If you've spent time here, you know I've written a lot about membership sites. I've also tried to help you create online learning sites – particularly if you have video lessons you want to monetize.
Yesterday I told you about VAT and how it was impacting my own site. The short version is I'm moving most of my eCommerce off this site – and putting more focus on coaching and calls (which don't require dealing with VAT).
Today I want to share with you some ideas around dealing with VAT if you plan to keep doing eCommerce, especially if you're looking at membership sites or online courses.
Run Membership Sites? What now?
Few, if any, gateways are taking on the burden to do everything for you – from IP tracking to tracking locations, to calculating the right amount of VAT, to storing it for ten years. Yes, in case I didn't mention it yesterday, there's a requirement to store data and proof of the transaction (and the VAT calc) for a decade. Fun, I know.
So the issue comes down to your payment gateway.
Are you using Stripe? If so, then maybe there's a bit of good news for you. No, not because Stripe will do it all for you. But because someone else has already integrated with Stripe and will do much of everything for you.
The company is Quaderno and they understand the whole VAT thing. Moreover, they integrate with Stripe.
It might cost you $25 – $75 / month, but it could well be worth it.
Another alternative is clickbank.
They're looking at doing most of everything for you – which is much better than current solutions where you have to be come your own expert.
So look at membership plugins that support Stripe (like MemberPress, iThemes Exchange, WooCommerce / Subscriptions & more).
Have a Video Course Site? Where should you host it?
I knew I had to go look closer at the Vimeo Pro – because I had an online video course that I couldn't host / run on my own site – now that I would have to monitor and track all the VAT data.
So I took a closer look.
And if you have eBooks, you can use Amazon, like I said yesterday, and they'll take care of your VAT calculations.
One last bit of good news…
If you've read some of my posts about the new Rainmaker opportunity, you'll know it's compelling and reasonable.
Rainmaker is a platform for folks building their business online. It's particularly powerful for folks who are trying to build out their platform.
Ready for the big news?
They're already working (today, for tomorrow) on VAT-related support.
What that means is that if you want a site that will be your main platform going forward – from selling, to teaching, to podcasting to writing – you'll want to check out the new Rainmaker.