[worcester53]

I want to open an online lingerie and adult novelty store. I have done the following to get ready:
~Obtained sellers permit
~Obtained my domain name
~Filed my DBA with the County and local newspaper
~Obtained my tax ID Number
Can you think of anything else I need from a legal standpoint before starting?
***Also, I am unsure where to order my stock from. Do I purchase from a distributor, or???
Thanks a lot!
If anybody has any other suggestions to make my store a success, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks again :)

[ciarrai100]

Hi Sherry B.,
It's great that you're opening your own online store. I've had mine for about 3 years now, and a close friend of mine owns her own online lingerie store, so I have a few pointers for you.
First, depending on the ecommerce platform your store is own, like WebStore by Amazon at http://webstore.amazon.com or other online platforms, you'll need to see how search engine friendly your site is. Remember, in order to sell online, you need to make sure customers can find your site. Be sure you have content on your site about the type of products you sell or information related to them - search engines often rank sites higher that have informative content on them.
Check out seochat.com to read up on Search Engine Optimization (ranking higher in the non-paid 1-10 search results in Google or other search engines). You might also want to check out Google AdWords to start advertising and get customers coming to your site soon.

You ask, "I am unsure where to order my stock from. Do I purchase from a distributor, or???" - that was my problem too. I don't have the space to keep hundreds of products in stock. For about $60/month, WebStore by Amazon has a program where you can sign up and build your own store. You can then opt to either upload your own products or re-sell items already on Amazon - you can pick which ones you'd like to sell and then you receive a fee on what you sell.
Best of luck with your online store! And don't worry - the most successful store owners made plenty of mistakes along the way, it's the best way to learn.

[ashby]

I'm going to comment rather than answer.

You should have gotten these questions answered before you did anything at all.