Register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade yourself or hire a service?

The State charges no fee, so why pay for a service? That's what many website owners think, until they sit down to do it and find it isn't simple. Register it yourself or hire a Ministry of Industry and Trade registration service is a question that comes down not to the service fee but to the time and risk you are willing to trade. MONA Media lays out both routes plainly so you can choose what suits you.

Registering with the Ministry of Industry and Trade yourself: pros and cons

The clearest advantage of doing it yourself: no service fee. The State charges no fee, so in cash terms you lose almost nothing.

But the real cost is in what doesn't show up on an invoice.

You spend time reading and understanding the rules, telling notification apart from registration, and working out which category your website falls under. That takes several sessions the first time.

You spend effort finishing the website. Without privacy, return and shipping policy pages, your application is returned. You have to write and build them yourself.

And you carry the risk of rejection. Choose the wrong category, submit missing papers or the wrong file format, and each mistake means another round that takes a week to a month.

All that time you spend fumbling around, your website remains in the zone where it can be fined.

Hiring a service to register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade: pros and cons

Hiring a service costs a fee. In return you buy two things: time and certainty.

A team that does this regularly knows in advance where an application will snag, so it is almost never returned. One pass and it's done, no detours.

You don't read the rules, build policy pages, or watch progress on the portal. All the tangled technical work stays on the service provider's side.

Most important, when something comes up, someone is responsible for handling it for you. If an application is rejected, they supplement it and resubmit instead of dropping it halfway.

The only cost is the service fee. For a busy business owner, that is often the best-spent money.

When to do it yourself and when to hire help

There is no single right answer. Check against your own situation.

Do it yourself if

• Your website is simple, falls under notification, and the application is light.
• You have free time and are willing to learn the process.
• There is no rush on your launch date.

Hire a service if

• Your website falls under service registration, with a complex application including a project plan and operating regulations.
• You are busy, and your time spent on the business is worth many times the service fee.
• You need it done fast to meet a sales plan or to close the risk of fines early.
• You tried it yourself before, had an application returned, and don't want to repeat it.

Owners of larger businesses almost always choose to hire. The reason is simple: one evening spent on bigger things is worth more than the service fee, and they have no time to fumble through government forms.

Comparing the real cost of both routes

To choose well, don't look only at the service fee. Put time and risk on the scale too.

Do it yourself: no State fee, but many hours of work and the risk of repeated returns. Hire a service: a flat fee, but your time is freed up and a result is almost certain.

For the specific figures on each route, see our article on the cost of registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. And don't forget the biggest cost of delay is the fine, covered in our article on fines for not registering a website.

Hand it to MONA if you choose peace of mind

If, after weighing it up, your time is worth more than the service fee, the choice is clear.

MONA Media has been building websites since 2016, working with over 14,000 customers, and handles Ministry of Industry and Trade registration for clients regularly. Because we build websites, we can add the missing policy pages right away, classify your site correctly, file, and follow through until the confirmation logo is on your website.

If you have chosen peace of mind, hand it over entirely. We have done this for a great many customers, and your side of the process is so simple that you only need to send your website link and wait for the result.

If you want to hand this procedure over to people who get it done, see your Ministry of Industry and Trade website registration end to end from MONA, or call 1900 636 648 and we will advise and quote based on your website right away.