Come and talk to me about opening an Ebay shop

[Tryharder]

I have been an ebay seller for a couple of years now - selling used clothing/household items/children's stuff. The stuff is often belonging to my family but sometimes I pick up nice bits and pieces in second hand shops and sell it on.

Recently ebay sent me an email recommending that I upgrade to be a business seller. Ultimately, I'd love to be a business seller but I don't really understand the fees system.

As far as I can work out, having an ebay shop costs you at about £15 per month and on top of that you have the usual listing, FV and PP fees. And then you would have to pay income tax on anything you earn. So where's the profit? At the moment, I make a little bit of money (pin money really that I keep in my PP account and use to buy stuff with) but it's really not that much once I have paid all the charges. A lot of my clothing goes for 99p and as far as I can see, once I have paid fees, the profit is a few pence. Another factor is time; I only have opportunity to ebay for an hour a day maximum so couldn't list hundreds of items.

I would be really grateful if any of you ebay business sellers could give me a bit of aan ideal of what it all entails.

If you have been buying to sell on, you are a business and should be registered with HMRC.
Look up my name on Ebay and read my me page.
regularise your status before somebody else reports you.

I seem to remember that the breakeven for a shop is 75 items - put a thread on seller central and one of the regulars will help.

Wow! That's really useful and very thorough Talkinpeace. I'm not an ebay business seller but am a s/e childminder. The link you have to Businesslink has expired, would it possible for you to let me know roughly where on the site to find it and I'll go and search for it?

Interesting - the demise of Business Link has started.
Have a look here
www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.s=sc&r.l1=1073858799&r.lc=en&r.l3=1073866259&r.l2=1081626979&r.i=1084222048&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073789631&r.t=RESOURCES

And if anybody knows a good site where I can store the me page for free so that it does not vanish when I get NARU by ebay for stirring I'd be v v v grateful

If you buy to sell on you are a business seller and have to upgrade your account, you may find it useful, to open a second ID to sell your personal items on though as you would not really wish to mix the two.

You can use the same PayPal account which should be a premier if you are selling on eBay.

You need a legal returns policy when you become a business seller, and have to display your geographic address and telephone number/email adddress although believe the telephone number may not be a legal requirement.

Remember that if you get benefits any money you make has to be disclosed to the DSS.

Hi Diva, fancy you appearing on here.

Talkin! I saw your link on the New Gen board and clicked it! So here I am!