NAICS code for e-commerce: 454110 is gone, so use the code for what you sell

This page is for online sellers (your own store, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify) filling in a form that asks for a NAICS or SIC code, such as SAM.gov, a loan, an insurer or a tax return, and for sellers building lists of e-commerce companies.

What changed in 2022

Under NAICS 2017, any retailer selling mainly online or by catalog was 454110, Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses. NAICS 2022 removed that distinction. The Census Bureau's 2017 to 2022 concordance sends 454110 to 42 retail codes, from 441227 (motorcycle and ATV dealers) to 459999 (all other miscellaneous retailers). The Retail Trade sector definition now treats websites as one of several ways a retailer reaches customers, alongside stores, catalogs, infomercials and door-to-door selling.

So the question to answer is what you sell, not where.

The NAICS codes online sellers use

The size standards are average annual receipts over five years, from 13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR (last amended March 17, 2023). Search other product lines in the NAICS code lookup.

How to choose: product, customer, maker

1. Product line. Use the code for the line that brings in the most revenue. The IRS Schedule C instructions say it directly: nonstore retailers "should select the PBA associated with their primary line of products sold."
2. Customer. The Census sector definition says retailers are "organized to sell merchandise in small quantities to the general public." If you sell mainly to businesses, schools or agencies, you're a wholesaler: use the merchant wholesaler code for the product.
3. Maker. The same definition says establishments that "both manufacture and sell their products to the general public are not classified in retail, but rather in manufacturing." A soap maker selling on Etsy is a manufacturer.

SIC codes for e-commerce

The SIC code for online and mail-order retail is 5961, Catalog and Mail-Order Houses. The concordance lists three parts (electronic shopping web sites, electronic auctions and mail-order houses) and maps 5961 to the same 42 NAICS 2022 codes as 454110. Party plan and door-to-door sellers are 5963, Direct Selling Establishments, which maps to 40.

SIC still works the old way, so a bank asking for SIC gets 5961 whatever you sell. The mapping runs both ways: 458110, clothing retail, takes in SIC 5611, 5621, 5651 and other clothing store codes as well as 5961. SEC EDGAR files Amazon, Chewy, Wayfair and QVC Group under 5961, Retail-Catalog & Mail-Order Houses. To convert other codes, use the NAICS to SIC converter.

How many online retailers there are

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 still uses NAICS 2017, so it's the last count of 454110 as one industry:

By size: 39,307 (71.9%) had fewer than five employees, 7,281 had 5 to 9, 3,976 had 10 to 19 and 2,315 had 20 to 49. At the other end, 124 had 1,000 or more. The top states were California (9,266), Florida (5,874), New York (4,402), Texas (3,983) and New Jersey (1,736).

CBP counts establishments with paid employees, so the many one-person stores aren't in it. Once CBP moves to NAICS 2022, online retailers will be counted in their product codes and this separate figure will stop.

Federal contracts: the supply rule

Registering a retail code in SAM.gov rarely helps with federal sales. Under 13 CFR 121.402(b), "acquisitions for supplies must be classified under the appropriate manufacturing or supply NAICS code, not under a Wholesale Trade or Retail Trade NAICS code." A reseller offering a product it didn't make is a nonmanufacturer and counts as small with 500 or fewer employees, provided it meets the nonmanufacturer rule in 121.406(b). If you bid on supply contracts, also list the manufacturing codes for what you sell. The small business size standards page explains how the SBA counts receipts and affiliates.

Where the code is used and what a wrong one costs

• Tax returns. Schedule C uses the retail activity codes by product line, such as 458110 for clothing or 449120 for home furnishings.
• Forms that still ask for 454110. Some lenders' and insurers' forms predate 2022. Give the 2022 code and note 454110 as the 2017 equivalent if the form rejects it.
• Lists. A list built on 454110 or SIC 5961 mixes clothing brands with IT resellers: CDW, which describes itself as a provider of IT solutions to business, government, education and healthcare customers, also files under 5961.

Finding e-commerce companies by code

EDGAR lists public companies by SIC: SIC 5961. The largest US-based filers, with total revenue from each company's latest 10-K:

Amazon's figure includes AWS, advertising and subscriptions, not just retail. For private stores, a Bebop search takes the distinctions codes can't (sells on Shopify or Amazon, product category, revenue band, state) and returns companies and contacts with the reason each fits. The largest e-commerce companies list ranks the public ones.

Worked example: coding a maker who also resells

Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented.

Fernway Goods (fernway.example) sells online from Oregon through its own site and Amazon. Last year it took $2.3 million reselling home decor it buys from suppliers, $1.2 million from candles it pours itself and $0.6 million selling those candles wholesale to boutiques.

1. Primary code. Resold home decor is 56% of revenue ($2.3 million of $4.1 million): 449129, All Other Home Furnishings Retailers.
2. Extra code. Candle making, retail and wholesale together, is $1.8 million of manufacturing: 339999, All Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing, where the Census index lists candles.
3. Federal bids. A supply contract for candles would use 339999 (550 employees), where Fernway is small as the maker. For decor it didn't make, it bids as a nonmanufacturer.
4. Other forms. SIC 5961 on a bank form; 449120 on a Schedule C.

Next step: if you sell to online retailers rather than run one, the largest e-commerce companies list shows who leads each category and what they report.