Thread: How to go Legit

Going to be starting two online businesses soon.

1) I will be selling services

2) I will be selling products


What is the best way to go about this while still being legit and staying out of trouble.

I took a business degree but never learned the how to's on starting a business... Only learned how to manage/market a business.


Not really sure of the legalities of an online business and what I need to do to make it "Legal"

In the US this matters more by state than on a federal level.
Remember though you need to be aware of laws for each state you ship to. While this is next to impossible, you need to try to be aware of them as when you ship acrossed state lines the other state can prosecute you, plus it opens you up to federal issues as well.

Most states however require at minimum some form of sales ID/certificate, most states also require you to collect sales tax on sales made inside your state, some local communities and counties will require you to collect tax as well.

Best bet would be to consult your local state commerce department. An accountant would also be highly recommended.

Damn all this just to sell something...

I live in MA

Guess ill start researching

Really, where in MA? I'm in Quincy.

MA has tons of laws and it depends on what you want to do. If you are operating your business with your own name, you just need a license from your town and a bank account.

If you want a company name, but don't want to pay a lot you can do a DBA. You come up with a business name which is something like "My Company d/b/a My Real Name". You go to your town hall and apply for the dba license, then you go to your bank and open a bank account.

If you want to do a Corporation, LLC, etc. Those are more complicated but provide a lot more benefits if you earn more. For this, you should check out the mass.gov website, I believe they have some resources to help start your business.

^ where DBA means "doing business as"

sorry, yes, not to be confused with DataBase Administrator


DBA = doing business as
LLC = Limited Liability Corporation
LLP = Limited Liability Partnership
Corporation can be a couple different kinds depending how it's setup.