection, and how seasonality or campaign performance influence availability.

Once I know what inventory I have, how should I decide where to make it available?

Inventory allocation should reflect where orders are coming from, where marketing is working, and which channels carry the most risk. Once you know what you have and where it is located, you can think more strategically using centralized inventory to make prioritization happen automatically. One fertilizer company lost a little over 5,000 orders in one weekend because someone manually uploaded the wrong available inventory to Amazon.

Better Inventory Data Improves Planning, Purchasing, and Growth Bets

Better visibility turns inventory data into a planning tool. With insight into sales velocity, inventory levels, vendors, and channel performance, businesses can make more informed replenishment decisions, avoid overbuying, and test new product lines or vendor-supplied inventory without taking on unnecessary risk.

“You have to have unified inventory to know how to price your products just at that basic level. I can’t price my products if I don’t know the true cost to get it.”

— Mike Bernico, Flxpoint

How does better inventory data help me make smarter buying decisions?

It lets you measure whether your plan is working before you commit more capital. A key question becomes: “Did my plan work? Am I overleveraged in one place or another?” Centralized systems can also help businesses test new product lines or vendor relationships by looking at sales velocity by channel, allowing them to take risks in a calculated and measured way.

Intelligent Order Routing Turns Inventory Complexity Into Automation

Once inventory and supplier data are reliable, businesses can automate fulfillment decisions. Orders can be routed based on cost, speed, margin, location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback, split-shipment rules, or customer expectations. This helps hybrid fulfillment scale because every order does not need a manual review.

How do I decide the best way to fulfill each order?

There is no single answer, which is why order routing needs to account for the context of each order. Intelligent order routing is not just sending an order to someone who has stock; it is taking each and every order and treating it like its own unique use case. Depending on the order, the business may prioritize speed, margin, an internal warehouse, vendor fallback, or preventing split shipments.

Supplier Inventory Sync Extends Inventory Beyond the Four Walls

For hybrid fulfillment to work, supplier inventory needs to become part of the operating model. Supplier sync does not always require advanced technology; it can happen through automated files, FTP, email, APIs, EDI, or ecommerce storefront integrations. The key is replacing manual updates with automated, reliable supplier data.

Can supplier inventory really be treated like part of my own inventory?

Yes, but the goal is not necessarily to force every supplier into a complex integration. Real-time supplier sync can be defined as any way to get an automated update from a supplier, such as Google Sheets, email, FTP, API, EDI, or ecommerce storefront connections. The key is that accurate supplier stock is foundational. If you don’t have an accurate view of what is in stock with your suppliers, you cannot tell your sales channel accurately what’s available.

Exception-Based Workflows Keep Humans Focused Where They Matter

Automation does not remove people from the process. Mature operations let technology handle the routine majority while humans focus on exceptions, such as high-value orders, fraud risk, compliance requirements, restricted products, export rules, or unusual fulfillment scenarios.

If my business has special cases, can automation still work?

Yes. The point is not to automate every possible decision; it is to automate the routine work and surface the exceptions. Businesses should not have to look at every single order. Instead, technology can highlight high-value orders, risky locations, or compliance requirements. The goal is to take care of the 80% of workflows that are obvious while still allowing human review when specific exceptions arise.

The Right Inventory Technology Should Fit the Business, Not Overwhelm It

Software decisions should be based on business fit, not popularity, feature volume, or broad “all-in-one” promises. Growing ecommerce businesses should identify their highest-impact bottleneck, prioritize what matters now, and choose technology that is right-sized but flexible enough to support future phases of growth.

How should I choose software without overbuying or picking the wrong system?

Start with your priorities, not the biggest feature list. Avoid an all-in-one system that claims to “do everything under the sun” and look for a “best of breed approach” with systems that can scale as you add channels or vendors. The practical advice is to stack rank what matters now, make sure the system can support future phases, and choose technology that fits your business rather than overwhelming it.

How to Scale Ecommerce Operations Beyond Spreadsheets

For many growing ecommerce businesses, Finale and Flxpoint work together as a practical answer to these challenges. Finale helps centralize and manage internal inventory, purchasing, warehouse operations, and stock visibility, while Flxpoint helps connect vendor inventory, automate supplier sync, and route orders across hybrid fulfillment networks. Together, they give businesses a best-of-breed way to improve inventory accuracy, reduce spreadsheet work, and scale fulfillment without forcing every process into a one-size-fits-all system.

Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations FAQ

What Is Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations?

Ecommerce fulfillment operations are the processes that move an online order from purchase to delivery. This includes managing inventory, syncing product availability across channels, routing orders to the right warehouse, 3PL, supplier, or vendor, and making sure the customer receives the right product on time. As discussed in the webinar, fulfillment is no longer limited to “what’s in my warehouse these days”; growing businesses may rely on internal warehouses, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment services, and supplier inventory at the same time.

What Are Ecommerce Fulfillment Operation Examples?

Examples of ecommerce fulfillment operations include updating inventory across Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, and other sales channels; allocating inventory to specific marketplaces; sending orders to an internal warehouse, 3PL, or vendor; syncing supplier inventory through files, APIs, EDI, email, or FTP; replenishing warehouse stock based on sales velocity; and flagging exceptions such as high-value orders, compliance requirements, or restricted products. In the webinar, the speakers also discussed hybrid fulfillment examples where a business may fulfill some products from its own warehouse and use vendors as a fallback or extension of available inventory.

How Can I Track My Inventory at an Ecommerce Fulfillment Center?

The best way to track inventory at an ecommerce fulfillment center is to create a unified inventory view that shows what is available, where it is located, and how that inventory connects to each sales channel. That means tracking inventory across internal warehouses, fulfillment centers, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment programs, and supplier locations instead of relying on disconnected spreadsheets. The webinar emphasized that businesses need to “accurately represent” what they have and know where it is located so they can get products to customers quickly.

How Can I Connect My Inventory to My Supplier?

You can connect supplier inventory through several methods, depending on what the supplier supports. The webinar discussed low-tech and advanced options, including automated Excel or CSV files, Google Sheets, email updates, FTP servers, APIs, EDI, and direct connections to ecommerce storefronts such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. The key is to ask suppliers how they share inventory today, then use a system that can automate that data flow instead of manually copying supplier inventory into spreadsheets.

What Is Ecommerce Order Routing?

Ecommerce order routing is the process of deciding where an order is fulfilled from after a customer buys. In a simple operation, every order may go to one warehouse. In a more complex or hybrid fulfillment model, the best fulfillment source may depend on inventory availability, shipping speed, cost, margin, customer location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback rules, or whether the order should be split. The webinar described intelligent order routing as treating each order like its own use case, so businesses can automate the best fulfillment decision without manually reviewing every order.

Ready to Take Control of Your Inventory?

Improve inventory, warehouse, and ecommerce operations today.

Request a Demo

Ready to Take Control of Your Inventory?

Improve inventory, warehouse, and ecommerce operations today.

Request a Demo

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