i am thinking of setting up a site selling my own product, and i'm totally fresh on it can u advise some good article on the process? with detailed step-by-step explanations and refs. maybe there are any specialized sites/communities? my specific questions: - do i need to incorporate? - is it advisable to do it offshore? (product is electronic, not geo-related, sold worldwide) - i understand i need a merchant account, payment processing, etc.. what are the general guidelines? - how to simplify accounting/reporting/taxes/etc - are there any packaged solutions with all legal bells-and-wisles like disclamers, policies, fine-prints, etc?
Here is my advice: 1) Yes, you need to incorporate, if you are in the US you can generally do this online at your state's secretary of state website, just google <state name> secretary of state. Incorporating offers you limited liability if something goes bad. 2) No reason to go off-shore 3) Yes you need a merchant account if you are a new business chances are you can't get a merchant account from your bank unless you have great credit even then the setup process is more difficult as you will need a payment gateway and SSL certificate, Use Paypal or Googlecheckout. 4) For accounting go buy Quickbooks it will prepare everything for you so at the end of the year you can take it to an accountant. My best advice is to setup an LLC, set up 2 bank accounts, one personal and one for the LLC all payments will go into the LLC's bank account every two weeks pay your self a set salary like $300 or something untill you have some revenue. Then every quarter spend some money with an accountant to look at your books, this can generally be accomplished for $100-$200 if your books are in order. 5) As much as people will probably disagree just look at other website disclaimers and rewrite it. Also look at your payment processor's policies that will give you a good guideline. There are some services out there that can write these for you for a few $100 but you will have to look into it. Hope that helps. Oh I'm not a lawyer or accountant just some general guidelines to get you started.
linsys, thanks for a great advise! i'm not in the states (based in russia now), guess i'll need to check with my local rules, i know they are confusing.. maybe i'll consider to incorporate elsewhere to keep it simple, if i can manage it from here..
it's a pretty regular e-commerce, selling digital stuff - subscription+downloads. international sales, no geo preferences, most jobs outsourced, sales turnover - anywhere zero to billion
Simply setup "i.ch.p" in your local tax administration, pay taxes quarterly and all will be ok. Incorporate in other country only needed if you have plan to sell tangible goods - actually it will be pain for you, you will earn more money if will open eshop in Moscow or Novosibirsk.
If you're outside Moscow, you're well off with setting up products via ClickBank and not paying anything in terms of taxes. I've had a business in Russia, and everything that the first reply there said is pretty much irrelevant (no offense, it was good stuff - for the US) All you need is register at ClickBank, setup your page and submit it for approval. And you'll feel the power of affiliate marketing - if your stuff's good that is,.
great tips guys! ClickBank's looking good, will work well at least for the startup. btw, why did u say "If you're outside Moscow..", (i'm actually inside) - what's the difference?
If you're in Moscow, chances are the money you'll get from selling online won't be enough for anything. Life's too expensive there. Oh, and you'll get owned by the tax serivces. As they say, выебут
u're right.. and that's exactly the reason i was thinking offshore.. though ClickBank option seems to solve both regulations/tax issues
isnt there a problem with cashing in cheques in Russia? if you are running a proper business and its registered then you need to pay taxes otherwise никому дела не будет. Ð½Ð°Ð»Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð² РоÑÑии ещё не на том уровне
cheques are no problem, just takes couple of weeks to cash. ClickBank is personal income, u don't have to incorporate to sell through CB. just declare this income and pay tax once a year.. guess i'll go with CB for some time, if business grows, i'll go offshore.