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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
 
Location: SW MO | OT- I know I am terrible about these OT posts, but I like to get as many opinions as possible so here goes.
I have been working on a business plan to open an online boutique/shop within the next 6 months. I am working on getting my state sales license, LLC, and domain.
Now the question for other already established owners- Which domain site do you recommend? Which websites hosts are quality? Which ones should I stay away from? Any advice on getting an LLC would also be appreciated!
How did you get started? How are your businesses doing? What would you do different?
Which wholesalers are reputable? Google searches aren't super helpful with that, I must admit.
What did you include in your business plan?
TIA! |
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 Queen Bee Cat Owner
Posts: 3629
  
Location: Way up North | I am not a boutique owner but I am a small business owner and I use Wix for my website now; started with a different one and it was a wreck from the start. Switched over to Wix and it was so easy to navigate and get pages built. My biggest issue is finding time for getting products and updates to the site posted, not ability. You never really think about how much time goes into taking good pictures of products, uploading, editing, etc. until you are doing it and it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. so keep that in mind but you may get stock photos with the avenue you are in. I work full time and do this on the side for now so I am no help on the rest. |
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 Life Saver
Posts: 10477
Location: MT | I use Volusion for my ecommerce store and have been very happy with it. I use Authorize.Net as my cc processor for my website, I use PayPal Here when running cards on my smartphone . |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | sending you a pm!
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 Mouhahaha
Posts: 1786
Location: British Columbia | Mzbradford - 2017-02-08 10:45 AM
OT- I know I am terrible about these OT posts, but I like to get as many opinions as possible so here goes.
I have been working on a business plan to open an online boutique/shop within the next 6 months. I am working on getting my state sales license, LLC, and domain.
Now the question for other already established owners- Which domain site do you recommend? Which websites hosts are quality? Which ones should I stay away from? Any advice on getting an LLC would also be appreciated!
How did you get started? How are your businesses doing? What would you do different?
Which wholesalers are reputable? Google searches aren't super helpful with that, I must admit.
What did you include in your business plan?
TIA!
For website hosts, I have used Fat Cow in the past, and am currently using eHosts (www.platinumfuturities.ca). Fat Cow was GREAT, but eHosts constantly charges my CC randomly for random amounts, I would avoid them.
I have a sole Proprietorship, depending on your revenue, this might be the way to go. If you don't plan to earn more than 30k, this would be the way to go. The start up costs are much smaller too. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 482
Location: Texas, and loving it | What state are you in? Most states are easy to file for LLC. Go online to state, print off forms and pay fees. Sales tax license is usually available to do online. I use the Square for credit cards. Easy, money is in my account the next business day. 2.75% for all cards. Depending on your location I can give you some wholesale sights that are really good, some have store front you can go to, otherwise online. Feel free to pm me or email me.
[email protected]
Edited by Arena Rat 2017-02-09 1:36 PM
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Arena Rat - 2017-02-09 1:34 PM
What state are you in? Most states are easy to file for LLC. Go online to state, print off forms and pay fees. Sales tax license is usually available to do online. I use the Square for credit cards. Easy, money is in my account the next business day. 2.75% for all cards. Depending on your location I can give you some wholesale sights that are really good, some have store front you can go to, otherwise online. Feel free to pm me or email me.
[email protected]
^^^ You said pretty much what I was going to. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | What made you change to ehosts? I will keep that in mind! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | Arena Rat - 2017-02-09 1:34 PM
What state are you in? Most states are easy to file for LLC. Go online to state, print off forms and pay fees. Sales tax license is usually available to do online. I use the Square for credit cards. Easy, money is in my account the next business day. 2.75% for all cards. Depending on your location I can give you some wholesale sights that are really good, some have store front you can go to, otherwise online. Feel free to pm me or email me.
[email protected]
MO. I am looking into the LLC because I will be having a partner. I will definitely be sending you a pm and will look into square. Now I just need to decide how I want to build the site and decide on a definite name |
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 Go For It!
Location: Texas | I recently moved my website over to Wix and have been super happy with it. I can use it as a store but prefer to have customers email me to order product. I'm pretty much a one man show. I do the office, make the products and handle the billing and shipping. I don't advertise much because I'm not sure how busy I want to be, lol. I personally, love PayPal. It is easy to maneuver through, accepts all cards, has 6 months no interest for qualified buyers and keeps up with the majority of my paperwork. It's like having my own secretary. My company is Rebar Ranch Naturals and I make and sell nebulizer products for the equine industry. A horse wellness boutique! :) Best of luck on your new venture! |
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Expert
Posts: 1414
| I own a home decor store. Have had a brick and mortar for 7 years then 3 years ago decided to get a website and sell online as well. Went with Shopify. I hired someone to set it up, then I added product. Our issue was shipping costs. Depending on what plan you go with Shopify gets you discounted shipping rates with UPS and post office but it was still expensive. Customers are getting programmed for free shipping (even though some companies jack up the product price to cover free shipping) and that simply is not something we could offer. Add in the cost of boxes, tape, etc and it gets super expensive. We charged a flat rate and every order we still had to put money with what the customer paid to cover those expenses.
The competition is so abundant that you almost have to continually partner with an influencer who has a large following to keep yourself present. We played that game a few times but it wasn't for us. I am not a fan of the "influencer" world for many reasons and really didn't want to tangle with all that. We closed down the website a year after we started and are focusing solely on the brick and mortar store. Maybe it's just us but that has been a more profitable endeavor than the website was. |
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