How do I handle legal stuff for multiple businesses?

I would treat the websites sold on flippa as business assets rather than businesses. Business assets are just things that businesses own, buy, and sell, and don't need to be setup as separate business entities themselves. In this scenario, one business is a holding company with an LLC for liability protection and a DBA / Tax Certificate for legal compliance. That business owns one or more -- maybe many -- websites, which can be sold to others on flippa or other sites.

Yes, this means that a lawsuit regarding one website could sink the many, although the LLC will probably protect your personal assets. I think this risk is acceptable because the cost of forming an LLC and securing the local paperwork for each website could reduce your profit margins in reselling the sites. Some sites you'll build in some niches will click with search traffic and you'll have numbers to prompt a more demanding sale. But, you'll want to be able to unload other sites for a couple hundred dollars or, really, whatever you can get for them, and that will put you in the red if you've absorbed the costs of forming entities for each of them. Sure, people might pay more for a well-performing website that is coupled with a properly formed business entity, but the are unlikely to want to pay hundreds more for a poor-to-mediocre performing site just because it has a business entity formed around it. You cannot know, in advance, which sites are going to perform and which aren't. The better strategy in this environment is to build and see if more substantial investment is warranted rather than invest large amounts in web projects and see if you get burned later.

That's my two cents, but it might not be clear, so here's further explanation of the business entity (developer) versus business asset (website) distinction in brick and mortar terms:

Let's say you lived in a part of the South where fall football games involved hot, sticky weather. That's both the climate and the opportunity. You plan to start a business named "Slushies For Us" selling slushies at the local high school football games and your business buys a couple of portable slushy machine to take to game nights.

In that scenario, in order to protect yourself from liability and for legal compliance, you form an LLC for "Slushies For Us", and comply with county and city laws, which may require you to get a DBA and business license / tax certificate. Ideally, you open a separate checking account for "Slushies Are Us." From that account, you buy your slushy machine as a business asset owned by "Slushies Are Us."

"Slushies are Us" is a business entity, but it can buy and sell things it owns just like you and I can. After you realize you can't stand dealing with startlingly rude teenagers at high school football games -- these kids today are enough to darken your hopes for humanity -- you decide to focus your slushy sales on outdoor parks and museums where older, kinder, and more appreciative people spend their time. There's less activity there, but you'lll be happier. So, "Slushies Are Us" sells two of its six slushy machine to a convenience store and continues in a different shape or form.

This last transaction is what you are doing on flippa or what you should be doing. Selling a business opportunity legally is *much* more complicated than selling a business asset like a website. By no means is it impossible, of course, and you could do it. But, there are quite a few laws, not all of which you may be able to opt-out of with disclaimers and such, that regulate disclosures and sales of businesses. Even worse are sales of investment opportunities, which can, in some contexts, trigger SEC regulation and potential jail time.

But, you ask: Aren't there a lot of people on flippa who talk about selling "a business" because people will pay more for a business than a website? Isn't calling the website a business better marketing?

Well, yes. That's probably the case on both counts. Certainly, I'd feel like a fool if I paid $50,000 for almost any website in flippa. But, $50,000 for an ongoing *business* sounds like a deal.

But, there's always a tension and a risk involved with such an approach. Eventually, with gained sophistication, a web developer may become good enough at selling businesses complete with proper documentation and such as a process to minimize that risk. It sounds like you are doing the work to gain that sophistication. And, well, for smaller transactions, it's not as if the costs of litigation really pencil out. But, for large ones, a headache could ensue (emphasis on sue)...

Bottom line: Properly framed, the LLC is for your website building business. The sales transaction is for the website, a business asset, but not a business opportunity.

If you have any further questions and you think I can be helpful, please feel free to DM me in the future. I'd love to hear about your experiences and successes in the future. Having said that....

** This post was is my opinion, which I've shared for educational purposes. It is *not* meant to be taken as legal advice. **

I would personally go with the LLC formation for owning multiple websites due to its flexibility and ease of setting it up. Further it will provide great liability protection in the event you should ever need it. With that said, a simple mom and pop blog does not necessarily require the setting up of an LLC to protect yourself, while a site like eBay would. It all depends on the nature of your business. If you need any help, or have more specific questions shoot me a message. Always glad to help.
**Note that this response is purely my opinion and should not be construed as legal advice.**

Make sure you know how your LLC is taxed. There are four options, partnership, S or C corp or disregarded entity and each one has a different operating agreement. Also, when you file a DBA name make sure the applicant is the LLC not you personally. We work with many top internet marketers and it is very common for one LLC to own multiple web sites. In some cases our clients will have a separate LLC own the domains and lease them back to the operating company. For a startup this part is not necessary.

**Note that this response is purely my opinion and should not be construed as legal advice.**