Can I sell from my driveway?

Calistasouth

Hi! 

I would like to sell some bits and bobs from my driveway. Can I do this legally? And can I do it on a semiregular basis? Or do I need to register as a business or get some sort of license? Thanks :-) 
(PS Not food related, so no need for food safety certs or anything) 

sheramber

check with your local council.

If people are coming onto your driveway to buy you may need public liability insurance cover in case  someone gets hurt on the premises.

comeandgo

Does your deeds permit it?  I know ours does not.

Wraithlady

Your household insurance may also not be too happy with it - they can get quite funny about stock held in the house and people visiting your house to buy things (increased risk of theft/pilfering and vandalism)

twopenny

Is your driveway somewhere you get a lot of people passing that are browsing for things to buy?

Rain, wind and idots handling stuff badly comes to mind from my various craft fairs done on the cheap.

Also people will expect low prices as they will see it as a hobby/garage sale type stuff. When I gave up my studio people expected it for next to nothing because they could stop me in the supermarket and ask. Very awkward.

SeniorSam

Depending on what you are selling, the ETSY site may prove useful for you. Low costs but if you have interesting goods to sell, it may be worth joining.

Topher

Calistasouth said:

Hi! 

I would like to sell some bits and bobs from my driveway. Can I do this legally? And can I do it on a semiregular basis? Or do I need to register as a business or get some sort of license? Thanks :-) 
(PS Not food related, so no need for food safety certs or anything) 

I phoned my local council about eight years ago and posed this question. The person answering my questions seemed quite knowledgeable and of course rules could have a) changed since then or b) vary across different councils. He said as a once off, yes you can sell without permits, then there was a whole range of scenarios from that, up to turning a garage (I,.e. A closed in lockable building) into anything that could be interpreted as a shop, that would be regarded in a different light. Mainly they look to whether or not it was some form of business. So a regular drive sale (as in American style) was also fine unless you started advertising it. Advertising could be press adverts, online adverts or a paper sign somewhere on the road, the first two would tip you into the realms of business activity, a paper stuck on a nearby lamppost would be fine and considered temporary, a free standing sign put in a regular place would be back into suspected of being a business. I know that a blind eye was turned recently to some people locally who made sewn fabric face masks and stuck them on a stand (tied safely to a lamp post so not in itself an obstruction or potential hazard) outside their homes with an honesty box and a notice about expected price. One was for a charity, the other was for her own income. The council deal with rules about the use of your premises and advertising, but then there’s a separate issue with taxation apparently. Back to the drive sales: if that was regular, I imagine the tax folk would have an interest in your “profits” - if it’s genuinely the sale of your own stuff that you have owned (gifts or bought with your own post taxation money), that should be OK, but you’d have to be sure that it wasn’t suspect to being goods that you are dealing in. 

kazwookie

People around here often during the warmer months have small table or similar at the top of their drive ways, with items on them for sale with an honesty box, such as fruit, veg, holdhold items and such like, one way of making some money and meeting the neighbours.

Others get 2 or 3 households / neighbours,  in the same road and have yard sales on the same day.

mrrightfirsttime

Why would you want to sell your driveway? 

Katiehound

mrrightfirsttime said:

Why would you want to sell your driveway? 

Ha ha: I think you need to read- or is it meant to be a joke???

Sell from my driveway

Perhaps you are just trying to boost your posts ?

soph_lew

Great post! I've been wondering the same thing. I often pass someone who sells potted plants from their driveway. They have a sign with a suggestion amount, so I didn't know if that's how they were trying to 'get around' any rules, etc