'Not for profit' side hustle - more hassle than hustle?

dinosaur66

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81944023#Comment_81944023

she has a a little bit of wool and makes a few pennies and you want her to cancel her home insurance / and take out new business /contents house insurance for said wool ?

she should itemise every ball of wool

blue wool

pink wool

grey wool

2 knitting needles

buttons

tell the insurance how much these balls of wool and buttons are worth as you must do

tell them she donates the things she makes to charity she has said she has not made a single penny.

she has nothing going through the books / anything that will be in the future will be in cash and ammount to what a few hundred pounds.

i get people like you trying to scaremonger all the time on this forum .

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81944425#Comment_81944425

The insurer won't ask the value of the goods or materials, they will simply ask if there are any business activities going on and if you state "no" when there is you run the risk of any future claim being declined and the policy void even if its unrelated to the business activities.

I dont want them to do anything, I just want them to be aware of the risk they are running and its up to them if they are comfortable with that risk or want to ensure they arent running a risk by making the declaration.

The second you are selling the goods, or even making the goods with the intent to sell means you are a business. Some of the biggest names in business you can think of make not even pennies of profit so thats not a good yardstick of what a business is.

I note that you dont agree to buy them a new home if they take your advice and lose.

dinosaur66

scaremongering again

lets put it in context

she is making some knitwear to benefit charity and has made ZERO money

your advice at this time is because of the risk / she should cancel her property insurance and take out new specialized business /stock insurance with another broker for her bag of wool and knitting needles

my advice is wait and see at this time where it goes and if any money can be made if any before doing anything with regards the insurance or wait to the current insurance policy runs out .

Sea_Shell

Lively discussion 😉

In my mind, the deciding factor is money changing hands for goods.

Anything made for charity, friends, family falls squarely under the "hobby" banner, but if ANY money, even pennies, changes hands then that is "trading".

I'm not going to risk "trading" as it's too much hassle to do it "by the book".

I guess, the waters get even muddier if, for example, I made a cardigan for myself, but decided, in a fews years time to sell some "unwanted clothes" 😉