Wanting to start online business?

Question

A friend and I are wanting to start an online business. Just to sale crafts that we make. Does anyone know what it takes. I have a friend that owns a software company so he is doing the domain and tech support and all of that. But is there any legal things that we need to do. How do we make sure we don't pick a business name that is already in use and stuff like that.....any help would be great

Answer 1

The best thing to do is to use your own name as the name of the company. This will make you the sole proprietor. However, If your crafts happen to harm someone, then you would be liable.

If you want to have a name for your online company, then you would have to go to your local government and fill out a "Doing Business As" form and they will look it up and see if the name has not already been taken. In which case you would still be liable anyway.

If you want limited liability, then you need to start an LLC. I wouldn't advise it at the beginning though.

You should be okay with doing business as yourself for now until your business starts to become profitable.

If you would like more information on how to start a home business, feel free to IM or email me. I'm always willing to help out fellow small business entrepreneurs.

Answer 2

Doing business as a sole proprietorship is not a good idea at all and I would not reccomend it to anyone as it is a liability nightmare.  If you get sued YOU are responsible and not the company entity.  Set yourself up as an LLC which is good for taxes and liability at the beginning.  When you register your business the government will check to see if there is another business with that name.  If you have any questions you can email me

Answer 3

Sell at Ebay.  It's cheap and you have a worldwide audience that can view your products.

Answer 4

Use this basic checklist to make sure all the important steps are taken before you launch your new venture. This business checklist will make sure that you cross all your t's and dot all your i's before your business launch.

Steps to Starting a Business -

http://www.developer-resource.com/starti...

Other sites you might find helpful are:

SBA - http://www.sba.gov/

SCORE - http://www.score.org

Small Business Resource - http://www.small-business-software.net

Business Link - http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/act...

Goodluck!

Answer 5

Use Google to search for such companies. And if there is a company with that name, as long as it's not as the same field as yours you're not going to worry much. There's a lot of companies that share the same names, but conflict's always avoided when they're in different fields because they're in no competition with each other.

But when they're in the same field such as the Beatles Apple and Mac Apple were, then of course conflict would erupt.

Just avoid having similar logos with different companies, and in general logos are a big problem for companies as they cost thousands of dollars to register and make, research has to be done to avoid companies with similar logos or lawsuits could be applied.

Overall I recommend you host the site from your own home or a place you bought rather then going to a domain registar like godaddy.com -It's worth learning the technological knowledge  and hosting a company from your own home.

it also gives you a lot of credibility.

Answer 6

sell it on ebay