Every time you open a new dispensary account, the same two documents come up. Your bookkeeper needs the retailer's W-9 to set them up as a customer and handle year-end reporting, and a resale or exemption certificate so you can sell to them tax-free for resale. In Massachusetts that certificate is the ST-4; other states have their own version, but the ask is identical.
Normally this turns into a chase. You email the buyer, the buyer forwards it to whoever handles their tax paperwork, the file gets buried in a thread, and two weeks later you're re-asking right when you're trying to schedule a delivery. It's nobody's fault — it's just how document requests go over email.
If the dispensary you're selling to runs its payments on ShelfSpace, you can skip all of that. When a retailer signs or uploads their tax forms on the platform, those documents become available to their partner vendors directly in the portal. You pull them yourself, whenever you need them.
Where to Find Them
Log in to the vendor portal at ourshelf.space. Open Retailers in the left navigation and click the dispensary whose documents you need. On that retailer's page you'll see a card titled “[Retailer]'s Tax Documents.” It lists their Resale Certificate and their W-9, each marked either on file or not provided yet.
Click View next to the one you want. Because tax documents are sensitive, you'll get a short confirmation first — a reminder that your access is logged and the retailer will be notified. Confirm, and the document opens right in the portal. Use the Download button in the viewer to save the PDF for your records.
What You Need to Have Set Up
There's nothing to apply for or unlock. Access is simply scoped so a partner's documents only reach the right people at the right companies:
- An active partnership with that retailer. You'll only ever see documents for dispensaries you actually sell to on the platform. Your vendor account can view them from day one — no verification step to clear first.
- An admin role on your vendor account. View-only teammates won't see the View button — ask your vendor admin to grab the file or bump your role.
If It Says “Not Provided Yet”
That just means the retailer hasn't added that form to ShelfSpace. Some dispensaries run multiple locations, and a resale certificate can be tied to a specific storefront or state — so one location might have everything on file while a newer one hasn't uploaded yet. Ask the buyer or their AP contact to sign or upload it on their side. The moment they do, it shows up in your portal automatically. No follow-up from you.
It works both directions. The retailer can pull your W-9 from their side the same way you pull theirs. Every access is recorded and the owner is notified, so nothing ever moves quietly.
Why It's Done This Way
Tax documents are never public and never handed out anonymously. A download link is generated only after you confirm, and it expires shortly after. Each view writes an audit record — who opened it and when — and notifies the retailer that their document was accessed. That's deliberate: the retailer always knows exactly who holds their information, and you've got a clean record that you obtained it properly. It's the same standard you'd want applied to your own W-9.
The document you needed is already sitting in the portal. No email, no reminder, no waiting on someone else's inbox — you log in, click View, and download it.
If your retailer is on ShelfSpace and you haven't set up your login yet, it's worth a few minutes — the portal is free, it's where your checks and payment history live too, and it's where these documents will be waiting. The vendor page walks through what the portal looks like, or email support@shelfspace.pro and a person will help.