Will selling on ebay affect your benefits?

cyberstar

If I'm on benefits such as Job seekers allowance and I'm also getting earnings equivalent to part time earnings from ebay selling, do I need to report it?

If I do, would my benefits be affected?
If I don't, would they find out? For instance, If I leave my funds in my paypal account without withdrawing it, then I assume no one will know about it.

katiepops_2

If you're only selling stuff that you no longer need (like clothes that you don't wear anymore, etc), rather than stuff that you've bought specifically to sell on Ebay, I don't think it's a problem. It's only if you're actually 'trading', as it were.

Kate

soolin

cyberstar wrote:

If I'm on benefits such as Job seekers allowance and I'm also getting earnings equivalent to part time earnings from ebay selling, do I need to report it?

If I do, would my benefits be affected?
If I don't, would they find out? For instance, If I leave my funds in my paypal account without withdrawing it, then I assume no one will know about it.

I think the fact that you actually refer to your ebay money as 'earnings' means that you consider yourself as having income from ebay and so will the benefits office.

Buying things, whether new or second hand, to sell on ebay is classed as earnings and should be declared both to the inland Revenue and to the benefits office.

In reality though it is unlikely they will find out unless someone tells them and you must do whatever you feel comfortable with.

Soo

Cat72

I would be very careful as if anyone knows they could easily report you to the jobcentre which would mean a whole lot of problems.Trying to prove anything to social security could be very hard and they have the right to view your bank details.
Kids for instance have a habit at bragging at school or vindictive neighbours , jealous family, friends etc .Or even if you are visting your post office to send ebay items, you would be suprised how noisy people and observant people can be . So I would advise if you are going to sell only to sell second hand goods and watch who knows about it.

TDIfurby

Cat72 wrote:

I would be very careful as if anyone knows they could easily report you to the jobcentre which would mean a whole lot of problems.Trying to prove anything to social security could be very hard and they have the right to view your bank details.
Kids for instance have a habit at bragging at school or vindictive neighbours , jealous family, friends etc .Or even if you are visting your post office to send ebay items, you would be suprised how noisy people and observant people can be . So I would advise if you are going to sell only to sell second hand goods and watch who knows about it.

Yep - I second that! I have a full time legit job, and part time / hobby ebay earnings don't come even close to my salary, but if I had to declare my "profits" and start keeping much better records of my ebay transactions, then I think I'd just give up!

jockettuk

dont forget your allowed to earn £20 or is it £25 before your benefits are affected..

like people have said earlier just be careful in what your doing and if you start making a fortune you can come off benefits and therefore nothing to worry abt

paulherts

Understand that ebay is an area that the tax man is looking into with regard to getting their cut.

It is not difficult for them to identify traders as they do with the motor trade.

Benefits Agency are far less likely to get involved but as someone already pointed out they rely on tip offs more than anything.

Cheers Paul

Fran

cyberstar wrote:

If I'm on benefits such as Job seekers allowance and I'm also getting earnings equivalent to part time earnings from ebay selling, do I need to report it?

If I do, would my benefits be affected?
If I don't, would they find out? For instance, If I leave my funds in my paypal account without withdrawing it, then I assume no one will know about it.

jockettuk wrote:

dont forget your allowed to earn £20 or is it £25 before your benefits are affected..

On JSA (as a single person) you are allowed to earn £5 per week before it affects your benefits.

You are meant to declare any income to benefits agency and this will certainly affect your benefits as you have regular income.

If you don't declare it and get investigated - benefit fraud is a criminal offence.

tentickles666

wow lucky you getting all that money! im on unpaid maternity leave wish i had more things to sell on ebay! id keep it quiet, but if you are consistently earning the same as a part time job id sign off, ever heard of karma? just a thought.......