Setting up an Ebay shop

Lisa2384

Hi Everyone,

This si my first post here so im sorry if its a bit brief and in the wrong place.
I am in the early stages of setting up and online ebay shop selling Gymnastics wear. My daughter currenlty attends a local club where i help out ith the merchandise. I see how much parents pay for ther childrens leotards and there is a gap i feel i can fill and make some money in. Both in gym clubs and onilne in a ebay shop

My question is am i best opening a business account for this or a new current ccount? I ideally would like to have a separate account, i dont have the best credit rating not sure if this matters? I have a little capital and have already sourced a supplier and will be importing supplies.

I am still planning on working full time so who do i need to make aware of my plans? At what point do i need to make mmrc aware?

Many thanks

Lisa

chalkie99

Will you be trading under a name other than your own? e.g. Lisa's Leotards

If you are selling to gym clubs, for example, then you will, presumably, receive cheques payable to your chosen name and will have problems paying them into a personal account.

You could try Coop or Santander for free business accounts or speak to your own bank.

Register with HMRC as soon as you start trading.

I would have thought that EBay was ultra competitive. If you have never imported before are you sure you have considered all the freight charges, import duties and carriers handling fees?

Also, just check there is nothing in your employment contract which prevents you from doing this.

Good Luck.

martindow

I think chalkie's covered everything, but you might also like to read through the Ebay forum

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

to guard against any avoidable pitfalls and to be on top of all of the fees and charges.

RogerBabyspoon

If you're just setting up and testing the water why not use a Paypal account for recieving payments. This is the norm on ebay.

Also it might be worth getting a £50 adwords voucher from google (they give them out fairly easily) and create a couple of ad's targeted at your products on ebay to give it an inital boost.

InsideInsurance

As a sole trader you and your business are legally one and the same thing. You can open a business account if you want and the advantage of doing this is the fact that you can then accept payments in your trading name as well as your personal name but as your one legal entity there is no legal requirement to do so.

If your mainly going to be doing your banking electronically then also look at HSBC who do an account that is basically free for e-transactions

The only disadvantage of registering with HMRC early is the fact you have to start paying your class 2 NI contributions at £2.50 per week. The disadvantage of registering late is a £100 fine if caught. Generally its better to register sooner than later though legally you have 3 months from the date you start trading

martindow

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The only disadvantage of registering with HMRC early is the fact you have to start paying your class 2 NI contributions at £2.50 per week. The disadvantage of registering late is a £100 fine if caught. Generally its better to register sooner than later though legally you have 3 months from the date you start trading

Though if you declare that your turnover will be low you can get a certificate exempting you from the NI.

InsideInsurance

You can but there is an argument that its worth while paying it anyway to ensure you get a state pension etc when you get to that age.

Savvy_Sue

InsideInsurance wrote: »

You can but there is an argument that its worth while paying it anyway to ensure you get a state pension etc when you get to that age.

But if the OP is already getting Child Benefit (which seems likely) they're also getting HRP towards their state pension, are they not? (I am a bit out of touch these days!) Or if they are paying NI through employment. so it's not a straightforward "it's worth paying anyway" situation.

InsideInsurance

Hence my saying there is an argument rather than saying that they should.... clearly dont know enough about their circumstances to give a yes or no answer