in china, looking to set up online store.. irish biz or chinese?

[paperclip]

hi guys.. i'm living in china at the moment. i've wanted to open an online store in the past, when i was back in ireland... never got one off the ground... now that i'm in china, i've been looking more seriously into this.

i come from a web background, so setting up the store wont be a problem, the marketing will be a bit of a learning curve, but there's lots of resources online.

i've never worked for my self, bit of a company man... so... i'm wondering... what's best...

1) irish company?
2) chinese company, operate out of hong kong?
3) dont bother registering as a company... not until it starts to do well?

i've worked out the initial start up cost, which is mainly stock, is around $1500. there's a huge market for what i want to sell, and i'm coming from a pretty unique angle... i feel confident it will work, with the right marketing... i just haven't a clue as to what sort of company it is... technically, i'm still living in ireland, and am just traveling...

does anyone run such a business out of hong kong?

the long term plan would be to develop the brand, and open up stores in mainland china... it's really kicking off over here, they're shopping mad!

i know some of the business savy on here may be cringing at the simplistic nature of my questions... but remember, i'm a layman... i've worked for the man for nearly 14 years... so, i need to find out about trademarks, protecting my brand... tax implications as an irish company or foreign?

cheers

 

[Horatio]

I'd go for option 3 from personal experience, keep your costs down until you're sure it's a runner & best of luck. Watch out for people ripping your idea from under you in China. Trademark & copyright is not worth the paper it's written on in china.

 

[Purple]

Talk to Enterprise Ireland. Tell them that you will be registering the company in Ireland and trading your goods internationally. It doesn't matter if you change your mind later on, just get access to their information and officed on the ground in China.

PM me if you want more details.

 

[paperclip]

I'd go for option 3 from personal experience, keep your costs down until you're sure it's a runner & best of luck. Watch out for people ripping your idea from under you in China. Trademark & copyright is not worth the paper it's written on in china.

yes, probably best for now... i should be grand for now, with the chinese counterfitters..... i guess you know when you've made it when they start to copy your stuff.... a long ways off, but not really much you can do anyway... i don't really think they'd get it anyway, it's a pretty western concept.

if it does well, i'll try and chinatize it... but it is a country where kfc far outnumbers macdonalds... rules are out the window here