Starting business with existing stock

stuhow20

My wife has quite a lot of items from various sources i.e. own old items, house clearance from family members. 
She wants to start as a sole trader selling items on eBay and such. 

What we aren't sure about is how to show the existing "stock" on the books as such.

DullGreyGuy

stuhow20 said:

My wife has quite a lot of items from various sources i.e. own old items, house clearance from family members. 
She wants to start as a sole trader selling items on eBay and such. 

What we aren't sure about is how to show the existing "stock" on the books as such.

You are selling your own possessions, that isn't business activity.

If you are intending to buy items to sell or explicitly require items in exchange for a service such as house clearance then it moves into a business. 

How stock is dealt with will depend on if you are using cash or accrual basis... most sole traders chose the simpler cash basis.