Sourcing Products For Resale.

WoodruffsDad

I am 67 years old in May but I work full time as an Office Manager. I would very much like to give up the daily travel to and from my office but I don't want to stagnate! I do, however, need the income level of my current employment.

I would like to find a product which is fairly easy to pack and ship which I can sell mainly but not solely over the internet and thus be independent of working for someone else at my stage in life.

In my spare time I currently go to local auction sales and buy "antiques" and collectables which I sell on eBay (nearly 1,000 Positive Feedbacks!) and from a small unit in an Antiques Centre. I absolutely love auction sales and selling my "finds" but this does not, currently, bring in enough income to live on.

My interests, apart from collectables, are Mac computers, environment, wildlife, pets, animal welfare, music and heritage.

I have a few thousand pounds which I could invest in stock for resale but I need to spend it wisely or I shall end up as a pensioner on benefits!!!!!

Any suggestions?

cally6008

have you registered as self employed with hmrc for running a business ?

WoodruffsDad

cally6008 wrote: »

have you registered as self employed with hmrc for running a business ?

No because I'm not self-employed. I stated at the beginning I'm an employed Office Manager on the PAYE system.

I declare my earnings from my spare time collectable sales direct to Inland Revenue.

What has this got to do with my original post?

cally6008

JulianCBrown wrote: »

In my spare time I currently go to local auction sales and buy "antiques" and collectables which I sell on eBay (nearly 1,000 Positive Feedbacks!) and from a small unit in an Antiques Centre. I absolutely love auction sales and selling my "finds" but this does not, currently, bring in enough income to live on.

I have a few thousand pounds which I could invest in stock for resale but I need to spend it wisely or I shall end up as a pensioner on benefits!!!!!

Any suggestions?

You are buying items and selling them on Ebay. This means that you should register yourself as business with ebay and as self employed with HMRC.

DSmiffy

cally6008 wrote: »

You are buying items and selling them on Ebay. This means that you should register yourself as business with ebay and as self employed with HMRC.

I thought that you had to register as a business with eBay, but as for the HMRC, you just declare whatever you make on your annual tax return. Can you be self employed and employed at the same time?

cyberbob

DSmiffy wrote: »

I thought that you had to register as a business with eBay, but as for the HMRC, you just declare whatever you make on your annual tax return. Can you be self employed and employed at the same time?

You can be employed as self employed while being employed at the same time. If your buying to sell on ebay or anywhere else you need to declare this. You have I think 6 weeks from when you start trading to register.

OP are you ssaying your selling from a market stall and not declaring that already? If you are you need to declare this. Just because your employed already does not mean you cannot also be a sole trader also. You are buying items to sell be it ebay or your antiques centre so you are a business. If you don't declare this someone is bound to report (its normally friends or relatives that do this) you and you will get a nasty shock when the HMRC get to you.

soolin

DSmiffy wrote: »

I thought that you had to register as a business with eBay, but as for the HMRC, you just declare whatever you make on your annual tax return. Can you be self employed and employed at the same time?

Yes I am both employed and self employed and when I do my online tax returns I have to add the extra pages so that I can include all my income from the various sources. I actually have more than one source of self employment, completely different fields, so fill out two different additional pages.

As for what sells well that is the one querstion that hundreds of people would like to know. If there was a simple answer then we would all be doing it and would not want to share the info with a potential competitor. Ii spend time browsing ebay, watching trends and then I try and source things that I think might take off, but as soon as the field gets saturated with sellers I move on to the next line. I only sell things though that I know about.

You sound like you are doing quite well with small collectables, can you expand on that at all?

WoodruffsDad

soolin wrote: »

Yes I am both employed and self employed and when I do my online tax returns I have to add the extra pages so that I can include all my income from the various sources. I actually have more than one source of self employment, completely different fields, so fill out two different additional pages.

As for what sells well that is the one querstion that hundreds of people would like to know. If there was a simple answer then we would all be doing it and would not want to share the info with a potential competitor. Ii spend time browsing ebay, watching trends and then I try and source things that I think might take off, but as soon as the field gets saturated with sellers I move on to the next line. I only sell things though that I know about.

You sound like you are doing quite well with small collectables, can you expand on that at all?

Thank you. I possibly could do OK with my collectables (which I love, incidentally) selling on eBay and from antiques centres but it is a risky business and prone to ups and downs. That's why I was looking for a "bread and butter" base of a product or product to keep turnover ticking. I have thought of many things: memory cards for computers, fountain pens from China and I even investigated the possibility of importing 100% recycled walking boots from the USA!

P.S. To those who keep posting about tax and HMRC. I am well aware of how to keep the Revenue informed of my non-PAYE income and I do this already, so no more advice on that score please!

YoJoJo

cyberbob wrote: »

You can be employed as self employed while being employed at the same time. If your buying to sell on ebay or anywhere else you need to declare this. You have I think 6 weeks from when you start trading to register.

It's still 3 months from start of trading at the moment (just been through this process last month)

cally6008

nah, you have to register straight away now

jo70mo

The OP did say he declares his extra income on his annual tax return.
Jo x