NTEP and Legal-for-Trade Scales in Texas: What Cypress Buyers Need

Buyers searching NTEP in Texas often land on a certificate PDF and still do not know what to put on the counter. All Scales USA sells NTEP scales from Cypress. This post is the shop conversation we have before you spend money — sticker vs place-in-service, what TDA actually asks the device owner to do, and which leaf to shop. It is not a claim that All Scales USA is a TDA licensed service company.

Start on NTEP legal-for-trade scales. Definitions live on our NTEP glossary. Call (832) 766-5410 if the scale will be used to set a price.

NTEP is a model, not your serial number

NTEP is the National Type Evaluation Program. A Certificate of Conformance says a model family meets Handbook 44. The sticker or CC number on a new scale means that model was evaluated. It does not mean your serial number has been placed in service in Texas. It does not mean a TDA inspector has seen your counter.

Legal-for-trade means you are using the scale in a commercial transaction — selling by weight, charging by weight, or otherwise determining a price from that reading. A process scale in a fab shop can be accurate and still not be legal-for-trade. An NTEP bench used only to check incoming boxes is still just a process check until you sell by that weight.

Buying an NTEP scale and plugging it in is not place-in-service. We repeat that on the service page because it is the most expensive misunderstanding we hear.

What Texas asks the device owner to do

The Texas Department of Agriculture publishes the device rules on its official Weights & Measures Devices page. We fetched that page before writing this. Two steps, in TDA’s own order:

• A commercial weighing device must be placed into service by a licensed service technician employed by a licensed service company. That includes installation and calibration. The licensed company submits a service report to TDA.

• The owner then registers the device with TDA — online through the Texas Agriculture Portal or on paper (RWM 700) — and pays the fee. The license renews annually.

TDA lists device types (small scale 0–2,000 lb, other scale over 2,000 lb, truck, livestock, ranch, LPG). It also lists exemptions, including pharmaceutical scales, US Postal scales, belt conveyor scales, rail scales, and scales used exclusively to weigh taxable ready-to-eat food. Read the TDA page for the current list. We will not paraphrase an exemption onto your counter.

Consumer information stickers belong on the device. TDA says the facility keeps those stickers current. None of that is an All Scales license claim. If you need a licensed service company to place a device in service, say that on the call and we will tell you what we can do. Do not read this post as a TDA license.

What we sell from Cypress

The NTEP leaf is the catalog: shipping benches, washdown, compact NTEP, floor pads, and NTEP load cells. Examples we verified live today: the Rice Lake Ishida iPC 30 lb is Class III, CC 02-139. The Cardinal EB-150-190 is Class III, CC 03-031, 150 lb × 0.05 lb washdown. Shop the full set on NTEP legal for trade.

We also sell process scales that are not NTEP. The A&D EK-4100i compact on our bench leaf is a process 4000 g × 0.1 g — the live page says it is not on CC 04-019A3. A hanging crane that says process-only on the PDP stays process-only in this post. We will not invent a certificate to win a click.

The Cypress buying conversation

When you call (832) 766-5410 we ask whether anyone will pay or be paid from the reading. If yes, we stay on NTEP SKUs and we talk about place-in-service. If no, we will not upsell you a washdown NTEP bench for a back-room check. Jewelry and Class II counters are a tighter talk than a 150 lb shipping bench. Pharmacy compounding is its own leaf.

Bring the old ID plate if you are replacing a scale that was already registered. TDA treats a move or an ownership change as a new application. We will not fill out RWM 700 for you in a blog post. We will help you read the nameplate so the model you buy can be registered.

Shop: 21249 FM 529 Rd, Cypress, TX 77433. Email pete@allscales.com. Also: (281) 656-2666 · (832) 290-3120. Calibration process, not a second service page: how we handle a Houston calibration call.

FAQ

Does a Texas scale have to be NTEP to be legal for trade?

NTEP is the clean path because the model already meets Handbook 44. TDA inspects to Handbook 44 and its own rules. Do not buy a process-only hanging crane and expect a trade sticker. Read TDA’s Devices page and call us with the use case.

Is All Scales USA a TDA licensed service company?

This post does not claim that. We sell NTEP equipment from Cypress and we explain the TDA steps. Place-in-service is done by a licensed service company. Ask on the call what we can do for your device.

Where do I register the device?

TDA: Weights & Measures Devices and the Texas Agriculture Portal. We are not TDA.

Related: NTEP legal-for-trade catalog · NTEP glossary · Houston calibration.