Home Insurance for Ebay Business???

devmcc

Hi all... my business has really taken off these past few months - I run a shop from home via ebay - does anyone know of an insurer that will offer home insurance with a certain amount for stock cover at all.. just with all this flooding and all... thanks in advance..

richt71

Think you might find yourself between a rock and a hard place to be honest. In that insuring stocj is a good thing to do but as soon as you disclose what you want covering I suspect your insurer will want to change policy to a commercial one (or that's what they told me a few years ago when I was looking to sell on some plasma tv's). You may then run into problems with council tax and your premises being used for commercial purposes. I'm sure someone that deals in this arena will give you more specific advice but that's what I found although it was 4/5 years ago.

Savvy_Sue

It's a very big rock and a very hard place, as well, because if you don't tell your 'domestic' insurer that you're running a business from home, they might decline even a 'normal' domestic claim ...

I always feel that brokers are useful in this situation. They will know who does this kind of insurance.

blue_monkey_2

Hiya,

First of all join the National Market Traders Federation, it costs around £70 a year and for that you get free Public Liability (up to £5 million I beleive) www.nmtf.co.uk

They will send you details out and they have their own Insurance Brokers called Market Line and they can do all of your car, home, buildings Insurance, etc... and for no more than what you would usually pay and you will be covered as they deal with stock in the home. I found it very difficult to get Insurance, you should also be declaring to your current Insurance brokers that you work from home and stock is on the premises - it won't be covered but this is why you should think of moving - sue was right, your normal insurer could decline a claim. I have to tell them how much cash in kept here for example but I have a safe that I keep it in and that means it makes no difference.

As for the council tax, I have spoken to my local council about this and there will be no Business Rates due unless I had callers of all hours and if the neighbours complained that I was running a business. They were very helpful so never be afraid of calling and they were not that bothered that I was 'working from home'.

I tried every broker going and no one would give me a quote - it is not something they would do, so join the NMTF and you'll get the Insurance you need, it also means you can branch out to markets or car boot sales and be covered should something happen to a customer.

Don't forget to keep records of everything and claim for any car trips to the PO (40p a mile) and you can claim a % of rent, fuel bill and council rax you depending on how many rooms you have in your house (if you use your living room for business and you have 3 bedrooms and a living room you can claim 1/4 so 25%, or if you use a room for stock then it would be 2/4 so 50%. be careful if you have a mortgaged home as claiming some of the morgage as monthly expenses means you'll be liable for CGT if you sell it but I do not know much about this as we live in a rented property.

positivelymummy

if you are getting business insurance/running a business from home you also need to check your mortage contract (many say not to run a business from home) then if you phone them to tell them, they want to change the contract to a fixed rate (thats if you have a flexible one etc), i know a lot of people dont bother but i wonder how kosher the business insurance would be if you've not declared to the mortage co that you are running a business from home etc (hope this makes sense) who would've thought it'd be so difficult to sell a few things from home eh?