Formation & ownership
- Separate the legal entity from brand names and storefront identities
- Document IP, supplier, inventory, and marketplace ownership
- Plan states of operation around real inventory, people, and fulfillment facts
E-COMMERCE PLAYBOOK
Build the common foundation, then add the industry reality.
Online businesses still have physical-world obligations. Product type, customer location, inventory, fulfillment, sales-tax nexus, returns, privacy, marketing, and payment risk all shape the roadmap.
BASELINE
The four layers to map before launch.
These are general planning layers, not a substitute for jurisdiction-specific agency instructions or licensed professional advice.
Licenses & approvals
- Map sales-tax registrations from actual nexus facts rather than a generic state list
- Check product-specific labeling, safety, import, or regulated-goods requirements
- Review marketplace, fulfillment, warehouse, and local business obligations
How the business runs
- Define order, refund, chargeback, fraud, fulfillment, returns, and customer-service controls
- Publish clear privacy, terms, shipping, return, and subscription disclosures where applicable
- Track platform, payment, inventory, shipping, and advertising vendors as critical dependencies
Records to preserve
- Supplier and marketplace agreements
- Sales-tax registrations
- Product compliance evidence
- Refund/chargeback records
- Privacy and marketing records
QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE THE ROADMAP
Answer these before treating a generic checklist as complete.
A change in activity, ownership, location, customers, products, workers, or regulated services can change what applies.
Where is inventory stored?
Capture the actual business fact, then verify the controlling source or professional requirement that follows from it.
Which states have employees, contractors, warehouses, or material sales activity?
Capture the actual business fact, then verify the controlling source or professional requirement that follows from it.
Are any products regulated or age-restricted?
Capture the actual business fact, then verify the controlling source or professional requirement that follows from it.
Are subscriptions or automatic renewals offered?
Capture the actual business fact, then verify the controlling source or professional requirement that follows from it.
COMMON FOCUS AREAS
What Mabnee already associates with E-Commerce.
These focus areas are used to personalize the roadmap and direct deeper source verification.
Sales-tax setup
Confirm applicability from the business facts, formation jurisdiction, operating locations, and controlling authority before consequential action.
Terms and privacy
Confirm applicability from the business facts, formation jurisdiction, operating locations, and controlling authority before consequential action.
Fulfillment
Confirm applicability from the business facts, formation jurisdiction, operating locations, and controlling authority before consequential action.
Payments and fraud controls
Confirm applicability from the business facts, formation jurisdiction, operating locations, and controlling authority before consequential action.
YOUR NEXT STEP STARTS HERE
Build a e-commerce roadmap around the real business facts.
Start with the state, ownership, location, activity, workforce, and operating model. Mabnee organizes the sequence without inventing an approval.