Singapore Entrepreneurs Network & Startup Organization

1. Setting up a online store... doesnt required ACRA registration. But if you require a payment gateway, e.g. paypal, worldpay, NETs, you require a ACRA registration.
One way to avoid ACRA, setup your store in yahoo store, or ebay store.

2. no need
3. by all means.
4. learn all about internet marketing, and setup your business plan.

Francis
Internet marketing consultant, business consultant

1. Register a company by following these steps:
http://www.business.gov.sg/EN/HowToGuide/LicencesNPermits/regbiz_co_how.htm
Registration is not needed for internet business


2. Register with ACRA for a payment gateway.
(I wouldn't want to setup a store in yahoo/ebay because i would like to build up from scratch my own website   )

No... You dont register with ACRA for a payment gateway, cos the payment gateway operator need your ACRA number in order to provide you.
  WORLD PAY, NETS, PAYPAL etc. for you to collect SGD.
If you are selling to USA, and collect USD, you dont even need a ACRA number.

3. If there is no need for any accounting framework, how do i register my profit/loss . Even if it's a loss, i would need to file in my accounts?Else, the IRAS will be coming after me for non-filing of accounts?

Do your own sums, and create your own management report yearly.
4. Is there any recommended website to learn about internet marketing?
read from the posts, there are many recommended courses to learn.
stompernet.com is one of the best.

i think it'e best to store items at your place to save on cost.

if you don't want a payment gateway, u can opt for plain old bank transfer to save on fees.

out of curiosity, how would you intend to drive customers to ur online website?

Well, if it is a simple 1 page writeup and simple 1 forum message, you will start to learn everything you need to know about internet marketing, then we have a big problem here.  cos there is so much things to be learnt before one can actually effectively marketed on internet.
 
People common answer to your above question:
Get yourself some blogs. and start emailing to all your friends, and people will come to your website virally.  Little did they know that things doesnt work that way.  To the professionals, it can be lots of manual work, and to the newbies, they always believe that there is a magic button. < No wonder so many newbies get con into buying 3000 sgd on blackhat software that can be gotten in the internet for free, n which only give short term results>

Or create some online contests, and promote in all the forums, create facebook account, and use pay per click, or the simplest print your namecard with your website.  Hello, sir, we need to learn the mechanism of how the human behavior works, the mechanism of the marketing tool, and the critical success factor... what works. for different industry, your target audience is different, and therefore we cannot give you a definite answer.

Hello.  things arent that simple. There are more than billions of website searchable via the search engine. Why should anyone buy from a website unknown to them.    If one will buy items from a beautiful professional looking website, becos you pay 2500 sgd for it.  then think again... Just becos the search engine suggest that base on the keywords, and the website is in the first page, that you should die die buy from the site?

Few pointers that I can think about at this middle of the nite:
1. Choose your business model:  informational, brokering, sales
2. Build trust. via creating credible contact, article, testimonials.
3. Build lots of links from forums and social networks, and social bookmarks via participating in the conversation... not spamming.
4. give freebies with affliate links to your site.
5. create viral youtube advert.
etc etc etc.  there are thousand and one ways to effectively market a site. and with great combination of these ways, then you can see result.
6. start from a simple step... learn... from the so many marketing books available on the internet.  cheers hope that helps

and please note that THIS is not a consultation, I will not need to know more about what your business is, or what your company does, and the above answer is basically a generic reply, whereby the conclusion is:
Ask a better question to get a specific answer.

Internet marketing newbies.

Please do not have unrealistic expectation for internet marketing that can bring you millions.  Cos that is basically bullshit.  there is no such thing as MAGIC button... via expensive software that will bring you the traffic and the guaranteed ranking and the guaranteed profit.  It is never a walk in the park because you bought yourself a 3000 SGD SEO guru software. 

Just to tell you the TRUTH. and if you dont believe that, please do not read further.  Cos the TRUTH is, it is only through HARD WORK, PERSERVERENCE, SMART CHOICES, and STRONG WILLED that will get you where you want in life.

First Step for setting up a online business.
Scan the competitive market landscape and find your niche market first.
before jumping in...

Which Niche should you choose?
Most of us, fall into our niche by accident and we dont have the ecommerce experience to do market research properly.
Even if you are a experienced entrepreneur, if you start a business without fully understanding the need of the market, you will fail miserably.

See the Big Picture first...
Click on this link for the latest information Internet marketing 101.
http://internetoolbox.blinkweb.com/internet-newbie.html