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Payrolling Services for Shareware?

Posted by Cliff on from the outsourcing-the-boring-business-bits dept.

ajius asks: "Over the last 3 months, I have developed a solution for a client that, in order to minimize costs, decided to allow me to retain copyright. So that I could resell it. Now I see tons of services offering payroll services for contractors (in fact I use one of them), but I can't find a service that will act as the corporate wrapper for someone selling a product. So is there a service that takes care of the bookkeeping, benefits, and tax payments for those of us selling software/components/games/training videos/books/etc."

15 comments

  1. Not Sure by comwiz56 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not sure what all this service does for you or what chunk they'll want to take, but check out Lulu.

  2. Kagi by plsuh · · Score: 3, Informative

    kagi.com is an online payment service used by many shareware authors. They don't handle the tax and other corporate aspects of the business, but they do online payments, send out license keys, etc.

    --Paul

    1. Re:Kagi by Twylite · · Score: 1

      I've haven't heard of a service that will do all of the administrative work for you (including tax), but there are a lot of shareware registration services that handle payments and give you transaction summaries.

      Two of the best known (and trusted) are share-it and RegSoft. Regshare has a list of many such services, with comparison matrices for fees, services, etc. There is also a category in Google's directory for shareware registration services.

      --
      i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
  3. Handdango for WinCE products by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not sure if they've got another arm for desktop stuff though.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  4. Publishers. by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 1

    I believe they are called Publishers.

  5. How big are you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you some guy with a home office and only you work for yourself? Or do you have 15 people under your wing?

    If your a home office kinda guy, setup a paypal account and be done with. Tie that paypal to a dedicated checking account. All business money in/out will be from that. When it is tax time, use that information to file taxes. taxes should be simple.

    If you have 15 people, then it is in your best interest to hire a company.

    note: IANAC (I Am Not A Contractor), but my parents do contracting and they have have about 15 people total under them. My mom still does corporate taxes on her own.

  6. PEO by Flexagon · · Score: 1

    Probably what you're looking for is a PEO, a Professional Employment Organization. States need enabling legislation for these, but last I looked, many did. A downside, for you, might be that many require a minimum number of employees, though the number can be as low as 5.

    The idea is that your company gives shared authority over your employees to the PEO, and in return, the PEO acts as most of an HR department. This is not the same as transferring employment to the PEO (what you were probably referring to). They can handle payroll, employee handbooks (you do have company policies, don't you?), benefits, even employee search. Because of the shared authority, the PEO can take all of the liability for payroll taxes and such as long as you have money in the bank for payroll. Yet you still retain the authority and responsibility for running your business, hiring and firing, etc. A big, well-known one is Administaff (which I've used and can recommend, and have no other affilliation with), but there are many others. One big advantage of a PEO is that it can project a larger group to various service providers, such as health care, retirement plan, and purchasing.

    1. Re:PEO by Twylite · · Score: 1

      In other words, outsourcing the HR deparment ...?

      --
      i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
  7. givin' an old joke a new meaning by M1FCJ · · Score: 1

    1. decide to make a profit. 2. Ask Slashdot how to do it. 3. ??? 4. Profittt!!!

    1. Re:givin' an old joke a new meaning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      is it that hard to throw a few
      <BR>
      tags in after each step?
    2. Re:givin' an old joke a new meaning by M1FCJ · · Score: 1

      I'm lazy. So what? why waste bits?

  8. there are a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    10% flat fee:
    http://digitalcandle.com/

    2.95 + 5%:
    http://www.shareit.com/

    both let you automate license keys.

  9. Google... by cuteseal · · Score: 4, Informative
    ... is your friend. I found a few, but can't vouch for them.

    http://www.regnow.com/
    http://www.digibuy.com/
    http://www.regsoft.com/
    http://www.shareit.com/

    --

    The friendliest digital photography forums on the net!

    1. Re:Google... by Technonotice_Dom · · Score: 1

      I've used ShareIt in the past, they're Germany-based (I'm in the UK) and their service was very good. No grounds for complaint, everything went through a control panel on their site, very easy and quick. Just received a cheque on the 14th or so every month from them :)

  10. D'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The headline does not match the post. The poster is looking for help in selling his wares but can only find payroll services...