New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

Andy2013

When I started out I got a basic bank account which had no overdraft but a cheque book, set up a new paypal and ebay, linked everything together and so far (touch wood) it has been very simple but I have heard others like yourself having a few issues.

Paypal I find very useful for invoices ,postage and monthly financial book keeping , but as for the username, I agree it would be better without it showing but a good business is a transparent business with no hidden secrets.

If your that concerned about the username, cut it off, and anyone can see ebay history regardless as to who they are ,and if you set your account as "business" which I hope everyone does, then your address is also shown at the bottom of your listing page ,so your ebay ID is the last of your problems.

CuriousWorker

Andy2013 wrote: »

When I started out I got a basic bank account which had no overdraft but a cheque book, set up a new paypal and ebay, linked everything together and so far (touch wood) it has been very simple but I have heard others like yourself having a few issues.

Paypal I find very useful for invoices ,postage and monthly financial book keeping , but as for the username, I agree it would be better without it showing but a good business is a transparent business with no hidden secrets.

If your that concerned about the username, cut it off, and anyone can see ebay history regardless as to who they are ,and if you set your account as "business" which I hope everyone does, then your address is also shown at the bottom of your listing page ,so your ebay ID is the last of your problems.

As I understand it (from experience), you're already existing Paypal account gets upgraded to a business account - you do not get a new account - so what happens to personal payments after that, where do they go if you don't want them going into the business account? Additionally, a Paypal business account has extra fees associated with it. I have only just set up my (personal) Paypal account and that's taken months, it was a nightmare! TBH hardly any of my business will be carried out online, only an extremely small fraction of it.

Same thing with a business account - you have to pay fees. So, once you set up as a business with all these types of websites/banks/etc they just suck all the money out of you. With regards to the username showing it's not ebay that's the problem, ebay is fine. What I'm baffled about is freelance-type websites where you don't actually charge a fee, they tell you how much you have earned, then pay it through paypal - but you never send them an invoice, receipt or bill for it because you don't know how much you will make and you never actually charged them - so how you do record these transactions if there's no invoice or receipt (just Paypal transaction details)? What bothers me is that these Paypal transactions shows the name of the website you used and the name of your username on that website, so if you have published material, anyone can go and search for that material online and know that it was you who published it.

CuriousWorker

Also just wanted to reiterate the fact that I signed off JSA and onto NEA over 2 weeks ago yet have not yet received a single penny and have just been left wondering what on earth is happening.

They have also sent a letter to my landlord saying my Housing Benefit has been suspended... so far, TBH, the whole thing has been a nightmare!

pinkypoopydoo

Are you concerned about these details on invoices for bookkeeping/accounting purposes? The only people that will see these are yourself and any bookkeeper/accountant you employ and HMRC. Bookkeepers and accountants must work under the regulations of governing bodies (if they are not a member of a governing body, then steer clear! ) and are duty bound to not divulge or use any personal information they are supplied with. Paypal transaction receipts are a perfectly acceptable form of receipt for bookkeeping purposes - I have a few myself from buying stationary supplies from ebay and amazon.

Most business bank accounts give a decent free period nowadays - I've got 2 years free banking from RBS/Natwest, and in 18-20 months, I'll look to negotiate another bit of free time off them, or look to move my account to avail myself of someone elses free banking offer.

As for not getting any NEA payments, I got mine a fortnight after I signed off (a payment of 2 weeks worth), then have been regularly getting my weekly payment every Monday - I think you need to phone DWP and see what they are playing at, and your council to sort out the housing benefit. My council deal with housing benefit and council tax reduction on the same form - I'm not sure if that is standard practice?! I had to resubmit my claim for council tax reduction, along with a Self employment earnings form, that asked for costs and income so far, and estimates of costs until the end of the financial year.

Andy2013

I have spent some time over the past few months working out how much I pay in fees after ebay ,paypal and banks etc have taken there bit ,and for every £100 I make I pay £14 approx in fees.

Not ideal but it works for me.

CuriousWorker, I assume you mean affiliate style websites , in which case surely you can tally up something from there site in paper form to mark against payments in paypal.

andyscott

CuriousWorker wrote: »

As I understand it (from experience), you're already existing Paypal account gets upgraded to a business account - you do not get a new account - so what happens to personal payments after that, where do they go if you don't want them going into the business account? Additionally, a Paypal business account has extra fees associated with it. I have only just set up my (personal) Paypal account and that's taken months, it was a nightmare! TBH hardly any of my business will be carried out online, only an extremely small fraction of it.

Same thing with a business account - you have to pay fees. So, once you set up as a business with all these types of websites/banks/etc they just suck all the money out of you. With regards to the username showing it's not ebay that's the problem, ebay is fine. What I'm baffled about is freelance-type websites where you don't actually charge a fee, they tell you how much you have earned, then pay it through paypal - but you never send them an invoice, receipt or bill for it because you don't know how much you will make and you never actually charged them - so how you do record these transactions if there's no invoice or receipt (just Paypal transaction details)? What bothers me is that these Paypal transactions shows the name of the website you used and the name of your username on that website, so if you have published material, anyone can go and search for that material online and know that it was you who published it.

From what your saying it sounds as though your planning on using your personal bank account instead of a business bank account. I feel with this you may run into problems further down the line with regards to HMRC if they were ever to look into your business.

Also if your bank notices regular payments from specific companies then they could decide to question you upon this and hit you with charges.

andyscott

Andy2013 wrote: »

I have spent some time over the past few months working out how much I pay in fees after ebay ,paypal and banks etc have taken there bit ,and for every £100 I make I pay £14 approx in fees.

Not ideal but it works for me.

CuriousWorker, I assume you mean affiliate style websites , in which case surely you can tally up something from there site in paper form to mark against payments in paypal.

Andy you seem to have your head screwed on and know exactly the ins and outs of your business.

I was wondering if you had an expected sales figure for the next year for sales on ebay alone, its just so I can see how much the ebay/paypal fees are going to cost your business.

Andy2013

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

andyscott , the numbers scare me :eek: but ebay for me is such a good market place.

So if I use the financial year of april 2013 / april 2014 if sales continue to grow as they are then turnover will be in the range of £18K approx. ( with a following wind, some luck and a few black cats ) so fees alone will be around 2 - 2.5 K and as business grows (hopefully) I will pay more but its a cost worth paying as the foot fall on ebay is so huge that few websites will get near it.

So in summary ........ a fortune!

pinkypoopydoo

Andy2013 wrote: »

So if I use the financial year of april 2013 / april 2014 if sales continue to grow as they are then turnover will be in the range of £18K approx. ( with a following wind, some luck and a few black cats ) so fees alone will be around 2 - 2.5 K and as business grows (hopefully) I will pay more but its a cost worth paying as the foot fall on ebay is so huge that few websites will get near it.

So in summary ........ a fortune!

:eek: HOW MUCH?!? :eek:

You've just succeeded in making me feel very grateful that my fees are restricted to professional membership fees and other boring essentials!!

Andy2013

I know :eek:

But without such a busy market place such as ebay my turnover would be much less so I agree they are quite hefty but sales are great and as they say you have to speculate to accumulate .

Fees only get paid as sales come through, and I was chatting with another ebay seller on there forum last week and his fees for the last financial year were in excess of 10K but like he said his turnover was 6 figures and net profit was over 60 K so its all relative.

If I can indeed hit the 18K turnover figure for year 1 then I personally don't mind the fees as business is good and as long as the fees are high then the sales are coming in.

For many self employed people they may need to drive a van 5 days a week 52 weeks a year to make 18K and petrol would easily hit 3K , its a cost of the business.