Opening a web based business

nobodiez

Hi all,

Apologies in advance if these answered have been answered before; I couldn't find them through search.
I am planning to open a web based business, selling women's accessories online. I won't have any premises or a business location as such, this will only be me accepting online payments & delivering products by post/courier.
1) What legal actions do I have to do, like register as a sole trader, register my company name, fill out self tax assessment forms etc?
2) Do I have to have receipts of stock purchases available when importing goods? Some stock will be imported from EU wholesale hypermarkets, some ordered online from China.
3) Do I legally have to adhere to/create policies for returns, refunds etc. ?

Any information will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

Graham

Try the following search terms in the "search this forum" link at the top of the main 'Entrepreneurial & Business Management' page:

Start a business
start a company
register company
import china
importing china
accounts
accounting
book-keeping
distance selling

Peterdalkey

It would seem that you are a very long way from actually being in a position to start a business as you are clearly not aware of even the basics of what is needed to startup, let alone run one .
Have you identified a market and done the research?
Have you the budget to promote and take on the big retailers already in this online space.
Have you the budget to design and build a knockout eCommerce website?
Most online only stores take 2-4 years of trading losses with no income for the promoters to reach a financially viable trading level, have you factored in this level of working capital.
Or perhaps it is just a hobby type businees you are looking at.

nobodiez

Hi Peter, thanks for your reply. We have identified a fairly large market, mostly based for East European customers who have difficulty buying clothes/accessories that they used to buy back home.
Budget is sorted for now, obviously we won't have huge lots of stock, but no business starts huge.
This is not a hobby business, but a chance to make a dream come true, and try out an idea, even if it fails, which is obviously a possibility, it's not the end of the world since we have other sources of income.

Peterdalkey wrote: »

It would seem that you are a very long way from actually being in a position to start a business as you are clearly not aware of even the basics of what is needed to startup, let alone run one .
Have you identified a market and done the research?
Have you the budget to promote and take on the big retailers already in this online space.
Have you the budget to design and build a knockout eCommerce website?
Most online only stores take 2-4 years of trading losses with no income for the promoters to reach a financially viable trading level, have you factored in this level of working capital.
Or perhaps it is just a hobby type businees you are looking at.

Peterdalkey

Good luck with your business. Interesting to see you doing a counter direction trade compared to all the used clothing etc that is going the other way out of Ireland!