Hey DM do you purchase your stuff from online retailers in ND or do you have to go out of state to get it? ND has a form for sales tax exemptions for businesses when purchasing stuff for resale. I'm not 100% sure, but I'd think that you should be able to utilize this exemption for the paints/bodies you need for the production of the items you sell. I would think that it should be good if your purchasing from other states as well. A call to the State Tax commissioners office would verify this, but since online retailers are supposed to charge tax based on the buyers location I don't see why this exemption wouldn't apply. Also, not sure who your supplier is for your crank bodies, but if they are charging you excise tax when you purchase your supplies there is an excise tax exemption that you can apply for through the IRS... They are slow as hell at processing the application, but it's nice once they get it done. The supplier for all the materials I buy for my tackle business charges excise tax so I went ahead and filled out the paper work... It took them about 6 months to finally get it all approved and send my paperwork back...
