Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamHeard
While a good idea for something larger, for the point Asid is it none of this is necessary other than understanding how a sole prop works and how to handle taxes properly.
No sense in incurring a bunch of expensive before necessary, he can always add on later.
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Yes and no. You can, for example, operate without stated limited liability or insurance but it depends on how much you like to sweat.
Usually I personally wouldn't hesitate to start a business via eBay and limited expenses but then again - I wouldn't be caught in the trap of selling stuff directly with the intent of high school or younger students using it (sounds really bad if something goes wrong). I also wouldn't have a partnership or control in my industry like a charity in that case.
I previously helped bid on a control system for FIRST. When you dig into it: FIRST really doesn't leave a lot of middle ground on robot parts (parts or tools not permanent to the robot system are different). If what you are making is going into a KOP or is common on the official fields there are expectations that push scale and costs. It is fairly safe to say if you don't just want to sell a small amount of something you'll have to increase your operating and stocking costs.
In reality you can safely skip a post office box. A toll free number. Even a website (but you can probably get that free if you ask someone like me as I own 3 reseller hosting accounts, just pay for the domain name). That said now someone will probably have your cell phone number and home address (perhaps you like calls at 2AM from any place on Earth for support). Really I don't think the costs are that bad - but there is a barrier between open sourced community and ready to sell on Amazon/AndyMark when it comes to FIRST.
If the costs are too much - may I suggest finding like minded people to help out. Sometimes it is easier to face a challenge like this when you have help.