Online business in Australia is heavily regulated, which means that you need to understand your legal obligations before you begin accepting online payments for goods or services. A decent commercial lawyer who offers legal advice will be able to help you with this.
However, we understand that sometimes you want quick answers. We’ve therefore put together this quick guide to help you develop a functional payment structure for your online business that complies with Australia law.
Why do I need to think carefully about my online payment structure?
There are literally hundreds of different ways to accept online payments in the modern world. The experts at web design sydney will tell you the popular methods like PayPal and credit card payments have been around for years, but more payment gateways are being created every year.
For example, the recent rise of the cryptocurrency market has led to a lot of online businesses accepting Bitcoin payments. Although this is a bit of a grey area, it’s usually ok to accept crypto payments as long as you have a decent record keeping system.
Speak with your commercial lawyer or online legal advice professional to develop the best payment solutions for your new online business. Consider the best way to keep records for your business, along with the most cost effective solutions.
What should I consider when putting my payment system together?
There are a few things to think about when you’re developing your payment system. They include:
- Carefully consider your record keeping and tax requirements and make sure that you’re meeting them.
- Think about your potential customers. How will they want to pay?
- If possible, try and integrate a range of payment solutions to diversify your business and target audience.
There’s no clear set of rules to follow when you’re putting together a payment system for your online business. However, you should think about consulting a commercial lawyer if you’re not really sure what you’re doing.
Is there anything else I should think about?
When you’re starting an online business in Australia there’s more to think about than just how you’re going to accept payments. For example, you need to make sure that you’re meeting all the other legal requirements for online businesses operating in Australia. Remember:
- All businesses in Australia have to register with an ABN before starting any business operations. Make sure that you do this.
- You might also have to register your business domain name, especially if you’re starting an eCommerce store or something similar. You won’t be able to get a .com.au domain unless you register your domain.
- There are a number of different things you might have to register for, including PAYG tax withholding and GST.
As you can see, there really is a lot to think about when starting an online store in Australia.
Final word:
Putting together an effective payment system for your online business doesn’t have to be hard, but you have to do things carefully to make sure that you’re meeting all your legal and tax obligations. We’d recommend speaking to your local commercial lawyer to make sure that you’re doing things right from the start.
