Start Ecommerce by Myself

Do I need to register a company to sell something on my own shopping site?

[iloveu]

I am going to compose a shopping site for myself to sell stuff under $200. I wrote bunch of Ecommerce sites for companies and sold something on eBay and Amazon for myself before. Now, I want to launch a website to sell stuff by myself, not depending on the postings on eBay and Amazon. To do so, do I need to register a company for this online business? On my site, I have pages like "Contact US, About US". I don't know how to write these if I have no company. I know you guys have a lot of experience and I am eager to get some ideas about legal and tax issues? If I need to register the company, also please suggest detailed procedures. Thank you very much.

[Morgenhund]

My personal experience: after working about a year without a company, decided to register one.

Main reasons:
- it is easier to work in business world -- companies prefer to deal with companies, thus it will be easier to find suppliers, ask for discount rates from post office etc.
- it raises credibility -- customers think if you have a company, you are serious about your business

Sooner or later, if you want your business grow, you might come to idea to register a company.

[lorax]

Welcome to the WebmasterWorld forums iloveu,
I would suggest you should create a company. Not only for the reasons mentioned but also for your own security. Here in the States, the fact that your company owns the website is more likely to protect your personal property should someone decide to bring a lawsuit against you.

As to how to set one up, there are many resources on the net to explain what can be a complex or simple process - depending on what type of company you want to setup and how you want to structure it. And it all depends upon where you live.

[itonet]

Good point, lorax. Protection is important and also people like to deal with companies as opposed to individuals.

[iloveu]

Happy Thanksgiving Day and Thanks for you guys' suggestions! What is the simplest way to register a business, I'm not going to build up big structure here, just want to have a suitable business form to provide convenience for my new-born online business.

[opiesilver]

The simplest way in the states is to call your state tax office. They will have you fill out a form and then assign you a tax id/business license. In certain states you will have to file for a trademark on your business name in your state. The easiest way to find out if you need to is to go to a bank that will supply you with a merchant account and ask what their requirements are. Next select a ecommerce engine that you like and register a domain name you want to do business on. Apply for a secure site certificate if you plan on accepting any form of payment other than PayPal. Now, if you've done all that, welcome to the hardest job you'll ever have.

[Databuilder]

Just registering a company name does not protect you from litigation etc. If it is protection you need, then you will need to form a corporation or LLC.

[lorax]

That is a very important distinction Databuilder. Thanks for bringing that up.

[beauzero]

I am looking to do something similar except I wanted to write off some items on taxes that I am currently incurring through minor selling on ebay. Yes I know I don't have to but...anyway. Here is what I have found. My biggest question was what is the difference between Sub Chapter S corp and LLC? then...what were costs if I don't want to file everything else?

Found www.corporate.com

and much cheaper with better info...

www.legalzoom.com

If anyone has some suggestions to save on LLC startup costs and/or SSL cert costs please post.
Thanks.

[iloveu]

I also want to know how home business guys deal with this kind of issues?

[derekwong28]

If the registration fees are that high, then by all means create a company. If they are high, perhaps you should wait as long as possible until you are certain that your business will take off.

It really depends on:

1. whether suppliers will sell to you if you do not have a company
2. whether you want to open a proper merchant account
3. Whether you want to accept T/T payments for large trade/bulk orders.

I suppose the most important issue here is 1.

As far as protection is concerned, we have been either sued or threatened by large American companies in the past for stupid/frivolous reasons. But being in Hong Kong, they are not in a position to take things much further except to issue threats against our hosting companies. However, if you are in the US, you have to be much more careful.

I have heard of so many threats issued by large multinationals against indiviudal web businesses that it is just completely incredible. For example, a person with a forum known as the Post-it board got threatened by 3M because they have a service known as Post-it.

We do have a company, but our websites do not bear its name or mentions it in any form.