What am I getting into??

[jmacky]

I'm a newbie. My buddy wants me to create a website for his business, mattress accessories. He does this successfully in real life, but not ecommerce. I have a better than average knowledge of software, can upload Youtube, do visuals, etc, but am dubious about the amount of work required for running a website, although I would get a server to do that.

My concern is this; what am I getting into, charge card accts, emails, etc, and I already have a job that requires a good day's work. Am I asking for trouble, can I just set up a website, do the design, then let it go, or would I be responsible 24/7?

I'm completely in the dark about this and hope that some of you will have mercy and give me advice, good or bad.

thanks,
Jim

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Presumably your friend will handle all the product fulfillment, shipping, billing etc as an add on to his business. If that is the case, the only ongoing work, once the website is up and running would be altering products and prices. That and promotion, with can be full time all in itself.

[jmacky]

Thanks, that's what I needed to know, my friend would do the advertising and prices etc, although I would probably insert them. Thing is he wants me to be the LLC as he is in some conflict of interest with suppliers as he's selling competitor's products without telling them. I'm wary of being the LLC as my last shot at being the LLC resulted in me getting a tax bill from IRS for $25,000 as my employee at the time didn't pay any of the taxes!

It's a tricky position, my ethics don't exactly see this as something I should do...

[Chris]

Talk to an accountant. If he wants you to be the LLC (the business owner) you are, in fact, the business owner. You'll need to protect yourself.

The first thing you would do is take all the money up front, then pay him his share. Don't just send the money to him and expect him to pay your expenses. For instance if you structure it like yourself buying the inventory from him, do it like that.

But talk to an accountant.

The actual technical aspects of running an ecommerce site are relatively light, just get some out of the box software and customize it.