if we want to do online business, like set up online store/website to sell stuff, then need we get a business license? because it's considered a business already.

Getting a business license is to gain accountability (with your tax collector and accounts), and credibility (so your prospects don't think you're a one-off scammer)

Otherwise, consider doing it LYN style in garage sales or in lelong to earn a living as an individual

interested thread. What the business you would like do?

what i'm concern is legal issue. if you open a shop to run business, sure need to get business license, right? and if you fail to get license before running the shop is considered against the law. so, the same thing, if i run business online, need i to get a business license? so that i didn't against the law.

Wow, pretty interesting post.

not all business need business license right?
if sell physical product need business license,
if virtual product like wordpress theme, provide design service, sell own build software no need business license right?

Hey you can try on http://estall.yuniz.com

one of the ePromotions Tools call eBanners is useful.

Check out my signatures =p

I am selling my products there.

Once of my purpose for register a business name as you said is redibility, but after register it, found that taxation problem is the most headace, since I did not do much business in the past half year, also not much profit. I guess hire an accountant or some one to make the taxation stuff will kill me a lot

By the way, here is a refference on how to register business name online, I do it all online without step into SSM branch.

honestly if you does serve mainly malaysia customer, then I suggest no need to register, because now a days, if you talking online business, there are another kind if credibility call "trust", having a malaysia business certificate, foreigner also dono what is that/ or not understand on the role of SSM

This post has been edited by calvynlee: Jan 14 2009, 10:14 AM

If you setup stall at roadside or pasar malam without license, you get saman from you friendly Majlis Perbandaran officers coz you are using public land.

Online business not using any public property. Besides you already pay for your Streamyx/webhosting/domain name.

It really depends on what you want to sell. Nonetheless you can register a sole proprietorship company at only RM60 a year. No harm with that amount of money. You gain alot of trust from there.

yea, no business license how to do? very simple question1. how to open bank account as company account without license register for tranfer payment or bankin by customer?
question2, are you want order thought ecommerce, and pay to personal account. I won't buy without register business. when get cheating, unable get something to prove.

If you are just selling stuffs that accepts payment through paypal, for example, you may not need a business license. And your earnings don't even need to be declared. Transfer your money into a debit card and swipe away to cash out. Our government is so lacking behind in e-commerce that these transactions are basically untraceable.

However, several factors work in favour of you with a business license: you can order products in bulk at wholesale prices. Normally wholesalers don't deal with individuals but business entities.

I had followed yr guide to get my Sole prop license done

Taxation wise, I am still clueless, as i would have half income from my ex company, and half from my business...but since business has been slow, i would be claiming a loss. Bought a book on how to do taxation for small businesses....too lazy to read!

lolz... expenses more the profit... this is a great way to reduce or avoid tax... hehe
buy computer, meal, petrol... bla bla bla.. all with company expenses

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Added on January 14, 2009, 1:42 pmyeah, you are right, asking customer to pay me at my saving account look not professional, at least get a current accout with company name as register account.

I am going to make 1 soon, still looking for referal

This post has been edited by calvynlee: Jan 14 2009, 01:42 PM

Hong leong bank RM1000 can open current account. Citibank rm5000. Don't let customer feel doubt about payment process. When they at shopping cart checkout, another step you going get the payment. If they doubt, they will think again for search other ecommerce for getting same thing like your one, with confident the payment process. you order will gone.
I get the good review by canada customer said my Ecommerce safe and happy doing business with me. Below one of customer said

Good Morning Clement,

Got them yesterday – they are fantastic – my friends & family are going to be very happy. You did a great job. I appreciate all that you have done. It has been a real pleasure ordering from your website. Excellent customer service. I will take pictures & email them to you after Christmas.



Thanks again for everything,

Stacey

i'm very confuse with this too, for freelancer that build website for clients and build software to sell, by law need business license or not? if not mistaken, i seem came across a thread in this forum, got freelancer saying need to get license, but i can't find the thread anymore, hope freelancers here can give guidance as i found many ppl confuse with this and interested to know.

from most of the replies, seem you guys feel that not getting business license for an online business is not against the law? i start this thread because a friend of mine has told me that when an online activity has involve the dealing of money, then need to get business license...i'm not sure with this point of view so trying to ask here...

Malaysia doesn't own the Internet so they can't issue you a license .

A business license is different from a business registration. You need license to sell alcohol in restaurant or operate a cyber cafe.

Whether you are registered or not is simply for taxation/bank/lawsuit purposes. It's just an identity whether you wanna use your own name or a business name.

so, online business don't need business license? need business registration?

wah, very confuse, you meant business license different with business registration? can you explain a bit...from the normal business that operate in a shop?

for the real life business, operating as a shop, need business registration, right? how about business license? need to get business license too?

Not that i got any experience setting up a shop, but i will try to explain difference between license and registration.

You can registered as Restaurant ABC. But you can't sell beer yet unless got license from majlis perbandaran (MP). You can't even put on a signboard with your Restaurant name on it without license.

thanks, but still a bit blur. if we take it as a cloth selling shop, not restaurant. so, need to register the business under a company name, right? then, concerning need license for signboard, i know about it. but, what i'm confuse is want to sell cloth in the shop need license? (in your eg case saying selling beer)

so, let's say i register the clothing business under a business name ABC, but i don't want to put on the signboard, can i sell clothing without getting license?(only register the business), hope you understand what i'm trying to ask.

Just check with the Majlis Perbandaran or Majlis Bandaraya.

Selling cloth, never hear need license, except maybe the basic business license to operate at the location.

bottom line is - you should register a company if you are doing business and selling products. but, you dont need to apply for a license since Malaysia doesnt own the internet.

I use OCBC in Puchong. RM1000 with no referral. Cute account managers, fast service, and I just gave them the printed Borang D from SSM.
I have the ATM card, the Phone banking, the Islamic account (for good interest!)

If you are working full time and decide to do some freelancing on your own free time, it make sense not to register as a business entity.

However, if you were to do it full time, you should register your business. COmpanies prefer dealing with business instead of individuals because of taxation audits. They may get into trouble as giving money to a person's personal bank account can look like corruption just to avoid tax.

so you meant for the online business, just need to register the business? the business i meant here is online store/website.

but, in another case, got some website that provide advertisement service, i.e let business to advertise their company in the website then getting the payment from them, in this case this website is doing online business too, right? so, they should register their business too like online store?

agree!

Well, to begin with, to start an online business, if you are using .com.my domian, you need to submit your business registration form as well

that really convenience, no need referral...

I am planning to get either maybank or public bank, because more convenience to let people doing online transaction like maybank 2 u.

Public Bank not many ppl use only...
From my experience, most ppl use Maybank and CIMB

you mean not much ppl use public bank account as current account?

This post has been edited by calvynlee: Jan 16 2009, 09:55 AM

OCBC charges money for online transactions. So i didn't go for it.
If anyhthing, i just issue cheque payments and phone banking to check on status.

to have yourself on the safe side, just use maybank. (although their service is like...)

just register ROB, can do it online

business license for online business is not the issue here, only mattering is the income tax. So when put up an online store, just make sure you got domain name not in .com.my or .my, use any .com, and host your online shop on foreign server like in US, then you are free from local income tax.

if my domain name is .com and host in local server. and not register the online business, when government found out, it's considered legal or illegal?

hosting in local does not seem to have much different, except you are hosting those illegal content such as pirated or porno.

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Added on January 22, 2009, 7:44 pmer ... i still curious... if come to buying property, income tax sure will come to kacau 1 if no declaire income tax

This post has been edited by calvynlee: Jan 22 2009, 07:44 PM

u need to declare income to gov if u earn the money FROM other country, even u host ur server somewhere else, eventually it is bank into ur account. unless if u declared the income in other country, u dont have to declare again in malaysia.

i work in singapore so i dont have to declare to malaysia since i declared my income in singapore. for online income it should apply similar rules. income must be declare somewhere.

how about if one set up a forum from open source forum CMS, then get someone to put their advertisement in the forum, tend to get income from the advertisement? need to get business registration? even though not doing online business, but indirectly getting income from the site too...as i have mentioned above, got ppl said that if your site has involve the money earning then need to register???

hope ppl who got such experience can give some opinion...to clear our confuse!

101% agree. That is why I never apply any business lisence. Has been doing e-commerce since I was in secondary school (I start off with selling stickers to western countries... ) and that was 10 years ago!!!

Yea get a sole prop. license. Most clients will not deal with an unregistered company.

can i know what is sole prop. license? when we want to register our online business, is that need to concern what type of business we do? (i meant different type of business require to get specific registration) or just get a general registration? i'm really have no idea with all these knowledge...

If do online shop such as sell cloth or website theme, do we need do Registration of Business - FORM A from SSM? Or we only need do Application for Approval of Business Name - FORM PNA.42 from SSM as my online shop domain name is .com? Or we need do both??

If I remember correctly I think you need to fill up both. But to be sure just tell them you want to register a sole proprietor business and they have a stack of document all ready for you to fill up.

A very interesting topic

I hope it is in correct section of forum though

Anyways now the conclusion is if you want to Del your products online such as clothing you just need to register a business as soleprop. ? And then you are good to go?

One last thing you still need accountant to do your taxation too? If you are going to open current account with your registered business ?

Need a little bit of explanation.

Interesting topic.

From above comments selling legal stuff like clothes, pendrive online is OK without license.
If I want to sell rokok, liquor, or sex toy online
Do I need a license?
Do I need to register the business?

Any pro can answer this?

you cannot sell those if you are using payment gateways like ipay88,molpay,etc..
it will be stated in their T&C.

yes, you need license/register company if you want to use the payment gateways.. its compulsory.

So if not using payment gateways like ipay88,molpay then it is OK.

Back to the original question
So basically selling rokok, liquor and sex stuff online is legal?
Need license?
Any legal issue?

it depends..

even if you use lowyat or ebay, their T&C still specifies that you are not allowed to sell illegal trading items as you are
using their website.

unless you code your own website and do your own T&C. then you can sell.
risks are yours to take only.

Icic, I am not selling anything.
Just thinking only.
Seems like grey area for me.
Hopefully someone with legal expertise can answer my question too.

well, if you are a serious businessman, you wont sell illegal stuffs right?

so im guessing most of them will have T&C stating no illegal stuffs allowed.

Arak and rokok illegal?
I think it is not illegal, just many restriction

those you may sell in retails..
this is webmaster section.. therefore you're automatically mentioning you wanna sell them online.

and most of the payment gateway's T&C dont allow you to sell them as they are considered "illegal trade"
like i said, unless you're able to make your own website and apply your own custom-made-by-you payment gateway.
then you can set your own T&C. as long as its not against malaysian law.

This post has been edited by mafioso: Oct 29 2012, 09:14 AM

It is not illegal, but I think you need to obtain the license from certain government department.
For selling online, you are in the grey area if you don't have the license and not register as a company or enterprise.
However if you want to integrate a payment gateway like MOLPay and iPay88, there are R&R you need to follow which may require you to register a company or enterprise anyway.

Yes, I am discussing about business online, coz if selling in store the answer is clear cut, everyone is doing it. But no one doing this online
Website I tink everyone can do, custom gateway is a big no-no.
Paypal can o not?

Icic, must obtain license. But I thought M'sia do not have any online business license application. Do you mean arak/rokok license?

well, paypal should be fine.. read their T&C first?
and also if you're doing that.. are you going to sell it cheaper and spoil the market?
because i think you cannot reduce or add the price as they are pretty fixed by the gov.. especially on the ciggies..

Liquor got control price?

i guess so?

there's a reason why we cannot buy a bulk from duty free areas/shops and bring them out right?

This topic becoming more complicated!

I think we just need a simple and clear solution!

On how to start up an online business in a legal way?!

J

You can start an online business right away anytime.
Depending on how you want to do it and how big you want to do it.
Make sure the products you sell are legal and not against the law and regulation.

More and more complicated terms will come in when you want to integrate payment gateway in your website, so take note of it.

just reg enterprise for RM50-60 n ur good 2 go! gain more trust dude

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hey yeah for sure

thanks i think thats why its called business but at first you dont need to register much until you get busy and need it?!

Agree. Thank you for that information about opening account at OCBC. my office at One Puchong, not far from that bank.

Hi, I’m running an online business for temporary due to my university semester. Means are running online business for now only, it’s need to register a business license, business name and business bank account(company) as well?

so confusing

bro, I suggest that you need to register a company, if you keep capping your sales scale in personal name, mean cant get growth, and also for accounting, please start it since the first day of your business launch, this is a good way to track all the record. also for the income tax, you need to declared, do not always think the profit is less then didn declare income tax, income tax is important to tell our gov that you earn or loss in your financial status.