[Legal Issue] Web Hosting Business

bonked · 02-07-2009, 12:02 PM

I am planning on opening my own web hosting business, I have a verified paypal account, SSL Certificate, privacy policy, TOS and all of the legal and credential related items.

Is there any legal issues related to owning a business in the US (New Jersey) at the age of 15 that I need to know about?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

-Michael

thomas5280 · 04-26-2009, 02:53 PM

Hi Michael,

I just came across your post today while browsing legal contents/blogs via google. We are team of lawyers already offering our services to couple of clients across US & UK at the moment. We can provide you with required legal assitance & at a competitive price as we are an Outsourcing company based in India but well familiar with EU laws (as we cater EU clients). Please feel free to touch base via email: shoby (dot) thomas (at) hotmail (dot) com

Kind Regards,

Thomas

chrispalko · 04-26-2009, 09:24 PM

Have you filed the necessary paperwork with your state to establish you business? Then you need an EIN from the IRS. Also, you need to take care of your local county business tax receipt. Don't forget to look into zoning to see what requirements you're subject to there.

Try to find a local SCORE office by you. They can help with everything for free.

LSnyder · 06-12-2009, 10:59 AM

Hi bonked,

Just wondering if you ever went through with the start up of your business?

thomasfrank09 · 06-23-2009, 10:24 AM

The only thing you should be wary of is that customers might not want to do business with you when they find out your age. This is because minors have both the right to enter into a legal contract and the right to disaffirm it. So anyone who signs a contract with you is in effect getting no legal protection or guarantee that you'll hold up your end.

However, if this is not a concern for you then you need to be VERY careful when setting up a web hosting business. If you are planning on being a reseller like I am, then there is not as much to worry about, but if you plan on running your own servers then you need to be aware that a client can sue you very easily for loss of revenue should their site go down. Established hosting companies have staff that monitor server activity around the clock to make sure there are no hickups, and resellers extend that benefit. You need to be able to compete with my 99.9% uptime guarantee, because if you can't, you won't get customers, or you will and then they'll sue you. Just some things to think about.