NEW BUSINESS HELP PLEASE

mammajules

Hi All,

I want to set up my own small new business re selling cosmetics, can anyway help me re: the legal side of things.

I want to import goods from USA cosmetic goods and I want to be able to see these with a margin on, but would still be cheaper than buying in dept stores. I also want to import cosmetic accessories and re sell.

Can anyone help

xx
Jules

Oiche_mhaith

First thing to do is register a company at www.cro.ie. To save costs you cando this yourself, there are plenty of Articles of Association on the internet you can use as a template. Then all you need to do is source your suppliers and figure out how your gonna sell all your gear!

aidan.connolly

Hi,

Unless you have some previous experience in the running of a business, I would suggest you see an accountant.
There are a number of options. Sole Trader/Limited Company. The whole of Tax compliance is also very important.

It would be money well spent !

Good luck with it.

Lorelei

you can and possibly should register simply as a sole trader which is the easiest and quickest method of all. You don't have to register at all if trading under your own name.
Before talking to anyone else I would advise going along to the customs and excise chappies, to check on duties controls etc. Then talk to the American chamber of commerce and get advice form them.
Having worked in a company which imported over 95% of its products and machines from the states I can say now that a huge risk is prices and delivery. Shipments can take between 8 and 12 weeks. As you are basically dealing with chemicals there may well be some products which cannot be packed with othere so for exampel you could 1/2 a pallet and then another one with 3 boxes on big difference in transport costs.
I recommend before doing anything else talk to the commercial department at the embassy, the chamber of commerce, the customs and revenue and finally 1'/2 dozen freight agencies before worrying about registering a compnay name.
good luck

onedmc

You need to identify the products that you want to sell then work out if you can make a margin, figure out if you can source them reliably. Also figure out your target market is it consumers (expensive to sell to but higher margin) or trade such as Beauty Salons, nail bars (easy to sell to but always smaller margin).

To identify the products maybe look into going to some of the cosmetic trade fairs in the US. Or if you can't afford to go they would normally also produce a list of exibitors from previous shows. Again there may be a cost but its likley to be less than 100bucks.

Do the research like check out websites in the US, talk to people in the trade.

If you have done all of this already then go and see an accountant to get the paperwork set up.

Connacht

Yes, I agree.
Forget about all the paperwork and business reg'n for a while.
Find the products with their prices. Get a general idea of transport and customs costs and then see if you can make a margin.
Talk to potential customers (trade or consumers) and see what they think of your potential range.
Buy very little at first. If you purchase too soon, later you'll wonder what the heck you were thinking of re branding, packaging, price levels, etc., if you just go and buy on a whim.
Also, all cosmetics sold in the EU must meet regulatory requirements.
See http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/cosmetics/html/consolidated_dir.htm
Basically, so your marketing research big time.
Also, think about what your competitive advantage is going to be ? Why should people buy from you ?