Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks or uncertainties actually occurs, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would likely suffe r . In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to the Company
We have experienced operating losses.
Our business and prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties that are inherent in our business. The risks include:
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our ability to anticipate and adapt to a developing market;
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our ability to market, license and enforce our shipping calculator, payment processing platform, shopping cart and other e-commerce tools;
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development of equal or superior Internet portals, shipping calculators and related services by competitors; and
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our ability to maintain competitive pricing with our carriers
To address these risks, we must, among other things, successfully market our e-commerce shopping cart, our merchant payment platform and shipping label generation services, continue to develop new relationships with carriers, e-commerce service providers, maintain our customer base, attract significant numbers of new customers, respond to competitive developments, and continue to develop and upgrade our technologies. We cannot offer any assurances that we will be successful in addressing these risks.
The Company has reported substantial operating losses since 1999. There can be no assurance that we will be profitable in the future.
Our capital is limited, and we may need additional financing to continue operations.
We require substantial working capital to fund our business. If we are unable to obtain additional financing in the amounts desired and on acceptable terms, or at all, or issue stock, we could be required to significantly reduce the scope of our expenditures, which impact our business potential and the market price of our common stock. By raising additional funds by issuing equity securities, our shareholders will be further diluted. Based on our cash position as of December 31, 2023, we believe we have sufficient capital to fund our anticipated operating expenses over the next 12 months.
We are unable to guarantee that the marketplace will accept our software products.
The software markets are characterized by rapid technological change, frequent new product enhancements, uncertain product life cycles, changes in customer demands and evolving industry standards. Our software products could be rendered obsolete if products based on new technologies are introduced or new industry standards emerge, or if we do not obtain adequate intellectual property protection. We are unable to provide any assurances that the marketplace will accept our software products and services, or that we will be able to provide these products and services at a profit.
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Our operating results are unpredictable.
You should not rely on the results for any period as an indication of future performance. Our operating results and rate of growth are unpredictable and are expected to fluctuate in the future due to a number of additional factors, many of which are outside our control. These factors beyond our control include:
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our ability to significantly increase our customer base and traffic to our websites, maintain gross margins, and maintain customer satisfaction;
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our ability to market and sell our software products;
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consumer confidence in encrypted transactions in the internet environment;
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the announcement or introduction of new types of services or products by our competitors;
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technical difficulties with respect to customer use of our technologies;
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governmental regulation by federal or local governments; and
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general economic conditions and economic conditions specific to the internet and e-commerce.
As a strategic response to changes in the competitive environment, we may from time to time make certain service, marketing or supply decisions or acquisitions that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In 2023, our revenues were derived from our shipping coordination, shipping label generation services, shipping calculator services, merchant payment processing and brewery management software solutions.
The successful operation of our business depends upon the supply of critical technology elements from other third parties, including our internet service provider and technology licensors.
Our operations depend on a number of third parties for internet/telecom access, delivery services, and software services. We have limited control over these third parties and no long-term relationships with many of them. We rely on an internet service provider to connect our websites to the internet. From time to time, we have experienced temporary interruptions in our website’s connection and also our telecommunications access. The Company has recently secured a secondary subscription for our internet services and have migrated our hosted services to a cloud based offsite location in order to mitigate any potential outages. We license technology and related databases from third parties for certain elements of our properties. Furthermore, we are dependent on hardware suppliers for prompt delivery, installation, and service of servers and other equipment to deliver our products and services. Our internally developed software depends on operating system, database and server software that was developed and produced by and licensed from third parties. We have from time-to-time discovered errors and defects in the software from these third parties and, in part, rely on these third parties to correct these errors and defects in a timely manner. Any errors, failures, interruptions, or delays experienced in connection with these third-party technologies and information services could negatively impact our relationship with users and adversely affect our brand and our business and could expose us to liabilities to third parties.
Our failure to manage growth could place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources.
Growth places a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources, and has placed significant demands on our management, which currently include two executive officers, a director of sales and a vice president of finance. In order to manage growth, we will be required to expand existing operations, particularly with respect to enhanced product offerings, customer service and development, to improve existing and implement new operational, financial systems, procedures and controls. In 2023, the Company added a significant number of consultants to assist with development and will continue to add technical and marketing personnel.
We have experienced some strain on our resources because of:
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the need to manage relationships with various technology licensors, other websites and services, and other third parties;
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pressures for the continued development of our core of software products; and
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the need for additional development and technology personnel.
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Difficulties we may encounter in dealing successfully with the above risks could seriously harm our operations. We cannot offer any assurance that our current personnel, systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our future operations or that management will be able to identify, hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel.
Our Company's success still depends upon the continued services of its current management and other relationships.
We are substantially dependent on the continued services of our key personnel, W. Austin Lewis, IV and David Scott. Mr. Lewis has specialized knowledge and skills with respect to our Company and our operations and relationships with our channel partners. As a result, if Mr. Lewis were to leave our Company, we could face some difficulties in hiring qualified successors. Mr. Scott has unique knowledge regarding the technology of the Company and its integrations to other third-party software. If Mr. Scott were to leave the Company, we could face some setbacks in development or possible outages. We do not maintain any key person life insurance.
Our Company's success will depend on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel.
We believe that our future success will depend upon our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, motivate and retain other highly skilled managerial, accounting, technical consulting, marketing and customer service personnel. The Company has recently been awarded a “Great Place to Work” certification in Canada. We have added five new employees with minimal turnover in the last year. We cannot offer assurances that we will be successful in attracting, assimilating or retaining the necessary personnel, and the failure to do so could have an adverse effect on our business.
Our success depends upon market awareness of our brand.
Development and awareness of our Company will depend largely on our success in increasing our customer base, specifically in the United States. To attract and retain customers and to promote and maintain our Company in response to competitive pressures, we may find it necessary to increase our sales, marketing and advertising budgets and otherwise to increase substantially our financial commitment to creating and maintaining brand loyalty among consumers. We will need to continue to devote substantial financial and other resources to increase and maintain the awareness of our online brands among website users, advertisers, affiliate relationships, and e-commerce entities that we have advertising relationships with through:
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web advertising, marketing, and social media;
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traditional media advertising campaigns;
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trade shows and exhibitions; and
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Canadian seller resources.
Our results of operations could be seriously harmed if our investment of financial and other resources, in an attempt to achieve or maintain a leading position in internet commerce or to promote and maintain our brand, does not generate a corresponding increase in net revenue, or if the expense of developing and promoting our online brands becomes excessive.
System failures could result in interruptions in our service, which could harm our business.
A key element of our strategy is to generate a high volume of traffic to, and use of, our products. Accordingly, the satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of the shipping calculations, transaction processing systems and network infrastructure are critical to our operating results, as well as our reputation and our ability to attract and retain customers and maintain adequate customer service levels.
We periodically have experienced minor systems interruptions, including internet disruptions. Some of the interruptions are due to upgrading our technology. During these upgrades, the outages have generally lasted less than an hour. Any systems interruptions, including internet disruptions, which result in the unavailability of our services, could harm our business. In addition to placing increased burdens on our engineering staff, these outages create a large number of user questions and complaints that need to be responded to by our personnel. We cannot offer assurances that:
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we will be able to accurately project the rate or timing of increases if any, in the use of our services; or
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we will have uninterrupted access to the internet.
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Any disruption in the Internet access to our websites and services or any systems failures could significantly reduce consumer demand for our services, diminish the level of traffic to our products, impair our reputation and reduce our e-commerce and advertising revenues.
We currently identify vulnerabilities with our communications hardware and computer hardware.
Our main servers are cloud-based and are located within two separate third party hosting facilities. The cloud-based servers are spread across North America. ShipTime maintains several non-critical servers which are located in Canada with daily operations conducted in Oakville, Ontario. Neither our Massachusetts facilities nor our Canadian facilities are protected from flood, power loss, telecommunication failure, break-in and similar events however the equipment located at these offices is not considered critical to our service offerings.
As with all servers, our cloud-based servers are also vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, attempts by third parties to deliberately exceed the capacity of our systems and similar disruptive problems. Computer viruses, break-ins or other problems caused by third parties could lead to interruptions, delays, loss of data or cessation in service to users of our services and products and could seriously harm our business. Our implementation of redundancies minimizes the risk of loss though there are no guarantees.
There are certain provisions of Delaware law that could have anti-takeover effects.
Certain provisions of Delaware law and our Certificate of Incorporation, and Bylaws could make an acquisition of our Company by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or otherwise, and the removal of our incumbent officers and directors more difficult. Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors. Our Bylaws include advance notice requirements for the submission by stockholders of nominations for election to the Board of Directors and for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at a meeting.
We are subject to the anti-takeover provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), which will prohibit us from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Generally, a "business combination" includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Generally, an "interested stockholder" is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns (or within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, did own) 15% or more of a corporation's voting stock. The existence of this provision would be expected to have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions not approved in advance by the Board of Directors, including discouraging attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by stockholders. Section 203 could adversely affect the ability of stockholders to benefit from certain transactions, which are opposed by the Board or by stockholders owning 15% of our common stock, even though such a transaction may offer our stockholders the opportunity to sell their stock at a price above the prevailing market price.
Our success is dependent in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our technologies and processes.
Our most important intellectual property relates to the software for our shipping calculator, label generation and payment processing products. We do not have any patents or patent applications for our designs or innovations, except for our patent with respect to our online auction shipping and tax calculator. We may not be able to obtain copyright, patent or other protection for our proprietary technologies or for the processes developed by our employees. Legal standards relating to intellectual property rights in computer software are still developing and this area of the law is evolving with new technologies. Our intellectual property rights do not guarantee any competitive advantage and may not sufficiently protect us against competitors with similar technology.
As part of our confidentiality procedures, we generally enter into agreements with our employees and consultants and limit access to and distribution of our software, documentation and other proprietary information. We cannot offer assurances that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our technology or that agreements entered into for that purpose will be enforceable. Notwithstanding the precautions we have taken, it might be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our software or other proprietary information without authorization or to develop similar software independently. Policing unauthorized use of our technology is difficult, particularly because the global nature of the internet makes it difficult to control the ultimate destination or security of software or other data transmitted. The laws of other countries may afford our Company little or no effective protection of its intellectual property. Because our success in part relies upon our technologies, if proper protection is not available or can be circumvented, our business may suffer.
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Intellectual property infringement claims would harm our business.
We may in the future receive notices from third parties claiming infringement by our software or other aspects of our business. Any future claim, with or without merit, could result in significant litigation costs and diversion of resources, including the attention of management, and require us to enter into licensing agreements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Licensing agreements, if required, may not be available on terms acceptable to the Company or at all. In the future, we may also need to file lawsuits to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. This litigation, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our success is dependent on licensed technologies.
We rely on a variety of technologies that we license from third parties. We also rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from a third party through an online user agreement to provide the security and authentication necessary to effect secure transmission of confidential information.
We cannot make any assurances that these third-party technology licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. Although no single software vendor licensor provides us with irreplaceable software, the termination of a license and the need to obtain and install new software on our systems would interrupt our operations. Our inability to maintain or obtain upgrades to any of these technology licenses could result in delays in completing our proprietary software enhancements and new developments until equivalent technology could be identified, licensed or developed and integrated. These delays would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may be exposed to liability for content retrieved from our websites.
Our exposure to liability from providing content on the internet is currently uncertain. Due to third party use of information and content downloaded from our websites, we may be subject to claims relating to:
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the content and publication of various materials based on defamation, libel, negligence, personal injury and other legal theories;
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copyright, trademark or patent infringement and wrongful action due to the actions of third parties; and
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other theories based on the nature and content of online materials made available through our websites.
Our exposure to any related liability could result in us incurring significant costs and could drain our financial and other resources. We do not maintain insurance specifically covering these claims. Liability or alleged liability could further harm our business by diverting the attention and resources of our management and by damaging our reputation in our industry and with our customers.
The Company may be exposed to potential risks relating to our significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting.
As directed by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX 404”), the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules requiring public companies to include a report of management on the Company's internal control over financial reporting in their annual reports, including Form 10-K. We have identified deficiencies and material weaknesses in our internal controls and have taken steps to remediate them as cost-effectively as possible. Based on these deficiencies and material weaknesses, investors and others may lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and our ability to obtain equity or debt financing could suffer.
Risks Associated With Our Industry
The market for online services is intensely competitive with low barriers to entry.
The market for internet products and services is very competitive. Barriers to entry are relatively low, and current and new competitors can launch new sites at relatively low costs using commercially available software. We currently or potentially compete with a variety of other companies depending on the type of services offered to customers. These competitors include a number of indirect competitors that specialize in e-commerce shipping solutions or derive a substantial portion of their revenue from e-commerce products and those that specialize in brewery management solutions.
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It is possible that new competitors or alliances may emerge and rapidly acquire market share. Increased competition is likely to result in reduced operating margins, loss of market share and a diminished brand recognition, any one of which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Many of our current and potential competitors have greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources than the Company. As a result, these competitors may be able to provide services on more favorable terms than we can, and they may be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer preferences or to devote greater resources to the development of their products than the Company.
We may be adversely affected by the deterioration in economic conditions, which could affect consumer and corporate spending and our ability to raise capital, and, therefore, significantly adversely impact our operating results.
The impact of slowdowns on our business is difficult to predict, but they may result in reductions in new client registrations and our ability to generate revenue. The risks associated with our businesses may become more acute in periods of a slowing economy or a recession, which may be accompanied by a decrease in e-commerce business. Instability in the financial markets as a result of recession or otherwise, as well as insufficient financial sector liquidity, also could affect the cost of capital and energy suppliers and our ability to raise capital.
Our business depends on discretionary consumer and corporate spending. Many factors related to corporate spending and discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as employment, fuel prices, interest and tax rates and inflation can significantly impact our operating results. Business conditions, as well as various industry conditions, including corporate marketing and promotional spending, can also significantly impact our operating results. Negative factors such as challenging economic conditions, public concerns over terrorism and security incidents, particularly when combined, can impact corporate and consumer spending and one negative factor can impact our results more than another. There can be no assurance that consumer and corporate spending will not be adversely impacted by economic conditions, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.
Security breaches and credit card fraud could harm our business.
We rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from a third party through an online user agreement to provide the security and authentication necessary to effect secure transmission of confidential information. We believe that a significant barrier to e-commerce and communications is the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. We cannot give an assurance that advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments will not result in a compromise or breach of the algorithms we use to protect customer transaction data. If this compromise of our security were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. A party who is able to circumvent our security measures and those of our third-party providers could misappropriate proprietary information or cause interruptions in our operations. To the extent that activities of our Company or third-party contractors involve the storage and transmission of proprietary information. Security breaches could expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against the threat of security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by these breaches. We cannot offer assurances that our security measures will prevent security breaches or that failure to prevent these security breaches will not have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our industry may be exposed to increased government regulation.
Our Company is not currently subject to direct regulation by any government agency, other than regulations applicable to businesses generally, and laws or regulations directly applicable to access to, or commerce on, the internet. Today there are relatively few laws specifically directed towards online services, other than to protect user privacy or minors. However, due to the increasing popularity and use of the internet, it is possible that a number of laws and regulations may be adopted with respect to the internet, covering issues such as user privacy, freedom of expression, pricing, content and quality of products and services, fraud, taxation, advertising, intellectual property rights and information security. Compliance with additional regulation could hinder our growth or prove to be prohibitively expensive.
The applicability to the internet of existing laws in various jurisdictions governing issues such as property ownership, sales tax, libel and personal privacy is uncertain and may take time to resolve. In addition, because our service is available over the internet in multiple states, and we sell to numerous consumers resident in these states, these jurisdictions may claim that we are required to qualify to do business as a foreign corporation in each state. Our failure to qualify as a foreign corporation in a jurisdiction where it is required to do so could subject our Company to taxes and penalties for the failure to qualify. Any new legislation or regulation, or the application of laws or regulations from jurisdictions whose laws do not currently apply to our business, could have a material adverse effect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
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Risks Associated with our Common Stock
Our stock price has been and may continue to be very volatile.
The market price of the shares of our common stock has been, and is likely to be, highly volatile. During the year ended December 31, 2023 our stock price as quoted on the OTC Pink operated by the OTC Markets Group, Inc., on the OTCPINK has ranged from a high of $1.85 per share to a low of $1.15 per share. The variance in our share price makes it difficult to forecast with any certainty the stock price at which you may be able to buy or sell your shares of our common stock. The market price for our stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors that are out of our control such as:
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actual or anticipated variations in our results of operations;
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announcements of new products, services or technological innovations by our competitors;
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short selling our common stock and stock price manipulation;
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merger, split or issuance;
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developments in internet regulation; and
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general conditions and trends on the internet and e-commerce industries.
The trading prices of many technology companies' stock have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. These broad market factors may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. These market fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions or interest rate fluctuations, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Any negative change in the public's perception of the prospects of Internet or e-commerce companies could depress our stock price regardless of our results.
“Penny stock ” regulations may impose certain restrictions on marketability of securities.
The SEC adopted regulations which generally define "penny stock" to be an equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share. Our common stock may be subject to rules that impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell these securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors (generally those with assets in excess of $1,000,000, or annual incomes exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 together with their spouse). For transactions covered by these rules, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchase of these securities and have received the purchaser's prior written consent to the transaction.
Additionally, for any transaction, other than exempt transactions, involving a penny stock, the rules require the delivery, prior to the transaction, of a risk disclosure document mandated by the SEC relating to the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must disclose the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market-maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer's presumed control over the market. Finally, monthly statements must be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks. Consequently, the "penny stock" rules may restrict the ability of broker-dealers to sell our common stock and may affect the ability to sell our common stock in the secondary market.
The market for our Company's securities is limited and may not provide adequate liquidity.
Our common stock is currently quoted on the OTCPINK, a regulated quotation service that displays real-time quotes, last-sale prices, and volume information in over-the-counter equity securities. As a result, an investor may find it more difficult to dispose of, or obtain accurate quotations as to the price of, our securities than if the securities were traded on the Nasdaq Stock market, or another national exchange. There are a limited number of active market makers of our common stock. In order to trade shares of our common stock you must use one of these market makers unless you trade your shares in a private transaction. In the year ended December 31, 2023 the actual daily trading volume ranged from a low of 0 shares of common stock to a high of 10,900 shares of common stock. Selling our shares can be more difficult because smaller quantities of shares are bought and sold and news media coverage about us is limited. These factors result in a limited trading market for our common stock and therefore holders of our Company's stock may be unable to sell shares purchased should they desire to do so.
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