how to set up a new business

overthenest

hi folks,

i was just wondering, just say i had an idea to sell a product over the internet (i recently seen on a program it is possible to set up a free website on gettingbusinessonline.ie do i need to register the business to make it legit? if so how would i go about this? i only intend to have it as a part time business


thanks in advance

The Corinthian

overthenest wrote: »

i was just wondering, just say i had an idea to sell a product over the internet (i recently seen on a program it is possible to set up a free website on gettingbusinessonline.ie do i need to register the business to make it legit? if so how would i go about this? i only intend to have it as a part time business

If you're going to rely upon that Web site as your sales platform, then you should probably check with their terms and conditions where it comes to your business status. Otherwise you can operate as a sole trader, under your own name or register a business name, with a minimum of fuss - as long as you declare any income from the business to the Revenue.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

You don't need to register a business to make it legit, however if your looking for a .ie you may need to register a business name on www.cro.ie costs 20quid to file online. In terms of "legit" all you need to do is to keep accounts and file your tax returns at the end of the year as a sole trader.

At the Google lead initiative gettingbusinessonline.ie we have free template websites, free ad money to get your traffic started, basic hosting package from the lads at BlackNight and lots of how to education. We also have some courses on in the local county enterprise boards and as we progress it there may be more to come. It's a great way to get an online presence and test the market.

However to get a fully functioning e-commerce store which truly makes money I think you'd need to go beyond this free solution and make a little investment in the technology.

As we said on the show, the great thing about online businesses is you can make money while your sleeping and taking orders while your in work which you then fulfill in the evenings.

overthenest

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: »

You don't need to register a business to make it legit, however if your looking for a .ie you may need to register a business name on www.cro.ie costs 20quid to file online. In terms of "legit" all you need to do is to keep accounts and file your tax returns at the end of the year as a sole trader.

At the Google lead initiative gettingbusinessonline.ie we have free template websites, free ad money to get your traffic started, basic hosting package from the lads at BlackNight and lots of how to education. We also have some courses on in the local county enterprise boards and as we progress it there may be more to come. It's a great way to get an online presence and test the market.

However to get a fully functioning e-commerce store which truly makes money I think you'd need to go beyond this free solution and make a little investment in the technology.

As we said on the show, the great thing about online businesses is you can make money while your sleeping and taking orders while your in work which you then fulfill in the evenings.

many thamks for your reply guys, ronan i seen your outfit on the same program, very very impressive! congrats to you on your success.

as you say, make a little investment in technology, just say i had one product i wanted to sell which was relatively unique with a customer base mainly aimed at the us and uk, what would be the best way for me to go about getting myself up and running, i.e. getting an online presence and be able to take payment and as i say make the business legit, it would only be a part time set up initially as i wouldnt expect a huge volume of sales for quite a while, again many thanks in advance

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Thanks.

It really depends on the product, I'm a bit slow to give general advise on this as I don't believe there is such thing as a one size fits all strategy (it would make business less fun anyway if there was) and what works for one industry would be awful in another.

If you like you can PM me your product details, or post them on the thread if your comfortable.

karltimber

HI,

Have you thought about trying ebay.

You could list them on both .co.uk & .com ebay sites to get direct listings there.

Websites are great but they do require a lot of work to get "seen".

Ebay may be a good testing ground.

K

gappers

karltimber wrote: »

HI,

Have you thought about trying ebay.

You could list them on both .co.uk & .com ebay sites to get direct listings there.

Websites are great but they do require a lot of work to get "seen".

Ebay may be a good testing ground.

K

Lets say you sell items such as clothes or video games on ebay (with paypal) in November / December to make some extra cash for xmas and you make 1000. How do you declare that with revenue or do you need to bother and is there any way to calculate how much tax you may have to pay.

amen

while doing it for the best price on the market

thats not true. I can use the official Companies Registration Office web site, http://www.cro.ie/ and register a Sole Trader or Business Name for €20 which is less than the €29 you advertise.

You also have missing p from the word Help on the bottom of the your main page.

Garrigai

amen wrote: »

while doing it for the best price on the market

thats not true. I can use the official Companies Registration Office web site, http://www.cro.ie/ and register a Sole Trader or Business Name for €20 which is less than the €29 you advertise.

You also have missing p from the word Help on the bottom of the your main page.

I stand by the statement that we are the cheapest provider of the service on the market. As filling out the forms on the CRO isn't all you have to do if setting up a company as you need a memorandum of association, articles of association and we provide the minutes of your first meeting and a register of shares for each director.

P.S. thanks for noticing the typo we have been updating the site recently to continue to improve the service and I'll get that rectified immediately.

The Corinthian

Garrigai wrote: »

I stand by the statement that we are the cheapest provider of the service on the market.

Well, if the service is the handling of the registration, rather than the registration itself then what you say may well be true. Otherwise it is cheaper to DIY.

In the case of a sole trader or business name, there's really not much to it and it's pretty straight forward to do so directly with the CRO. With a limited company there is a lot more paperwork involved, as you suggest, and can be a bit of a pain to set up (having done this myself), so using such a service might well make sense.

K_2008

The Corinthian wrote: »

Well, if the service is the handling of the registration, rather than the registration itself then what you say may well be true. Otherwise it is cheaper to DIY.

In the case of a sole trader or business name, there's really not much to it and it's pretty straight forward to do so directly with the CRO. With a limited company there is a lot more paperwork involved, as you suggest, and can be a bit of a pain to set up (having done this myself), so using such a service might well make sense.

Can I ask how you went about setting up the limited company yourself? Did you just go by the CRO website steps etc? I am about to do likewise and can't afford to splash out on accountancy fees at the moment. Thanks.

The Corinthian

K_2008 wrote: »

Can I ask how you went about setting up the limited company yourself? Did you just go by the CRO website steps etc? I am about to do likewise and can't afford to splash out on accountancy fees at the moment. Thanks.

The only time I did so DIY, my business partner at the time did most of the work. If memory serves correctly, you can get all the necessary documentation and forms from the CRO, but there is a load of secondary information you need to collect when you fill them out. I also seem to remember that we needed a solicitor (we got a friend) to sign them at some stage.

Personally, I feel it is probably better just pay someone for an off the shelf Ltd and then register a trading name, as the learning curve is not worth it unless you want to set up multiple companies. A trading name, or registering as a sole trader, I'd do myself, as there's not much to it.

Just to add; registering a limited company is a bit of a pain, but ultimately not that complicated in the grand scheme of things. De-registering - closing down - one is definitely a much bigger can of worms, even if you do so voluntarily and with no debts. So think long and hard if you want to go Ltd.

Gone are the days when you could just walk away and they'd simply de-list them if you didn't file tax returns for 18 months...

K_2008

The Corinthian wrote: »

The only time I did so DIY, my business partner at the time did most of the work. If memory serves correctly, you can get all the necessary documentation and forms from the CRO, but there is a load of secondary information you need to collect when you fill them out. I also seem to remember that we needed a solicitor (we got a friend) to sign them at some stage.

Personally, I feel it is probably better just pay someone for an off the shelf Ltd and then register a trading name, as the learning curve is not worth it unless you want to set up multiple companies. A trading name, or registering as a sole trader, I'd do myself, as there's not much to it.

Just to add; registering a limited company is a bit of a pain, but ultimately not that complicated in the grand scheme of things. De-registering - closing down - one is definitely a much bigger can of worms, even if you do so voluntarily and with no debts. So think long and hard if you want to go Ltd.

Gone are the days when you could just walk away and they'd simply de-list them if you didn't file tax returns for 18 months...

Thanks for that, looks like I need to put the thinking cap on again. The sole trader idea sounds simple, but as I understand it you stand to loose personal assets (i.e. your home) if it all goes haywire, so the Ltd idea sounds better to me. Think I'll take a look at the off the shelf Ltd as you mentioned and see what the options are there.

The Corinthian

K_2008 wrote: »

The sole trader idea sounds simple, but as I understand it you stand to loose personal assets (i.e. your home) if it all goes haywire, so the Ltd idea sounds better to me. Think I'll take a look at the off the shelf Ltd as you mentioned and see what the options are there.

It really depends upon your business model. Limited liability is more of an issue when you need to borrow sums that vast outstretch your personal wealth and/or have high overheads that are not so easy to wind down.

For example, if you sign a lease on an office and/or equipment, you're going to have to pay for it, or to get out of the lease, if you decide to close up shop. Or employee salaries that you must continue to pay for a few months notice. Or you may need to borrow tens or even hundreds of thousands to expand your business, only to find it fails and the debt must be repaid.

In many cases, none of these types of issues are really applicable. If you're selling a product over the Internet, in a home-office environment, you can probably control your costs easily enough; the only two things that I'd imagine you'd need to look out for is legal liability (for which there's insurance) and over-leveraging yourself when buying stock.

Ultimately, if you can control your costs (which in a one-man-show, you should be) then limited liability is often unnecessary.

Even when it is, don't overestimate the protection that a Ltd will give you. The last 20 years have seen a serious tightening up of the law in this regard and you can very easily be found guilty of reckless trading, which would invalidate such protection. Even with banks loans, banks will typically seek personal collateral to help guarantee the debt.

K_2008

The Corinthian wrote: »

It really depends upon your business model. Limited liability is more of an issue when you need to borrow sums that vast outstretch your personal wealth and/or have high overheads that are not so easy to wind down.

For example, if you sign a lease on an office and/or equipment, you're going to have to pay for it, or to get out of the lease, if you decide to close up shop. Or employee salaries that you must continue to pay for a few months notice. Or you may need to borrow tens or even hundreds of thousands to expand your business, only to find it fails and the debt must be repaid.

In many cases, none of these types of issues are really applicable. If you're selling a product over the Internet, in a home-office environment, you can probably control your costs easily enough; the only two things that I'd imagine you'd need to look out for is legal liability (for which there's insurance) and over-leveraging yourself when buying stock.

Ultimately, if you can control your costs (which in a one-man-show, you should be) then limited liability is often unnecessary.

Even when it is, don't overestimate the protection that a Ltd will give you. The last 20 years have seen a serious tightening up of the law in this regard and you can very easily be found guilty of reckless trading, which would invalidate such protection. Even with banks loans, banks will typically seek personal collateral to help guarantee the debt.

Interesting stuff. In my case the initial overheads would be minimal (working from home mainly) and borrowings non-existent. Professional indemnity insurance will be required to cover me on the legal side as it is consultancy type work. That's another area I need to explore and from what I gather the cost can be substantial.

So from what you're saying maybe a sole trader might be the way to start, while it's just myself (with no overheads, borrowings, salaries to pay etc). Once the business becomes established, I could switch over to the Ltd Co. maybe after a year or so if the business expands to have its own rented premises and staff.

Thanks again.

The Corinthian

K_2008 wrote: »

Interesting stuff. In my case the initial overheads would be minimal (working from home mainly) and borrowings non-existent. Professional indemnity insurance will be required to cover me on the legal side as it is consultancy type work. That's another area I need to explore and from what I gather the cost can be substantial.

It's actually not that high. You can get yourself covered up to €1m for a premium of a few hundred - do check the small print and shop around though.

So from what you're saying maybe a sole trader might be the way to start, while it's just myself (with no overheads, borrowings, salaries to pay etc). Once the business becomes established, I could switch over to the Ltd Co. maybe after a year or so if the business expands to have its own rented premises and staff.

If your business model is consultancy from a home-office, then being a limited company is frankly a waste of money and effort, IMHO. You should consider registering for VAT, long before registering as a Ltd company.

Limited liability is something to look into when you start to hire employees or as a requirement to tender for some contracts.

K_2008

The Corinthian wrote: »

It's actually not that high. You can get yourself covered up to €1m for a premium of a few hundred - do check the small print and shop around though.

If your business model is consultancy from a home-office, then being a limited company is frankly a waste of money and effort, IMHO. You should consider registering for VAT, long before registering as a Ltd company.

Limited liability is something to look into when you start to hire employees or as a requirement to tender for some contracts.

Cheers, will shop around for the P.I. and hopefully get a good deal on that.

Will look into the VAT registration also asap. Nice to know I can skip all the Ltd company stuff for now anyway.