5 questions about how to set up a business just to quickly sell it (to sell a bunch of web-domains together as bundle) (warning: this is a long post)

[JejuIslandKR]

First of all, I wish to make it clear that I do not know the first thing about registering, running, or selling a business. I'm the polar-opposite of someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to those things. AdditionalIy, I published a post on this forum in June 2024, and this post is a continuation of that post. In that aforementioned post, I was pleased to discover that it was perfectly legal to register a business just to sell it ASAP in order to shift some domain names.

Just to clarify: the terms "web-domain"; "domain name"; and "domain" all mean the same thing.

Anyway...

I wish to register a business solely for the purpose of listing a bunch of web-domains as assets of said business, and then selling the business asap, thus selling the domains along with the business. In short, I am using the business to sell a bunch of domains as a bundle (there are no services online which allow a person to sell more than one web-domain at a time, so I figured that listing the domains as assets of a business, and then selling the business, will allow me to do just that - while, additionally giving the buyer piece of mind that I would not be scamming them as I assume that if a business seller does not deliver on a sale then they [the seller] can be sued big time).

Here are my 4 questions:

1) I live in England. Is there a specific type of UK business registration I should go for, for the kind of business idea described above? (I would like to add that this business would have no physical/"tangible" assets i.e. no brick-and-mortar store, and no physical/"tangible" inventory).

2) After I register a business, I then want to list said web-domains as assets of the business, so, how does one go about listing digital items (web-domains) as assets of a UK business? Is there some kind of process for this? Additionally, is there some kind of physical or digital ledger where a business owner makes records of assets being added or removed from a business, which is handed to a new owner of a business after the business is sold to someone?

3) What are the best services to use to advertise a business like this for sale, once I have registered the business?

4) After I have registered business, should I wait a certain amount of time before I add the domain names as assets of the business? And, also, should I wait an amount of time before then selling the business after adding the domains as assets?

What would be the best service/services to use to sell this kind of business to a buyer once a deal has been agreed? Additionally, if an interested party purchased the business, what kind of service should I use to transfer the business, and domains, over to the buyer? Would I need to get solicitors involved, for example and would I need to use Escrow to transfer the domains over?.

If/when I register said business, down the line, do I need to file tax returns, or provide an anything else to the national/local government even if the business has zero income; zero people on payroll; and zero expenses?

I'd like to add the following important info:

* If some people want to write "why don't you just sell the domains individually - you will get more money that way" etc, I'd just like to stress that I know what I am doing with regards to this - and I am 100% intent on selling them as a bundle. I'm not trying to diss the people who said that to me in the past - just saying.

* This is not a bundle of "random" or "mystery" domains (like a bag of mystery watches, or a bag of mystery old coins, you might find on eBay). I'm just saying this as someone got the wrong impression on my prior post/thread. All the domains are within the realm of the same emerging technology.

* If a certain individual sees this post and writes 'just google it, you lazy git', well, I just want to see if anyone has some useful tips to save me a lot of time. I don't even know where else to look to get the answers for these questions.

* I know this post sounds quite similar to my previous post I published oin this forum in June, but it is actually different. I’m not duplicate-posting.

* I will try to reply to people when I am able to, but I have very severe paranoia and anxiety and OCD when using the internet, of which it may surprise you how bad it is, so it may me take a few days or more to reply.

* If you are only able to provide help for one question, then that is fine, as any help much appreciated.


Anyway, to anyone who gives me good guidance, I'd like to say a big thank you. I am a logo designer, and if someone gives me a bunch of valuable guidance, I could make them a completely free logo, no strings attached, as a thank you. So, if, in your reply to this post, you state that you want me to make you logo, and you are one of the two most helpful people after 24 days of me posting this, I will ask you what kind of logo you want, and then I will try to get the logo done in the subsequent days. I realise that probably no-one needs a logo, but logos are a core component of branding, and branding is a core component of business, so I figured that maybe someone would like a new logo for their business, and, also, logos ain't cheap. I use Adobe Illustrator to make logos, just to clarify, and not AI. I’m not a world-class logo designer, but I am ok at it, and have made around 100 logos in total.

 

[WaveJumper]

What's this a pitch to garner new "logo' business. Yes of course it's legal to form a company and then sell it, the million dollar question is why would someone want to buy it whats so special about your domains

 

[fisicx]

The answer is still the same as last time: this is not a viable business.

The interweb is awash with domains, the likelihood of anyone wanting a bunch of related domain names is almost zero.

@JejuIslandKR - give up on this idea, it’s just not going to work as described.

 

[NickGrogan]

1) Ltd company
2) update the registration information on the domains to the new company name
3) Its not a business for sale, its a business that owns some domains, so you need to sell the domains. The company is just a tool to deliver them.
4) No and No

There are many services for selling domains that offer escrow, use one of those.

If/when you sell the company/domains, you will have a large tax bill and need a good accountant to sort it out.

You may end up being taxed twice, once when you transfer the domains to the company - even if the company doesn't sell and then again when you sell the company.

Unless you have buyer/s linked up, then the delivery vehicle (ltd company) is irrelevant. If the buyer is overseas, then the Ltd is a big liability and will probably block any sale.

 

[Paul Carmen]

This is a rehash of a question you already asked, it has the same answers.

A business is an entity that trades, it sells products or services of some sort. To have value it needs to be either profitable, or a business plan that will be profitable in future. That's what people looking on business for sale type sites look for.

You don't have a business, so you don't need a registered/limited company. You don't need directors, employees, payroll, the HMRC/tax/reporting responsibility that comes with this. As @NickGrogan says, if you own these as an individual now, then creating a business muddies things and has further tax implications.

If you want to sell these as a bulk list, create a website that ranks for whatever it is and offer them for sale, with a price to buy the lot. List them all with the cost on the site.

There are also various domain registrars and bulk buying tools from the likes of Godaddy and IONOS that will let people search in bulk for domains.

As @fisicx says, this is not a business. People looking for domains will look on domain buying type services, so sell them in a place people will look. No one is looking to buy a business that's not a trading business, that only has a number of domains for sale.