Question on selling things I am using part of

kallybear

Hey everyone

Just a quick question - I have found a really great little shop near me that sells old stock etc usually with damaged or no packaging in bundles.

If I buy a set of X of something because the price is cheaper than buying 1 of the things retail and then sell the others on eBay will I need to register as a business / sole trader?

Some of these things are high value items and others are low eg there is a set of 8 brackets for £12 - each of the brackets costs £15 from amazon / in shops and I want 2 for my house - If I then sell the other 6 at £10 each does that count as business selling?

What if the items sell for a lot more than I paid eg they have a set of 3 appliances for £100 - one of the appliances new retails at £220 and sell on eBay for £180 can I sell the other 2 for a total of £360 because I want to keep one of the bundle?

Im not intentionally buying them to sell I am buying them because I want 1 or 2 of the bundle and then I have some that I dont need that come along with that.

I am redoing the house so buying quite a bit at the moment as well as having a massive clear out so I am selling quite a bit recently. Mostly old kids clothes, old furniture, old small appliances, books, toys, etc

Any ideas or tips or links that could help me work it out? :beer: :beer: :beer:

soolin

kallybear wrote: »

Hey everyone

Just a quick question - I have found a really great little shop near me that sells old stock etc usually with damaged or no packaging in bundles.

If I buy a set of X of something because the price is cheaper than buying 1 of the things retail and then sell the others on eBay will I need to register as a business / sole trader?

Some of these things are high value items and others are low eg there is a set of 8 brackets for £12 - each of the brackets costs £15 from amazon / in shops and I want 2 for my house - If I then sell the other 6 at £10 each does that count as business selling?

What if the items sell for a lot more than I paid eg they have a set of 3 appliances for £100 - one of the appliances new retails at £220 and sell on eBay for £180 can I sell the other 2 for a total of £360 because I want to keep one of the bundle?

Im not intentionally buying them to sell I am buying them because I want 1 or 2 of the bundle and then I have some that I dont need that come along with that.

I am redoing the house so buying quite a bit at the moment as well as having a massive clear out so I am selling quite a bit recently. Mostly old kids clothes, old furniture, old small appliances, books, toys, etc

Any ideas or tips or links that could help me work it out? :beer: :beer: :beer:

Yes you would be a business and would need a business account on eBay with a proper returns policy, plus let HMRC know .

However your own personal items from a clear our are not business. I would suggest opening a new account to sell your private items, and upgrading the existing account (because of the feedback) to the business account. Both can use the same PayPal account.

PasturesNew

If you buy a pack of 8 and use 2, then sell 6, that's private.
If you then return to the shop and buy another 8 and sell 8, that's a business as you only bought them to sell on.

If you are only ever buying one pack, taking what you want and flogging the rest it could be deemed as private, but it would depend how often you're doing it.... as to buy 10 items/day and do that would appear excessive for a private person having a de-clutter....

More than one a week/fortnight might be erring on the side of "buying to profit".

As a private seller there's nothing to stop you stockpiling your "leftovers" and selling them individually over the next 4-5 years as you de-clutter... but if you're ripping through a lot of stuff then it's "dubious".

Online sites would look at item/item spread/quantity and "style of selling" to decide for you that you're a buyer operating under the blanket so to speak.... they have robots that "spot" these things, so you could just get pulled up on it.

Not to mention Ye Olde HMRC who do a similar trawl of those sites looking for people who aren't declaring tax.

So think hard about what you're thinking of selling, quantity and your motivations.

RFW

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you buy a pack of 8 and use 2, then sell 6, that's private.
If you then return to the shop and buy another 8 and sell 8, that's a business as you only bought them to sell on.

It actually depends on intent at time of purchase (not that anyone could ever prove it as far as I can see).


If you buy a pack of 8 and think you'll use all 8 but you only use 2 and the rest get left in a cupboard so you decide to sell them, that's private. If you buy a pack of 8 and think you'll use two but sell the others and they'll pay for the two you've used, that's a business.


If you buy a pack of 100, use 99 and intend to sell 1, you're still a business.



If you're unsure exactly, check with HMRC, they're surprisingly friendly over the phone. In some circumstances you can actually gain money by registering as a business but you'd also likely need an accountant to help with that.

kallybear

Thank you so much for the info!

Brill so private sellers account for the house stuff that I want to get rid of and then change the current one to a business one for the other bits and bobs

soolin you said about telling HMRC - would I need to register as a sole trader or would I not need to as long as it stays under the £1000 trading allowance for the year?

kallybear

RFW wrote: »

It actually depends on intent at time of purchase (not that anyone could ever prove it as far as I can see).


If you buy a pack of 8 and think you'll use all 8 but you only use 2 and the rest get left in a cupboard so you decide to sell them, that's private. If you buy a pack of 8 and think you'll use two but sell the others and they'll pay for the two you've used, that's a business.


If you buy a pack of 100, use 99 and intend to sell 1, you're still a business.



If you're unsure exactly, check with HMRC, they're surprisingly friendly over the phone. In some circumstances you can actually gain money by registering as a business but you'd also likely need an accountant to help with that.

The intent here is that they are the exact same things but much cheaper than in the shops / amazon so I can buy them use 2 (which has already saved me money) and then do what with the rest - I have been giving bits and bobs to family and friends but things like the brackets no one else really wants so should I throw them away instead or give them to random people on the street lol

The whole point is to clear out the house so I dont really want them to just sit around in a cupboard until the end of time and I have had very bad experiences with offering things for free on things like facebook so selling them seems to be the best idea

RFW

kallybear wrote: »

The intent here is that they are the exact same things but much cheaper than in the shops / amazon so I can buy them use 2 (which has already saved me money) and then do what with the rest - I have been giving bits and bobs to family and friends but things like the brackets no one else really wants so should I throw them away instead or give them to random people on the street lol

The whole point is to clear out the house so I dont really want them to just sit around in a cupboard until the end of time and I have had very bad experiences with offering things for free on things like facebook so selling them seems to be the best idea

What you describe I don't think is actually a business. In the remarkably unlikely scenario that anyone would ever ask you you just have to remember that you were only selling them because you didn't have anything else to do with them.