Ebay and tax

[Nebular89]

I have just received a message from eBay that I have gone over a threshold and now need to submit my national insurance details for tax purposes. The threshold for is 30 sales or £1700 in a calendar year.
I hit the 30 items sold mark with £1400
I checked on the HMRC website and there is a calculator. You can only do it on a per item basis but essentially it says if it’s an item you owned and are only selling to clear out space etc and not to make a profit and the sale price is not over £6000 you do not have to pay tax.
So can I assume that I can continue to sell a few things I have that I want to clear out and I won’t incur a tax bill? Even if I go over the £1700 threshold?
I have maybe 5-6 things I want to put up. Mainly small items at say £30-£60 but 2 things I’d want £150+ for.

 

[F1.2]

Born to live TAXED until you die , Especial with our new chancellor

 

[Nebular89]

Born to live TAXED until you die , Especial with our new chancellor

Yep, essentially I’d be taxed 3 times. When I earned the money to pay for the item, when I bought the item and again when I sell!
Hopefully as I’ve sold nothing for a profit and nothing over £6k I won’t incur any tax but it is annoying. I was going to just avoid it and just use eBay until the new year but I’ve got a few things I need to shift

 

[the black fox]

Nothing surprises me with our current labour thieving govmt

 

[Steep]

Playing devil's advocate here, if you've sold 30 items so far this year for £1400 you are unlikely in their eyes to be 'clearing space' but doing it for profit.

 

[Nebular89]

Playing devil's advocate here, if you've sold 30 items so far this year for £1400 you are unlikely in their eyes to be 'clearing space' but doing it for profit.

I suppose. To be clear that is what I’m doing. I buy and sell a lot. I play guitar as well as cameras so I’ll buy a pedal, use it for a few months and pass it on to pay for something else. I don’t think I’ve ever sold for profit. I’ll buy a few things over a period of time then sell it all in one go.

I know what you mean though. It’s just their website isn’t overly clear. It’s essentially saying if you haven’t made a profit and each item is under £6k then you don’t have to pay tax. But as you say in theory I could sell 1000 things at a small loss, does that mean they won’t look into it? Will I have to try to prove that I haven’t made money? It all feels a bit ambiguous

 

[Steep]

I suppose. To be clear that is what I’m doing. I buy and sell a lot. I play guitar as well as cameras so I’ll buy a pedal, use it for a few months and pass it on to pay for something else. I don’t think I’ve ever sold for profit. I’ll buy a few things over a period of time then sell it all in one go.

I know what you mean though. It’s just their website isn’t overly clear. It’s essentially saying if you haven’t made a profit and each item is under £6k then you don’t have to pay tax. But as you say in theory I could sell 1000 things at a small loss, does that mean they won’t look into it? Will I have to try to prove that I haven’t made money? It all feels a bit ambiguous

Quite possibly Intentional, if they make a rule too exact then they get a million folk going ah but, I'm not doing precisely that thing..

 

[Nebular89]

Quite possibly Intentional, if they make a rule too exact then they get a million folk going ah but, I'm not doing precisely that thing..

Quite possibly. I think I’ll have to submit my details though. EBay says it’s a calendar year, which is also ambiguous. Does that mean for the entirety of 2025 or from the date I sold item no.1. Obviously the HMRC says it’s April to April, the tax year. If it’s April I can’t really go 6 months sadly. My pc died and I was hoping to soften the blow with some clearing out!

 

[Steep]

I'd say that's 12 months, though they could be going on Jan 1st to Dec31st.

 

[Nebular89]

I'd say that's 12 months, though they could be going on Jan 1st to Dec31st.

That seems to confirm what I was hoping. Providing the items are all individually below £6k and they are unwanted personal items not being sold for a profit then it doesn’t matter how much you sell.

 

[Nod]

The problem is that it seems to be an eb*y rule that requires you to provide them with your NI number, so if you want to sell on there, you'll need to provide it. The tax man is a whole different ball game!

 

[Nebular89]

The problem is that it seems to be an eb*y rule that requires you to provide them with your NI number, so if you want to sell on there, you'll need to provide it. The tax man is a whole different ball game!

I’m going to hold out until the new year and see what happens. I looked at my sales and the 30 items they are referring to are only in 2025, the first was at the start of jan. so in theory in the new year it restarts, but we will see

 

[mj4456]

HMRC tell you not to give details like national insurance numbers, eBay won’t be getting mine.

 

[Nebular89]

HMRC tell you not to give details like national insurance numbers, eBay won’t be getting mine.

That’s what I like to hear! I won’t be either. I looked at my sales and sales 1-30 took place from January this year. I can assume that when eBay say a calendar year that they mean a calendar year and not April to April like the HMRC. I’ll hold out till the new year and hope it all resets

 

[taxboy]

All explained here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/no-tax-changes-for-online-sellers

In simple terms if you are selling items no longer needed there's no tax liability (except possibly expensive items which you manage to sell for more than you paid but that gets into a more complex area). eBay are required to notify HMRC and that's the limits they've put on in their terms and conditions

 

[Mr Bump]

I have just received a message from eBay that I have gone over a threshold and now need to submit my national insurance details for tax purposes. The threshold for is 30 sales or £1700 in a calendar year.
I hit the 30 items sold mark with £1400
I checked on the HMRC website and there is a calculator. You can only do it on a per item basis but essentially it says if it’s an item you owned and are only selling to clear out space etc and not to make a profit and the sale price is not over £6000 you do not have to pay tax.
So can I assume that I can continue to sell a few things I have that I want to clear out and I won’t incur a tax bill? Even if I go over the £1700 threshold?
I have maybe 5-6 things I want to put up. Mainly small items at say £30-£60 but 2 things I’d want £150+ for.

Ebay are now required to submit all reporting to the HMRC and you will need to bear in mind that you may be requested some time down the line to pay tax or explain what you have sold.
I had this chat with my accountant last year as i cleared out over 4k of "house stuff" due to a massive downsize, his answer was just keep a detailed account of the stuff sold stating it was personal sales etc or business sales and you might have to submit that to the HMRC if they ask.

 

[Mr Bump]

HMRC tell you not to give details like national insurance numbers, eBay won’t be getting mine.

Ebay will simply stop you selling then , it is now tax law so its up to you.

 

[Nebular89]

All explained here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/no-tax-changes-for-online-sellers

In simple terms if you are selling items no longer needed there's no tax liability (except possibly expensive items which you manage to sell for more than you paid but that gets into a more complex area). eBay are required to notify HMRC and that's the limits they've put on in their terms and conditions

That’s how I’ve understood it. I just don’t have a record of what i paid for any item so proving that I made a loss would be difficult.
I don’t use ebay to make money, only periodically to sell things off to fund other things.

 

[Nebular89]

Ebay are now required to submit all reporting to the HMRC and you will need to bear in mind that you may be requested some time down the line to pay tax or explain what you have sold.
I had this chat with my accountant last year as i cleared out over 4k of "house stuff" due to a massive downsize, his answer was just keep a detailed account of the stuff sold stating it was personal sales etc or business sales and you might have to submit that to the HMRC if they ask.

It’s all getting a bit rubbish. I’ll have to re-think how I use eBay from now. I’ll buy a piece of camera or guitar equipment, use it for a period of time, if I really like it I’ll keep it if not I’ll sell it on. In my head the small loss I made was almost like I hired it for X amount of time.
In the long run it’s probably a good thing. Knowing that I could usually pass things along without losing a huge amount meant I probably bought more that I should have over the years.

 

[mj4456]

Ebay will simply stop you selling then , it is now tax law so its up to you.

I have several accounts, if I get close to tax I use another, but it need to be a good end of year to get to the limit, eBay really are dreadful now, even more so for seller protection.
If they stop me selling it really ain’t a big thing, but I understand many folk are sick of their constant messing with postage and fear that buyers premium will not be alone but a sellers could be introduced.

 

[Nebular89]

I have several accounts, if I get close to tax I use another, but it need to be a good end of year to get to the limit, eBay really are dreadful now, even more so for seller protection.
If they stop me selling it really ain’t a big thing, but I understand many folk are sick of their constant messing with postage and fear that buyers premium will not be alone but a sellers could be introduced.

Is that why ive started to see a lot of accounts with little to no feedback pop up?
I would do that but ive got 350 100% feedback on my account. I suppose I could start another and sell a couple of cheap things to get some built up

 

[mj4456]

I’ve used two different a/c at times, one auction and one buy it now, cut back on selling so only one in use, but usually drop use when feedback hit 600.