Rant. "Private" business sellers (again...)

custardy

squee wrote: »

JuJu - nothing was directed at you personally - I just meant that at the moment there seems to be a lot more people of work due to redundancy rather than just trying to 'screw the system'.

Custardly - believe it or not it the comment was not an anti Royal Mail comment. I get the impression that you feel rather persecuted on these boards but I can assure you not from me - I've defended the plight of the postman many times.

To answer your comment though, I personally do think that the amount of people applying for the job was high considering the sort of job it is (ie extrememly short term).

S.

it was a genuine question i just didnt think it was a high % per job
most of the positions are filled by students so given the higher intake at uni's this year it could answer some of the demand

EmmEve

kprigg wrote: »

I am a housewife, with children. I clean an office in the evening & earn well below the £6000 threshold.
I am registered with HMRC (it was one of the first things I did once I started) as I believe that as I am earning money I need to declare it. Its no big problem - online once a year I fill in my tax return & then thats it.
I sell only personal items on ebay, but if I were to sell as a business then I would declare this aswell.
In my opinion its not worth the hassle of not declaring, getting found out, then potentially having to pay fines.

Similar here, although i'm currently on maternity leave claiming maternity allowance, one benefit to declaring my income!

I didn't pay anything to HMRC as i didn't earn enough to pay tax and was able to get a small earnings exemption certificate for my NI.

boombap

Custardly - admitedly students would be the obvious choice to fill the positions and indeed when I uni I looked into doing Christmas temp work for RM. As it happened, due to the shift times I was unable to take the job on as it clased with lectures etc. This was the same case for a few of my classmates too.

Cheers for your response by the way

S.

DaveAshton

borders_dude wrote: »

Why does it bother you so much DaveAshton?

Mainly, because it's so hard to find anything worth buying amongst the 99p tat. As a lot of the regulars on this board will know, we buy and sell trading cards. It's incredible just how many people are buying cards in bulk (often hundreds of cards at a time), then selling every single one, even the ones worth about 5p, individually for 99p because they don't have to pay to list them (almost as incredible as the fact they don't buy and sell on separate accounts :rolleyes:).

It's not massively affecting our sales (except for when the best match is screwing up, the sooner ebay get their new system sorted the better), our TRS search standing keeps us above most of the auctions

fatherazhara

juju11 wrote: »

Turkish delight - there is no need to be so rude. Re: your crappy 99p comment, eBay started out as an auction site for selling off bits and bobs not as a place for business sellers.

If I ask a genuinely innocent question can someone answer without being nasty? If I buy stuff to sell on eBay, declare it to hmrc but never exceed my £6k personal allowance, what roughly would I pay?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

fatherazhara

TurkishDelight wrote: »

I'm not being rude- I do genuinely think that anyone who can't afford their kids should have not had them or get a job- ebaying is of course one of the jobs that perfectly suits SAHMs.

But these are business sellers- they buy bulk lots and sell at under £1 because they are incorrectly registered and get 99p listings free- this means hundreds of listings from one seller that are endlessly relisted.

.... .... i shall assume you and Dave don't have kids then......

Frankly i don't see why its important... the whole thread seems like it was started out of boredom, i am registered as a business seller (I'm sure you'll be happy to know) but in all honesty wouldn't bother being a business seller with the difference it makes on eBay, you just more screwed than you were before, as a business you HAVE to accept returns as a Private, its not compulsory.... i know which I'd prefer.

Contains_Mild_Peril

bylromarha wrote: »

My private account sells new bits here and there when I see a deal that'll make a profit on ebay.

No way I cover £6k personal allowance, but no way I'm a business either.

Technically you should open a new account on eBay and have one for business and one for private transactions. That's what I do. I confess I started my "business" eBaying like you, occasionally selling for profit on a private account, but when it became a habit I "went legal", opened a business account on eBay and started declaring my profits to HMRC. I will say that the paperwork can be time-consuming and likely to deter those who only sell for profit once in a blue moon but still have to fill in tax returns and declare all their earnings on tax credit forms etc, and risk severe penalties if they're late in providing the required information.

juju11_2

DaveAshton wrote: »

Mainly, because it's so hard to find anything worth buying amongst the 99p tat. As a lot of the regulars on this board will know, we buy and sell trading cards. It's incredible just how many people are buying cards in bulk (often hundreds of cards at a time), then selling every single one, even the ones worth about 5p, individually for 99p because they don't have to pay to list them (almost as incredible as the fact they don't buy and sell on separate accounts :rolleyes:).

It's not massively affecting our sales (except for when the best match is screwing up, the sooner ebay get their new system sorted the better), our TRS search standing keeps us above most of the auctions

Not meant rudely at all but... it sounds like you don't like a bit of competition. Everyone is entitled to sell on eBay, whether it is '99p tat' or brand new items. Surely, if a potential buyer is interested in buying something specific (such as your type of items) they will really look hard for it and select the best of those listed weighted against the price they want to pay for it.

Would you not be better off having your own website as well as an eBay shop, where people don't have to sift through the 'tat'. Why should eBay become only the domain of the business seller when businesses are surely more likely to be able to trade through other online means; as opposed to John Smith who needs the eBay-type platform to reach the masses?

The thing is, I would never intimate that any person not use eBay. Remember: one person's 'tat' is another person's treasure

(I realise this is a little off track of the original post but the thread seems to have gone this way a little)

TurkishDelight

fatherazhara wrote: »

.... .... i shall assume you and Dave don't have kids then......

Why? Because I expect people (even the socially acceptable face of the unemployed- these "homemakers") to pay for their responsibilities if they can without resorting to rule and possibly law breaking? (by the way great example to give to the kids :beer:) :rolleyes:

juju11 wrote: »

Would you not be better off having your own website as well as an eBay shop, where people don't have to sift through the 'tat'. Why should eBay become only the domain of the business seller when businesses are surely more likely to be able to trade through other online means; as opposed to John Smith who needs the eBay-type platform to reach the masses?

Sorry but you have missed the point entirely- these people are businesses- they buy hundreds of items purely to sell them on. Because they are registered against the rules they get free listings to list things that to add insult to injury don't sell more than 1%.

Explain to me how buying things to sell them straight back on is not a business?

I have no problem at all with properly private sellers or with business competitiors- that is the way the market should work.

Ames

There might be gullible people out there who buy the commons at 99p though. When I first started gaming, instead of buying boxes I bought off ebay, it was ages before I realised that paying a couple of quid for a 'full set' of 40 commons was waaaay overpriced and getting the set was cheaper if you just bought a box.

My ex sells trading cards (only loots or rares though), he buys a box to get the cards he wants then sells what he doesn't want, would that be classed as business? I think it should be but he's adamant it isn't.