make some extra income and have fun

soolin

deannatrois wrote: »

I am in a similiar position (being asked for information from Taxman).., is there anywhere I can go for advice.., I didn't make much if any profit but will have difficulty proving it due to paperwork disappearing during a relationship split up?

Realistically an accountant would be the best bet and I would suggest it pretty quickly as if you go past the 31st January that is another years tax return you would be due a fine on.

The only other thing to do is to speak to HMRC as most people when registering will be offered a business course or business manager, and if you could contact someone like that they may be able to advise you about lack of paperwork. If you don't do something quickly enough HMRC will just raise estimated tax bills which will need paying until you can provide ones that show more accurate details.

How many years were you trading without declaring? The last estimated tax bill I saw was for £7000 and covered a little over 2 years and that was before they got onto interest and penalties.

As a basic though you have your very basic turnover as that will be the total (including postage) taken through ebay. You can immediately knock off the ebay and paypal fees.. Then if you have anything in your banka co!!!!s showing money taken out on your way to a car boot an accountant may be able to argue that a percentage of that is reasonably assumed to be buying stock, and some graft working out postage might give you that figure. It's all horribly basic of course and HMRC might not accept it but an accountant will give you much better advice I'm sure.

soolin

Just another thought as well, if you ask on the ebay board (see my signature) someone there may have some sensible suggestion about reconstructing accounts.

Elixiress

What type of items are your best sellers?

Currently I just use ebay to sell items that I have in the house that I no longer use. But with a new year round the corner, I am thinking of buying items (mainly from charity shops) to sell for a profit.

Personally, I find books to be poor sellers.

DFWJane

I have 2 ebay accounts, a personal and a business one. Anything I buy to sell or sell for someone else and get a cut of, I use my business account so I can see exactly where I am for tax purposes.

It's not been very active though - another new year's resolution methinks!

Money_maker

VanillaVanilla wrote: »

plus some towns dont have carboot sales. its kinda an old fashioned thing they only really have up north now

On the contrary, it depends on the area you live in. Down in the SE we have boot sales a plenty in the summer.

anewman

Any car boot sales I have been to recently have been small and full of nothing but junk like VHS videos, DVD's from poundland they're trying to sell for £3, or the stuff is at it's price or probably overpriced.

As mentioned above buying to sell has tax implications, meaning that over 2 years £4,700 is barely worth it if you declare as you should do, particularly if you are on benefits as it will just come out of your benefits.

PasturesNew

I reckon that if you live near to a cheap shop, e.g. poundland, home bargains, wilkinsons .... like almost on their doorstep, you could probably make a few quid buying stuff there and reselling ebay because these shops aren't everywhere. I'd try it except poundland is new to my county and I'm not on the doorstep, Wilkinsons is new to the county and 20 miles away and I've never seen a home bargains.

I went into Poundland earlier this week and was pawing something for £1 that I saw in another "cheap shop" today priced at £3.49.

So, for people in cities, there's a chance to sell to people in rural/other areas, simply because they either don't have the shop -or- quite simply they're on ebay and see your advert selling your thing and want it.

Could easily get started with £10-20 of "stock". The key is being able to easily rush in, buy one, list it, then as it sells, rush over the road to buy another 1-2 and relist.... buying to order and keeping a close watch on stock levels.

anewman

Once bought some DVD's in a pound shop thinking "ah great I could make some money on those" as it was a Tom Baker Sci-fi quiz DVD. I thought those interested in the Doctor Who side of things would buy them and the die hard fans tend to have a bit of money and spend alot, and as I hadn't seen it before thought it might be one of those rarities. Quick scan of ebay and Amazon on my mobile phone, yep they've sold for a few quid each on ebay easily, and new at amazon they're something silly like £20 otherwise a few quid on marketplace used - so I clear the shelf. When I get home and try to sell them in a few days everyone else is trying to sell them and now everyone is having a price war to sell, after ebay fees, postage and packing, I probably ended up with less than the pound the item cost out of it. If you look now some people are selling for a penny on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Bakers-Ultimate-Sci-Fi-Quiz/dp/B000I8OCKS you can't really undercut that. I haven't bothered trying again.

I am sure this happens on loads of items from poundland as give it a try people undercut everyone else without doing the sums and realising they're selling at a loss, and people who just want rid of them when they bought them hoping to profit sell at a loss because they have to - and it's then a lose-lose for all involved as you can't compete with that. I am sure there is some money to be had if you're clever and keep trying, but I am guessing in many cases it is pennies profit per poundland item rather than pounds.

scotchg

I think Ebay is alot of work, maybe not so in the beginning when it first started, but now you would need to be into it full time to make any kind of decent return.

missamoo

Me and my husband have been thinking about doing this and we have a brilliant car boot sale near by - what sort of things sell well as whenever I buy something to sell on ebay i make a loss!