Indiana Cottage Food Online Sales

Yes, You Can Sell Food Online From Home in Indiana

Indiana law explicitly permits home-based food vendors to advertise, take orders, and accept payments online. This has been true since HEA 1149 expanded the Home-Based Vendor (HBV) framework in July 2022, and the Homestead Vendor framework (HEA 1424, effective July 1, 2026) continues to allow it.

The catch — and it's a significant one — is that your online reach has a hard geographic boundary: everything you sell must stay within Indiana's borders.

HBV Rules for Non-TCS Products

Under IC 16-42-5.3, home-based vendors can sell non-TCS (shelf-stable) foods through websites, social media, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, or any other online platform. You can take orders by phone, text, email, or DM. Payment method doesn't matter — cash on delivery, Venmo, Square, PayPal, whatever works.

For getting products to buyers, you have three options:

• Customer pickup at your home or a designated meeting spot
• Personal delivery anywhere within Indiana
• Shipping via USPS, UPS, or FedEx — but only to Indiana addresses

There's one record-keeping requirement that's easy to overlook: you must maintain a log of every delivery address for at least one year. This isn't optional. If a health department investigates a complaint, they'll want to see this log to trace distribution. Keep a simple spreadsheet with the customer name, delivery address, date, and product shipped.

Out-of-state shipping is flatly prohibited. Selling to a customer in Ohio, Illinois, or Kentucky — even if they're five minutes across the border — strips away your home-based exemption and triggers federal manufacturing requirements under 21 CFR 117. That means registration as a wholesale distributor, production in a licensed commercial kitchen, and compliance with FDA labeling standards. The $15 food handler certificate won't cover you anymore.

What HEA 1424 Means Now for Online Sellers

Since July 1, 2026, the Homestead Vendor framework under IC 16-42-5.4 keeps online sales legal and expands what you can sell online to include perishable, temperature-controlled foods — prepared meals, cream-filled baked goods, and items that are not allowed under the HBV framework.

The key changes for online sellers:

The record-keeping burden drops. The new law eliminates the mandatory one-year delivery address log that the current HBV framework requires. You should still keep basic sales records for tax purposes, but the specific address-tracking requirement goes away.

The training requirement shifts. If you're shipping or delivering products (as opposed to selling only from your property or at a farmers market), you must hold a current ANSI food handler certificate. Under the old law, every HBV needed the certificate regardless of sales channel. Under HEA 1424, it's triggered specifically by shipping and delivery. If you're selling online and shipping to customers, you still need it.

Temperature control during transit becomes your responsibility. The new law requires that shipped products maintain "temperature control during transit consistent with best food handling practices." For shelf-stable goods, this is a non-issue. For perishable items like prepared meals or cream-filled pastries, you'll need insulated packaging and cold packs, and you'll want to limit delivery windows. The statute doesn't define specific temperature thresholds for transit, but the general food safety standard — keeping cold foods below 41°F and hot foods above 135°F — is what a health department would reference during any complaint investigation.

Platforms and Payment Processing

Indiana law doesn't restrict which platform you use to sell. Common setups for Indiana cottage food sellers include:

• A simple website or landing page with a contact form or order form
• Facebook Marketplace or a Facebook business page
• Instagram with DM-based ordering
• Etsy (though Etsy's own policies may add requirements beyond state law)

For payment, most sellers use Square, Stripe, or PayPal. Whichever platform you use, you're responsible for collecting Indiana's 7% sales tax on taxable sales and remitting it through INTIME (the state tax portal). You'll need a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate before making your first sale — the application costs $26 through INTIME.

What You Cannot Sell Online

The geographic restriction is absolute under both frameworks: Indiana addresses only. Beyond that, the product restrictions depend on your timeline:

Under the HBV framework: Only non-TCS, shelf-stable foods. Cookies, breads, dry noodles, candy, honey, maple syrup, full-sugar jams and jellies, dry herbs. No cream cheese frostings, custard pies, cheesecakes, or prepared meals.

Under the current Homestead Vendor framework: Perishable foods are allowed, but you take on the temperature-control-during-transit obligation. Products containing purchased, commercially sourced meat are still prohibited from home production. Meat you sell must come from livestock you raised, processed at a BOAH or USDA inspected facility, and sold in original packaging.

Wholesaling through online channels — selling to stores, restaurants, or retailers — is prohibited under both frameworks. Every online sale must be a direct-to-consumer transaction.

The Indiana Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide includes the complete shipping checklist, labeling templates for online orders, and a side-by-side breakdown of what you can sell under each framework — so you're not guessing at the line between legal and "you now need a commercial kitchen."

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