Virtual office - For mail forwarding / Professional appearance

Anyone using one?

[Wi11]

I'm starting a online service that users will pay £x to subscribe to for a year.

As it's a service and I have no stock, working from home isn't a problem, but I feel I should probably have an address listed on the website to look more professional. Putting my home address on the site isn't really an option.

I've found some companies offering London W1 addresses for around £15 a month, does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? Would it be worthwhile to improve my conversion rate and professional image?

I'm not going to be able to put a phone number as I have a day job at the moment.

[2oddSox]

I used such a service for a business I had about a decade ago. It offered a paper address in Regent St., no less, but in reality it was through a side door off a side alleyway off Regent St. that lead to a small, crowded office barely big enough to swing a cat in.

All I needed at the time was a place to take in any mail I recieved through the business where I could pick it up later or have it forwarded. In that respect, the service I used turned out to be excellent value for money and I'd use them again if the need ever came up. On the other hand though, I always felt like a bit of a fraud having such a 'prestigious' address, particularly because it portrayed my business as something that it wasn't. If I had to do it again, I'd probably opt for a less glamorous address - perhaps something down Slough way.

[decaff]

Do you folks in London have services like a "Mail Boxes Etc.? (now UPS Stores)

If so, they offer some affordable packages (at least in the States) and tend to have nice street addresses...where your box is a Ste Number (Suite Number)..

I have used this in the past and it worked fine for a physical street address....though with my current online work structure .. I don't need a "respectable" street address to represent myself ..

Slough Way....funny...
how about Precipitous Lane ... not exactly a trust builder...

[Fortune Hunter]

decaff has a good point. Here in the U.S. we have things like Mailboxes etc, but we also have other services that are essentially a "rent a office". The more high priced ones will actually provide an answering service that answers the phone as your office and puts people into your voice mail or cell phone. In addition, if you need a meeting room they can usually provide one for a one time fee. Finally they look like a physical office location to rather then a mailbox. It is not a physical office that you go to each day, but rather just the appearance of one.

I am not sure if you have such a service in London, but they are usually independent operations here in the U.S. Also I am not sure how the market is over there, but here in the U.S. people are getting more accustomed to Post Office boxes and phones that are answered by voice mail. I run my whole "virtual company" like this. On the outside I actually look much larger then I really am.

Fortune Hunter

[jenco]

Does anybody have this dea, or know some good company which can provide virtual address, not p.o.box in Delaware for low price? I have found some, but each costs more than 25 USD / month.

[ronin]

Do you folks in London have services like a "Mail Boxes Etc.?

Yes. The reception of easyInternetCafe on the Strand (opposite Charing X Station) is at least one location in London where Mail Boxes etc. operates.

I find it faintly amusing that some people evaluate the companies they deal with on the basis of that company's postal address.

[Automan Empire]

Be advised that recent (post 911) changes in mailing rules require that mail drops be addressed as "PPO" (?)for private post office, or some such. This puts the kibosh on calling a PO box a "suite."