question for zachary Vex or Paul Perry of Frostwave

[zachary vex]

One of the great advantages of the LLC is that it limits liability in lawsuits to going after assets of that particular LLC(if I understand it correctly). People with multiple companies, numerous  income properties etc commonly file a separate LLC for each entity to put a liability bubble around each one.

hey joe.  i think there's some people looking for you, buddy.  8^)

[El Caballo]

In general, an LLC is a partnership for tax purposes but a corporation for liability purposes.  This means that as far as the IRS is concerned, you are a partnership, and all profits and losses flow directly through to your personal taxes.  This simplifies things greatly for most small businesses, who don't want the headache of corporate paperwork required to maintain an S corporation, but who require the liability protection of being incorporated (i.e. someone can't paralyze themselves tripping over your stompbox, sue you, and take your house and car -- they can only take the business).

The problem with California and LLCs is that if you have any contact with California anywhere in the business cycle, they will tax you just as if you were a California LLC, regardless of who else you are paying fees or taxes to.  Therefore, if you have anything in CA, you might as well be a CA LLC.

[El Caballo]

I'm sharing a big "thank you" to both zach and Paul for sharing their knowledge.  Our company will be introducing its first products this year, and it's always good to know how others have attained success.

(For the record, our first product is neither a boost, a fuzz, nor an overdrive/distortion pedal.)

It's VASTLY easier to make money doing boxes in USA.

Why do you say that?  Parts availability, manufacturing, or just because the USA is the biggest market?  Or something else entirely?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

"It's VASTLY easier to make money doing boxes in USA."
Why do you say that?  Parts availability, manufacturing, or just because the USA is the biggest market?  Or something else entirely?

Well, it seems that way to me because: most of my customers are in USA, and it is well established that less than 10% of USA buyers will buy from overseas. So I think, if I were in USA, I'd sell ten times as much stuff, plus I could drop the price $50, because of the air freight. Plus business wholesale prices (for stuff like packing material) is much lower in USA. And it's no fun importing a grands worth of components, paying air freight & customs etc, then putting them in boxes & flying them back...

Plus, if you become a mogul, the minimum wage in USA is half what it is here :shock: ... not that I want to be a mogul, of course, but if anyone did, going from Australia to USA is like going from USA to China.  Not that I want to go to either, right now.

[El Caballo]

Do you think the problem is ordering from overseas specifically, or Internet/mail ordering in general?

The exchange rate on the American peso can't be helping you either.

[j0shua]

where you from caballo ?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

There is a natural reluctance for anyone to buy from a foreign country, but people outside USA are generally more used to doing so, because so much stuff is only available from USA or is given a severe local markup.
I get a lot of peopel asking me for 9v AC supplies (in Australia) for Line6 stuff they have bought from USA. There is no such thing as markdowns or indeed retail competition in Australia, so many buy pods etc from USA & then find that the local agents want $60 for the 230V plugpack :shock:

As for the $US rate, I notice that for my stuff, when the $A gets above 75c US, it is like turning off a tap.( 77c right now, has been 80c).

[puretube]

[OT] great to see you`re still out there somewhere, Joe...  

[El Caballo]

where you from caballo ?

We're in California.  

I don't want to say anything about what we're doing until we're closer to releasing it.  How many times have we all had GAS for something that keeps on slipping its ship date -- and by the time it finally trickles out the door, the people who preordered are mad because they had to wait so long, and everyone else is tired of hearing about it?

[El Caballo]

Paul:

I don't know what your sales numbers are like (and I won't ask on a public forum), but you might consider contract manufacturing in the US.  There are quite a few places that will do turnkey box builds, all the way from turning and stuffing circuit boards to assembly, functional testing, warehousing, boxing, and even drop-shipping to end users.

Since all the high-volume stuff is done in China now, anyplace still left in the USA is oriented towards shorter production runs.  You can have builds of 50-100 if you want, though obviously parts and tooling costs go up when quantities go down.

[puretube]

how to clone big...vid 

[rockgardenlove]

 
The part where it zooms out is where it gets me...

[Doug_H]

There's something very scary about that...