Ebay Business Bank Account

gmc_3

Hi, i'm looking to open a bank account linked to an ebay business account. Do any other users have any good recommendations? Could I just use a separate personal account or am I best using a business bank account? If a business account, i'd like to keep the fees to a minimum, are there any business bank accounts that are well suited to transactions associated with ebay?

Thanks

RFW

It depends what you want the account to do. A simple one with low/no charges (depends on transactions) is Alliance & Leicester business savings account. There are other current accounts you can get but for a simple no frills account that works pretty well.

soolin

I just use an online standard bank account as all I need it for is to send and receive paypal payments and to pay for the odd few bulk orders of stationery etc.

preable

Yup i just got a simple no thrills account for ebay and attached it to my paypal account.

ootie

As all the above, I use just a standard no frills account for ebay. One of those with no cheque books and no overdraft, but it does have a debit card attached, mostly for paypal.

gmc_3

Thanks for the replies. Are you using these accounts completely separate from your regular current account? I've read that using a personal account for business purposes can breach the T&C's of the bank. Have you ever had any trouble from the bank?

soolin

gmc wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Are you using these accounts completely separate from your regular current account? I've read that using a personal account for business purposes can breach the T&C's of the bank. Have you ever had any trouble from the bank?

Actually I'm terirble at keeing it all seperate. I often use by private account for business and vice versa, I can never be bothered to carry all the cards round.

I just rely on my old fashioned hand written books to sort it all out properly for the tax man. Anyway, I use the same paypal accounts for both business and private so it gets muddled anyway and one of the paypal accounts (I have a micro and a premier) has to feed into a private account as I couldn't link them both the the same bank account.

The reality is that the business side is fairly low really as I only get paypal payments so no cheques or postal orders to deal with. I buy stationery and goods for sale in bulk and a lot of my purchases of business stock are cash anyway.

lindseykim13

I just use my personal current acc it's already linked to everything and not worth the extra hassle of trying to keep a sepperate account going. I send dh to the post office etc so uses his debit card to pay it would be too much grief if he needed to use a sepperate card!

I've not had any problems with my bank at all and like to keep book/paper copies and excel sheets of everything in/out so doesn't affect my personal finances as i know what i've got to 'play with'.
I'd say you'd need a seperate one for a big time seller or if you start processing your own payments.

ootie

soolin wrote: »

Actually I'm terirble at keeing it all seperate. I often use by private account for business and vice versa, I can never be bothered to carry all the cards round.

I have the different account purely because I'm flippin' useless at doing my books when I should. I usually leave it for a month or two before I get the paper work done.:o

If I used my personal account it'd take me ages and ages to do the books when I got around to them.

StaffsSW

I use a Natwest Business account, which did initially give me 2 years free banking, although in retrospect as a sole trader I should have just opened a personal current account and said nothing.

I'm now trading as a Ltd company (very wise accountant!) so it's not easy to get a personal account when your surname is allegedly "Limted"...

gmc_3

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm thinking of a similar route as you Steve, starting off as a sole trader then looking to grow into a ltd company. I understand that it is more beneficial for tax to become a ltd company once you reach a certain level of income. Do you know at which point it becomes more tax advantageous to become ltd? (ie how many £'s profit)

gmc