~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 6) ~

chelseylou

aureol212 wrote: »

it doesn't. Think that is the secret....lol.:p

Thanks! At least I know if someone orders it and says something! your probably right about that being a secret!
never known a purfume without a lid!!

chasingsunshine_2

Hmmm Im worrying a bit about the tax/ profit thingy. Need a good spreadsheet I think. Where to start on that?! I started mystery shopping in april but have made a loss on that and been doing avon for 4 campaigns and made a small amount but then bought business cards etc.
got records of it but not a proper spreadsheet that will be usefull for taxes

sylvergrunge_2

aureol212 wrote: »

well, I will tell you my experience yesterday! My £1 make up sold well! It was old stock that I had got through creative ordering and just wanted it shifted!

I got asked a lot for mascaras, but they wanted them at £1, I didn't have any.

I sold one hairbrush set at a loss to a little girl, as I felt sorry for her. Book price £3.50, she bought it at £2.

I sold a few nail varnishes at £3, but not many.

At my Avon party, a few of the customers liked the avon shimmer "Christmas" hand cream.

at the school fair yesterday all the children wanted something for £1 or under, as Christmas presents for their Mums, Dads, and Sisters (age 10)!

I can't buy her shower gel for £1 or a deodorant!

I was stuck next to the Body shop lady! I kept an eye on her, and she didn't seem to make much more money than me. Although a lot of people did go to have a look, she told me they get discounted stuff, cheaper than the shop. Everyone who took a Body shop book, I gave them an Avon book!

I had eye shadow pallets, I had shower gels, bubble bath, nail varnishes, the christmas hand cream, body lotion, lip balm.

the only thing I really sold was nail varnish and a couple of bubble bath and shower gel. And most of my £1 makeup, lipsticks, eyeliners.

I think it depends on your crowd.

Mine is the Christmas Fair within the council so only for it's staff!! Starting to think it may be a bit of a damp squib!!! Have been offered a table at another fair the following day though a bit further afield and open to the public so am tempted to do that one too.

sylvergrunge_2

chelseylou wrote: »

Just a quick question, think someone asked this question a while back but not too sure. Does anyone know if the secret fantasy purfume come with a lid, as in the picture in the brochure it doesnt show one,

Nope, it doesn't have a lid

EDIT: Sorry, just spotted aureol has answered you already....your just too darn quick aureol

Kitten_Claws

lozza1985 wrote: »

You're absolutely right - obviously some people posting on connects don't understand what being "self employed" and paying tax actually entails. Of course we only pay tax on our profits (how we make from selling goods to our customers, after all costs are taken into account). They are obviously not claiming for the costs they can claim for - and just using the avon invoice and nothing else. Which means they'll be paying more than they need to!

Thanks Lozza. I thought I was going mad there for a minute. Wouldn't you think one of the more experienced, high earning reps or SL's would know something? It's like the blind leading the blind.

Can I just clarify; If I was to buy half a dozen jars of cream from the regular brochure at say £4 = £24 from AVON to give as incentives to new customers - the cost to me, on HOV would be £18. That £18 has now become an expense and not taxable profit?

if you reinvest profit into your business, then you don't pay tax on it. I am right aren't I? Thats how we calculate our business - often any profit is ploughed back in as further investment.

Kitten_Claws

i do think AVON ASMs should have some basic knowledge to pass on when signing on new reps and SL's though.

Money_maker

Probably wouldn't be allowed to unless they were qualified in tax matters. No information is better than the wrong information. As reps are self employed it's down to them to register and sort out their tax matters.

Aesop

Yep MoneyMaker, my SL told me when I was recruiting that I can only tell people that they have to register as self employed, point them in the direction of the tax office and leave them to it.

You can't force them to register, you can't stand and watch them.... you can only tell them.

And as the rules for Self Employment change from year to year, they would need to make sure they were upto date with the most recent information, etc. Better to just point them in the direction of the experts and ask them to ask them. I know Marsden Cuckoo's circumstances are very different to most of us, so she needed to call the Tax Office to work out her situation, that is something we would not have been able to advise on.

I,_Geek

Kitten_Claws wrote: »

if you reinvest profit into your business, then you don't pay tax on it. I am right aren't I? Thats how we calculate our business - often any profit is ploughed back in as further investment.

I was speaking to a self-employed carpenter a few weeks ago and he said he was advised by his accountant to go and buy some new tools and anything else he "needed" (may not have been anything that wrong with his current tools) to reduce his taxable income. He said he had a friend who went and bought a new vehicle - again to reduce the bill.

Disclaimer!: Just passing on one person's story - of course we all need to get things checked by speaking to someone at HMRC or an accountant first.

EDIT: Just thought of something else that I'm not going to put on Connects because ASM might read it and I don't want to get her into trouble. Basically, when I signed up I asked what the situation was with tax and whether this was classed as self-employment (this was my first meeting with the ASM and I hadn't read any of the literature before this). She shrugged and said it was my money to do with as I wished. I was already registered self-employed anyway so once I knew it was self-employment I was happy to tell HMRC and put it on my next return, but the ASM acted as if this wasn't a big deal. She said they didn't pass on details of Reps to the taxman. It was strongly implied that there was no need for me to tell anyone even though I'd asked a direct question about it.

Yet another thing putting me off SL is the whole tax thing. It's going to be very off-putting to some people, but I don't want to not mention it at all because I think reps have a right to be informed from the start. I know it's in the small print and the term "self-employed" and "independent" is used a lot, but these words don't mean the same things to everyone - as you can see from that thread on Connects.

chelseylou

just a quick question before I totally forget all about it!!
I've got 5 days left of campaign 18 and so far i'm not doing very well, have only got 2 orders so far and with something ive ordered and brochures etc im at £45, so only need like £30 odd to get to £78, can I order something to get it upto £78 and then send it back after?