Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with business and online

Do online companies need toll free numbers?

ckohrman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:14:20 -0800

Do online companies need 800 numbers if most of their sales are online from their website?

How much is my website worth?

puffl — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:30:20 -0800

How much is my website worth? I started a website a few years ago. Through a combination of good fortune (mostly) and good management (a little), it's now making between $US1,000 and $US1,500 per month in affiliate sales.

Last month, the site attracted nearly 500,000 pageviews, and its domain has a Google Page Rank of 6.

The site is not for sale but has nonetheless attracted the interest of someone who appears to be a potentially serious buyer. I'm not really looking to sell the site, but nonetheless figure I should be open to an "offer too good to refuse".

My question is: what's a good offer for the site?

(If you need more information to answer that question, let me know what.)

Also, any tips on anything I should do before revealing detailed information to the buyer? I briefly thought about non-compete and non-disclosure agreements but this seems kind of over the top.

I need stationary!

l33tpolicywonk — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:35:51 -0800

Help me find an economical, customized stationary and business card service. I've decided to get business cards and personalized stationary. Here are my needs:

Containing very little information - basically my name, e-mail, phone number and one URL.
Black (or black and another color) on white or ivory - no pictures are necessary
Clean, modern look
Business cards and flat cards for writing notes, preferably with envelopes included.
Prefer an online card designer or preview, but I can design them myself if I have to.
Low quantity: 50 - 100 business cards and 20-30 stationary cards
I'd like to keep the price low but I'm willing to pay more for an independent designer or the like.
Available online or in the DC area.

Any recommendations?

international custom fees for online orders

ChloeMills — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:49:46 -0800

I have a small online company in the US. Am I responsible for the custom fees other countries charge my buyers? I've sold many shirts to the UK and never had anyone say anything before but now one my customers is asking to be refunded for the custom fees - which seems ridiculously expensive. (If I refund him he'd basically be getting the product at my cost.) I would assume that is the responsible of the customer and part of the extra expense they would get from ordering a shirt from the US - like shipping. Am I wrong? Is there a way to avoid my customers being charged this fee?

I don't want to risk getting myself in trouble by lying on forms. Currently I go through USPS and list the item as an online sale and list the value as the cost the customer pays. Should I instead be listing the value as what I pay for the product? I don't bother with the Tariff numbers on small orders - would doing that help?

If I go through UPS or FED EX would my customers be less likely to get this extra fees?

Has anyone else had this problem? I'd love some advice.

Blogging and Money and Taxes - Oh My!

catcatwomanman — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:47:35 -0800

blogging as a business and taxes - it can't be so difficult! Or can it? The Plan - spouse and I want to start a travel blog (we love to travel and are *good* at it!) as a business. You know, run some google ads, make a little money. Actually, if we make enough to cover our travel, we'll be happy (until the eventual greed kicks in). Soooo... if we're going to make more than $600 here in America, the IRS is going to want it's share. But two can play at that game! We want to take all the deductions we can (home office, website costs and, of course, our travel). It will just be the two of us, no employees. But therein lies the confusion... As this will be a partnership (rather than a Corp or LLC), can we carry losses over to our personal incomes (initial research says yes, hivemind says... ?)

Any advice from anyone who has a blog making money?

Any advice from anyone running a web-only based business?

Any advice from anyone who doesn't meet the above criteria but is 99% sure they know what they're talking about?

Do you recommend a business tax id number? A business bank account? A business anything else?

Do we pay estimated quarterly taxes? Even if we're losing money?

What about employee tax of 15%? Pay that too? Quarterly? Even if we're losing money?

Any online references you recommend?

Super duper thanks in advance!

Selling online business

zenpop — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:31:40 -0800

How to figure the asking price for an online business? I created a subscription-based online business ten years ago that's remained consistently popular, with good steady traffic from Google and has an immediately recognizable brand name association. It generates into six figures a year.

I'm now wanting to move on to other things and sell the business. But I'm clueless as to how to come up with an asking price.

A 'big business' type friend of mine said I should figure what a ten year profit would be for my site, and that would become my asking price price when I'm going to sell. Is that accurate?

How to get submission form fields from email to database and more!

prophetsearcher — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:20:48 -0800

How can a new company track leads submitted via its website through the sales and post-sales process, simply, automatically, and online? (Caution- IDon'tReallyKnowWhatIWantFilter:)

I'm helping to start a small company (well, it's really a division of a larger consulting firm) that is selling a one-off product/service to non-profits.

Through AdWords, I have managed to attract nearly 30 leads a day (which I'm quite pleased with, considering the cost of our product). Problem is, each lead comes into my inbox - as well as my partners' - as emails. (I believe the site is an ASP.net site, with form submissions. I'm pretty clueless, though).

Is there a way that each of these emails, which is a filled out form, could automagically be imported, fields intact, into some sort of database (ideally, online, but not necessarily).

Even better, would be if we could add notes to each lead ("Joe called Org on 30/1/08 and was asked to call back in a week") and automated reminders ("2/7/08: Joe- Call Org back"), and results ("2/12/08: Product Sold for $999,999.95") and more followups (8/12/08: "Call Org to find out how product was used; interested in more?")

This all would have to be (1) not crazy-expensive (2) easy to use (3) ideally, usable by people in different continents (ie, online?).

I suppose, all else fails, a Google Spreadsheet could take care of some of this, but I'm looking for a frictionless solution that would import our leads, fire off reminders, integrate with our address books and calendars, etc.

I've seen this question, but it didn't seem exactly right and didn't get the types of responses I'm hoping for. Honestly, I'm not quite sure even what I'm looking for or if it exists in our price range...

I'm not scared of a little bit of mucking around, as long as that's only for the setup. It would have to be foolproof for the other end users.

Credentials are a must!

ZackTM — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:29:17 -0800

What credentials can I gain quickly (>6 months), easily (effort is fine but not too much!) and cheaply (<$150)? So today, after becoming ordained by the Universal Life Church and also finishing my course to become a certified Notary Public in NC, I decided that I need more credentials. I like the idea of being able to have several 'credentials' to cite whenever necessary.

In particular, I'd like to have credentials I can use in my pursuit of a career in Business/Marketing and/or Writing. I am also interested in Website Design and small online businesses (writing random books to self-publish and promote online for example).

Bonus points for things I can do online within a few weeks for free.

While I'm mostly interested in legit credentials that mean something, I'm happy with random quirky ones that have little actual value as long as they're free, quick and easy!

Help me find insurance for my home-based ebay business

nmogno — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:07:38 -0800

Help me find a insurance company that will cover my home-based ebay business. I run a small business out of my home, selling used cellphones online, primarily on ebay. The business has really been taking off in the past few months, and I have been trying to get a small business insurance policy.

From what I understand, (please tell me if I'm wrong or missing something) the coverages I'll want are general liability, product liability (occasionally I do some light repair and refurbishing in-house, so as I understand, I am exposed to product liability risk) and business property to cover loss from theft, fire etc.

I've contacted all the big insurance companies I can think of (Farmers, All-State, American Family, State Farm), but they've all told me that they can't write the policy because:
A) They don't do home-based businesses, and/or
B) They don't do online businesses

I also tried to see if I could cover the business through riders on my renters policy (with State Farm), but they wouldn't do it.

The only speck of hope I found was through an insurance broker (Keller-Lowry) who told me they might be able to find coverage through a "surplus line," but they also told me that this would a good deal more expensive.

So, does anyone know of any insurance companies that specialize in home-based or online businesses? I've tried looking online without much hope. Or is the surplus line my only hope?

A few random facts in case they're relevant - I'm based in Colorado, the business is an S-corporation, right now I'm the only employee (I'll probably be hiring somebody before too long.)

Thanks in advance!
-Nick

Legal requirements for an adult dating site?

treepour — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:11:55 -0800

I'm considering starting an adult internet dating service in the US. What legal implications do I need to consider? (Some mildly NSFW details follow). I'm considering creating a site for local gay/bi men BDSM enthusiasts to post/browse/search profiles, send private messages, etc. I know sites like this already exist but I'm hoping to create a small, low-overhead site that's both locally focused and low or no cost to end users.

I would, however, like for members to be able to post possibly NSFW pictures of themselves. On the one hand, I know that US recordkeeping requirements have become quite stringent. On the other, there are still a lot of personals and related sites -- not to mention craigslist -- that don't require one to submit two government-issued picture id's in order to post NSFW pictures of oneself.

Are sites in this latter category operating in a legal gray area? Or are there exceptions to the recordkeeping requirements for social networking, dating, or craigslist-like sites? Short of talking to a lawyer, are there any good resources for obtaining this sort of information in general?

Community building inside a company

bru — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:24:24 -0800

Looking for reports about (or people working with) closed online communities inside companies. I have the opportunity to make a 1 hour presentation to the top brass of a company about the benefits of creating an online community for (and with) their employees. This is a very successful company with branch offices all over the world. They use email extensively but have no experience with blogs, forums, wikis or the simple idea of an online community. They are asking me "why" they should do it and "what" positive effects it will have on their company if they do it.
Intranet based communities are by definition closed, so maybe this is why I didn't find anything significant with Google or AskMe.
Any example or contact with people involved in similar projects would be appreciated.

Looking for business cards to be printed in the UK, quickly.

fire&wings — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:48:58 -0800

Looking for about 1000 business cards in the UK. Preferably a site where I can email/upload a design, and have them shipped quickly. Google turning up nothing that looks reliable. If anyone knows of a reliable company that produce quality results then let me know. Nothing fancy - beige paper with single colour lettering - no laminating, embossing etc. Trying here before I head out on the high street/consult yellow pages. Would prefer personal experience rather than shots in the dark as this is rather important. Thanks!

How does the trademark system work?

Bjkokenos — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:11:05 -0800

I run a small local computer repair business. I have a website and i have acquired a DBA (assumed name) in the name that i use for my business. the problem is that my website, lets call it computer repair man for example, i own THECOMPUTERREPAIRMAN.com. the site without the word "the" infront of it is taken by someone else. If they havent trademarked "computer repairman" can I? Or if they were using it first without TM do they still have the rights to it? If they have already done it, can i trademark "the computer repairman"? How else can i protect my companies identity??

Ladies (and some gents): What do you wear under your skirt?

lychee — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:37:30 -0800

Ladies (and some gents): What do you wear under your skirt? While I'm normally found in jeans and a t-shirt, I do like wearing a skirt once in a while. Now, I don't know if this is only for plus-sized gals or if most women have this problem, but when I do, my thighs will rub together, sweat, and chafe. I usually sidestep this problem by wearing some shorts underneath the skirt, but this isn't an ideal solution--they get too bunchy and bulky. I don't wear pantyhose, spandex shorts just make me feel gross, men's boxer-briefs don't fit me well and typically are too short, and the only long-leg underwear I find online is either the tight body-shaping kind or granny panties.

Is there anyplace that sells nice cotton undies with a leg that comes to around mid-thigh? Barring that, heck, how feasible would it be to start my own small online business selling these suckers? There must be a market for them.

Promotion ideas & advise for online business.

arrowhead — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 01:20:03 -0800

Has anybody had any success making good business out of an online business such as CafePress? I opened an account recently, selling rock climbing shirts and apparel. Started some promos on the rock climbing forums and managed to get a couple of sales, but it has flattened since then. There are only so many climbing sites that I could promote at.

Would gladly appreciate some ideas / advise / tips on promotions, especially if you've done something similar and seen some success out of it.

Thanks!

website ad revenue

mono blanco — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 05:46:37 -0800

Is the ‘revenue-from-ads’ website business model viable for a small tightly focused company, or not? I’ve invested in a small company that provides fee-based training and a couple hundred pages of free web content much appreciated by specialists in the field. Can it generate revenue by selling ads, or not? I’d love to hear of any success stories. I’d also like to understand how the market works. What are the ad rates? How are they determined? Are there agents? Where do I go to learn more? etc.

looking for 3rd party merchant account

brownpau — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 09:31:28 -0800

How's Charge.com for a third party merchant account to accept credit card payments online? Googling turns up either marketing goop, or much older reviews from WHT's archives, but I'd like to know if any recent applicants have been using it for their small businesses.

Pre-Ordering Etiquette

blueshammer — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 08:49:39 -0800

I have a game that I am interesting in self-publishing. I don't have a lot of capital to put into it myself, so I'm thinking about using pre-orders to generate the bulk of the necessary revenue. What is the etiquette, if you will, of pre-ordering? What's "too long" between the submission of a pre-order and the availability of the product? I don't want people to actually give me money unless I can guarantee eventual shipment of the product; how is this handled? I'm thinking of how Amazon doesn't charge your card until an item ships; is that how pre-orders are typically handled? Do business that operate on pre-orders borrow against those pre-orders to pay for manufacturing, and then cash in on those pre-orders to pay back the bank? Any wisdom in this area is appreciated.

Contacts Online

patrickje — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 18:15:28 -0800

Online contact lenses. For the past year or two, I have been ordering contact lenses online. I've never been asked for a doctor's prescription before. Now it seems no site will allow me to order contact lenses without a doctor's prescription. What happened? The doctor who I saw for my contact lenses, I've long since forgotten his name. I just got a eyeglass checkup but skipped the contact lens because mine are working fine, and are cheaper online. Is there a canadien or foreign contact lens company someone can recommend that doesn't require a prescription?