Help required on ebay becoming a business

[learningtogetby]

hi all,
i am hoping some members can help guide me with advice, my situation is, i have used ebay the last year buying items (car boots, ebay) and selling them only on ebay.

i have a genuine ebay account in my name etc I started of buying a few items, noticed i made profit so i then purchased more items and continued to do so. untill a month or so ago i got a message from ebay saying i will require to become a business seller. i read and re read the print and realised what i have been doing is probably not allowed unless i am paying tax. so i have stopped buying and selling and have not clicked on becoming a business seller on ebay.

i have many questions and feel totally out of my depth here. the worrying things for me are i have a few grands worth of stock sat around, which i can not use, if i want to get rid of this stock i would have to become a business how do i proceed with that? would they make me accountable for previous sales.

I have lots of personal stuff clothes etc which i used to put on ebay if its a business account how does that work.

i have many questions dont want to make my thread a whole long list of questions so will see what advice i get and see if can ask some more questions i have.

thanks in advance

[bruceuk]

Changing acct to a business acct takes 30 seconds and has little impact on anything .
Nothing to be concerned about .
But as stated with 2k of stock this is a business anyway not a hobby or interest so paying a little tax will keep the wolves from the door !

[learningtogetby]

hi bruceuk

many thanks for the quick reply.
so if i click continue it has little effect on anything? can i sell personal items that are not bought for re sale etc without having to declare tax?

does anyone have any help for starting a sole trader business? whats the procedure here to get started?

cheers

[bruceuk]

Originally Posted by learningtogetby

hi bruceuk

many thanks for the quick reply.
so if i click continue it has little effect on anything? can i sell personal items that are not bought for re sale etc without having to declare tax?

does anyone have any help for starting a sole trader business? whats the procedure here to get started?

cheers

The only impact it has is you can carry on selling.
If you are not sure how the whole business set up works i would book a half hour with an accountant and explain your plans .
Its all pretty basic stuff , just a case of keeping records of your income from sales and records of expenditure etc.
Lots of threads here knocking around on keeping your books for ebay sellers.

[learningtogetby]

hi bruce
okay least for now i can get rid of some of my personal items then.
thanks for the good advice you have given
my worry is the items previously sold what happens if i start a sole trader business would they take that into account?

also you say i would have to keep books does anyone have sample of books i could look at for ebay?

If i have bought items from car boots, then they do not give recipts so how do i prove what i have paid for the items?

many thanks again bruce for your input.

[bruceuk]

my worry is the items previously sold what happens if i start a sole trader business would they take that into account?

Only if you ask them to.
The business starts from a specific date you tell them it starts

also you say i would have to keep books does anyone have sample of books i could look at for ebay?

Loads of options from simple excel spreadsheets , low cost pre made software upto high end full accounts programs.
For your needs a simple spreadsheet will surfice

If i have bought items from car boots, then they do not give recipts so how do i prove what i have paid for the items?

Receipt books are very cheap just get creative

[learningtogetby]

hi bruce

The bit where you said reciept books are very cheap for a business would you have to provide a reciept for everything you bought then. is that a stipulation is that why you say i would have to create my own?

yeah a simple spreadsheet would be better for me.

the tax bit if i was to start a sole trader company is it 20 percent tax on all profits. how does it work if i am buying stock with profits?

just let me know when your getting bored of all my questions lol

thanks in advance

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by learningtogetby

hi bruceuk

many thanks for the quick reply.
so if i click continue it has little effect on anything? can i sell personal items that are not bought for re sale etc without having to declare tax?

does anyone have any help for starting a sole trader business? whats the procedure here to get started?

cheers

Strictly speaking forum does not do tax advice.

This is to stop wrong advice being given.

Possibly one of the few sites, but the HMRC site is quite user friendly. LOL.

HM Revenue & Customs: Home Page

Please look at this. Info there will be a help.

[JomJarr]

As per Greenbean, best go to HMRC for advice to prevent wrong info.

As for eB, getting a an Eb Business account is a private matter between you and eB. It's both for their T&Cs and for how they want eB to appear and behave for their business model - getting people to offer distance sale regulation like return policies so that eB acts like say Amazon in terms of public image.

The 'labels' eB apply to their account types has no legal standing, could call them 'Donkey' and 'Pig'.

Whether you are a business or not comes down to if you are intentionally selling for profit or not (and perhaps volume if a genuine hobby get's out of control) . You need to sort that out with the tax man anyway, whether or not you sign up for an eB business account. Surely any good taxman would scrutinise private accounts for excessive volume before looking at business ones.

eB may also be avoiding some taxman liabilities too by making people sign up as business accounts.

[learningtogetby]

hi jomjarr

many thanks for the post, very informative.
is paypal the same as i have a business account for paypal is that the same as ebay business account in its just a nameyou dont have to have a business to have one?

cheers

[JomJarr]

Probably. I've never read in PP's terms and conditions any requirement to be officially registered with the government as a business or a sole trader... for anything. But there are times when PP force you to register for a business account just because of your usage level as a private individual..

You probably need a business account to accept donations on your private website for example.

I'm sure I was told by my bank that I didn't need to be a business to have a business account. Just that they offer things for businesses that no private person would really have a need for, so it would be a waste of time - the wrong product.

Anything legal or to do with tax - seek proper advice. Anything to do with a private contract/terms and conditions with a private company - seek their advice. Won't do any harm to ask them nicely, annonymously of course !

[Stigger]

A point that seems to have been missed is that you are allowed two PP and eby accounts, well more ebay actually but the point is you can have two PP, one business and one personal if you like.

So, make the dissision to keep this personal or upgrade to business, then open another PP and eby account in what your require.

if you use same computer, use different windows user account and if you can different internet connection right from the start, when eby ask if you have other account , so NO, if any of the accounts go down, you shoud get to keep the other.

Having said alllllllll that, i would just go stealth now, save you lerning it later on.

whatever you decide, Pay your tax's, i hate them as much as the next person but trust me prison is worse.

Good luck.