Day 19
As a business you do need to consider your legal obligations.
I’m no legal expert so I can’t offer specific advice, however here are some things that you need to consider
- Public liability insurance. If you are selling at craft fairs then they often ask for proof of insurance. You should also have this anyway as it protects you if anyone injures themselves with your products
- Registration with authorities – in the UK you need to inform HMRC if you have a new source of income. In the US you may need a licence to trade
- Taxes – A necessary evil, so keep track of all your incomings and outgoings for reporting time
- Are you GDPR compliant? This is about keeping your customers details secure, and only using them for purposes they have been informed of
- Copyright – Avoid using anyone elses intellectual property. This means you cannot use popular characters from franchises such as Disney and StarWars. As popular and lucrative as they can be to sell, you could end up being sued and loose everything including your home
- CE testing – If you are selling anything of play value in the UK or the EU then you need to CE test your creations before you list them for sale. This is cheap to do if a little time consuming, and Trading Standards can give advice if you are not sure if your product requires testing
Don’t let this list scare you, theses are things that every business needs to consider and you will find the relevent government bodies very helpful in giving advice. They are not there to catch you out, they are there to ensure you have the information you need to legally run your business