Benefit Claiment, thinking of selling online to become self employed.

IEntropy

First post here dont bite my head off.

So I'm 27 years old, and Currently claim benefits, what I claim is child benefit as I'm a Single father, Universal Credit and PiP. I am classed as disabled due to my mental health, personality issues, PTSD and epilepsy.

Do not claim housing as I live in my parents house.

Anyway, I want to provide a better future for my son, be able to move out, have a better quality of life ect. Like I said currently raising my 5year old son, and have been unable to work because of my illnesses stated.

Have been thinking about Opening a Store on eBay. Buying items wholesale and being able to make some margin of profit on resale. It's something I can do from home where my health issues dont hold me back so much.

So the real question I guess, what are the laws on this kind of thing? From what I understand, you may get a 12 month start up period? Not sure what's required, or what that even means, And that you dont have to declare anything until you make £1000 Profit, is this true? If I try this I want to do it correctly.

Are you even allowed to try this while on benefits, cause I cant afford for them to be stopped currently. I haven't even started but I want to be well aware of the risks, regulations involved. For the first several months I'd never make anything near what I recieve in benefit. It would be small stock, small volume sales, profits would be minimal. So if it's against rules and the benefit would get stopped, then it wouldn't be worth the risk as I'd struggle to care for my son, and potentially be even worse off.

If you have some income do they close your benefit claims or do they adjust it and you recieve a lesser amount (cause your own profits from resale should make the difference?) Until your business is built up to where you can live without the help of benefits?

I'm sorry if this is hard to make sense of, I'm very literal and it takes me a while to put what's in my head into words that make sense.

Aquamania

Duplicated here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6083001/currently-claiming-want-to-become-independent

IEntropy

Apologies, didnt mean to post twice.

Pennywise

If you aren't fit enough to be employed, how do you think you are fit enough to run a business? Self employment is a lot harder than a job as you have constant conflicting needs upon your time, i.e. dealing with customers, dealing with suppliers, constantly updating your website, taking in deliveries, sending out deliveries, dealing with tax returns, banks, insurers, etc. Think very carefully about whether you're actually fit enough before you start.

soolin

IEntropy wrote: »

First post here dont bite my head off.

So I'm 27 years old, and Currently claim benefits, what I claim is child benefit as I'm a Single father, Universal Credit and PiP. I am classed as disabled due to my mental health, personality issues, PTSD and epilepsy.

Do not claim housing as I live in my parents house.

Anyway, I want to provide a better future for my son, be able to move out, have a better quality of life ect. Like I said currently raising my 5year old son, and have been unable to work because of my illnesses stated.

Have been thinking about Opening a Store on eBay. Buying items wholesale and being able to make some margin of profit on resale. It's something I can do from home where my health issues dont hold me back so much.

So the real question I guess, what are the laws on this kind of thing? From what I understand, you may get a 12 month start up period? Not sure what's required, or what that even means, And that you dont have to declare anything until you make £1000 Profit, is this true? If I try this I want to do it correctly.

Are you even allowed to try this while on benefits, cause I cant afford for them to be stopped currently. I haven't even started but I want to be well aware of the risks, regulations involved. For the first several months I'd never make anything near what I recieve in benefit. It would be small stock, small volume sales, profits would be minimal. So if it's against rules and the benefit would get stopped, then it wouldn't be worth the risk as I'd struggle to care for my son, and potentially be even worse off.

If you have some income do they close your benefit claims or do they adjust it and you recieve a lesser amount (cause your own profits from resale should make the difference?) Until your business is built up to where you can live without the help of benefits?

I'm sorry if this is hard to make sense of, I'm very literal and it takes me a while to put what's in my head into words that make sense.

Firstly the £1000 trading allowance is turnover, not profit, see here;

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6070793/1000-trading-allowance-is-made-clear-on-tax-return

Also, as mentioned above I would seriously sit down and have a think about the stress of selling on eBay, it can be a lot more pressured that going out to work. Just as an example, the standard dispatch time is 2 working days (although this can be changed) and if it hits a bad day for you then you have to worry that not hitting that could see your account restricted and then suspended leaving you with money tied up in stock you can't sell. Also, getting the stock right can be a huge strain, I am not a worrier but even I have a slight concern that with the last posting day for 2nd class being tomorrow I am going to be stuck with a little Christmas stock that has cost me money and which I now have to store until next year.

Mistral001

One thing to consider about becoming self employed is that you do it ALONE. When a customer comes to you with a problem or is trying to rip you off or indeed succeeds in ripping you off, you have to sort it yourself or pay professionals to do it such as lawyers or accountants. Citizens Advice rarely give advice to business people. However, they will give advice to the customer who is trying to rip you off as they are the consumer and you are the business man.

Some people love doing it though and can make some money selling online. They see it as a challenge. They are good at dealing with customers and clients who want everything and are not willing to give anything back. They may also have resources so they can easily deal with problem that will inevitably come up. They have enough capital to deal with cash flow problems or to buy in the quantities that suppliers will give discounts on. They might have family members who have a business background and are willing to refer them to good professionals that they use in their business.

That all seems very negative, but if you are determined, I would just get on with it. Start off selling on ebay things in the house that you do not need and then move on to selling other things. If you see a future in it you will probably have to come off benefits, but you might get working tax credits instead.

martindow

Sorry if this sounds like another negative post.

It is not easy buying something wholesale and selling it on ebay at a profit. There are always going to be other people buying cheaper and undercutting you or selling with suicidally low margins. You could buy in stock and never sell it.

The usual advice is to sell something where you have specialist knowledge. Being able to offer your expertise can help even if you are not the lowest priced seller. Or find a niche where you are selling something unique or rare but where there is a demand. But expect others to quickly pile in and undercut you fairly quickly.

You need to be nimble to succeed and change things you sell frequently. Soolin is the queen of finding profitable things and then moving to something else before the market becomes saturated.

But don't expect her or anyone else to tell you what to sell!

motorguy

Extremely hard to make money on ebay. If you're buying from a wholesaler and reselling, chances are theres 100 more people buying the same product and reselling it too so theres a race to the bottom on price. Ebay and paypal fees are high, postal costs are high and customer expectations are through the roof.