forum Does anyone know anything about starting a business??

Started June 11, 2020 by @jupiter-sun-of-sweater-town group

tune

I'm working on starting an online dog-toy business and I'm relatively completely inexperienced in this, does anyone have any tips?

I’d suggest starting somewhere like Etsy. Etsy is an easy platform that will market for you, and it is relatively cheap (p sure it’s free, actually) to post there. There you wouldn’t have the problem of figuring out a good domain for your online business, marketing, or website mechanics.

TL;DR: Start small and on other platforms.

Etsy is sort of free. It's free to post there, but they actually take like 15% (I think???) of your profit, and they do market for you, but that's not free either. So depending on how you're making the dog toys (painstakingly handmade, vs quick and easily made), how much competition you have, etc. Because on Etsy, it is possible if you put a lot of work and money in, you'll have to hike up the price. I was going to set up an Etsy shop myself, but decided against it for this reason. (In my case, I'm knitting plushes, which is a painstaking process with a market, and can be expensive and time-consuming.) I do agree, however, that having a platform is probably better than trying to do it all yourself. There are other platforms besides Etsy. Personally, I'm using BigCartel. It's pretty user-friendly, and you can pay, but it depends on the level of shop you have. A very tiny, minimal shop is free. Next level up (max of 50 products at a time, plus some other features), is $9.99/month, which isn't bad if you're turning a profit. Currently, I'm trying to set up a free shop to see if I can get any business, and I think that's part of the point of that option. If I'm not mistaken, I think they take a small percentage of your profit, but it's less than 5%.

I used Wix.com to create my website, and I use Shopify to sell items. The basic shopify costs 26 bucks a month, and it only takes a 2% transaction fee, unless you use shopify payments, their equivalent of a secure purchasing platform. You keep the profit you make. You can have unlimited items, and it's pretty nice to have that in the long run. They also have 24 hour website service, and it's always a real person. (At least for me it has been) It's worth a shot to look into.

Not any input on where, but absolutely register your business. There's a ton of tax stuff that can get you in trouble if you don't do it right. Also, on that note, keep records of everything. Keep track of what sells and for how much and when, like I keep a log of all my wares as well as expenses in regards to my business. It's needed for taxes, yes, but it can also be good to see what sells best and where the money ends up in expenses.