Avon Hints and Tips (Part 2)

dark_angel

omg i am so blind they were in HT 10!
hahah..

Elliebee_2

:rotfl:......the trouble is that we look at 3 brochures at any one time, plus HT and online offers and they all sort of merge into one in the end. It's really exasperating when you can remember seeing something and can't remember where.

Glad you tracked them down in the end - none of us would have slept tonight

Incidentally, as info for everyone else, it's sometimes worth ringing Avon if you want an item from an old book as they can sometimes find one for you (at least they could when the call centre was in Corby).

CruelKaren

dark_angel wrote: »

omg i am so blind they were in HT 10!
hahah..

glad you got them xxx

Aesop

You probably already know this but there are a number of things you can claim as a self employed person when it comes to paying your tax bill.

• about 10-20% of your heating bills (well winter anyway)
• about 10-20% of your electricity bill (well you need light to see by, don't you?)
• clothing allowance for walking your territory and posting all those lovely catalogues - shoes, coat, umbrella, or waterproof cagoule
• keep all your receipts for things like books bought, if you keep paper records, filing items, like hole punch, stapler,staple remover, ring binders, plastic wallets, pens, pencils, ink catridges, printers, post it notes, etc, envelopes, paper
• a percentage of your phone bill for making calls to your customer, but I have a separate pay as you go telephone I use for this. keep the vouchers you use for topping up the phone for the calls.
• if you travel to your territory by car or by public transport, you can claim the tickets for public transport, so keep this, and by car, the petrol used, so keep receipts. I think also a percentage of the insurance, but may need to check this with an accountant
• if you advertise in shop windows, keep receipts for this

Business expenses

These are all the ongoing expenses associated with running your business that you can deduct from your "gross profit" figure on your profit and loss account to calculate a figure of "profit before taxation".
Legitimate business expenses for accounting purposes are:

• employee costs
• premises costs
• repairs
• general administration
• motor expenses
• travel/subsistence
• advertising/promotion/entertainment
• interest
• bad debts
• legal/professional costs
• other finance charges
• depreciation or loss - profit - on sales of equipment
• any other expenses

Note that some elements of these expenses are not allowed for tax purposes and are added back before your taxable profit is calculated.

some useful links

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/SelfAssessmentYourTaxReturn/index.htm?cids=MSN_PPC&cre=Money

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073863880&r.l1=1073858808&r.l3=1073968188&r.t=RESOURCES&r.i=1073791891&r.l2=1073859209&r.s=e

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/

lopez75

lopez75 wrote: »

Hey girls,

Can any of you tell me where I could find a list of discontinued products? I've got a customer wanting a PerfectWear Everlasting Colour lipstick in Bronze. I've looked through my books and through my old Hello Tomorrows but I can't find anything to say it's been discontinued.

Thanks alot.
:-)

Anyone???

Elliebee_2

Many thanks for posting that Aureol - I know it will be a great help for everyone. There is only one good thing about reaching 65, and that's that your tax allowance goes up..........for the first time this year, I'm a non tax-payer woo-hoo :j

One word of caution. If you decide to claim expenses for your car, then stop and think what type of insurance you have - does it include business use? If not, then it may be better to claim that you walk, and just use lots of shoe leather With so much information shared these days, you can't be too careful :eek:

Elliebee_2

lopez75 wrote: »

Anyone???

If you keep your old HT's*, then they list products being discontinued, but other than that I'm not sure. Again, perhaps talk to Avon?

The only other option would be the 'wanted' ads, but I've heard there are a lot of scams on there. Have you tried eBay?

I've just looked at my old brochures, and it was in C6 but not C7.

*PS - sorry just re-read your post

CruelKaren

lopez75 wrote: »

Anyone???

sorry hun
I have no idea maybe offer them a different colour and see if they like it?
they have bronze treasure in C9 in Avon ultra colour for a £5
maybe just show her techniques for making your lippy last longer with blotting etc and using a lip brush.
Customers sometimes just need a wee nudge in the right direction xx

lozza1985

aureol212 wrote: »

You probably already know this but there are a number of things you can claim as a self employed person when it comes to paying

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/SelfAssessmentYourTaxReturn/index.htm?cids=MSN_PPC&cre=Money

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073863880&r.l1=1073858808&r.l3=1073968188&r.t=RESOURCES&r.i=1073791891&r.l2=1073859209&r.s=e

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/

Fab thanks for those links! I was told about courses they run to help you know what costs you can put down....but so far they are only on in the week and don't want to have a day of work to attend one lol! I knew I could put an amount of our electricty down (we don't have gas) but at least now I know how much :

How much relief you can get

You can get either:

• A flat rate deduction of £3.00 per week (from 2008-09) for each week that you've got to work at home. This doesn't include the cost of business telephone calls.
• A larger amount if your extra expenses are higher than £3.00 - but you'll have to show how you've calculated the figure.

(copied from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-household.htm if anyone is interested)

So at least that's an extra £3 a week I knock off from my "profits" for tax purposes and without any complicated calculations either lol! Thanks again!

angel13

hi i know this must be a silly question but ive looked through a few pages and cannot find an answer. I am considering trying avon as another job to do alongside mystery shopping - i am doing anything possible to save money for stock for a business i want to set up.

anyway i would like to know if my few streets by my house are covered by someone else or not? I have lived in this house 3 years (apart from a 6 month break) and had only 3 avon catalogues. one of which i placed a big order from so thought that would mean i would get more? So i presume noone covers my street/s? I need to be sure as I am not from this part of the country and do not work or have any friends or family here so catalogues through doors will be my only way of making any money. Thanks for the help