Discounts on free postage items

Flyonthewall

Cornucopia wrote: »

Are there any hard and fast rules? Volume of listings? Volume of sales?

If you buy to sell (including items made to sell) you are a business. Whether it's one item or 1 million items.

Whether you make a loss, break even or a profit.

It should all be declared.

Cornucopia

Flyonthewall wrote: »

It should all be declared.

To HMRC or to eBay?

Like I said, this seems very confused, and it seems to be a messy mix of eBay Ts & Cs that could be contractually binding and HMRC rules which will usually be legally binding.

soolin

Cornucopia wrote: »

To HMRC or to eBay?

Like I said, this seems very confused, and it seems to be a messy mix of eBay Ts & Cs that could be contractually binding and HMRC rules which will usually be legally binding.

Both, a business needs to legally declare itself as such , consumer laws can't be worked round by deciding to 'trade' as a private seller.

Personally as well I think it can be beneficial to be registered as a business- I rarely ever buy from private sellers now on ebay and tend to always look for someone correctly registered as it gives me confidence that they know what they are doing. A couple of my lines are also being sold by 'private' sellers and like many sellers I do watch my competition, and am happy that I can outsell them at every turn, I get more money and more sales at no extra cost to myself.

Cornucopia

Flyonthewall wrote: »

There is no boundary, you're either running a business or you're not.

Clearly there is a boundary - if you don't know what it says, that's fine.

I've read the helptext on eBay, which says:-

• Sell items that you've bought to resell.
• Sell items that you've produced yourself to sell.
• Sell a large amount of goods on a regular basis.
• Sell new items that you've bought but not used personally.
• Sell items as a Trading Assistant.
• Buy items for your business.

Which is fine as far as it goes (could do with a figure for "large", probably). Even then it goes on to suggest consulting "a legal adviser" about it, suggesting that there are some hard & fast rules, but it's not saying what they are. (Why?)

There must be lots of people just on the margins of this. People who get given things or who like to try out things and then sell them off if they don't want them. I'm sure there must be lots of "abuse", too, although I'm still unclear as to who/what is being abused and how serious it is.

soolin

Cornucopia wrote: »

Clearly there is a boundary - if you don't know what it says, that's fine.

I've read the helptext on eBay, which says:-

Which is fine as far as it goes (could do with a figure for "large", probably). Even then it goes on to suggest consulting "a legal adviser" about it, suggesting that there are some hard & fast rules, but it's not saying what they are. (Why?)

There must be lots of people just on the margins of this. People who get given things or who like to try out things and then sell them off if they don't want them. I'm sure there must be lots of "abuse", too, although I'm still unclear as to who/what is being abused and how serious it is.

I can see no ambiguity in the rules at all and frankly ebay have enough problems so if businesses do trade as a private individual they will probably get away with it for a while. However, I think you will be limiting your customer base .

Flyonthewall

Cornucopia wrote: »

To HMRC or to eBay?

Like I said, this seems very confused, and it seems to be a messy mix of eBay Ts & Cs that could be contractually binding and HMRC rules which will usually be legally binding.

To HMRC.

As a business seller you must follow the law and that includes what HMRC say.

When selling on ebay you then agree to their T&Cs. Ebay cannot overwrite what the law says. However, they do have their own rules on selling that should be followed.

Are you buying to sell?

Cornucopia

Flyonthewall wrote: »

To HMRC.

As a business seller you must follow the law and that includes what HMRC say.

As I've said 3 times now, IFAIK HMRC are happy with the info I have given them.

When selling on ebay you then agree to their T&Cs. Ebay cannot overwrite what the law says. However, they do have their own rules on selling that should be followed.

Are you buying to sell?

I'm not really interested in going into the detail of what I am doing or not doing. I'm interested in finding out what the rules are so that I can ensure that what I am doing or not doing is correct.

Cornucopia

soolin wrote: »

I can see no ambiguity in the rules at all

You don't think that talking about "large" quantities is ambiguous? What is "large"? 10? 200? Is it related to value? 200 dog bowls, but only 10 sofas?

...and frankly ebay have enough problems so if businesses do trade as a private individual they will probably get away with it for a while. However, I think you will be limiting your customer base .

I can definitely see the case for running a business and personal account side by side.

Flyonthewall

Cornucopia wrote: »

Clearly there is a boundary - if you don't know what it says, that's fine.

I've read the helptext on eBay, which says:-

Which is fine as far as it goes (could do with a figure for "large", probably). Even then it goes on to suggest consulting "a legal adviser" about it, suggesting that there are some hard & fast rules, but it's not saying what they are. (Why?)

There must be lots of people just on the margins of this. People who get given things or who like to try out things and then sell them off if they don't want them. I'm sure there must be lots of "abuse", too, although I'm still unclear as to who/what is being abused and how serious it is.

As far as the law goes there is no boundary and the law overrules what ebay say. However, what ebay says is clear to me.

Cornucopia wrote: »

As I've said 3 times now, IFAIK HMRC are happy with the info I have given them.

Ok, I get it. It was a factual statement for a business, I'm not stating you personally are a business. Hence why I asked if you are buying to sell to see if the above applied.

I'm not really interested in going into the detail of what I am doing or not doing. I'm interested in finding out what the rules are so that I can ensure that what I am doing or not doing is correct.

I'm attempting to help you. You clearly don't understand what makes a business or you wouldn't be saying you're confused. I asked what you're doing so that I can advise you on the rules that apply to you.

If you are running a business (regardless of whether you are aware of it) and not declaring things HMRC could easily find out and then you'll have more issues than wondering how to do postage discounts.

Flyonthewall

Cornucopia wrote: »

You don't think that talking about "large" quantities is ambiguous? What is "large"? 10? 200? Is it related to value? 200 dog bowls, but only 10 sofas?

I think you're overthinking it. Chances are if you're constantly selling numerous items one of the other points also applies.