The Great 'Recycle it for cash' Hunt. Make money from old stuff you don't want.

lyndhurst25

Sheila's_Man wrote: »

With the probable introduction of weighing your wheelie bin and checking how much you recycle why not start now by taking your recyclable glass, plastic and metal items to a Tesco store that has a recycling station. These actually give you a point for every 4 items recycled. My wife discovered by accident that if you take a tin can and put it and its lid in separately that counts as two items. I know this seems to be small change but the knock on is that Tesco monitor who recycles and send them vouchers for being green.

It might be a good idea to take both the tops and the bottoms off each can then! Therefore 1 can = 3 items = 0.75 Clubcard points.

costcuttingmum

lustydog wrote: »

Hi Eric
Don't want to put a damper on your exuberance, but the Tax man has currently got a limit on the amount of articles you can sell on ebay or Amazon.
You are restricted to 60 items a year, and then they regard it as a business which of course is taxable.
I myself sold a similar number of books and specialist videos last year, but gave it up as it wasn't worth the hassle of keeping records and filling in forms.
Of course as there are millions of people doing this, and they may never get round to you, but with these computer thingys who knows what wonders they can perform. Regards lustydog

I have just read this thread, and this concerns me now - over the last 2 years, I have continuously sold my three childrens clothes, bikes, unwanted toys, household furniture etc - in fact everything I dont use or should say we dont use or have replaced with newer model I sell on ebay - this has amounted to more than 60 items in the year, I have even sold on behalf of elderly relatives who are not computer literate. Does this mean that I should be classed as a business and that the taxman will be knocking on my door - where else would I be able to sell my unwanted goods (without having to get up on a sunday morning for carboot) without the taxman thinking I am a business. Someone please help, I am really worried now.
Thank you.:money:

HugoSP

I think you could convince them that you are not running a business, as you are not trading, but moving on stuff that you no longer have a use for.

What I think the other poster is getting at is that HMRC do look to e bay for some people who may be trading and not declaring profits.

From this POV it is impractical for them to hunt down everyone who has sold 1 item at a profit in the last 6 years, so instead they will look at those few who sell many items in a short space of time, then establish whether or not they are trading - ie buying to sell at a profit.

HMRC will undoubtidly use certain measures to bring some regular sellers under closer scrutiny. However those that are obviously selling for a profit very obviously stand apart from a mum of three selling her kids' outgrown clothes.

There is a lot of conjecture over exactly what measures are used and how they are applied. I suspect that different tax offices/inspectors use different criteria because they are looking at different areas or types of businesses.

HMRC probably enjoy this confusion to a certain extent so that punters won't know exactly where the line is. After all it wouldn't do for us all to know that 60 items a year is the limit, otherwise we would all be flogging 59 items a year and making huge quantities of untaxed cash!

costcutting mum could, if she was worried, keep details of each item she sells, who owns it and if it is hers, how much it cost her. The worst that could possibly happen is that she may get some sort of tax demand. She would then respond by explaining and offering evidence to the fact that she sells simply to move stuff on and does not take a profit. The likely outcome is that any demand would be cancelled. This would take the form of at least some of the listings that she has posted - all used items etc, and maybe a letter from her elderly relatives confirming that the items she sold for them did not earn her a penny.

If that didn't work she could probably eliminate HMRC estimated profits by claiming home office expenditure. Plus if she doesn't work she has her personal allowance of around £4,500 odd.

So, in conclusion - don't worry

mum2one

the other thong o reycle is old ink cartridges, )obviously the ones that arenr refillable), go through Tesco, you get back 100 club card points - £1.00, but if you are saving the points for vouchers, look on it as £4.00

rosshenson

bham-dave wrote: »

Anyone recommend a way of selling/recycling a childhood mounted stamp collection (1000s of stamps, various countries). Had a look at the Guide Dogs site, but they don't seem to get very much for it (would rather just give them a few quid!).

If they are used they are unlikely to be of much value unless you specialised and bought quality stamps. If they are decimal mint with gum, but mounted, take them off the album pages and use them for posting your letters and packages. You will only get 60-80% of face value if you try selling them on eBay.

Mike

Michelden_2

Wow thanks for the info re Tesco. I recycle avidly and have managed to go from 5 (yes 5:eek: ) black bags a week to just one. My two grown up daughters and their fiancees are really good too, sorting their rubbish before throwing anything away. If I can make a bit of extra cash as well as helping the environment that's brilliant. We now put out about 10 bags of recycling a week. I'm now trying to cut down on the amount of packaging on the items we buy but this can be quite difficult as most shops still pack everything in two or three layers. I have made the effort this week to go to the local market for my fruit and veg using my two re-usable bags. it was much cheaper than the supermarket but you need to watch what goes in the bag or you get given the dodgy stuff! Will try the butchers today and see if I can save money that way as well as aquiring less plastic.

Michelden

Smithills

Hugo- you might be the man to deal with this. I'm just embarking on a whole house rewire (well, my electrician will be!). I will be keeping anything he strips out with copper in in- I've already got some defunct TV aerial cable to one side. What is the price differential between wire still coated with plastic, and pure copper wire- is it enough to get stripping?! You know what I mean!!;)

Bubblebrain83

At my work we send our Konica Minolta Ink cartriges back to them via their website, not sure if thats any use to anyone with that kind of printer

Passiflora_Polar_Bear

Sheila's_Man wrote: »

With the probable introduction of weighing your wheelie bin and checking how much you recycle why not start now by taking your recyclable glass, plastic and metal items to a Tesco store that has a recycling station. These actually give you a point for every 4 items recycled. My wife discovered by accident that if you take a tin can and put it and its lid in separately that counts as two items. I know this seems to be small change but the knock on is that Tesco monitor who recycles and send them vouchers for being green. Our recycling station is right alongside the petrol station so I drop my wife off to do the recycling and I get in the queue for fuel, so we don't go out of our way either. The other thing Tesco has going for it is that they take drinks cartons that our council won't take and when we put all our paper and card in the Tesco bins it doesn't end up in ours or other peoples front gardens, as it does with the council collectors.

My local tesco have recycling bins; how do you extract points for recycling there?? I've never seen anyone doling out points for recycling tins etc. I'd love to know about this; all i know about is re-using the plastic bags..

Marishka

rosshenson wrote: »

If they are used they are unlikely to be of much value unless you specialised and bought quality stamps. If they are decimal mint with gum, but mounted, take them off the album pages and use them for posting your letters and packages. You will only get 60-80% of face value if you try selling them on eBay.

Mike

RSPB collects stamps, it may be worth giving them a call to see if they can take them this way. May not save you any money but will (apparently!) save the albatross