Internet Trading

Internet trading is the process of selling goods and services through the worldwide web.

Internet trading offers enormous opportunities, but also presents a number of challenges:

Opportunities:

• The size of an organisation ceases to matter. A small business with good ideas and products will be able to compete with large multinational organisations on an equal footing. This is because there is no need for a physical presence in every location in order to trade there.
• Physical location no longer matters in order to buy and sell. Therefore the choice of where to base the trading company is open and can be decided upon taking into account different tax regimes in order to minimise the tax liabilities on the profits of the trade.

Challenges:

• The preferred server site location to undertake the trade must have good communication links to the internet and have the capacity to deal with the volume of expected visits to the internet trading website.
• As with all international trade, detailed knowledge of indirect taxes (sales taxes and value added taxes) on duties is required. The difference with internet trading is that these aspects must be considered and planned for in advance so that the computer can calculate them whilst the customer is placing the order.

Dixcart is well placed to assist clients to maximise the opportunities presented by internet trading and to deal with the challenges. Our ISP in Madeira - DixcartNet.pt - is designed to assist our clients with international internet trading.