claiming benefits and selling on ebay

mikey_bach

rogerblack wrote: »

As I understand it, this is incorrect.
Permitted work never affects the amount of benefit paid to a single claimant.
The complexity is because you can only do 'permitted work higher level' for one year, but you can do 'permitted work lower level' forever, earning £20/week or less.

You earn £19 in week 1-10, and then £90 in week 11.

This means that the year 'timer' has started from week 11, and you cannot do permitted work higher level from week 63 to 115. (The year after permitted work higher level started)

This may be significantly complicated, because it may be appropriate to average your earnings.

If the OP was on just IB yes this may be the case however IS has different rules on earnings due to permitted work, these are taken into account, and after the twenty pounds a week disregard earnings from permitted work are taken into account pound for pound...

Yes they are averaged but the twenty pound a week disregard rule will always apply after the averaging.

In the case of the OP he would be classeed as SE for IS purposes so after completing a B16 a DM would look at things such as postal costs, Ebay costs etc before deciding how much needs to be classed as earnings after his costs have been taken into account

then the disregard would be applied and then the rest taken into account as a weekly figure against the IS claim

Jennifer_Jane

Just also remember that you will have costs of running your business, so I imagine (?) that it's your profit rather than total revenue that would affect your benefits.

chris1973

There is a big difference between selling a few odds and ends of personal ownership on Ebay, and running a business via it, so make sure that you are aware of what is physically required and the effort you will need to put in before committing to it. Yes some businesses remain small and little more than a hobby but some can grow very quickly, so make sure that you are prepared for the work it entales if it does.

Unfortunately some people have this idea that selling through ebay can be as simple as spending 10 minutes uploading a new auction and then sitting back waiting for it to end, excitedly watching the last minute bids, but there is also other work to do, beyond this.

I have no idea what your disability is (and i'm not asking) but given you are making some kind of item (quoted from your first post) rather than drop shipping or some kind of service, then i'm guessing you may need to make frequent trips to the post office with the item(s) that you are physically sending, so if physical mobility is (or will ever become) an issue then you should bear that in mind, as customers will still expect their orders in the quoted timescale even if you don't feel 100%.

Of course you can use many of the door to door carriers, who pick up from your address but these tend to be expensive, and it quickly becomes overkill for both your product and your customers if the delivery charge is twice the cost of the product itself.

Being in business will also involve other things like distance selling regulations, and perhaps some kind of warranty (depending on what you are selling), you'll probably also have to deal with customer enquiries and the occasional return, and unfortunately Ebay does also bring with it a fair share of the most awkward and demanding customers.

You'll also have to focus on the less glamourous side of business such as keeping your accounts recorded, numbering and filing invoices for your expenses and income. Although not mandatory, its also a good idea to have a seperate business bank account, rather than mixing outgoings and paypal records with both business and personal finances. This way you can easily prove your business records tally up with your written accounts and never get confused with what are / were personal activities, benefit income etc and those relating to running your business.

In addition, if you can only work so many hours a week in your business before your benefits become affected, then you will probably have to record this to. Nobody is going to accept that you only worked for 3 hours per week uploading auctions, they'll ask about how long you spent answering customer emails, dealing with returns, waiting in the queue at the post office, buying materials, making the product, doing your accounts paperwork etc etc, in fact anything remotely to do with your time spent running or relating to the business, including behind the scenes as well as the more obvious front of house!.

Coraline

chris1973 wrote: »

There is a big difference between selling a few odds and ends of personal ownership on Ebay, and running a business via it, so make sure that you are aware of what is physically required and the effort you will need to put in before committing to it.

Yes to that.

IF you are selling on eBay as a business (as in "making & selling" you must register with HMRC as a sole trader and file tax returns and deal with Class 2 NIC every year, no matter if you make a profit or lose money.

I don't know about how it affects benefits, but I have an "ebay business" which is nothing but some photography sold online. It still requires registration, a government gateway account, and filing every year. So far after 50 hours of paperwork and meetings at my HMRC local enquiry office (I'm new to this UK tax system) I got it sorted to make sure my £30 loss for 2012/2013 was properly recorded.

Either way, play it by the books. In any system, don't mess with the tax authorities.