Can I turn £50 into £1,000

Chrisandsarahs

Hi all,

I'm constantly on this forum to find bargains, advice, and just general guidance in my financial life.

After having a lot of debt I have managed to clear most of it and now live within my means.Not an easy transition, but I feel a lot happier now, knowing that I have money for emergencies, and money to go out for the odd treat (meal or a few drinks).

I've come up with an idea for some extra income. I currently have £50 spare in my account. I'm going to use this £50 to buy something. Not sure what. It might be 1 item,or 100 items, and sell them on EBay for a profit, hopefully. I'm always on the Grabbit board and HUKD website finding bargains for myself. So I thought whyn ot turn that into a way to make some extra money.

I will buy the item(s) with the £50, sellthem, then use the £50 to buy something else, or more of the same item(s) if ithas sold well. I’m also contemplating adding £50 each month to my spending money, as I often have more than this left over in my account at the end of each month. But for now, I will just recycle the first £50.


My aim is to make £1,000 profit within 12months.


I will post items that I buy/sell on here to keep you all updated, as well as any profit that I’m making.


Any ideas or bargain finds would be really appreciated. I'm at work at the minute so when I get home at 5pm I will start to look for my first bargain.

paddyrg

You've just invented capitalism!

Just a note though, as you're specifically buying items to sell, you're trading as a business and need to register that with HMRC, your profit will be taxable.

Chrisandsarahs

paddyrg wrote: »

You've just invented capitalism!

Just a note though, as you're specifically buying items to sell, you're trading as a business and need to register that with HMRC, your profit will be taxable.

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. I didn't think about the tax side of things. Is there a tax free allowance? Or is it on any money that I make?

lessonlearned

Chrisandsarahs wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. I didn't think about the tax side of things. Is there a tax free allowance? Or is it on any money that I make?

You will be liable for tax on net profits.

IE - Sale price received minus costs = net profits.

You can get a rough idea by visiting HMRC website, however for a thorough understanding of how to minimise your tax bill invest in a good tax guide. The Tax Cafe do a full range of guides, approx £25.

The book itself will of course be tax deductible.

koloko

You will find many people in the matched betting forum who have turned £200 into £1000. Plus - no tax issues! I have a pal who recently did that in about a month.

£50 might be too small capital to start though unfortunately

googler

OK, it's obvious that you have a full- or part-time occupation at the moment. There IS a tax-free allowance, but it applies to the person, not to each of their occupations, so you may well have used all of it when calculating tax on your current work.

You'll need to complete two tax returns each year - one for your employment and one for this self-employment

If you sell on eBay and use paypal, your 'profit', broadly speaking, assuming you buy at £50 and sell at £60, will be £10, from which you deduct all your expenses - eBay fees (listing and final value), Paypal fees, postage, mileage expenses to the Post Office, purchase of packing materials, etc - and then to which you apply tax at the rate which applies to the remainder.

If the fees etc add up to £3, you pay tax on £7, broadly speaking, but you don't calculate it individually for each transaction. Keep overall records, and add it up for an end of tax year figure.

The plan unravels, of course, if your chosen item fails to sell on eBay, you relist it, it fails to sell again, etc etc. There's no guarantee that everything sells on eBay....