<p>Hey, I am already making money through this secret business I made. And now I want to open my own online store. Can anyone who has done this before give me an advice? Like what business liscence do I need? How much money do I need? Where is the best place to create ecommerce store? etc. Thanks</p>
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<li><p>If you’re using COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL for this type of advice, where most of the members are STUDENTS, you have issues.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t you think there are specialized message boards where you can use the search button?</p></li>
<li><p>If you don’t have the initiative to think this issue through properly, you are not ready to start your own business.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>lol, secret business</p>
<p>if it’s secret, there’s probably some illegal issues involved :P</p>
<p>yeah no kidding, are you selling crack on the corner or?</p>
<p>A typical business license costs about $30–and you get it through the county. You will have to advertise your company in two newspapers to make it legal if you are a DBA–for example, John Doe DBA Best Typewriter Repair Company.</p>
<p>As far as e-commerce–just start up your company by getting the business licenses and the e-commerce companies will find you and advertise their services. If you need immediate assistance and have no time to do this yourself, or don’t know how to set this up, contact your local bank (you will need to open a company bank account anyway–and the banks have lots of contacts with the local businesses).</p>
<p>You will also need a web presence–so contact your ISP–and then also purchase a domain name. They will try to charge you hundreds of dollars for one–but you can get one for $10 to $15 if you just keep asking for the lowest rates. </p>
<p>If you know how to create your own website great–if not there are tons of groups that do this for a living–very cheaply, I might add. Nowadays any high school student can do this (my son did an excellent one for me when he was just a sophomore in high school)–and I paid for an upgrade later. (Could have done it myself, but cheaper to pay for this–comparative advantage, you understand–I’m billing my time at higher rates).</p>
<p>There are other things you need to know, but I’m not a lawyer–and therefore not allowed to give you legal advice–but consider that there are reasons to get accounting help for reporting and taxes (payroll and income), and consider the type of business to create (C-corporation, S-corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship). Good luck.</p>