Don't be the offshore "sucker"
Want to know when you are paying more than you should for an offshore... or worse, paying less and buying a giant problem? There are hundreds of professionals charging more than they should and there is an entire industry of "company factories" that loves the unsuspecting client. Let's open the black box of costs and traps in this market.
The real cost of registration
The raw truth: government costs, processes and annual fees to register an offshore range from $200 to $2,000, depending on the jurisdiction. It rarely goes beyond that. If your fixed government maintenance cost is exploding without explanation, you may be being overcharged without knowing it.
The "entry price" trap
Many companies use the low registration fee to attract you. It's the shelf sale. They deliver a commercial registration and leave you adrift. No tax registration (EIN, UTR, etc.), no compliance, no support for opening a bank account, no accounting.
The result? Your account is closed in three months, you pay fines for late filings, and the cheap becomes very expensive.
The cascade of "tied sales"
After you bought the company, the festival of extra fees begins: want the EIN? Pay. Want the Operating Agreement? Pay more. Need a "Good Standing" certificate? Another invoice. They split the service into dozens of items that should be a single framework to charge you five times the original amount.
The 1,000% markup
Many lawyers, accountants and "specialized" boutiques charge an absurd markup, reaching 10 times the real cost of the operation, just for "intermediation". They sell bureaucracy as if it were intelligence. Charging for expertise is fair; charging 1,000% margin on top of government fees and costs is a lack of transparency, usury... exploitation.
And we know what we are saying: Startaway was born from the merger of three large white-label operators in the market of opening and managing companies abroad — many of our partners practiced (and practice) very high prices as a way to artificially position themselves as authorities in this market (the "Veblen good" strategy). They are the operators who parade luxury cars, designer brands and cinematic trips but who, very often, don't even speak a second language — imagine following the legal framework of dozens of jurisdictions and debating with banking operators the circumstances in which your account was blocked.
The Startaway model
At Startaway, we play fair. We charge the fair price for government costs, rigorous compliance and the technology that automates 80% of your management — which you won't find anywhere else. You pay for our expertise, convenience, support and the security of having a structure that really works, from Canada to Hong Kong.
No hidden fees, no "split sale". It's intelligence applied to your business and your assets...
But, above all, these are ethical values.
