Legal Advice for Small Business!?

Hi:

No one here on the forum can actually speak to the legality of a home based business as laws and bylaws differ by state/province, county, city, township.

Some areas will allow home based businesses, while others will not without zoning in place for the property.

Call your local area administration office if in township or county, or in city call the city clerk and ask for business licences....these offices will be able to advise you as to whether or not you can establish a home based business in your home.

If an apartment occupant then you will need also to contact the owner of the building to see if they have rules for or against.

Undoubtedly you will need a business license....and it would be wise to see a lawyer/attorney to make sure everything is set up according to law.

As far as an online presence...

You will need...

a domain name,

hosting for the web site (don't use the cheapest around or a free one - cheap ones may not have what you need for a secure shopping cart, and free ones can shut you down at their whim and desire),

a software to power your web site - whether it be WordPress or an actual web site content management software.

a way to receive payment...generally just a PayPal account will do...however if you need a shopping cart you will have to add that to your web site (if you are at a reputable hosting site then they should have one that can be added to your site),

also you need to find out if you are required by law in your location to collect taxes on your sales....if you do there are 2 ways to do it...sell the cards with taxers included and then submit the required taxes on cards sold...or the better way to go - use a shopping cart to specify the taxes on each sale (this makes it easier to keep track of taxes to submit as well as most shoppers are used to seeing a breakdown in a shopping cart) and with a shopping cart you can include shipping.

Cornell