New Online Business

[Red_Stafford]

Ok this is my first post on here so firstly I would like to say hello to you all,

I am looking to start my own online business, now I have a few different ideas of what I want to do I will list below

1) I was looking to start an online PC hardware store, but I have had problems finding suppliers that ship direct to my customers I have found many dropshippers but they are either not competative enough or there quality of stock is not good enough, I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on this one ?

2) I have been wondering about setting up my own online mobile phone store, I have not looked too deeply into this but was wondering what the pros & cons was towards this one ?

3) My girlfriend works in a cofee shop, they sell a certain make of cofee, this cofee is very high priced and is imported from Italy, I was wondering if the was a way of selling these cofee beans online straight from the manufacture ?

[Brian Turner]

First of all, welcome to Platinax.

The first thing that comes across is that you're eager to sell online, but you've got problems determining which industry you really want to target.

This could be crucial - PC hardware has a reputation for low-margins, and the mobile phone market is certainly competitive. Selling coffee online could be a good niche market to sell to, but how much understanding of the marketplace for this do you have?

I guess in that instance, you really need to weigh up what you know about each industry, and how you think you'll be able to target it profitably, espcially with long term goals in mind.

Once you have a basic idea of that, you can at least develop some form of business plan, to gauge your options perhaps a little more clearly.

Certainly there are a number of technical considerations to bear in mind when selling online - how much do you feel you understand this aspect? This could be especially crucial, as knowing how to reach out and market to customers, let alone process transactions, could be key areas you'll need to understand.

Hopefully more detailed questions will receive more detailed answers.

[Red_Stafford]

Well I have been in the computer industry selling & repairing PC`s a few years ago, and my partner is a manager in a coffee shop so she knows quite a bit about coffee

[Red_Stafford]

Ok guys I think I will look further into the PC hardware site, how do I go about registering a company name, I still want to keep my current job and work on the wesite part time at first, how can I also get suppliers interested in supplying goods to me

[Brian Turner]

Registering a company as a limited company is pretty easy and costs around £40-£50 online, depending on the degree of frills you want attached. Try Simple Formations for that:
http://www.simpleformations.com/

If you're looking to register a domain, as a UK company you're probably looking to use a .co.uk (though register the .com form as well if you can).

To register UK domain names, try www.123-reg.co.uk - only costs just over £6 for a UK domain for 2 years.

For a .com, you can always try www.registerfly.com, which costs about the same for a year for .com.

Hope that helps.

[Red_Stafford]

thank you for that info is there anything else I need to know about starting my own company whilst still in full employment ?

Also you have adviced me to start a limited company is there a reason behind this what is the difference between limited, PLC etc...

Also does it make a difference when registering your company name I want to call it SMJ Computers does it make a difference if I register
smjcomputers or smj computers ? may sound like a silly question.

Also when registering the domain name is this case sensative ?

[KGP]

www.simpleformations.com steve behind the site is of great assistance and they offer a superb service!!!

the site as well offers more than adequate information for the points you are raising.

the domain name is not case seNSitIVe try AmaZoN.COM and you will see

[Brian Turner]

Originally Posted by Red_Stafford

Also you have adviced me to start a limited company is there a reason behind this what is the difference between limited, PLC etc...

The difference is primarily one of tax liabilities for a small business - a sole trader company may benefit you more while your incomes are low, but once your profits start hitting the upper tax bracket, it may make more sense to have a limited company. Definitely a good idea to ask an accountant about this (they usually offer the first meeting as free).

Originally Posted by Red_Stafford

Also does it make a difference when registering your company name I want to call it SMJ Computers does it make a difference if I register
smjcomputers or smj computers ? may sound like a silly question.

It shouldn't really matter - but many businesses find that their choice of domain name is very much limited by availability.

[Callsign]

Originally Posted by Red_Stafford

Ok this is my first post on here so firstly I would like to say hello to you all,

I am looking to start my own online business, now I have a few different ideas of what I want to do I will list below

1) I was looking to start an online PC hardware store, but I have had problems finding suppliers that ship direct to my customers I have found many dropshippers but they are either not competative enough or there quality of stock is not good enough, I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on this one ?

2) I have been wondering about setting up my own online mobile phone store, I have not looked too deeply into this but was wondering what the pros & cons was towards this one ?

3) My girlfriend works in a cofee shop, they sell a certain make of cofee, this cofee is very high priced and is imported from Italy, I was wondering if the was a way of selling these cofee beans online straight from the manufacture ?

1) I was looking to start an online PC hardware store, but I have had problems finding suppliers that ship direct to my customers I have found many dropshippers but they are either not competative enough or there quality of stock is not good enough, I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on this one ? Competition is too high. IE Dell, so on so forth. Market is too small for personal computers with gadgets, IE gamers so on so forth.

2) I have been wondering about setting up my own online mobile phone store, I have not looked too deeply into this but was wondering what the pros & cons was towards this one ? Face plates and other ideals for cell phones is a good industry, you can find exporters in Taiwan and other places on Alibiba, as well as other Import Export Directories.


3) My girlfriend works in a cofee shop, they sell a certain make of cofee, this cofee is very high priced and is imported from Italy, I was wondering if the was a way of selling these cofee beans online straight from the manufacture ?[/quote] Tiny market, never could sell to anything other then mom and pop shop's that their yearly turnaround with you wouldn't even reach 100K. Booo on that idea.

[JaneOwen]

And it's worth mentioning that if you choose the coffee business, you will need to familiarise yourself with food law - it's not going to be terribly complicated for a product like coffee so don't panic :-)

Would you be selling to businesses (i.e. other coffee shops, restaurants, pubs) or the general public? This will make a difference to the legal situation. If you go for the coffee idea, please do ask here for more info when you need it.

Best of luck :-)