Do I have to register as a business seller?

piggied

Hi,

A bit of advice wanted please.

I am raising funds to take my autistic son, his friend and the rest of the family to Lapland.

Everything I have to sell on ebay has been very kindly donated by family and friends (mainly clothing) and some are new.
I have close to 1000 items and I wondered due to the volume of items if I have to register as a business seller, even tho the items have been donated.

Many thanks in advance for any responce.

shaun_from_Africa

• • Sell items that you bought to resell.
    
  • Sell items that you produced yourself to sell.
    
  • Sell a large amount of goods on a regular basis.
    
  • Sell new items that you bought but don’t use personally.
    
  • Sell items as a trading assistant.
    
  • Buy items for your business
    

None of these reasons seem to cover what you are doing so IMO I don't see any reason for you to register as a business (although ebay themselves may think otherwise).


The only reason above that may apply is "Sell a large amount of goods on a regular basis", but if you are only going to be selling for a short period, you may be okay.

Crowqueen

Be careful with what you list.

Large numbers of the same sort of items, or of multiple different sizes of clothes will also ring alarm bells. Even if they are not listing 'copies' (anyone have a better word?) of the same garment, eBay get a bit suspicious of people who appear to have bottomless wardrobes or loads of stuff in different sizes - simply put, sellers of secondhand items are still businesses even if their stock is varied. Numerous sellers of s/h clothes have raised eyebrows on the official forums.

If you buy in a lot of widgets to sell you will definitely be a business. 'Acquiring' items for free to sell on is also business, even if you are not actually purchasing items, so be careful not to, say, appeal to people outside the family for donations to be sold.

Given that you say you are trying to fundraise, also think carefully about saying so on your listings. I am a bit sceptical of anyone listing for a charity that I don't recognise or of people who list items saying 'I am raising money for homeless cats so please no returns so all the money can go to the kitties'. Be very specific, perhaps write up a Me page explaining what you are raising the money for without giving too much away about the provenance of your items; or go for anonymity, don't try and make claims about it and just sell as you would normally. I have no objection to buying things from informal charity sellers if the item is what I want - for example I bought a key text I needed for my dissertation from a seller selling on behalf of a hospice. But you are still liable for losses/breakages/damage in post and item description, so don't short-change your buyers just because you are trying to accumulate for charitable purposes.

steviebabes

All the charity shops on ebay are registered as a business so I think this is the nearest to your situation. Cancer Research has terrible feedback and no items for sale at the moment! Just search shop names to find more.

Strapped

Crowqueen wrote: »

Be careful with what you list.

Large numbers of the same sort of items, or of multiple different sizes of clothes will also ring alarm bells. Even if they are not listing 'copies' (anyone have a better word?) of the same garment, eBay get a bit suspicious of people who appear to have bottomless wardrobes or loads of stuff in different sizes - simply put, sellers of secondhand items are still businesses even if their stock is varied. Numerous sellers of s/h clothes have raised eyebrows on the official forums.

If you buy in a lot of widgets to sell you will definitely be a business. 'Acquiring' items for free to sell on is also business, even if you are not actually purchasing items, so be careful not to, say, appeal to people outside the family for donations to be sold.

Given that you say you are trying to fundraise, also think carefully about saying so on your listings. I am a bit sceptical of anyone listing for a charity that I don't recognise or of people who list items saying 'I am raising money for homeless cats so please no returns so all the money can go to the kitties'. Be very specific, perhaps write up a Me page explaining what you are raising the money for without giving too much away about the provenance of your items; or go for anonymity, don't try and make claims about it and just sell as you would normally. I have no objection to buying things from informal charity sellers if the item is what I want - for example I bought a key text I needed for my dissertation from a seller selling on behalf of a hospice. But you are still liable for losses/breakages/damage in post and item description, so don't short-change your buyers just because you are trying to accumulate for charitable purposes.

People may, however, take it as "begging" if you put up a sob story about your autistic son and how you are trying to raise funds for a holiday.

Crowqueen

Possibly. If done sensitively it can be ok. But you have to get it right.

Perhaps it might be better not to mention it at all and just look as if you are selling off old items.

soolin

I agree with all the above. I think it unlikely that HMRC would consider this a business, although I think receiving and selling goods, even for a charitable idea could be a grey area if you are not registered as a charity.

However I think it extremely likely that eBay will force an upgrade to a business account With hat sort of volume short term, and people looking at the auctions will I think believe you are a business. However registering on eBay as a business does not mean you are a business for tax purposes and it could well bring benefits in making you look more professional.

Also, as above, unless you have full charitable registration then don't mention it on the listing at all. Far too many scam auctions pretend to be charities when they are not, and raising funds for a cause, however good, does not make you a charity.

piggied

Hi all, Many thanks for the reponses.

I have just spoken to ebay and they advised me to wait until the system prompts me to upgrade to a business account.

I dont intend on listing more than 25 items a month due to other commitments so it should (fingers crossed) take the intended 2 years to raise the money.

One thing I was never going to do was mention in the listings about son or give a unintended sob story - I have seen many of them myself and just roll eyes/ignore lol.

I dont buy in or make stuff myself, just get stuff off family and very close friends and the lady i spoke to seemed ok about that,

Thanks again!!!

Crowqueen

That should be fine - best of luck .

buggritt

soolin wrote: »

I agree with all the above. I think it unlikely that HMRC would consider this a business

I think you are wrong. These goods are being sold to raise funds for a family holiday. So it's income.
But I also think it's unlikely to come to their notice.

soolin

buggritt wrote: »

I think you are wrong. These goods are being sold to raise funds for a family holiday. So it's income.
But I also think it's unlikely to come to their notice.

I can sell any of my own assets for any reason without being a business, the use to which the funds are out has no bearing at all on whether someone is a business or not.