Online Retailer

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Permalink Reply by Team Sta.rtUp.biz on September 9, 2008 at 5:56pm

Licenses/Permits/Restrictions:
Being online will not exempt you from necessary licenses and permits. Depending on what you are retailing, you might need federal and/or state business licenses. If you will be running the business from home and need to store large amounts of inventory or make other accommodations (like receiving transportation trucks in your driveway), you’ll also need to consider deed and zoning restrictions.

Type of Liability Shield Entity:
As for whether you should form an LLC or another type of entity, check out the post entitled “Business Structure LLC or INC?” (http://www.sta.rtup.biz/forum/topic/show?id=2084667%3ATopic%3A447760). For your state, start by browsing the secretary of state’s website to get an understanding of the state and local requirements (the Pennsylvania Department of State’s website is http://www.dos.state.pa.us/corps/site/default.asp). After forming your entity, you will need to register with the taxation department in that state (the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue website is http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/). If you will be forming an entity in Pennsylvania, you’ll be able to use the PA On-line Business Tax Registration to complete your entity’s tax registration needs (http://www.pa100.state.pa.us/). Also, check out the post entitled “Sales tax” (http://www.sta.rtup.biz/forum/topic/show?id=2084667%3ATopic%3A6558).

Making sure you have all the appropriate permits, licenses, tax registrations, and filings can be time consuming and confusing. Many chose to enlist the help of a local attorney to make sure that they’ve done things correctly.

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Permalink Reply by Kali Kunkle on December 14, 2008 at 7:18pm

Wow, SUp.biz CEO, where were you when we got started? :-)

I'm probably too late, Michelle, to be of any real value, but I'll comment separately on LegalZoom since you've already gotten other great advice. Maybe it will still having meaning for you or help someone else. By the way, I am not at attorney and am not qualified to give legal advice.

I ended up using a great neighborhood attorney who was kind enough to help me at a significant discount, is our attorney today, and connected us with a great CPA - so I was very fortunate. (Networking rocks!) But in researching LZ and other options, they seemed like a very cost-effective option if you stuck to the basic things that are needed. They seemed to have a great reputation, claimed to work quickly, and had some endorsements that seemed comforting. Out of all the companies I researched, they were the one I would have used, to save start-up costs, if I hadn't been so fortunate.

Having said that, LZ's add-on services started to add up quickly, so I'd be cautious about that and research exactly what you really need. They also list appropriate disclaimers on their site, but please keep in mind that they are doing the basic legal work for you but are not attorneys and do not offer legal advice. One of the sales people, who followed up with me for awhile, kept offering to talk on the phone and give me advice about formation options. I didn't have the conversation, so I don't know how it would have turned out, but that concerned me a bit. (Perhaps for naught... I'll never know for sure and want to be clear about that.)

Lastly, as Kim from PPL suggests, there is plenty to consider beyond just the legal documentation to get started. For that, I personally recommend having a "live" attorney that can have actual conversations with you, answer detailed questions, and provide resources. But again, that's my opinion.

So, how is your business going (as much as you are willing to share)? Having started in 2008, I know that it can be fun, exciting, exhausting, stressful and rewarding, all rolled into one. I hope you are tremendously successful, or building toward that, day by day.

Best wishes for effective networking on SUp.biz,

Kali
________________________
Kali Kunkle
DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
Kali@dreamWorthyGifts.com
www.DreamWorthyGifts.com

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on December 15, 2008 at 4:17pm

Thanks for responding Kali. Yes, you were a little late :-) When I asked this question I didn't have a website or anything. Now I'm up and running. www.theluxuryloft.com

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Permalink Reply by Kali Kunkle on December 17, 2008 at 9:49pm

Hey Michelle - Wow! Ya done good! ;-) I love your site design and how intelligently you established a strong niche market with quality products.

In comparison, we started in reverse. We opened with a long tail strategy first, and plan to split into a variety of niche markets over time, all under the DreamWorthy brand. Only time will tell if that was a better move or not for us (and since we're not doing both at the same time, we may never know for sure), but we did expect it would be more difficult for ramp up and SEO, and it has been. In a perfect world, it may allow us to gauge which direction(s) we want to head; we'll see how that plays out.

Either way, we envy your focus a bit and congratulate you again on a very nice site. We hope you are wildly successful. If you think we can ever help in any way, please reach out and let us know. (Reciprocal link, perhaps? - or maybe we can mention your site in our blog? Let me know what you think.)

Have a great evening,

Kali
________________________
Kali Kunkle
DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
Kali@dreamWorthyGifts.com
www.DreamWorthyGifts.com

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on December 18, 2008 at 8:09am

Thanks Kali. Sure we can do a Reciprocal link and I would love to be mentioned in your blog.

Michelle

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Permalink Reply by Kali Kunkle on December 18, 2008 at 9:17am

Hi Michelle, excellent! Great to hear. We'll get you linked over the next few days. Send anything you would like us to mention (any specific branding language or promotions) and we'll piece together the rest. Send it to Mike@DreamWorthyGifts.com... he's our primary blogger.

9:16 a.m. CT and networking has already paid off! Now, where are those cookies...? ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Team Sta.rtUp.biz on December 15, 2008 at 5:19pm

Great personal feedback, Kali. It always helps to hear other people's stories. Most entrepreneurs have several businesses over the courses of their lives, so your lessons are good for us all to keep in mind. Thanks for sharing.

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Permalink Reply by Kali Kunkle on December 17, 2008 at 9:51pm

Thank you, that was very kind of you to say.

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