First Time Sole Trader Qs! Online Retailer!

duffyshuffle

Hi,

So i've decided to take the plunge and set up an online retail shop, buying wholesale and then selling on food and health products. So, I have registered as a sole trader and sent the form to CORE, i've bought the domain name and set up with a hosting company, and i've ordered the products to sell.

Now initially, I don't expect sales to be huge, so a sole trader seems appropriate and just keep on track of all spending, receipts etc and income etc... and then maybe consult an accountant towards the end of the year?

I was wondering about insurance - do you need any product liability or goods in transit etc... insurance and who's best to deal with sole traders?

I am building the website up myself and will see how it looks before deciding on getting a pro to touch it up or rebuild as the case may be! But am anxious to get it up and selling once it works functionally, then tweak and add products as we go.

Any advice or anything that people think might help would be great, thanks

pedroeibar1

Get an accountant involved early on, it will pay in the long run. You should have Product liability insurance - talk to an insurance broker, he/she will advise you. Go to a mid-size broker - a small one will not know enough and you are too small for the bigger ones.

A sole trader has unlimited liability. That means if you get sued by a customer and the customer wins, you could lose everything, and more. Ireland is litigious. Any minor problem that would be ignored elsewhere could possibly lead to a lawsuit here. (Legally, should you be sued by a customer because of a defective product you can enjoin your supplier and apply to the court to move to the touchline, but that is not always successful and it is nice to have the comfort of an insurer behind you.) Food/health products need to be ‘approved’ so you should ensure that you are buying reputable product from reputable sources located in reputable markets. Goods in transit insurance depends on which way the goods are moving from or to you and on the conditions of sale.

duffyshuffle

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Get an accountant involved early on, it will pay in the long run. You should have Product liability insurance - talk to an insurance broker, he/she will advise you. Go to a mid-size broker - a small one will not know enough and you are too small for the bigger ones.

A sole trader has unlimited liability. That means if you get sued by a customer and the customer wins, you could lose everything, and more. Ireland is litigious. Any minor problem that would be ignored elsewhere could possibly lead to a lawsuit here. (Legally, should you be sued by a customer because of a defective product you can enjoin your supplier and apply to the court to move to the touchline, but that is not always successful and it is nice to have the comfort of an insurer behind you.) Food/health products need to be ‘approved’ so you should ensure that you are buying reputable product from reputable sources located in reputable markets. Goods in transit insurance depends on which way the goods are moving from or to you and on the conditions of sale.

Thats great thanks a lot. If i've registered with CORE, is it easy to swap? I'll have to look at it over the weekend! And i'll contact the suppliers about their insurance/any insurance etc... that they would recommend with the product

I also had a Q re: VAT - as a Ltd do you automatically register for VAT? And then you pay VAT on importing the goods, then add VAT to your price for anything you sell and collect it, then pay the Government the difference? And hold on to receipts of any business expenses?

Does anyone know of good accountants to deal with for small start ups?

Thanks!