selling on ebay whilst on benefits?

RFW

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

The £100 I mentioned was as an example.

I do CAB work.

If you sell your own property the income is neither taxable nor any business of the DWP. That applies to any personal property.
It is not a business nor is it classed as income.

Surely there's a limit? Probably not for tax purposes, but certainly for benefits, for a silly extreme example, if you owned a Lowry painting and sold it for a million pounds, the DSS wouldn't continue paying income support, surely?

Alfie_E

One million pounds arriving in your bank account would stop you getting Income Support, as you’d have too much capital… by about £984,000. If the benefits agency became aware that you owned a one million pound Lowry, I would imagine there would be some arguing to be had as to whether it was a personal possession, and so exempt capital, or an investment, and so making you ineligible for Income Support.

mum2one

__lsx__ wrote: »

I think selling your own personal items wouldn't count as earnings, whereas buying things and selling them on at a profit would be deemed to be earnings.

Postage is generally seen to be an overhead on getting the item to the buyer, so I guess your friend would only get into trouble if he/she were to sell things totalling at £20 more pw than she bought them (ignoring the postage). From what my sister has told me, you can earn any amount while on benefits, but over £20 you lose £1 of your benefits for each £1 you make.

I'm not sure whether the benefits people would go on the average earnings over a month considered weekly or sting you for the amount greater than £20 you earn each week, considered weekly, although I bet it's the latter.. Probably best to call them up to see.

Your friend would be wise to talk to the benefits agency anyway. My ex-gf used to be an Avon-lady while on benefits, taking in invoices/account info to the benefits office doing it all properly. Someone who saw her to be doing Avon reported her to the benefits agency, but because they already knew about her situation, it came to nothing. If your friend were to be seen going to the post office regularly with big parcels, it might be advisable to let the dss know why that might happen before he/she starts.

As has already been said, different limits will apply depending on your friends status.

If its any help the £20 limit for single parents is per week, not averaged out, its based on an employer situation.

Joking apart - if the £20 was an average or even a carry on, then someone could work 1 week a yr as a lapdancer and earn £1,000 be a gd week x

ormus

slightly OT.
a retired lady friend, (on benefits) has gone thro a divorce. the home is now sold and the proceeds divided. she now has about 80k in her bank.
she has lost certain benefits and kept others. she lives in a rented liverpool flat.
shes now in a pickle deciding what to do? she cannot afford a small house. but she wants to decrease/hide! the money to claim all the benefits
available!

mum2one

ormus wrote: »

slightly OT.
a retired lady friend, (on benefits) has gone thro a divorce. the home is now sold and the proceeds divided. she now has about 80k in her bank.
she has lost certain benefits and kept others. she lives in a rented liverpool flat.
shes now in a pickle deciding what to do? she cannot afford a small house. but she wants to decrease/hide! the money to claim all the benefits
available!

If shes got 80k in the bank! she wont be entitled to housing benefits, income support, dla, if in all honestly anything.

Surely for 80k in Liverpool area a house / cottage/ small flat be purchased.

dmg24

mum2one wrote: »

If shes got 80k in the bank! she wont be entitled to housing benefits, income support, dla, if in all honestly anything.

Surely for 80k in Liverpool area a house / cottage/ small flat be purchased.

DLA is not means tested.

ormus, post over on the Benefits board and you will be able to get more specific advice. Alternatively, if you Google 'intentional deprivation of capital', you should find the info that you need.

maiasopohie

I am a single parent working part-time, therefore dont qualify for IS but dont have to pay Council Tax. They saw "Paypal" transfers on my bank statement & asked for my Paypal history for the past 2 months. At what point would ebay money affect my entitlement?

RFW

maiasopohie wrote: »

I am a single parent working part-time, therefore dont qualify for IS but dont have to pay Council Tax. They saw "Paypal" transfers on my bank statement & asked for my Paypal history for the past 2 months. At what point would ebay money affect my entitlement?

As you can see above there is conflicting advice, you'd be best to contact Citizen's Advice who can deal confidentially with your details.

linbadd

To be classed as 'income', surely she would have to be making a profit from the sales.

I'll bet she's selling them for a great deal less than she bought them for, so technically she is making a loss.

If she's making a loss on the sales, how can she be penalised on the 'income'?

soolin

linbadd wrote: »

To be classed as 'income', surely she would have to be making a profit from the sales.

I'll bet she's selling them for a great deal less than she bought them for, so technically she is making a loss.

If she's making a loss on the sales, how can she be penalised on the 'income'?

Income can mean different things..do not confuse the tax rules with the benefits rules.For income tax purposes there has to be trading and with proper trading accounts there is the possibility of a loss being made, however selling personal goods is not trading.

However for benefits there is an income level and that income can be from any source, it does not have to be trading income. Therefore a person who has maybe aquired a large number of saleable but personal items for example selling off bits and bobs and making an income *might* hit an upper limit at which certain benefits may be removed. That's why it is best to ask this specific scenario over on the benefits oard where people will have a better understanding of the system and any likely pitfalls.