Am helping other half set up a business at the mo. The bank is asking for her company number - to which I've said several times - she's a sole trader - not ltd company. They seem to be insistent she'll have some company reference number from HRMC. But the only think I can think of is her Unique Taxpayer Reference for SA purposes. Are they getting the wrong end of the stick or am I not aware of how self employment works (having never gone this route).
What's weird is they've also asked for copies of invoices she's had for some small trial orders she made to China (using my paypal account). However this was not part of the business, just some market research on how to do it all before committing to starting a business. I'm curious as to why they'd want them. Just to make sure we have done research, or ...??
We've given the products to friends and family and asked for feedback after several weeks of use. Its from China and to say their quality standards and business ethics are poor is not a joke. 4 of the suppliers (from 6) have given us utter tulipe - I can see why most people don't bother and buy local. Unfortunately the industry she works in - you need to source from China, even if you source here - it's been imported from there. So I've said before I put any more money in I want proper accounts to record all this crap product as losses against future profits. thankfully we're only talking hundreds, but we need to keep finding new suppliers using the same process, buy, trial, feedback, so were looking at an outlay of several thousand till we get enough suppliers on board. To the point we're now considering a trip out there ;-)
What's weird is they've also asked for copies of invoices she's had for some small trial orders she made to China (using my paypal account). However this was not part of the business, just some market research on how to do it all before committing to starting a business. I'm curious as to why they'd want them. Just to make sure we have done research, or ...??
We've given the products to friends and family and asked for feedback after several weeks of use. Its from China and to say their quality standards and business ethics are poor is not a joke. 4 of the suppliers (from 6) have given us utter tulipe - I can see why most people don't bother and buy local. Unfortunately the industry she works in - you need to source from China, even if you source here - it's been imported from there. So I've said before I put any more money in I want proper accounts to record all this crap product as losses against future profits. thankfully we're only talking hundreds, but we need to keep finding new suppliers using the same process, buy, trial, feedback, so were looking at an outlay of several thousand till we get enough suppliers on board. To the point we're now considering a trip out there ;-)
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