Well, with one unsolicited mail (physical) to renewal a business name comes another. Registration Pty Ltd offering to renew a business name with an unsolicited letter.
Their letters could appear at first glance to be a renewal notice for your Australian Business Name Registration but are in fact an unsolicited commercial offer for them to renew it for you with an extra fee.
They are able to do this as a private service provider (PSP).
Business names can be registered or renewed directly with the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC) on their website.
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/renewing-your-business-name/
The current rates are one year for $39 or three years for $92
Registration Pty Ltd is offering to renew your business name for you for $99 for one year or $199 for three years.
This doesn’t seem like very good value. Speaking of cost, ASIC states that PSPs must:
Set out your fees
Ensure that information given to customers about fees you charge clearly separate fees charged by ASIC, and service fees charged by you as a service provider.
Registration Pty Ltd is only listing a combined fee for renewal which does not meet ASIC requirements.
Another note is that business names can’t actually be renewed more than 60 days before expiry. ASIC also states that a PSP cannot:
Send you a letter in the mail offering to renew your business name earlier than 2 months before your expiry date
So in this case, Registration Pty Ltd has also breached ASIC PSP rules by sending the renewal well in advance of two months.
ASIC has information about private service providers on their webpage, including their expectations.
Most PSPs have started behaving better by making their unsolicited mail comply to ASICs requirements to state that it is NOT a letter from ASIC and use less confusing and deceptive formatting. Still, these letters catch many business owners out and you will find many complaints online. We can also see many PSPs are not complying with other rules like fees and timelines.
It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.
We would also like ASIC to also restrict these organizations from contacting business name owners by mail unless consent has already been given, in line with their restriction on email contact.
Information contained in letter:
Company: Registration Pty Ltd
ACN: 641 933 173
Address: Level 45 / 680 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 (serviced office)
Phone: 1300 060 066
Website: www.reg.com.au
Registrant: REGISTRATION PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ABN 66641933173
An information request from the ASIC website, which anyone can do, shows the following:
Registered address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Start date: 08/06/2021
Principal Place Of Business address:
59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Start date: 01/06/2021
Director
Name: ROBERT KAAY
Address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Appointment date: 22/06/2020
Secretary
Name: ROBERT KAAY
Address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Appointment date: 22/06/2020
100% shareholders of this company are:
Name: SILVERBIRCH GROUP PTY LTD
ACN: 626 920 287
Address: 59A West Coast Driive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
What is interesting in the above is the name Robert Kaay. This person was also linked another business name renewal service, Registry Australia Pty Ltd. This might explain why the renewal prices are the same. Perhaps they sold the original business and started the same thing again with a new name?