[cyal8erbabe]

When establishing an online shop, what legalities need to be considered?

-Do you have to be a registered business to sell online?

[bubbles]

You will need to be prepared to sell online just like you would if you were selling at a store. But selling on the internet brings lots of liability...personal information being stolen, merchant account, etc.

I would recommend setting up a legitimate business structure including a license and insurance. You'll need to determine if you should be a sole proprietorship, LLC, etc.

I would also recommend consulting a small business attorney to help answer all these questions.

Hope this helps,
Karen
www.lovemybubbles.com

[mxer210]

DBA (if you dont use your personal name in your business name)

Sellers permit (US only) this is to collect and report tax on instate orders

business license - require for every business

SSL certicicate- I would spend atleast $50 to get a good one. If data is stolen from your website about a customer, and you dont have one, you can be sued by that customer for not having the proper protection on your website. If you have one, it isnt' considered your fault, because you did what you could to prevent hacking.

[cyal8erbabe]

Many thanks everyone.
Will help a great deal.

[GSchubert751]

SSL??

[Dus10]

We were just talking about this in my Information Systems Management class. There are basically a few things to consider legally:

1) Jurisdiction: The law that you must abide by is the law in the location you operate, and all places you sell. Are you national, international... You need to state the scope of your selling very clearly, so that if someone outside that area finds something objectionable, you are protected.

2) Intellectual Property: Make sure you have the exclusive rights to you business name and domain name.

3) Reporting: as with any business, make sure you are reporting things properly.

[mxer210]

SSL (secure socket layer) encrypts the data between your websites server, and the customers computer. hackers can intercept the data, but the ssl certificate installed on your server will make sure this doesnt happen. very good to have it if you have any sort fo login in sensitive data.

instantssl.com is a godo place to get one. I got teh comodo there for $69

[chakhar86]

1. You are selling goods over net, and you have chance to get customer abroad. How do you care about 'this customer'?