Ebay and taxes (HMRC)

soolin

I wouldn’t be contacting HMRC at all, I’d just keep as much current documentation as you have to hand and leave it at that. Whilst HMRC do get involved, it is likely to be a very small percentage of the people who sell like you and I suspect you will never hear a thing from them. 

vacheron

TBSC5000 said:

I've just done the (reasonably) painful task of working out the 'profit' I made over the course of the last year by selling this stuff. I had to estimate what I paid for some of it as some of the games/items were 20 years old!, but my profit was approximately £217. I also sold quite a few items at a loss. 

I didn't take into account anything I've kept from bundles, I literally just said ' I paid approx 'x' and sold the excess for approx 'y'' and noted the delta as profit/loss

So this question is obviously one for which I do not consider a response 'official advice', but should I just inform HMRC of the activity and share my calculations with them? (hoping they agree its just hobbyist), or should I just sit on my hands and see if they say anything?

I can't imagine that any items bought many years ago where you used the item as intended and with no primary intention of selling them on would be considered to have been purchased in a "trading" capacity, otherwise anyone selling their old stuff would be expected to report this if their total annual sales exceeded £1000. 

The majority of the things I sell each year are things I don't use any more which generally sell for less than I originally bought them for (but still more than just throwing them away! ). But occasionally I will see something (new or used) selling at what I consider to be a bargain price, either on eBay or elsewhere, which I feel could turn a small profit if I were to re-sell it on eBay, so I take a punt and purchase it, or perhaps a few if they are new items.

I'm not driven by any "need" to sell, so I set a price and just put them out to pasture with a buy it now / best offer, sometimes they sell in weeks / months, sometimes it can be a year or two. But I do stay aware of the trading limit (remember that the £1000 is "income", not "profit", so you could burn through this quite easily  with anything from one item to hundreds depending on what you are selling).
 

Thrugelmir

Remember many years I received a sideline commission for a number of years from a large company. Out of the blue came a letter from the HMRC. Which went along the lines of have you omitted something from your tax return.  Letters cost very little to send. 

soolin

Thrugelmir said:

Remember many years I received a sideline commission for a number of years from a large company. Out of the blue came a letter from the HMRC. Which went along the lines of have you omitted something from your tax return.  Letters cost very little to send. 

That's the type I saw as well, an invitation to rethink your declaration rather than an outright claim that you have omitted something. It tends to escalate quite quickly from there if that letter is ignored.

Sorcerer2018

Let say we average £25 per game, which i would say would be a far price for a game no more than a couple of year old, so at £4000 that's 160 games in a year. That does seem to be a lot of games for one person. But I suppose you could be an avid gamer. I certainty had more than 160 games when i was kid, but not in a one year.

Jeremy535897

Sorcerer2018 said:

Let say we average £25 per game, which i would say would be a far price for a game no more than a couple of year old, so at £4000 that's 160 games in a year. That does seem to be a lot of games for one person. But I suppose you could be an avid gamer. I certainty had more than 160 games when i was kid, but not in a one year.

There were references to consoles as well.

Savetowin

i am sure the tax free amount for re-selling your gear is £2000?

vacheron

Savetowin said:

i am sure the tax free amount for re-selling your gear is £2000?

Nope, it's still £1000
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income
However, there is no tax at all on selling "your gear" as long as it is not considered to be done under the definition of "trading".