Registered home address?

[Mary Poppins]

I am in the latter stages of setting up my business. I registered my site but didn't want to give my home address, so didn't register as sole trader. I have now had a letter from the domain website saying that I cannot sell without giving an address. I have noticed that loads of other people haven't registered their addresses but are still selling.

Can I get around this by taking up a PO Box and using that address? I will be selling from home.

[Ravenfire]

I am registered with ukreg and I didnt need to give my domain name, although not sure if its changed since I originally signed up over two years ago, they have just renewed it and didnt ask for it then either. I dont like giving my home address out on the net either. To rent a PO Box its £43.80 for six months, or £54 for 12 months.

[Mary Poppins]

We registered with 123-reg. That is part of Pipex and they are our service providers.

[Judith]

I think the rules for domains are different for .co.uk to .coms when you are going to use the domain to trade - but I can't remember what they are right now sorry.

But did you know that Trading Standards state it is a requirement that you have a name and address on your website if you are selling. Post Office Boxes have to be registered to your home address and are easy to trace so may not be worth the money.

[Miranda]

Legally you have to have an address visible to all on your website to sell online. Lots of people don't, this is illegal and I wouldn't uy from one that didn't show an address - would never be sure to get my money back if there was a problem. You could rent an addres from a serviced office as your official address (I think it's called a 'mailbox service' - but the downside you have to go there to get the post). Or, if you happen to live in a 'short' road (ours is long but only 17 house and everybody works from home) I simply dropped the house name from the address once the regular postie knew where we were.

[littlesheep]

Additionally to what everyone else is saying... when you say you haven't registered as a sole trader do you mean with the Inland Revenue because if so then you are breaking the law there and could be fined for possible tax evasion etc.

Love Elaine

[Mary Poppins]

Tax is all sorted out. As I am working from home, I wondered if I had to have my home address on show on my website or where my domain name is registered or could I get around it by having a PO Box. Most people who are on these parenting sites don't have their address on show and they are classed as individuals rather than sole traders when you register your domain name.

[Sarah]

You don't have to register as a sole trader that's a different thing to registering as self employed. I'm with UKreg and I can't remember whether I gave my home address or not. My address is on my website and it has to be to receive cheques and postal orders. It doesn't bother me at all about giving my address out. I even give out my bank account details too if people want to pay me by bank transfer. Maybe I'm not cautios enough but I think you are more likely to get burgled at home than have any problems with people using your details online. I wouldn't have my address on a parenting site but having it on my website is completely different.
Sarah x