Hi, I have been thinking recently about possibly opening an ecommerce store online and would love to know the answers to a few questions I have, and thought where better than dp forums to ask. So, as the title states, I am 17 and I'm only making my age obvious since I don't know if this changes the legalities of opening up a store online etc (I'm in the UK). So, I was wondering if anyone of my age has done anything similar at all and also what I need to be thinking about now when I'm in the planning stages. I know quite a bit of web design info etc and have looked at setting up a store with opencart before so the actual setup should not be a problem and won't cost me anything (other than the domain and hosting). Feel free to send me an email if you wish or find it easier: Thankyou in advance for any help, Sam
Hi Sam, I'm 16 and also from the UK. The only legal issue you will face at the beginning (at least) is from PayPal as you have to be 18 to setup an account; but they never check your age. Another issue regarding age is if you decide to make it an actual business according to UK laws you have to be 18 to be a managing director (CEO to Americans), however, unless you had your birthday around a week ago or your shop earns a crazy amount of income within the first year you shouldn't be too worried. I would personally suggest Magento I have used it in the past, and am using it at the moment and haven't had any problems (the only one problem is due to my host not being able to host magento - if you need a UK host which is able to host magento just ask), that is about it - if you are serious about you should make a very proffessional and good looking design - I would, unless you are actually amazing suggesting paying someone to design and code it. Any other questions? Josh.
I have to agree with Josh in that the biggest problem you will face is getting a payment processor to work with you. You could also have an issue with getting dropship companies to set up accounts for you. That is unless you have your parents on board and willing to put their names down on your behalf. Regards Chris
it is better if you use your parents name first in order for you to activate your paypal account. about your webs...don;t worry there are a lot of free e commerce CMS available... you can check it here http://php.opensourcecms.com/scripts/show.php?catid=3&category=eCommerce Maybe now...you should start to learn SEO in order to rank well in Google which will make more traffic to you...
Hi there, Im 26 now but when i was your age I was running a drop shipping online store. Everything was under my fathers name if that helps.
Thanks for the quick replies! Very helpful indeed.. especially josh's so thankyou. As far as paypal goes, I will be able to use my mums for now until I do turn 18 so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I think the next step for me now is to plan out what 'niche' to get in to and also how much money I will be needing to start it off. Ideally I would like to buy the stock wholesale myself but to stock an ecommerce store I know will be very expensive so maybe look at dropshipping. The only problem with this is I would be very apprehensive as to trusting the dropshipper. I would be constantly worrying if people were getting what they ordered. Is there a particular niche that may not be so expensive to buy stock in for or is anything I choose going to cost a lot primarily? Sam
Well to be honest there is obviously no 'good' niche which you can get into pretty easily. Obviously there are some drop shippers out there (I started a pet shop like that, but the margins were horrible) which are good but they are incredibly hard to find. If you want an okayish website for suppliers check out alibaba.com or www.esources.co.uk (this one is better, but you have to pay a starting fee), I would also suggest http://www.startups.co.uk/ - it will actually give you a lot of information. If you do do wholesale you will need a lot of space, obviously, however, if you have a cellar (as long as your not storing electrical items) and your parents are okay with it you can put some stuff down there for the beginning, if it works you could then start to think about renting a garage. If you are planning on starting wholesale it will cost a lot - doesn't matter about the niche. The start up costs (especially if you hire a professional designer/coder) would probably be around £300 for just dropshipping as a lot of dropshippers require an initial fee so they don't have to deal with time wasters. For wholesale you are looking at around £1000 +, especially if you want custom cardboard - which I would suggest. Another method however, is the just in time (well its kinda like it) option; which is (if you don't know) where you act as a wholesale, find some suppliers - offer there produce on your website, when you get an order you order the item from the supplier(s) and then send it off. However, there are obviously bad things about this - the main one being the time. Any other questions? Regards, Josh P.S. If you want private help just PM me and I'll give you my email.
You can do both, inventory and dropshipper. There are a lot of wholesalers that can do this for you so you are not limited to only the stocks you have, and can carry a huge selection of items. There's a lot of pros and cons for both, so you really have to do your research to find out what's best for you. Just be careful with whom you deal with, and don't tell them your real age (i guess you won't have to since it will be under your mom's name and you'd be like her manager).
Most mid-sized dropshippers actually don't mind your age.. Additionally, you can find manufacturing partners in the East who will do almost anything for the sound of a few hundred dollars. As to the platform - although Magento is the no. 1 e-commerce platform nowadays, it's hard to customize and maintain. If you're only kickstarting, you should go for easiler alternatives - Shopify, BigCommerce, or even WP E-commerce (in case you're using Wordpress).